THE ODYSSEY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• The story was written by a man named Homer.

This Homer!

C

NOT this Homer!

D

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Who exactly was this famous myth-maker? • No one knows for sure who Homer was. • The later Greeks believed he was a blind minstrel

• These minstrel’s – or “singers of tales,” – were the historians and entertainers as well as the myth-makers of their time. • There was most likely no written history in

Homer’s day. There was certainly no television. Instead, minstrels traveled from community to community singing of recent legendary events or of the doings of heroes, gods, and goddesses.

THE STORIES

• The world’s most famous epic poems—Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey—were composed between 900 and 700 B.C. • The poems describe legendary events that

probably can be traced to real historical struggles for control of the waterways leading from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.• These real battles would have taken place as

early as 1200 B.C.,

THE ILIAD

• Homer’s first epic was the Iliad• The action of the Iliad is set in the tenth and final year of the Trojan War.

• According to the Iliad, the Greeks had attacked Troy to avenge the insult suffered by Menelaus, when his wife Helen ran off with Paris, a young prince of Troy.

• In a thousand ships, they sailed across the Aegean Sea and mounted the siege of Troy. • As a result, Helen is known today as “the face that launched a thousand ships.” In reality,

the war was probably precipitated by disagreements over trade routes.• The audience of the Odyssey would have known this war story.

• They would have known all about the greatest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, who was fated to die young in the final year of the war.

• They would have known all about the hero of the Odyssey, Odysseus. • They would have known that it was Odysseus who thought of the famous wooden-horse

trick that would lead to the downfall of Troy.• Prior to Odysseus’ plan, the Greeks were unable to penetrate the massive walls of Troy, fighting

for ten long years outside the city. Odysseus’ plan was to build an enormous wooden horse and hide a few Greek soldiers in the hollow belly. After the horse was built, the Greeks pushed it up to the gates of Troy and withdrew their armies, so that their camp appeared abandoned.

• Thinking that the Greeks had given up the fight and that the horse was a peace offering, the Trojans brought the horse into their city. That night, the Greeks hidden inside the wooden body came out, opened the gates of Troy to the whole Greek army, and began the battle that was to win the war. Thanks to Odysseus’ clever plan, the Greeks were eventually victorious, and they burned Troy to the ground.

THE ODYSSEY

• The Odyssey is a portrait of a hero in trouble.• Heroes experience pain and death, but they were always

sure of themselves.

• We can relate to this hero because • we share with him a sense of being somehow lost in a

world of difficult choices.• we have to cope with unfair authority figures. • we seem always to have to work very hard to get what

we want

THE ODYSSEY

• Instead of beginning at the beginning with Odysseus’ departure from Troy, the story begins in the middle, with Odysseus’ son, Telemachus.• Telemachus is now twenty years old, threatened in his own

home by powerful men who want to rob him of his inheritance, of his self-respect, and want to marry his mother.

• Meanwhile, we hear that Odysseus is stranded on an island, longing to find a way to get back to his wife Penelope, child, and home. • It is already ten years since his sailing from Troy, twenty years

since his original departure from Ithaca.

• The Odyssey is the story of his journey back to his family. It is told in two parts: • The Wandering• Coming Home

CHARACTERS

• Odysseus: • Our protagonist. • Odysseus is the husband of Queen Penelope and the

father of Prince Telemachus. • He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends

him divine aid, but a bitter enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his journey at every turn.

CHARACTERS

• Telemachus:• Is now 20 years old.• Is seen as the one obstacle for the suitors who are

attempting to court his mother (on the assumption that Odysseus is dead).

• He lacks the confidence to confront them.• Often receives help from Athena as well.

CHARACTERS

• Penelope:• Wife to Odysseus• Mother to Telemachus• Continues to be faithful to Odysseus and does not give up

hope that he is alive.

CHARACTERS

• Athena:• Daughter of Zeus• Goddess of wisdom, and defensive war.• Athena assists Odysseus and Telemachus and she speaks

up for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus.

• She often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.

CHARACTERS

• Poseidon:• God of the sea and earthquakes. • Brother to Zeus and second most powerful God.• As the suitors are Odysseus’s mortal

antagonists, Poseidon is his divine antagonist. • He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the

Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home.

CHARACTERS

• Zeus:• King of gods and men, • Mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. • He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do

the same.

CHARACTERS

• Antinous:•  The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors. • Leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed.

• Eumaeus:• The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd

Philoetius, helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca.

• Even though he does not know that the vagabond who appears at his hut is Odysseus, Eumaeus gives the man food and shelter.

CHARACTERS

• Eurycleia:• The loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus

when they were babies. • Eurycleia is well informed about palace happenings and

serves as confidante to her masters. • She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope• She later keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she

recognizes a scar on his leg.

CHARACTERS

• Calypso:• The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus

when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. • Calypso holds him prisoner there for seven years until

Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go.

• Hermes: • Messenger god.• Often relays messages to Odysseus

CHARACTERS

• Polyphemus:• Son of Poseidon.• One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose

island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy.• Polyphemus imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to

eat them.

CHARACTERS

• Circe:• The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s

crew into swine when he lands on her island. • With Hermes’ help, Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and

then winds up living in luxury at her side for a year.

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