Homer

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Homers The Odyssey

• Background Notes

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Who is Homer?
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No, not Homer Simpson
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• An Ancient blind poet
• The bard who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey
  between 900 and 700 B.C.

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• Homer did not compose each epic all at once he
  told them in a series of short episodes that
  could be recited in an evening.
• Editors, not Homer himself, organized the epics
  in 24 books.

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What exactly is an Epic?
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The Epic

• A long narrative poem that tells the adventures
  of a hero
• Used to teach virtues of a civilization

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Characteristics of an Epic

• A physically impressive hero (usually famous)
• A quest or journey
• A vast setting involving much of the known
  physical world
• Descent of the hero into the underworld
• Supernatural Forces
• Glorification of the hero at the end

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Famous Epics from Around the World

• Iliad and Odyssey Greece
• Gilgamesh Sumeria
• Aeneid Rome
• Song of Roland France
• Divine Comedy Italy
• Mahabharata, Ramayana India
• Sundiata Mali

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Heroes During Homers Time

• Heroes were a special class of aristocrats, in
  between gods and ordinary human beings.
• No matter what pain they may have experienced,
  they always displayed CONFIDENCE .

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The Iliad

• Setting 10th year of the Trojan WarGreeks vs.
  Trojans
• Theme War
• Important Characters
• Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships.
• Menelaus, Helens Greek Husband
• Paris, the prince of Troy
• Climax Trojan Horse (Odysseuss idea)

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The Odyssey

• Setting 10 years after the end of the Trojan War
• Theme A Long Journey
• A Hero In trouble
• Odysseus, a Greek soldier trying to find his way
  home to Ithaca
• People of Ithaca have forgotten about him
• His war-hero status is not important anymore

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In Medias Res

• Means In the middle of a sequence of events
• The Odyssey does not begin at the beginning it
  starts with Telemachus at 20 years old trying to
  figure out what to do about his missing dad.