Introduction to The Odyssey
What was the Age of Heroes?
Who was Homer?
What is an Epic Poem?
The Iliad and The Odyssey
Odysseus in Literature
Time Line
• 1600 - 1100 BCE
• 1193 BCE
• 1100 – 750
• 750 – 500
• 500 – 400
• 400 – 300
Heroic Age:
Flourishing of Greek Empire
City of Troy is destroyed
Dark Age
Renaissance of Greek Empire:
Time of Homer and Hesiod.
Rise and Fall of Athens.
Golden Age of Greece. Persian
and Peloponnesian Wars
Macedonian Invasion under
Alexander the Great. End of
Greek Empire.
The Age of Heroes
The Greek Empire dates back to around
1600 BCE. From 1600-1100 BCE, the
empire flourished, but then went into a
dark age that lasted until around 750
BCE. Hesiod has a description of life
during this time, which we’ll read in
Works and Days.
The Age of Heroes
The city of Troy (see map)
was destroyed around 1193
BCE, likely by Greeks seeking
trade routes through the
Dardanelles. The Iliad and
The Odyssey, Homer’s
immortal epic poems, are
about the Trojan War. The
epics are part of the
historical credo of ancient
Greece because they tell of a
time when the Greek citystates were unified and
powerful politically.
The Age of Heroes
In these poems, Greeks
are referred to as:
Achaeans; Argives;
Danaans, or Myceneans,
representing different
city or island states of
the Greek empire.*
Troy is referred to as
Ilium, one of the names
of this ancient city.
The Age of Heroes
The epics also tell of the strength and
cultural fortitude of the individual,
embodied by Greek heroes, notably,
Odysseus. The Greek empire is later
torn by civil wars, known as the
Peloponnesian Wars, which weaken the
civilization. It breaks apart after
Alexander the Great takes over and
dies. By 200 BCE, the empire has been
absorbed by Egypt and other kingdoms.
The Age of Heroes
During the Golden Ages of Greek
Literature (500 – 400 BCE), which
coincides with the Peloponnesian Wars,
many playwrights used the stories from
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, to try to
end the destruction the civil war was
causing, and to look back to a finer time,
when a unified Greece was strong. This
time became known as the “Heroic Age.”
Ideals of the Heroic Age
• The Heroic Age is a semi-mythical time in the
Greek civilization: 1400 to 1100 BCE
• Homer did not LIVE in the Heroic Age: He
wrote about it!
• According to Greek traditions, humans during
this time lived in closer contact with the gods,
as in the Pentateuch
• This was the time of the Trojan War (1193
BCE)
• Democratic ideals flourished under the
mythical king of Athens, Theseus
Ideals of
Ideals
ofthe
theHomeric
Heroic Age
Age
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Aidos: shame for neglecting duty
Nemesis: divine retribution
Aoidos: supporting bards and the arts
Arete: striving for excellence in mind and
body, actions and thoughts
Dike: striving for justice (Nike: victory)
Ergon: having a strong work ethic
Kleos: seeking glory (Kudos: Praise)
Xenia: guest-host reciprocity leading to kind
treatment of strangers
Ideals of the Heroic Age
Men were judged by arete, not by birth and
could achieve a higher social status by
thoughts and deeds.
Three major “sins” in Greece:
1) blasphemy against the gods
2) treachery to host or guest
3) shedding the blood of relatives
Who Was Homer?
(Not Simpson!)
• Believed to be the blind creator of The Iliad
and The Odyssey and Homeric Hymns. The
poems and hymns were not written, but
created in an oral tradition to be performed.
(Each one is about 12,000 lines each!)
• Homer lived around 700 BCE, when there was
no written Greek language.
• Works existed in written form by 300 BCE,
and likely before then.
Who Was Homer?
(Not Simpson!)
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1)
2)
3)
4)
The transcriber, perhaps, is also the poet
A theory states that Homer was a woman:
there were women poets, and there are
strong female characters in the Odyssey.
