Homer and the Origins of Literature Who was Homer and why and how did his poems get written down?

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
It took him HOW LONG to get home?
Advertisements

An Introduction to The Odyssey
The Odyssey.
The Iliad by Homer Mrs. Kercher.
Bellringer Clear off your desk… ITS QUIZ TIME!. Agenda 1.The First Greeks 2.Foundations of Greek Culture 3.Ancient Greek Values.
The Odyssey You will:  learn about Homer  why the Greeks are hospitable  See where Odysseus travels  Review theme, irony, characterization, and symbolism.
Homer’s Odyssey. Goals / Essential Questions Goals: Goals: –Understand the narrative. –Window into the age See themes, next slide See themes, next slide.
Greek Mythology and Literature
The Iliad by Homer.
Homer  Time: 8 century BCE  Birth place: Ionia; the western coast of Asia Minor  Blind  The two master pieces attributed to him: the Iliad & the Odyssey.
Homer and the Origins of Literature Who was Homer and why and how did his poems get written down?
The Iliad and The Odyssey Based on stories first told over 3000 years ago in what is now Greece Based on stories first told over 3000 years ago in what.
The Odyssey Homer. Homer (The Blind Poet)  No one is exactly sure who Homer was. Theories abound, and some even think he never existed.  No one is exactly.
The Odyssey. Homer Greek poet who lived around 800 BC Greek poet who lived around 800 BC Was thought to be blind, but describes events as a seeing person.
GREEK LITERATURE I can explain how the Greek’s used various forms of literature (myths, fables, epic poems) and how these forms of literature explained.
I Need a Hero! Mrs. Larson. We will be reading one of the greatest masterpieces of epic poetry…. The Odyssey.
The Greek City- States. The Power of Greek Myths and Legends O In the Trojan War, fought between the Greeks and the people of Troy, gods and goddesses.
Homer and the Epic. Oral Tradition  Before written language, knowledge passed down orally through generations  Artists with a gift & memory for storytelling.
Trojan Civilization Troy – a major trading city in ________. Trojans controlled the trade routes from the Aegean Sea to the ________. (1) This led to an.
A BIOGRAPHY HOMER A BIOGRAPHY
The Iliad. Homer First known poet of western literature A poor, blind, old poet of great wisdom who wandered from city to city singing his tales in verse.
+ The Odyssey BACKGROUND INFO. + AUTHOR HOMER Little is known about him Storyteller Oral tradition Wrote poem about 720 BC; written about events in 1100s.
The 2 Greatest Poets of Mythology Those who recorded it.
Note Taking Fun! Mind Map
Greek Terminology of The Iliad. Aristeia  Excellence  Prowess as a warrior  Aristos – to be the best; man of excellence  Arete - excellence in battle,
The Odyssey By Homer.
The Importance of Storytelling. It is not known when Homer was born, but theories speculate that “he” was born between 700 B.C. and 1000 B.C. in Western.
The Odyssey Background Notes English I. What We Have Gained from the Ancient Greeks Values Values System of Laws System of Laws Political Theories Political.
  Very little is known about Homer.  It is believed that he was born in Asia Minor in the 8 th Century BC and that he was blind.  Scholars have disputed.
Background Information on. The Odyssey is an epic.  An EPIC is a long poem that is usually passed down by word of mouth before it gets put in writing.
Humanities I Mrs. Cave-Mattie.  The Iliad is considered one of the Western World’s most important pieces of literature and culture.  It focuses on a.
Iliad and Odyssey The Culture, the Time, the Author.
The Iliad Background of the Epic Poem and The Iliad.
9 th grade English Literary Terms: The Odyssey EPIC A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero.
NOTES ON “AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ODYSSEY” Ms. Helton, English I November 11, 2014.
Epic Poetry and Mythology in.  Many types of mythology from around the world.  Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Mayan, etc.  Stories are word of mouth.
The Odyssey Homer. No one knows who he is for sure Thought to be a blind minstrel from the island of Chios Some scholars think he is just a legend.
“The Odyssey” An Epic by Homer Pages Epic Vocabulary Epic: a long narrative poem written about a serious subject. Myth: a traditional story of.
The Odyssey By Homer. Homer  A.Poet who went blind  B.Wrote poems that were handed down, becoming epics  C.Lived in 8 th or 9 th century B.C. in Asia.
THE ODYSSEY BY HOMER Read and put back in day 8. HOMER A BLIND POET WHO LIVED AROUND 800 B.C. HOMERIC-ADJECTIVE MEANING LARGE SCALE, MASSIVE, ENORMOUS.
Homer’s The Odyssey Background Notes. Who is Homer?
Greek Culture and History: Epics and the Epic Hero.
The Odyssey Written by Homer Written Approximately 1200 B.C.
Homework G-3 due Monday Essay due Wednesday. Aim #2: What do Homer’s epics reveal about the values of ancient Greece? Do Now: How would you define the.
Ms. Geller’s Fabulous Freshman Lit Class Fall 2013.
History of the Ancient and Medieval World Ancient Greece Walsingham Academy Mrs. McArthur Room 111.
The Trojan War was the greatest conflict in the Greek mythology, a war that was to influences people in literature and arts for centuries. The war was.
12,000 line Greek epic poem An epic poem is a long poem divided into sections, or "books," that focuses on the extraordinary deeds and adventures of a.
The Odyssey By Homer.
 What is it?  What is it meant to do?  Did people believe it?
Homeric Values in The Odyssey Mr. Redmond – English 1.
Homer 8 th Century BC. Background Very little is actually known about him, but we do know his parents were Epikaste and Telemachus (the name of Odysseus’
 In Class we read stories about the Trojan War  A 10 year War fought between Troy and Greece  In the end the Greeks Destroy the city of Troy. Roughly.
Vocabulary Week 20. Aegean Sea An arm of the Mediterranean Sea that lies between Asia Minor and Greece. *Category*: Geography.
Epic A long narrative poem that tells of the adventures of a hero who embodies the values of a particular culture.
Homer The Greatest Ancient Greek Epic Poet. Homer’s Controversy  Lived in the 8 th century B.C., but some say that he lived as late as the 12 th century.
By Homer.  Myth: a story (usually fiction) passed down through a culture in an attempt to teach the customs and ideals of a society (Cinderella teaches.
Ancient Greece Section 3 Notes
The Odyssey Homer. Homer Age unknown – Most modern researchers agree on 7 th or 8 th century BC Possibly from Chios or Smyrna Popularly thought to be.
Homer and the Origins of Literature Who was Homer? Why and how were his poems written down?
The Odyssey A Hero’s Epic Journey.
The Odyssey Background Information. The Odyssey The Odyssey is a special kind of poem called an EPIC. Epic- A long narrative poem about the deeds of a.
Introduction to The Odyssey Mrs. Brown Mrs. Gorman Freshman English.
Homer and the Origins of Literature
The Odyssey Homer.
Greek Mythology Do heroes have responsibilities?
An Introduction to.
Greek Culture Aim: How did Ancient Greece influence the world?
Greek Culture Aim: How did Ancient Greece influence the world?
Presentation transcript:

