The Odyssey

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The Odyssey

• Written by Homer
• Written Approximately 1200 B.C.
• Translated from Greek by Robert Fitzgerald

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What is a Myth?

• A Myth is a traditional story from a particular
  culture
• It usually explains a belief of that culture, a
  ritual of the culture, or a mysterious natural
  phenomenon
• A Myth deals with humans and the unknown or,
  humans and gods.
• Many times the god is an alter ego, or a
  reflection of the heros best or worst
  characteristics
• Types of myths Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian
• Topics of Myths include nature, creation,
  semi-historical.
• Ancient Greek mythology is the influential and
  richest type. One will find its influence in
  literature, sculpture, and painting.
• The earliest sources of Greek mythical tales are
  the works of the poets Hesiod and Homer.

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Creation Myths Hesiod

• The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod (8th-7th century
  BC) was a Greek oral poet
• describing the origins and genealogies of the
  gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700
  BC.
• Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a
  vast variety of Greek traditions concerning the
  gods,
• tells how they came to be and how they
  established permanent control over the cosmos.
• first Greek mythical cosmogony( a theory
  concerning the coming into existence or origin of
  the universe, or about how reality came to be.

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Greek religion was polytheistic. What does the
Greek root poly mean? So, now what do you think
polytheistic means?
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The Olympians12 immortals who dwelt in a palace
on Mount Olympus (can you identify them all)
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Zeus / Jupiter

• King of the gods
• God of air
• Uses Thunderbolts as his weapon
• Womanizer married his own sister
• Son of Cronos and Rhea
• Most powerful

Jupiter is so named because it is so big it is
the King of Planets
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Poseidon / Neptune

• God of the sea and earthquakes
• Made horses
• Trident is weapon
• Amphitrite is his wife
• Zeus brother
• Son of Cronos and Rhea
• 2nd most powerful

Neptune is so named because the blue looks like
water
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Hades / Pluto

• God of the Underworld and Wealth
• King of the dead but he is not Death
• Zeus brother
• Son of Cronos and Rhea
• Has a helmet that makes the wearer invisible
• Persephone (Spring) is his wife
• NOT EVIL! (but he is unpitying)
• 3rd most powerful

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Hephaestus / Vulcan

• God of fire and the forge
• Son of Zeus and Hera
• Ugly
• Lame because he was thrown off Mt. Olympus for
  interfering with a fight between Hera and Zeus
• Husband to Aphrodite

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Hera / Juno

• Queen of the gods
• Protector of marriage
• Wife/sister of Zeus
• The peacock is her symbol (because of the
  eye-look)
• Cows are sacred to her (ox-eyed Hera)
• Jealous

No planet, but there is an asteroid named after
her plus a city in Alaska
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Hermes / Mercury

• Messenger god and the god of thieves
• Greek Trickster figure
• Very fast
• Son of Zeus and Maia
• Loves Aphrodite
• Greeks believed he guided souls to Hades

The Hermes Asteroid
Mercury revolves around the sun so fast, it was
named for the messenger god. One year is faster
than one day on Mercury
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Phoebus Apollo

• God of truth, light, archery, and healing
• Sun god in some myths (Helios is the sun god in
  other myths)
• Son of Zeus and Leto
• Wolves, dolphins, and crows are sacred to him
• Has the Oracle of Delphi

Apollo asteroids are near-earth asteroids
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Artemis / Diana

• Apollos Twin sister
• Goddess of the hunt, wild things, and crossways
• She is the moon goddess sometimes
• Virgin goddess
• As Diana, she is also a goddess of light

The Artemis navigation satellite
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Ares / Mars

• Son of Zeus and Hera, but both hate him
• God of War
• The Romans glorify him, but the Greeks make him
  out to be a coward
• He has three children with Aphrodite Phobos
  (panic) and Deimos (fear) are twins

Mars and its moons, Phobos and Deimos
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Hestia / Vesta

• Zeus sister Oldest of the original gods
• Goddess of the hearth and home
• Gave up her spot on Mt. Olympus for Dionysus
• Worshipped daily
• A virgin priestesses served her for 30 year time
  periods
• Does pretty much nothing in mythology

Asteroid Vesta
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Eros / Cupid

• God of love
• Son of Ares and Aphrodite
• Often portrayed as a child, but not always.
• He has wings
• Uses a bow and arrow arrows cause one to fall
  in love

Eros is a near earth asteroid
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Pallas Athena / Minerva

• Goddess of wisdom and defensive war
• Daughter of Zeus and Metis (titan) she popped
  out of his head after he swallowed the pregnant
  Metis
• She carries a shield with Medusas head on it

Minerva was a tiny robot designed by the Japanese
to land on an asteroid, but got lost in space.
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Demeter / Ceres

• Daughter of Cronos and Rhea
• Goddess of vegetation
• Had powers of growth and resurrection
• Her daughter is Persephone

The asteroid Ceres was the first asteroid ever
discovered and is one of the largest (about the
size of Texas). It almost became a designated as
a planet
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Dionysus / Bacchus

• Son of Zeus and Semele
• God of wine and happiness
• In some areas of Greece, his worship was outlawed
  ( thought too be dirty).

