Transcript No Slide Title

The Odyssey
Odysseus
Where’s my wife?
WE
who
Made
the
Ruins...
Greek’s Vs Trojan’s
From Troy to Ithaka in 10
hard years
Odysseus’ Boat
Means of
Transport




EPIC: a narrative poem (long)
BIG in scope [a character in the midst of
the Sky, the earth, Gods and men)
the recounting the deeds and trials of a
legendary hero.
Common patterns: Far-off exotic lands and
people versus HOME.

Epics usually involves QUESTS (a
search for something or someplace.)
Reveals IDEALS of
CULTURE


The epic reveals the ideals of the culture
(the model which one might aspire to, as
exemplified in the hero, one who has
overcome challenges successfully).
What are ideal behaviors are often an
implicit criticism of the way things are
NOW, (when the story is told vs when the
events happened.)
– e.g. Hospitality in the Odyssey
What is an IDEAL?

Ideals are those things
believed to be
desirable by the
culture for a “good
life.”
ALSO, Look For and
MARK...






Separation, Margin, Aggregation
Examples of Story-telling
Expressions of grief or sorrow,
The Role of Mentors
Jot down parallels to other books in the
margins
IMPORTANT TERMS

MUSE: One of the nine sister goddesses in
Greek model of the universe said to preside
over various kinds of song and poetry and
the arts and sciences.

EXPOSITION: those parts of the story that
explain what is going on, what has
happened in the past or what will happen.
Some exposition may speak directly to the
theme.


“Epithet”— a formulaic set of words that
identify someone by some quality, an
appositive. FORMULAIC MEANS IT IS
USED OVER AND OVER.
EPIC SIMILE: an extensively developed
simile whose length may run from two lines
of poetry to twenty. They are part of the
poetry and beauty of the book, they are
written in a very elevated style, and
inattentive readers will lose their way in
them.
The Odyssey captures civilization at a
turning point!


Why Important? the
question of motivation
in The Odyssey
Why do the Men Not
Act On Their Own
VOLITION?
– Waiting for the Gods—
• The conception of “The
Muse” speaking through
the bard represents the
“old way” of seeing the
world.
•What were unconscious
men like?
•
Record of the
Birth of
Consciousness?
•The birth of
Individualism (Iliad vs
Odyssey)
ORIGINS Of The Poem




How was it
performed?
A hypothesis:
The Oral Tradition
(the need for
formulae)
Tradition and doubt
about Homer
ANOTHER THESIS:

– Homer as editor

Relationship of the
Iliad to Odyssey, a
few observations
Tips for READING

Think of It as a Play,
cast actors in the role
and imagine you can
see them, don’t just
“turn the pages and let
your eyes go over it.”
Don’t speed read it.
Make it a movie in
your head.
Read with a Pen!




Identify the pronoun
references of all
unclear pronouns
underline all the
epithet’s
bracket the epic
similes
Do NOT READ FOR
THE GIST ALONE,
BEWARE: Who is Speaking at any time.



Where does the story present a crisis:
How does the character react:
A crisis is a moment when one has to make
a decision, to react in one of any number of
ways; one’s actions at a crisis moment, and
one’s reactions to those moments later tell
us what kind of person is here.
Agamemnon’s Mycenae



Mycenae as it must
have looked at the
time of the Trojan War
(1275-60 BC)
The Foremost
Kingdom in Greece
The Lion’s Gate of
Mycenae…(a liminal image!)




Constructed shortly
before the Trojan War
4.5 meters at lintel
weighs 18 tons
later Greeks thought
Mycanae’s walls were
built by Kyklopes
Another Thesis...

Origins in Ritual of a Sun God Cult....
– Obstacles are part of the Rites of Initiation,
– pay attention to numbers of men etc,animals,
Helios

RELATES TO WHAT PREVIOUS IDEA?
– Puck’s Speech and our discussion of the
relationship of ritual and myth to
literature.
Another Thesis?

“The Bear-son story” Archetypal
– Beowulf
– Basic Story: Underworld, return and
Restoration
– Textual Hints:
• “Otis”
• Homeric Hymns,
• Sysphos