Transcript Introduction to the Odyssey - Harding Charter Preparatory

Introduction to
the Odyssey
Key Ideas: The Odyssey
 The
Odyssey is an epic.
 An epic is a long narrative poem about
the deeds of a hero.
 The epic hero often portrays the goals
and values of the society
 Epics are based in part on historical fact,
blending legend with truth.
Epics at a
Glance
The Epic and Epic Hero
 In
literature, the epic is a long narrative
poem about the deeds of a hero.
 The epic hero is a larger-than-life figure
who undertakes great journeys and
performs deed requiring remarkable
strength and cunning.
Epic Hero: Characteristics
 Possesses
superhuman strength, craftiness,
and confidence.
 Is helped and harmed by interfering gods.
 Embodies ideals and values that a culture
considers admirable.
 Emerges victorious from perilous situations.
Epic Plot
 Involves
a long journey, full of
complications, such as:




Strange creatures
Divine intervention
Large-scale events
Treacherous weather
Homer
Homer
 There
are many theories about the blind
poet Homer, who is credited with writing
the Iliad and the Odyssey.
 Homer is said to have lived between 900
and 700 B.C.
Oral History
 Homer’s
epics are all that remains of a
series of poems that told the whole story
of the Trojan War.
 In later centuries, the Iliad and the
Odyssey were memorized by professional
reciters, who performed them at religious
festivals throughout Greece.
The setting for the Iliad is
the city of Troy.
Why does the Trojan
War begin?
A beauty contest.
The participants
were
Athena,
Aphrodite, and
Hera.
Paris, a Prince from the city of
Troy, was the judge.
The prize -a golden apple
inscribed “to the
fairest.”
The goddesses
bribed Paris to choose
them over the others.
Aphrodite’s offer was the best.
Paris chose her.
What prize did Paris receive?
The world’s most
beautiful woman -- Helen
She just happens to be
the wife of King Menelaus
of Greece.
King
Agamemnon, the
brother of King
Menelaus,
gathers all
the Greeks.
They sail to Troy.
Helen of Troy
became the
“face that
launched a
thousand
ships.”
And the Trojan War begins.
It will last for ten years.
The Iliad



The Iliad takes place during the tenth year of
this war.
It tells the story of the Greek warrior, Achilles
and his quarrel with Menelaus’ brother
Agamemnon, ending with the death and
funeral of Paris’ brother Hector.
After Hector’s death, the Greeks brought the
war to an end thanks to the cleverness of
Odysseus ruler of the island of Ithaca.
 To
break up the ten-year war, Odysseus
thought of a scheme to make the Trojans
think that the Greeks had finally given up.
 He ordered a giant wooden horse to be
left at the gates of Troy.
 The Trojans, not seeing any Greeks,
assumed that the Greeks had fled and
left the horse as a peace offering.
 They
took the horse inside the city, only to
find that the horse was filled with Greek
soldiers and that Troy was doomed.
The Odyssey is about
the hero Odysseus’
long trip home to Ithaca.
His trip home
takes
10 years.
Odysseus’ trip home
Epic
Conventions
1. Invocation of the Muse
A formal plea for help to
the Muse Calliope.
2. In medias res
The epic plunges right
into the action -- it
begins “in the middle
of things.”
Flashbacks provide
background information.
3. Epic similes
Use of extended similes.
4. Metrical Structure
Dactylic Hexameter
six stressed syllables per line
Closely resembles speech.
5. Stock epithets
A descriptive phrase used
in place of a noun or
proper noun.
“Grey-eyed Athena”