THE ODYSSEY
Epic poem:
-Epic Hero (Odysseus)
Goes through challenges and grows and learns from the experience
Harmartia – a flaw that seems like a strength, but eventually leads to a downfall
Homer:
-Wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey
-Blind storyteller
Iliad:
Trojans
Greeks
Sparta
Paris kidnaps Helen
Allies with Sparta
Helen marries Menelaus
The Trojans go to war with the Greeks and Spartans.
Greeks build a Trojan horse and put it in front of the gates and the Trojans take the horse in to their
city… all the Greek soldiers come out in the middle of the night and Odysseus and all his men
kill all the Trojans and take Helen back to Sparta.
The Iliad is the story of going home.
The Odyssey:
The story of Odysseus’s trip home from the war
3 years: from Troy to Ithaca
Calypso’s island – island that belongs to the goddess Calypso
Calypso offers him immortality if he stays with her
Odysseus has been away and he wants to go back to Ithaca to see his wife, Penelope and his son,
Telemachas
THE ODYSSEY
Invocation of the Muse: the poet is looking for inspiration for a poem
Inspiration – the muses were the daughters of Zues
Wiles – the man of many wiles is very tricky
Epithet: term that is used in conjunction with a name that describes the person. ex: Simple Jaspan,
Bookless Noa, talkative josh
Odysseus: spent 20 years away from home, the main character
Odysseus gets home because of:
1. Self control
2. Etiquette
Book One:
Telemachus – Lives in a palace with his mother, people live in his courtyard using his servants and
eating his food, waiting for Penelope to choose one of them to marry and be the king.
Athena – Grey-eyed goddess of wisdom, loves Odysseus
Suitors – The opposite of the qualities above
Epithet – Introductive adjective, ex: annoying Avi
Charis – Gift
Bildungsroman – A story of growing up

Athena visits Telemachus as Méntës
RECOGNITION
After Méntës leaves Telemachus realizes that it was Athena
Book Two:
Telemachus gains respect
Penelope starts to make a cloth on a loom and said to the suitors that when it’s done she will marry
one of them but every night she undoes what she did that day.
Telemachus decides to go to Pylos and Sparta to hear stories about his father
Penelope is alone for 20 years but stays loyal to Odysseus
Odysseus has sex
Book V:
- Odysseus has feminine qualities while Penelope has some manly characters
- Calypso lets Odysseus leave, she says she’s doing it willingly but really Athena told Zeus to let him
go
- Calypso reminds him of the pleasures on her island and how hard it will be to live at home again but
he persists and leaves
- Poseidon comes back from Ethiopia and sees Odysseus in his ocean and sends him storms and
waves
- Ino: a goddess who takes pity on Odysseus when Poseidon is trying to harm him
- Ino sends him a matt or safety float and lands safely on the shores of Schería
Epic Simile: an elaborate, detailed simile
- Phaeácians  sports – big on sports - they started a “competition” (the arrow competition)
- Phaeácians taunt him into playing with them
The Phaeácians challenge Odysseus to “discus” and he rips them (see Athena’s compliment 152)
 Big theme in the poem: Self-control, holding back:
Odysseus –
Penelope – waits twenty years for her husband to come back
Telemachus – waits for his father to return
Book IX:
Lotus-eaters give Odysseus’s men their lotus food, which is like drugs
 Gynalotramin vaginal crème.
Book X:
His crew man get upset about how Odysseus is going home to Penelope and they are all going
home to nothing – they are pissed that he gets it all
Self-con(frickin)troll
 Odysseus is talking to Penelope about his story but she doesn’t know he is
Odysseus. They miss each other. She is amazed about how much he knows about
Odysseus.
 Her nurse is washing his feet and recognizes that he is Odysseus.
 Bfeurkwiygbowugwopugwhp;ghw
 Penelope is told that if a suitor can shoot an arrow thru 12 axe handles then she
will marry him.
 Penelope gets really close to Odysseus’s shaft.
 Tylemukkkiss tries to do the challenge thrice and fails. Then he realizes he can
pwn it but Odysseus tells him not to.
 The suitors try it and they all figgidy-izzail
 Odysseus dishes out total pwnag3 with a killionaire and killing frenzy.
 BATTLE ROYALE- Odysseus+ Telemachus vs. suitors
 He says he’s going to kill all of the suitors. He does.
 He burns all of their bodies and kills all of the women traitors who fucked the
suitors and he burns them too.
 He totally burns the entire fucking place.
 He needs to convince his bitch that he is her soul mate.
 The bitch doesn’t trust this nigga.
 She finally figures it out.