Evidence that Homer was one individual:
Use of similar epithets and epic similes.
Style of the works: Diction, tone, word
choice, methods of characterization.
Structure of the works.
But, in the end, no one is really sure.
What is an Epic Poem?
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An epic poem is a long poem that deals with the
origins of a people, nation, or religious beliefs.
The poem is presented in a structured format: The
Iliad and The Odyssey are in dactylic hexameter.
(Say the name Jessica six times. That’s dactylic
hexameter.) *
Gods or supernatural beings play a role.
Human, mortal, heroes, either national or religious,
fight against great odds and triumph, although for
humans, death is always lurking in the distance.
Violence and gore abound, described in detail!
The setting is global.
Elevated diction is used.
What is an Epic Poem?
• Use of epithets, kennings and epic similes.
• The narration is objective, third person.
• Narrative starts in medias res, with an invocation to
the gods or Muses, and poses and epic question, that
addresses a crucial theme of human life.
• Episodic plot structure: Plot is repeated in each
episode, and the episodes can be interchanged,
without losing the meaning of the story. (Compare to
Dynamic or Climactic plot structure.)
• And, importantly, Aristotle notes that the epic should
have a unity of ethos, or epic question that moves all
event in each episode, and ties all episodes together.*
• What is the epic question for The Odyssey?
What is an Epic Poem?
• Epithet: Short, usually two- or three-word
phrase that is used repeatedly to describe a
character or other noun: aegis bearing Zeus;
wine dark sea; Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio; Blue
Moon Odom*
• Kennings: Similar to epithets, but usually
replace the noun itself: ring bearer (for a
king); the swan’s road (for the sea); the Bronx
Bombers (for the Yankees)
What is an Epic Poem?
• Epic Simile: A simile with an extended
figurative end. These are scattered through
The Odyssey. For example:
Just as a lion beset by doubt and fear when
he’s surrounded by a crowd of hunters closing
in – a cunning ring – so was Penelope, while
pondering, beset, until sweet sleep came
suddenly.
The long description of the lion (figurative) is
compared (using as) to Penelope (literal).
The Odyssey and The Iliad
These two works tell the tales around the
Trojan War. The Trojan War, it is believed,
actually took place in ancient Troy, around
1200 BCE. As you’ve read in history class, the
ruins of this ancient city in Asia Minor
(Turkey) were discovered in the early part of
the 20th century. The Iliad is the tale of the
war itself, and The Odyssey is the story of
one Greek hero, Odysseus, as he tries to sail
back home to Ithaca.
The Story of the Trojan War
It all begins with a
beauty contest…
On the side of Trojans:
Aphrodite, Ares,
Artemis, Apollo, Zeus
On the side of Greeks:
Athena, Hera, Poseidon
The Story of the Trojan War
According to the story in The Iliad, the
Trojan War was the result of a beauty
contest. While the gods and goddesses are
attending the wedding of King Peleus and
Thetis, the goddess of discord (Eris—who was
NOT invited!) throws out a golden apple with
the words: For the Fairest on it. The
goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all
claim it, and ask Zeus to be the judge.
The Story of the Trojan War
Zeus declines (wisely!) and gives the
task to Paris, Prince of Troy and son of
King Priam, who due to an oracle that
claimed he’d cause the downfall of the
kingdom, is away being a shepherd.
Paris is very cute, but not too smart,
and not really very courageous either.
He accepts.
The Story of the Trojan War
Each goddess promises Paris something
if he chooses her: Hera promises to
make him a King of Asia and Europe.
Athena promises him warrior skills that
would give him honor and glory. But
Aphrodite promises him the most
beautiful woman in the world – and he,
being not too smart, chooses Aphrodite,
and gives her the golden apple.
The Story of the Trojan War
The most beautiful woman in the world
was Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of
Sparta (Lacedaemon). (Yeats attributes
the beginning of this war to the rape of
Leda…) Paris abducts her and takes her
to Troy. The legend is that the Greeks
launched a thousand ships to sail to
Troy to destroy it, and take Helen back.
