The Odyssey

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The Odyssey
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What is an Epic?

• A long narrative poem about a legendary hero.
• Recall the Gilgamesh epic from Mesopotamia.

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Homer

• poet
• thought to be blind, but describes events as a
  seeing person
• lived around 1200 B.C.E

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Homer

• Wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey - stories about
  the war between the Trojans and the Greeks which
  had happened between 900 and 700 B.C.E.

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Illiad

• Story of the last year of the Trojan War
• War had lasted 10 years.
• Troy was defeated when Ulysses and his men were
  able to get inside the walls of Troy concealed
  within the body of the Trojan horse.

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The Trojan Horse
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The Odyssey

• The story of the journey of Ulysses and his men
  trying to get home after the Trojan War.
• 10 years
• an epic about humans on the journey of life
  overcoming temptations along the way.

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Characters

• Ulysses or Odysseus
• Sirens - group of females who lured sailors by
  their singing

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Characters

• Circe - goddess, enchantress, who turned men into
  swine
• Scylla - monster with 12 feet and 6 heads with 3
  rows of teeth, carries off a sailor in each mouth
  

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Characters

• Charybdis - 3 times a day pulls sailors into her
  whirlpool
• Hyperion - the sun (distinct from Apollo, the sun
  god)
• JoveZeusJupiterleader of the gods
• Eurylochus - one of the crew members