Transcript File

THE ODYSSEY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• The story was written by a man named Homer.
NOT this
Homer!
This Homer!
C
D
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Who exactly was this famous myth-maker?
• No one knows for sure who Homer was.
• The later Greeks believed he was a blind minstrel
• These minstrel’s – or “singers of tales,” – were the
historians and entertainers as well as the mythmakers of their time.
• There was most likely no written history in Homer’s
day. There was certainly no television. Instead,
minstrels traveled from community to community
singing of recent legendary events or of the doings
of heroes, gods, and goddesses.
THE STORIES
• The world’s most famous epic poems—Homer’s Iliad
and Odyssey—were composed between 900 and
700 B.C.
• The poems describe legendary events that
probably can be traced to real historical struggles
for control of the waterways leading from the
Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara and the Black
Sea.
• These real battles would have taken place as early
as 1200 B.C.,
THE ILIAD
• Homer’s first epic was the Iliad
• The action of the Iliad is set in the tenth and final year of the Trojan War.
• According to the Iliad, the Greeks had attacked Troy to avenge the insult suffered by Menelaus,
when his wife Helen ran off with Paris, a young prince of Troy.
• In a thousand ships, they sailed across the Aegean Sea and mounted the siege of Troy.
• As a result, Helen is known today as “the face that launched a thousand ships.” In reality, the
war was probably precipitated by disagreements over trade routes.
• The audience of the Odyssey would have known this war story.
• They would have known all about the greatest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, who was fated to
die young in the final year of the war.
• They would have known all about the hero of the Odyssey, Odysseus.
• They would have known that it was Odysseus who thought of the famous wooden-horse trick
that would lead to the downfall of Troy.
• Prior to Odysseus’ plan, the Greeks were unable to penetrate the massive walls of Troy, fighting for
ten long years outside the city. Odysseus’ plan was to build an enormous wooden horse and hide a
few Greek soldiers in the hollow belly. After the horse was built, the Greeks pushed it up to the gates
of Troy and withdrew their armies, so that their camp appeared abandoned.
• Thinking that the Greeks had given up the fight and that the horse was a peace offering, the Trojans
brought the horse into their city. That night, the Greeks hidden inside the wooden body came out,
opened the gates of Troy to the whole Greek army, and began the battle that was to win the war.
Thanks to Odysseus’ clever plan, the Greeks were eventually victorious, and they burned Troy to the
ground.
THE ODYSSEY
• The Odyssey is a portrait of a hero in trouble.
• Heroes experience pain and death, but they were always
sure of themselves.
• We can relate to this hero because
• we share with him a sense of being somehow lost in a world
of difficult choices.
• we have to cope with unfair authority figures.
• we seem always to have to work very hard to get what we
want
THE ODYSSEY
• Instead of beginning at the beginning with Odysseus’
departure from Troy, the story begins in the middle, with
Odysseus’ son, Telemachus.
• Telemachus is now twenty years old, threatened in his own
home by powerful men who want to rob him of his inheritance,
of his self-respect, and want to marry his mother.
• Meanwhile, we hear that Odysseus is stranded on an
island, longing to find a way to get back to his wife
Penelope, child, and home.
• It is already ten years since his sailing from Troy, twenty years
since his original departure from Ithaca.
• The Odyssey is the story of his journey back to his family.
It is told in two parts:
• The Wandering
• Coming Home
CHARACTERS
• Odysseus:
• Our protagonist.
• Odysseus is the husband of Queen Penelope and the father
of Prince Telemachus.
• He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends him
divine aid, but a bitter enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his
journey at every turn.
CHARACTERS
• Telemachus:
• Is now 20 years old.
• Is seen as the one obstacle for the suitors who are
attempting to court his mother (on the assumption that
Odysseus is dead).
• He lacks the confidence to confront them.
• Often receives help from Athena as well.
CHARACTERS
• Penelope:
• Wife to Odysseus
• Mother to Telemachus
• Continues to be faithful to Odysseus and does not give up
hope that he is alive.
CHARACTERS
• Athena:
• Daughter of Zeus
• Goddess of wisdom, and defensive war.
• Athena assists Odysseus and Telemachus and she speaks up
for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus.
• She often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of
Odysseus.
CHARACTERS
• Poseidon:
• God of the sea and earthquakes.
• Brother to Zeus and second most powerful God.
• As the suitors are Odysseus’s mortal antagonists,
Poseidon is his divine antagonist.
• He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the
Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his
journey home.
CHARACTERS
• Zeus:
• King of gods and men,
• Mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus.
• He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the
same.
CHARACTERS
• Antinous:
• The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors.
• Leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed.
• Eumaeus:
• The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd Philoetius,
helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca.
• Even though he does not know that the vagabond who
appears at his hut is Odysseus, Eumaeus gives the man food
and shelter.
CHARACTERS
• Eurycleia:
• The loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus
when they were babies.
• Eurycleia is well informed about palace happenings and
serves as confidante to her masters.
• She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope
• She later keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she
recognizes a scar on his leg.
CHARACTERS
• Calypso:
• The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when
he lands on her island-home of Ogygia.
• Calypso holds him prisoner there for seven years until
Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go.
• Hermes:
• Messenger god.
• Often relays messages to Odysseus
CHARACTERS
• Polyphemus:
• Son of Poseidon.
• One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose
island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy.
• Polyphemus imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to
eat them.
CHARACTERS
• Circe:
• The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s
crew into swine when he lands on her island.
• With Hermes’ help, Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and then
winds up living in luxury at her side for a year.
MAPS