Odysseus was one of the generals.
The Story of the Trojan War
The battle takes nine years, and for
much of it, it seems the Greeks, due to
their own internal bickering, cannot win.
Achilles spends much of the time sulking
in his tent, from an argument he has
with Agamemnon over a woman, but
rises to battle when his friend Patroclus
is slain. *
The Story of the Trojan War
The Iliad actually ends with the death of
Hector, the Trojan prince, and mighty
warrior, whom Achilles kills. Achilles
drags his body in triumph nine times
around the walls of Troy, once for each
year of the war, but is then moved by
the mourning of King Priam, and gives
the beaten body of Hector back to the
Trojans, who build a funeral pyre and
burn him.
The Story of the Trojan War
The rest of the story of the end of the Trojan
War is told in a variety of places. Achilles
dies by getting shot in the heel by Paris, with
the help of an arrow directed by Apollo. The
Greeks fight over his armor, but Odysseus
gets it. Ajax, a mighty warrior who wanted
the armor, goes crazy and kills a bunch of
cattle, thinking they’re Greeks. He then kills
himself with his own sword, and suffers
dishonor.
The Story of the Trojan War
• The war drags on, and
seems completely at a
stalemate, but for the
cunning of Odysseus.
Odysseus comes up with
a brilliant plan:
• The Greeks built a huge
wooden horse and
presented it to the
Trojans as a parting gift,
saying that they gave up
and went back to Greece.
The Story of the Trojan War
The Trojans hesitate, but
then accept the horse and
bring it in to their city. In
the middle of the night, as
the Trojans celebrate,
Odysseus and other Greeks
emerge from the hollow
horse, and open the gates of
the city. The Greeks
brutally slay the Trojan men
and male children. * The
women are killed or taken as
slaves back to Greece. Troy
is destroyed, and the Greeks
go home.
The Story of the Trojan War
Virgil gives us the story of the Trojan
horse in The Aeneid, where Odysseus is
painted as a cruel conniver. Euripides,
in The Trojan Women tells the story of
the rape and pillage of Troy at the end
of the Trojan War. It is a moving and
compassionate tale of the suffering of
the defeated. (Why would he, a Greek,
write about how badly the Greeks
behaved during a war?)
The Story of the Trojan War
At the end of the war, Poseidon is pissed
because Athena tells him that 1)
Cassandra was raped by Ajax (not the
dead one) in her temple inside Troy, and
no Greek stopped him. 2) The Greeks
neglect to offer sacrifices to her. 3)
Odysseus and Diomedes steal the
Palladium, a sacred statue of Athena,
from her temple.
The Story of the Trojan War
Athena and Poseidon were initially on
the side of the Greeks. Athena stirs
Poseidon to seek revenge, and so he
does, by making is very hard for the
Greeks to get home. Poseidon is also
pissed because Odysseus blinds
Polyphemus, his son the Cyclops. When
Odysseus goes to Hades, he hears some
of these tales. As the Greeks leave
Troy, a tempest arises.
The Story of the Trojan War
After the war, Helen and Menelaus seem
OK, although Helen seems a bit creepy
in The Odyssey... However, the King of
the Greeks, and head of the house of
Atreus, Agamemnon, (King of Argos and
Mycenae) does not fare so well… When
the Greek armies originally convened
for the war, they landed in Aulis, where
the Greeks anger Artemis by killing a
hart, or deer.
The Story of the Trojan War
She demands a royal maiden as a
sacrifice before she lets the winds blow
to set them off. Agamemnon offers his
daughter Iphigenia, whom he sends for
on the pretence of marring Achilles, the
famous warrior. She arrives for her
“wedding” but dies a maiden on a
sacrificial altar to satisfy her father’s
ambition.
The Story of the Trojan War
Clytemnestra, sister of Helen, hates him
after this, and when he returns, she and
Aegisthus, her new lover kill him immediately.
