Odyssey Bkgr 2
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Transcript of Odyssey Bkgr 2
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An Introduction to theOdyssey
The War-Story Background
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
The Wooden-Horse Trick
The Ancient World and Ours
A Search for Their Places in Life
Relationships with Gods
Epic and Values
The Telling of Epics
Homer
An Introduction to the Odyssey
Feature Menu
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Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the storyof that man skilled in all ways of contending, . . .
An Introduction to the Odyssey
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[End of Section]
The Odysseyis a tale of a heros long and perilousjourney home.
An Introduction to the Odyssey
But, it is also the story of a son in need of his fatherand of a faithful wife waiting for her husbandsreturn.
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The Iliadprovides the background for Odysseussstory and tells the tale of a ten-year war foughtoutside the walls ofTroy. In Homers Iliad
The War-Story Background
the Trojan War is in its tenth and final year
the people of Troy are fighting an alliance ofGreek kings because the worlds most beautifulwoman, Helen, abandoned her husband,Menelaus (a Greek king) and ran off with Paris, a
prince of Troy
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The Iliadprovides the background for Odysseussstory and tells the tale of a ten-year war foughtoutside the walls of Troy. In Homers Iliad
The War-Story Background
the Greeks won the war, reduced the city of Troy
to smoldering ruins, and butchered all theinhabitants, except for those they took as slavesback to Greece
[End of Section]
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Odysseus is not a typical epic hero. He is faced with
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
difficult choices
post-war disillusionment disrespect from the people
of his homeland
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Before the Trojan War, Odysseus
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
married the beautiful andfaithful Penelope
had one son, Telemachus
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[End of Section]
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
When called to serve in the Trojan War, Odysseus
pretended to be insane sohe wouldnt have to go (hedressed as a peasant,
plowed his field, andsowed it with salt)
revealed his sanity to savehis sons life (who was
placed in front of theplow)
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The Wooden-Horse Trick
During the Trojan War, Odysseus
performed extremely well as a soldier andcommander
thought of the famous wooden-horse trick thatlead to the defeat of Troy
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The Wooden-Horse Trick
Odysseuss plan was to build an enormouswooden horse and hide Greek soldiers inside.
The horse was left outside the gates of Troy,and the Greeks abandoned their camp.
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[End of Section]
The Wooden-Horse Trick
The Trojans thought the horse was a peaceoffering and brought it into the walled city.
At night, the men hidden in the horse came outand opened the gates to the entire Greek army.
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[End of Section]
The Ancient World and Ours
Odysseuss world is harsh, violent, and primitive.
The palaces that he and his men raid mighthave been nothing more than mud and stone
farmhouses.
The worldly goods they carry off from townmight have been only pots and pans, cattle andsheep.
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A Search for Their Places in Life
The Theme of the Odyssey
Odysseus and his family are searching for
the right relationships with one another and the
people around them their proper places in life
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A Search for Their Places in Life
The Structure of the Odyssey
The story begins with Telemachus, Odysseussson. Telemachus is searching for his fatherbecause he
is being threatened by rude, powerful men whowant to marry his mother and rob Telemachusof his inheritance
needs his father to return home and restoreorder
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[End of Section]
A Search for Their Places in Life
The Structure of the Odyssey
Readers learn that Odysseus
is stranded on an island, longing to get home
has been gone for twenty yearshe has spentten years at war and ten years trying to gethome
is in the middle of a midlife crisis and searching
for inner peace
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Relationships with Gods
In Homers stories, a god can be an alter egoareflection of a heros best or worst qualities.
Odysseus is known for hismental abilities, so he receives
aid from Athena, the goddessof wisdom.
Odysseus can also be crueland violent. Odysseuss
nemesis is Poseidon, the godof the sea, who is known forarrogance and brutishness.
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[End of Section]
Relationships with Gods
Myths in the Odyssey
Greek myths plays an important role in theOdyssey.
Homer is concerned with the relationshipbetween human and gods.
For Homer, the gods control all things, includingOdysseuss fate.
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Epics are long narrative poems that tell of theadventures of heroes who in some way embody thevalues of their civilization.
Epics and Values
More about Epics
The Greeks used Homers epics, the Iliadand
the Odyssey, to teach Greek virtues.
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[End of Section]
Epics and Values
The Epic Tradition
All epic poems in the western world owe somethingto the basic patterns established in Homers epics.
The Iliadis the primarymodel for an epic of war.
The Odysseyis the model
for an epic of the longjourney.
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Epics and other tales wereprobably told by wandering bardsor minstrels called rhapsodes.Rhapsodes were
The Telling of Epics
the historians, entertainers,and mythmakers of their time
responsible for spreading newsabout recent events or the
doings of heroes, gods, andgoddesses
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Epics were originally told aloud.
The Telling of Epics
They followed basic story lines and incorporatedformulaic descriptions.
Most of the words were improvised to fit aparticular rhythm or meter.
Epics included Homeric, or epic, similes thatcompare heroic events to easily understandable
everyday events.
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Epics such as the Iliadand Odysseywere probablytold over a period of several days.
The Telling of Epics
Singers might have summarized part of thetales, depending on how long they stayed in one
community.
[End of Section]
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No one knows for sure who Homer was.
Homer
Later Greeks believed he was a blind minstrel, orsinger, from the island of Chios.
One scholar suggests Homerwas a woman because home andhearth played such an importantrole in his stories.
Some scholar think there weretwo Homers. Some think he wasjust a legend.
[End of Section]
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The End
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Troy waslocated inwhat is nowTurkey.
The War-Story Background
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Epic Hero
In Homers time, epic heroes
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
were placed somewhere the gods and ordinaryhuman beings
experienced pain and death
were always true to themselves
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Relationships with Gods
Mythsare traditional stories, rooted in a particularculture, that usually explain a belief, a ritual, or amysterious natural phenomenon.
Myths are essentially religious because they are
concerned with the relationship between humanbeings and the unknown or spiritual realm.
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More About Epics
Epics use elevated language and a serious tone andoften include elements of myth, legend, folk tale,and history.
Epics and Values
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Epics and Values
Journey
The theme of the journey is found in many storiesin western literature, including
fairy tales
novels, such as The Incredible Journey, Moby-Dick, and The Hobbit
movies, such as The Wizard of Ozand Star Wars
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Formulaic Descriptions
Formulaic descriptions gave the singer time to thinkahead to the next part of the story. The oralstoryteller had formulas for
The Telling of Epics
the arrival and greeting of guests, eating ofmeals, and taking of baths
describing the sea (wine-dark) and Athena
(gray-eyed Athena)
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Homeric, or Epic, Similes
In the Iliad, the singer uses a Homeric simile todescribe how Athena prevents an arrow fromstriking Menelaus.
The Telling of Epics
She brushed it away from his skin as lightly as when amother
Brushes a fly away from her child who is lying in sweetsleep.