The Odyssey

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The Odyssey
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What is an Epic?

• A long narrative poem about a legendary hero.
• Epic Hero-The central figure in a long narrative
  who possesses larger-than-life qualities such as
  bravery, loyalty, and heroism.
• Epic Simile- a detailed comparison in the form of
  a simile that is many lines in length (uses like
  or as)

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Homer

• poet
• thought to be blind, but describes events as a
  seeing person
• lived around 1200 B.C.E (Before the common era)

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Homer

• Wrote The Illiad and The Odyssey - stories about
  the war between the Trojans and the Greeks which
  happened between 900 and 700 B.C.E.

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How the Trojan War Starts

• Goddess of Conflict- Eris- puts out a Golden
  Apple for the Most Beautiful- Hera (Zeus wife),
  Athena, and Aphrodite (Zeus children) quarreled
  over it
• They ask Zeus to choose- he declines
• Tells them to ask Paris- Prince of Troy awards
  apple to Aphrodite because she promises him
  Helen, from Greece

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Then

• Paris and Helen fall in love and run away to Troy
• Odysseus and Menelaus, Helens husband, demand
  her return back to Greece
• Trojans refuse
• Siege of Troy ensues- 1000 ships set sail, led by
  King Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Achilles
• Lasts 9 years

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Illiad- Homers 1st Story

• Story of the last 50 days of the Trojan War- 10th
  year
• Trojans were winning because Achilles leaves war
• Odysseus comes up with idea of Trojan Horse- a
  fake peace offering from the Gods
• Odysseus and his men hide inside the horse
• Trojans accept the horse and wheel it into Troy

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The Trojan Horse
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Greece (Odysseus) Wins the War

• When Trojans fall asleep at night, Odysseus and
  his men jump out and defeat Troy and burn it to
  ruins
• Greece wins

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The Odyssey

• Odysseus claimed he won the Trojan War all by
  himself
• The story of the journey of Odysseus and his men
  trying to get home after the Trojan War
• After spending 10 years stranded on an island, it
  takes another 10 years to get back to Ithaca
  because he is cursed by Poseiden for his
  arrogance. Also, Odysseus stabs his son, the
  Cyclops in the eye
• an epic about humans on the journey of life
  overcoming temptations along the way.

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Themes in The Odyssey

• Xenia-the Greek ideal of hospitality, the
  guest-host relationship.
• Nostos- homecoming, peace
• Kleos- glory, name, reputation earned in war
• Odysseus has all three as the epic hero