The Odyssey

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Transcript of The Odyssey

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Homer(800 B.C.)

A legendary poet and historian, Homer is credited with two of the most famous and enduring epics of all time: the Iliad and the Odyssey. Their impressive length and scope have resulted in the coining of an adjective from the author’s name: homeric, meaning “large-scale, massive, or enormous.”Facts about Homer’s life have been lost over time. Scholars even disagree about whether the Iliad and the Odyssey were written by the same person—and whether Homer existed at all! According to tradition, however, Homer was born in western Asia Minor, and he was blind.In later centuries, the Iliad and the Odyssey were the basis of Greek and Roman education.

Character Study

Odysseus is an epic hero who was admired by the ancient Greeks, but he may not be a good role model for people living today. In a character study, evaluate Odysseus’ status as a hero by analyzing his actions and motives. Support your analysis with examples and quotations from the epic.

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More Terms to KnowArchetype—a symbol

across cultures and time

Tragic or Fatal flaw— example: hubris (arrogance/pride)

Hero— powerful and possibly magical

Adventures—battles against real and imaginary monsters

Qualities of an epic:

1. Invocation of Muse2. Omniscient point of view3. In Medias Res4. Story of a hero and his adventures5. Supernatural elements—gods, monsters, magic, etc.6. Long, lofty speeches7. Flashback—everything that went on before, like in the Iliad8. Exposition—past, even the history of

weapons 9. Heroic battles10. Usually ends happily

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After ten long years, the Trojan War is over. The Achaeans (a name for the Greeks) have defeated the Trojans. Odysseus, his men, and their twelve ships, begin their journey home to Ithaca. The storm winds take them to the land of the Cicones where Odysseus and his men sack the main city Ismarus, attack their people, and steal their possessions. Odysseus and each of his men share the stolen riches equally. Odysseus urges that they leave. The crew do not listen. They slaughter the Cicones’ sheep and cattle, and drink their wine. The Cicones call for help. Now stronger and larger in number, the Cicones fight back with force. Odysseus loses six men from each of his twelve ships. He feels he and his men are being punished by Zeus. Odysseus and the rest of his crew sail away before any more men are killed

1: The Cicones

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2: The Lotus Eaters

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3: The Cyclops

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4: The Bag of Winds

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5: The Laestrygonians

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6: Circe the Witch Goddess

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Circe in Greek KIRKE was Goddess of Magic/potions , she had power through her potions to turn men into swine, lions and other animals, she turned several of Odysseus men into swine.

Odysseus met Hermes, who, in addition to certain instructions, gave him a plant (moly) that would rob Circe's drugs of their power.

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7: Tiresias and the Land of the Dead

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9: Song of the Siren

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10: Deadly Sea Monsters

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Scylla or CharybdisO brave Odysseus, having escaped the Sirens, you must choose between another set of perils that Circe has forewarned you of. You must sail through a very narrow strait that is closely guarded by Scylla on the one hand and Charybdis on the other.Will you choose to sail nearby the island of the monster Scylla, an immortal six-headed dragon that could very well devour you and all of your crew, six at a time?Or will you sail past Charybdis, the giant mouth that creates a giant whirlpool three times a day, sucking down the surrounding waters and swallowing everything thereupon, risking you, your crew and your ship?

O brave Odysseus, what choice shall you make? And is it your fate to survive your terrible

choice?

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11: Helios and His Sacred Cattle

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The last stop of Odysseus and his men (before getting stuck with Calypso) was the island of Thrinacia. Circe had warned them to avoid the island, but ...

the now considerably smaller crew kills the sacred cattle of Helios, for which sacrilege Zeus wrecks Odysseus' last ship.

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Not having seen any men for years, Mythical Calypso fell for Odysseus instantly. She wanted to make him her immortal husband and give him eternal youth. But Odysseus denied her offer as he longed to go back to his wife in Ithaca. Yet, Calypso was so much in love with him that despite his refusal, she persisted and continued seducing Odysseus, keeping his as a prisoner for seven years. She reluctantly lets him leave after a visit from Athena.

In the island Ogygia, Calypso welcomed the exhausted Greek hero, Odysseus, who had drifted for nine days in the open sea after losing his ship and his army to the monsters of Italy and Sicily when coming back home from Troy.

