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Menu:
- The
Homer Homepage - Maintained by DeKalb College, this site is a
hotlist of topics that cover Homer, The Iliad, and The Odyssey.
Listed are research sites, sites of interest, critical reviews, and
chatrooms and bulletin boards.
- The
Homer Web Page - Straight from the University of Massachusetts
English Department comes an annotated outline of notes for the better
understanding of the real Trojan War and the myths created about it.
Notes for “The Odyssey: An Introduction by David Adams Leeming” 880-888, Elements
of Literature: Third Course, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Introduction
3000 years ago: 1000 B.C.E.
BC. = Before Christ should
read B.C.E. =
Before the Common Era
A..D. = Anno Domini (after God)
should read A.C. E. =
After the Common Era
Homer: Greek storyteller credited with putting together the Iliad
and the Odyssey.
Iliad: story of the 10 year Trojan War caused by
Paris of Troy who stole. . .
Helen, wife of Menelaus, a Greek king (Greece is made up of a group of
city states, each controlled by a king)
Odyssey: story of Odysseus’ long and wayward return from the
Trojan War
Epics and Values
Epics: a long narrative poem that tells of the adventures of heroes across
great spans of time and place. Usually epics contain references to
supernatural powers or events. Because the story covers so much territory, the
epic contains the ideas, morals, themes and values of a culture from which it
is created.
Iliad: this is the primary story, the first and best example, the
archetype of the war epic. It has the morals and values of the Greek society
in war.
Odyssey: This is the primary story, the first and best example,
the archetype of the story of a long journey. Because the long journey can
be seen as a metaphor for living one’s life, this story has been examined
more closely. The Odyssey contains the morals, themes and values of
the Greek society about adventure, hardship, and life.
The Iliad: The War Story Background: Violence and Brutality
- Trojan War was fought over Helen
- Menelaus, king of Sparta, wanted his wife back
- Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, gathered the army together.
- Agamemnon, got the wind to sail the ships to Troy by sacrificing his
daughter to the gods.
- Greeks won the war through trickery, the Trojan Horse, created by
Odysseus.
- Achilles, greatest Greek hero, died young in the last year of the war.
- Agamemnon, killed when he returned home by his wife who had taken a lover.
The Wooden Horse
A hollow wooden horse the Greeks built, supposedly to honor the Trojans.
The Greeks pretended to leave and the horse was brought inside the gates of
Troy. At night, the Greeks who were hidden inside slipped out and opened the
gates to the city. The Greeks who had returned entered the city and
slaughtered the Trojans. The idea for the wooden horse was Odysseus’.
The Odyssey: Odysseus, A Hero in Trouble
Odysseus is a very human hero. More than his strength, which was great,
Odysseus was known for his clever and agile mind. It was he who thought of
using the Trojan Horse to gain entrance to the impregnable walls of Troy.
Odysseus:
- feels the effects of life after the great war
- his reputation does nothing for him against the unthinking monsters he
faces in his journey home.
- does not have the respect he once had even from the citizens of Ithica,
his home
- has the love and loyalty of his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus.
- did not want to leave his wife and family to go to war in the first
place
The Ancient World and
Ours
At this time in history,
the idea of “king” must be taken with a grain of salt. The king of an area
might simply by the person who owned the most goats. Treasure was really just
anything that might have a use to the people taking it.
A Search for Their Places in Life
Odysseus:
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In a mid-life crisis.
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Searching for inner peace.
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Looking to re-join his family.
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Searching to find a balance in his life.
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A quest for his identity.
Telemachus
Relationships with the Gods
Myths: stories that show the relationship
between the people and the unknown or spiritual realm.
Literary Technique: In these stories, the gods
can be an alter ego, another version of the person’s personality, a
reflection of the character’s best or worst qualities.
The god who is on Odysseus’ side will
reflect his better or stronger qualities.
The god who opposes Odysseus will reflect the
darker, more negative side of Odysseus’ personality.
Poseidon is the god who opposes Odysseus
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Poseidon, the god of the sea, tempestuous,
violent and cruel.
-
Odysseus is also quick to anger, violent
and cruel at times.
Athena is a goddess who favors Odysseus
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Athena is the goddess of wisdom
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Athena is a war goddess who fights to
protect the homeland.
-
Odysseus is a wise man
-
Odysseus is a warrior who is concerned
with protecting his home.
Who Was Homer?
No one knows who Homer was.
The traveling storyteller or the royal
storyteller has a long history. People have always wanted entertainment and
these epic stories were some of the best entertainment of the day. People have
always enjoyed being told a good story by someone who really knows how to get
attention. Homer, if there even was a Homer, must have been one of
these.
Remember that none of these stories were
written down. Each storyteller would have had to memorize the entire work and
told it in such a way as would be part performance. Very likely they did not
memorize the story word for word but would know the basic story and improvised
on the spot, following a basic rhythm of the words, much like a rapper who
creates his or her song for the immediate audience.
Homeric Simile: A Homeric or heroic simile
is on ethat compares heroic events to everyday occurrences.
Notice that there is a great deal of
repetition in the stories. This made it a bit simpler to tell.
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