The Bacchus asteroid
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Aphrodite / Venus

• Goddess of beauty and love
• Mother of Eros/Cupid
• Wife of Hephaestus/Vulcan but lover of Ares/Mars
  and other guys

Venus is so named because it is a beautiful
planet and can be easily seen with just the eye
Born from the foam in the sea caused by the
attack of Cronos/ Saturn on Ouranus/Uranus

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Where was ancient Greece? Greece is a country in
Europe.
Greece
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When and where was ancient Greece?
AD
BC
2500
2000
3000
4000
3500
1500
1000
1500
1000
2000
500
500
0
790-1060s The Viking Age
1000 BC 323 BC Ancient Greece
55 BC - 400 AD Roman Britain
3100 BC 1069 BC Ancient Egypt
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Socrates 470-399 B.C.

• Socrates was a philosopher of Ancient Greece.
• A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the
  nature of life
• Sought truths about broad concepts such as truth,
  justice, and virtue.
• Socrates thought people could learn best by
  asking questions. This method of questioning is
  still called the Socratic method. He also thought
  that philosophers could study human behavior to
  learn how to improve society.

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The Death of Socrates

• The trial of Socrates was based on two charges
  corrupting the youth and impiety (immorality and
  sin). More specifically, Socrates accusers cited
  two impious acts failing to acknowledge the
  gods that the city acknowledges and introducing
  new deities. 501 chosen jurors voted to convict
  him.
• Socrates was ultimately sentenced to death by
  drinking a hemlock-based liquid. A well-known
  account of the trial was given by one of
  Socrates student, Plato.
• The trial is one of the most famous of all time.
  Whether Socrates was punished unjustly is a
  thought-provoking and contested issue, which to
  this day inspires discussions about the nature
  and meaning of justice.

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Plato 428-348 B.C.

• Plato was a student of Socrates.
• Plato later teaches Aristotle.
• He started a school called The Academy.
• Platos writing took the form of a dialogue
  between teacher and student.
• Wrote Platos Republic- proved one of the most
  intellectually and historically influential works
  of philosophy and political theory.

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Aristotle 384-322 B.C.

• Aristotle taught Alexander the Great.
• His writings cover many subjects, including
  physics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric,
  politics, government, ethics, biology, and
  zoology.
• He wrote The Poetics-offers an account of what he
  calls poetry, drama and comedies, tragedy,
  satires, lyric poetry, and epic poetry.

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A look inside the Greek Alphabet. Compare and
contrast this to our own English alphabet. What
do you notice?
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What similarities are there between ancient Greek
schools and our school?
At school we learn reading, writing and math. We
also learn singing and musical instruments.
Only children from rich families can go to
school, because you have to pay.
Girls dont usually go to school, they are mostly
educated at home.
We start school at the age of seven and stay
until we are about fourteen.
After school most children learn a job or trade.
The richer ones might go to Athens to study with
a philosopher.
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Greek Contributions

• The Greeks invented the Greek
• crane.
• This is a catapult that the Greeks invented. It
  could throw 300 lb. stones at walls/buildings.

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How have the ancient Greeks influenced our
buildings? Look at buildings in your area or in
pictures. Can you spot any of these Ancient Greek
features?
capitals
cornices
columns
a pediment
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Greek Architecture

• The Greeks invented
• three common and
• influential forms
• of columns.

DORIC
IONIC
CORINTHIAN
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Political Athens was the first democracy.

• Democracy type of government where people vote.
• Well, actually, Athens was a direct democracy
  where people vote on everything.
• The U.S. today is a representative democracy,
  where we vote for people to make decisions for
  us.

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Direct participation was the key to Athenian
democracy. In the Assembly, every male citizen
was not only entitled to attend as often as he
pleased but also had the right to debate, offer
amendments, and vote on proposals. Every man had
a say in whether to declare war or stay in peace.
Basically any thing that required a government
decision, all male citizens were allowed to
participate in.
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Whats an Epic?

• An Epic is a long narrative poem
• Tells about the adventures of a hero
• Usually epics embody the values of the cultures
  they are written for
• The Iliad and the Odyssey were used in schools to
  teach Greek virtues.
• Values honor, bravery, hospitality,
  intelligence, respect for the gods, loyalty to
  home and family
• Major faults disrespect for the gods, lack of
  hospitality, excessive pride hubris

• Iliad is primary model for epic of war
• Odyssey is primary model for epic of the long
  journey

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Characteristics of the Epic

• Begins in medias res (Latin for it begins in
  the middle of things), then flashes back to
  explain action leading up to that point
• Begins with an invocation (calling upon a god for
  inspiration) or prayer to a god or gods
• Always begins with a statement of theme
• Contains many epithets
• Contains long, formal speeches by many characters

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Homer

• Singer rapsode of tales/ from the island Chios
• historians and classicists can only speculate
  about the life of this man (details are few)
• thought to be blind, but describes events as a
  seeing person
• . We do not even know the century in which he
  lived, and it is difficult to say with absolute
  certainty that the same poet composed both works.
  