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I am the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. I found Odysseus washed ashore near the river.,

Princess Nausicaa

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Ithaka. Ithakia. Ithaca. Ithaki. We have many name for the things we love; at least, many different spellings. Ithaca is an exceptionally beautiful island near Kefalonia. Ithaca is namely the home island of Odysseus. Although it in recent years have been a dispute whether it really is Ithaca which Homer describes in his epic Odyssey. As most people surely know, Odysseus was a wandering hero who fought against all sorts of things. Among other things, he played a crucial role in the war in Troy. It was Odysseus who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse. He was away from Ithaca for ten long years. At home his wife, Penelope, was waiting faithfully for his return.

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THE ODYSSEY: AN INTRODUCTION The Odyssey is one of the two great Greek epics attributed to the bard Homer, and is one of the most revered and influential works of Western literature. An epic is a long narrative poem usually about the deeds of a hero. This epic hero often embodies the goals and values of his or her culture. Typically, epics are based in part on historical fact, blending legend with truth. Background In primitive societies, stories were passed from one person to another by word of mouth. Storytellers, or bards, arriving in a village, court, or camp, would entertain eager listeners with tales of the gods or great heroes. The longer stories, now called epics, might be told over a series of days. To help the storytellers remember these lengthy pieces, the tales were composed in poetic lines and were usually recited to the accompaniment of stringed instruments. Although these stories were filled with incredible deeds and fantastic exploits, many were based on historical events and were accepted as fact by the listeners. Two epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, had their roots in the events of the Trojan War, which occurred about 1200 B.C. While legend credits the abduction of the Spartan queen Helen as the cause, most probably economic conflict over control of trade in the Aegean Sea was the reason for the war.

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The Iliad and the Odyssey were both passed down through word of mouth by wandering bards for several centuries, until they were finally written down when the Greeks first developed an alphabet, about 800 B.C. The author traditionally credited with assembling a number of earlier and shorter narrative songs and putting them in their current, final form as epics was a bard named Homer who hailed from the western coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). According to tradition, he was blind (not a surprising disability to find in a bard, who would have had a hard time finding other modes of employment). Modern scholars have found no historical evidence that such an individual really existed. However, both the Iliad and the Odyssey bear the marks of a single, unifying artistic intelligence which, for the sake of convenience, we can attribute to an inspired bard named Homer. Although a major purpose for telling and retelling the myths and legends was entertainment, another goal was to teach important lessons about religion and society. Divine beings often play a part in epics, guiding the hero or thwarting his actions. Myths about Zeus, Athena, and Apollo were many, but there were also stories about great human heroes such as Hector, Odysseus, and Penelope, who served as examples of ideal human qualities. In fact, Alexander the Great credited Homer’s Iliad as the source of his ideas about valor and nobility. As you read the Odyssey, remember that you are reading an epic that was composed to be heard by an audience, so you might try reading some of the poem aloud. You may find a few areas that cause difficulty when you read. The unfamiliarity as well as the sheer number of the Greek names of the gods and humans might seem daunting at first. You may keep track of key characters and place names on the back of your Odyssey Reading Assignments bookmark.

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The poetic form of the Odyssey might also cause you some problems. Try reading the sentences according to the punctuation, instead of line by line. Also remember that epics were composed in an elevated style, which the translation you are reading attempts to reproduce. You’ll find several distinct stylistic features which make epic poetry different from contemporary fiction, such as: • extended similes • formal speeches instead of casual dialogue • catalogues of names or objects Perhaps the most noticeable stylistic feature of the Odyssey is its use of formulaic language. Because the ancient bards relied on memory as well as improvisation in reciting their epics, they often resorted to repetition of specific phrases or even whole passages to structure their recitals. Many of these expressions are what are known as stock epithets —recurrent descriptive tags or nicknames of character. Odysseus’s son Telemakhos, for instance, is frequently referred to as “clear-headed”; Helen’s husband Menelaos is “the red-haired king.” Sunrise is almost always described in the phrase “When Dawn stretched out her fingertips of rose.” Although modern readers may find these formulaic expressions intrusive, ancient audiences saw them as artful embellishments, and looked forward to hearing the familiar phrases the way modern viewers enjoy the stock taglines of their favorite TV characters (“D’oh!”)