(And his Trojan princess, Cassandra too!) The
Greeks won the war, but Aeneas, the Trojan
warrior, sets sail to found Rome, and the
house of Atreus falls. The children Orestes
and Electra later kill their mother and her
new husband! Odysseus meets Agamemnon in
Hades, to hear his sad story.
The Odyssey
The epic is divided into two parts:
Part One: The Voyage Home (Books 1-12)
1-4 Epic question; Voyage of Telemachus
5-8 Odysseus in Ogygia
9-12 Court of Phaeacia. Odysseus
narrates the story of his voyage from
Troy to Ogygia
The Odyssey
Part Two: Odysseus Regains His Kingdom
(Books 13-24)
13-16 Touching reunion scenes with
Eumaeus and Telemachus, who arrive
home just after Odysseus
17-20 Penelope learns of his arrival and is
put into a sleep. His Nurse recognizes
him. His dog barks at him.
20-24 Retribution and Reconciliation
The Odyssey
At the beginning of The Odyssey, it is
almost 20 years after Odysseus left
home to go fight the Trojans, a task he
did not want. He is stuck on the island
of Ogygia, with the beautiful
enchantress and sea goddess, Calypso,
who promises him immortality, if he
stays with her.
The Odyssey
The poem starts with an argument
between Athena and Zeus, and the epic
question is proposed: Why is it that
Odysseus chooses a human life of
mortality and suffering? The gods are
so moved by the depth of his human love
for Penelope, they decide to let him go
home to Ithaca.
The Odyssey
• In the meantime, Odysseus’ son Telemachus is
now grown, and suitors for his mother’s hand
are a huge and dangerous nuisance. He heads
out on his own voyage to Sparta, to see if
Menelaus and the notorious Helen can tell him
news of his father. (Books 1-4)
• The poem uses this double narrative very
effectively to create suspense and dramatic
tension.
The Odyssey
• In Book 5, Odysseus leaves Calypso and lands
in Phaeacia, where he narrates his dangerous
journey from Troy to Calypso’s island.
(Books 9-12)
• He’s safe – temporarily – but his son faces
real danger during this long flashback, for the
suitors plot to kill him when he returns.
• Books 13-24 cover the return home of both
father and son, the destruction of the
suitors, and the final reconciliation of family
and nation.
Literary Views of Odysseus
• For ancient Greeks, he embodies the ideals of
the Heroic Age: He is wise, wiley, shrewd,
deceptive, courageous, eloquent, resourceful,
persistent, loyal, generous.
• Other views of his character include:
1) Heroic voyager, loyal husband and father
2) Shrewd politician or Machiavellian leader
3) Destroyer of Rome’s mother city Troy
Generally, Roman writers (and later, Italian
writers) don’t like him.
Literary Views of Odysseus
• Virgil and Dante (who puts him in Hell) see him
as arrogant, but Horace and Ovid, like him.
(His Latin name is Ulysses.)
• For modern writers, he’s a character of
mixed blessings. Romantics poets such as
Byron, glorify him, Tennyson paints him as
misguided, James Joyce creates a modern
Ulysses, with modern angst. The Coen
brothers continue the angst tradition with
the film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Literary Views of Odysseus:
The Epic Hero
• The epic journey is a genre that has
lasted through Western literature: The
untested young hero, often of uncertain
parentage, goes forth to seek truth,
fights against superhuman odds, often
traveling to the realm of death itself.
He achieves glory and rewards, suffers
great losses, and learns a key aspect of
human life and the inescapable fact of
mortality.
Literary Views of Odysseus:
The Epic Hero
• The old hero fights his last battle and passes
the torch, for all temporal things must perish,
man and civilization. Sometimes, the earthly
hero achieves apotheosis, but not always.
Although the message at the end of an epic is
often foreboding, a kind of resurrection is
imminent—like phoenix story, or the simple
message to Nicodemus. (See Joseph
Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey.)
• In the end, the epic voyage is a not unlike our
own voyage through life.