• All historians/entertainers of Homers time did
  not write their stories/facts down.
• The Greeks hailed him as their greatest poet, as
  well as their first. Although the Greeks
  recognized other poets who composed in Greek
  before Homer, no texts from these earlier poets
  survived.

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Now, close your eyes and envision this as I read
the following to you!

• The banquet is over and the fire has collapsed to
  a bed of embers. Amid bursts of laughter and
  boisterous conversation, serving maids clear the
  remains of bread and meat from the long wooden
  table. From his place at the head of the table,
  the lord of the hall signals to a man holding a
  stringed instrument starts to play while the
  guests shift their attention and slowly ease
  their talk. Then he begins to sing. Chanting
  rhythmically, occasionally touching the strings
  of his lyre, he sings of gods, heroes, and
  monsters of love, war, travel, death, and
  homecoming. A stillness upon the hall and the
  listeners fall under the spell of his words. The
  singer of tales is working his magic.
• This is an example of what it would be like to
  hear the tales of Homer and other storytellers.

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The Trojan War

• The Judgment of Paris- The Golden Apple Contest
• Spartan King Menelaus wife Helen (the face that
  launched a thousand ships) left him for the young
  Prince Paris of Troy.
• Greeks attacked Troy
• Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, led the siege.
• Odysseus (main character in the Odyssey) was
  another hero of the war.
• Odysseus was known not only for being a strong
  hero, but also for being a wise/smart hero.
• Another Greek hero, Achilles, died in the final
  year of the war Achilles Heel
• Trojan Horse Greek forces were victorious!

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OdysseusHero of The Odyssey

• Wife Penelope Son Telemachus
  Kingdom Ithaca
• Great soldier of the war
• Originally tried to get out of going to the
  warpretended he was crazy
• Came up with the wooden-horse trick that lead to
  Troys collapse.
• The Odyssey is the account of Odysseus journey
  home after the war.

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Odysseus Journey
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Meter in The Odyssey

• The Odyssey was written in a dactylic hexameter.
  Each line of the epic has 6 metrical feet. The
  first five feet are dactyls which are composed of
  a long sound and 2 short sounds. The last foot of
  each line is always a spondee which is made up of
  2 long sounds.

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Three Major Plot Strands of The Odyssey

• (1)Story in Ithaca about Odysseus wife and son
  as they await his return.
• (2)Tale of Odysseus wanderings during the ten
  years following the Trojan War.
• (3)Odysseus returns to Ithaca and joins forces
  with his son, Telemachus, to destroy their
  enemies.

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Motifs in The Odyssey

• Hospitality
• Respect for the Gods
• The Importance of Lineage
• Loyalty
• Pride and Honor
• Resisting Temptation
• Live Life to the Fullest
• Self-discipline
• The Importance of Leadership
• Revenge, Justice, Reconciliation
• Fate

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Edith Hamilton

• an American educator and author who was
  recognized
• as the greatest woman Classicist.
• Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a
  book written by Hamilton, published in 1942.
• It retells stories of Greek, Roman, and Norse
  mythology drawn from several classical sources.
• The book has become one of the most powerful and
  critically-acclaimed books of the Western world.

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2 Film Allusions

• 2001 A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction
  film directed by Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork
  Orange, Doctor Strangeglove). The movie is about
  creation by design- computers and their part in
  them- computers that can misfunction and cause
  destruction.
• Alludes to the Trojan Horse (monolith), Names
  (Tycho Dave Bowman), Monolith (creates a
  forgetting effect), a human relies on brute
  strength a monster relies on genius (irony).

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O Brother Where Art Thou?

• The film is a 2000 adventure story directed by
  brothers Joel and Ethan Cohen (The Big Lebowski,
  No Country for Old Men, Fargo,etc).
• Set in 1934 Mississippi during the Great
  Depression, the film's story is a modern satire
  loosely based on Homers epic poem.
• In the opening credits explicitly state the
  story of the film is based on epic poem by Homer.
  
• The similarities between O Brother, Where Art
  Thou? and The Odyssey are numerous, ranging from
  the obvious to the obscure.
• Joel Cohen has been quoted as saying It just
  sort of occurred to us after wed gotten into it
  somewhat that it was a story about someone going
  home, and sort of episodic in nature, and it kind
  of evolved into that. Its very loosely and very
  sort of unseriously based on The Odyssey.

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