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The narrative structure of the Odyssey may also confuse you somewhat, at first. Instead of beginning the story at the beginning (which would be no easy task, since the legends that gave rise to the story of the Odyssey are so tangled and complex), Homer starts his narrative in the middle of the action (in medias res — Latin for “in the middle of things”), and eventually backtracks to a point much earlier, brings us up to the point where the epic began, and then progresses forward from there. Complicating the narrative still further are a whole array of side-narratives, sub-plots, and minor digressions. Some of those — such as the references to the story of King Agamemnon, his unfaithful wife Klytaimnestra, and his loyally vengeful son Orestes — are thematically relevant to the larger story of Odysseus’s wanderings and homecoming. Others, though, are decidedly less significant, and may well have been inserted by the bard merely to appeal to the interests of one particular audience he happened to be performing for. You’ll find it easier to separate out the primary narrative strands as you read. One last, minor detail: in the translation we are reading, the translator Robert Fitzgerald chose to spell the names in a way that is more faithful to the original Greek pronunciation, so some of the names of familiar characters may look unusual to you. Traditional English spellings of many ancient Greek names are based on the Roman spellings, but Latin was not pronounced the same as English. “C,” in Latin, for instance, was always pronounced as a “k” sound, so names like “Cyclops” and “Circe” were pronounced “Kyklops” and “Kirke” by the Greeks and the Romans — so that’s how Fitzgerald spells them.

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Athena the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War.

The assistance that Athena provides Odysseus is indirect. She tends to disguise as a mortal or appear in someone's dream to direct him to the right path.

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Telemachus and his comrades travelled to Pylos and the court of King Nestor

Nestor gave Telemachus a chariot to travel to Sparta to visit King Menelaus

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“When Odysseus has bathed, Penelope, still aloof, tests him by suggesting that his bed be moved. Odysseus, however, knows the bed he built is immovable for he constructed it around an olive tree which serves as a bedpost. Thus, Penelope recognizes and accepts her husband”.

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Ulysses is derived from Ulixes, the Latin name for Odysseus, a character in ancient Greek literature.

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Dogs were valued as hunting hounds and pig dogs, and also as much loved companions. Odysseus had a faithful dog called Argos in Homer’s Odyssey.

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Connecting Literary Elements

3. A conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. It may involve a person’s struggle with an enemy of some kind, or it may involve a clash between opposing thoughts within a person’s mind. (a) On the chart below, identify one external conflict that Odysseus faces and one internal conflict that he experiences. (b) Also, on the chart, briefly describe the resolution of each conflict.

4. Which character traits help Odysseus to be victorious in his conflicts? Explain.

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UlyssesBY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

It little profits that an idle king,By this still hearth, among these barren crags,Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and doleUnequal laws unto a savage race,That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.I cannot rest from travel: I will drinkLife to the lees: All times I have enjoy'dGreatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with thoseThat loved me, and alone, on shore, and whenThro' scudding drifts the rainy HyadesVext the dim sea: I am become a name;For always roaming with a hungry heartMuch have I seen and known; cities of menAnd manners, climates, councils, governments,Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;And drunk delight of battle with my peers,Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fadesFor ever and forever when I move.How dull it is to pause, to make an end,To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on lifeWere all too little, and of one to meLittle remains: but every hour is savedFrom that eternal silence, something more,A bringer of new things; and vile it wereFor some three suns to store and hoard myself,And this gray spirit yearning in desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking star,Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

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 This is my son, mine own Telemachus,To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,—Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfilThis labour, by slow prudence to make mildA rugged people, and thro' soft degreesSubdue them to the useful and the good.Most blameless is he, centred in the sphereOf common duties, decent not to failIn offices of tenderness, and payMeet adoration to my household gods,When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.         There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—That ever with a frolic welcome tookThe thunder and the sunshine, and opposedFree hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;Death closes all: but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deepMoans round with many voices. Come, my friends,'T is not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'We are not now that strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;One equal temper of heroic hearts,Made weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

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When you set out for Ithakaask that your way be long,full of adventure, full of instruction.The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,angry Poseidon - do not fear them:such as these you will never findas long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rareemotion touch your spirit and your body.The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,angry Poseidon - you will not meet themunless you carry them in your soul,unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.At many a Summer dawn to enterwith what gratitude, what joy -ports seen for the first time;to stop at Phoenician trading centres,and to buy good merchandise,mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,and sensuous perfumes of every kind,sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;to visit many Egyptian cities,to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.Your arrival there is what you are destined for.But don't in the least hurry the journey.Better it last for years,so that when you reach the island you are old,rich with all you have gained on the way,not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.Without her you would not have set out.She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.So wise you have become, of such experience,that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean. 

Ithacaby Constantine P. Cavafy

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