Homer and the Origins of Literature Who was Homer and why and how did his poems get written down?

5 Key Points of Lecture 1.Who Was Homer? 2.What is the Homeric Question? 3.Homer and the Origins of Writing 4.The Man Who Overcame Death 5.Why Is This Important?

Who Was Homer? We know nothing for certain about Homer His work shows a knowledge of the Greek World and Near East Written BCE from oral tradition. Later tradition has him born in Republic of Turkey (Asia Minor) Stories circulate about him in the Greek world saying he was blind and told “all the best stories.”

Homer is credited with having composed two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey The Iliad is set over the course of several weeks, during the ninth year of the Trojan War. Its principle theme is “The Wrath of Achilles.” But the texts are really the culmination of a long tradition going back years before the 8 th century. The Odyssey narrates the return of Odysseus to his home after 20 years. It is filled with folktales.

What was Homer’s world like? Homer and oral composers like him probably sang their songs to the social elite at banquets and athletic events. His audiences were probably mostly male We do not know when or where poems as long as the Odyssey and Iliad may have been presented

Homeric Values Vocabulary \ 1.Areté Excellence, virtue, or what makes and individual the best or among the best. 2.Timé Honor, material symbol of status among others, (prize, booty, trophies). 3.Kleos Glory or Fame, understood as public opinion, or what others say or remember.

A few MORE Homeric Values… 4. Hubris -One’s pride or ego, usually used in challenging others or to allow oneself to feel uplifted. 5.Xenia generosity and courtesy towards strangers/hospitality and good faith upon travelers. 6.Philia -”brotherly love” – friendship and kindness towards family

Most Scholars Now Agree on the Following... Homer did exist He was an oral poet He was illiterate

But how did Scholars Even Come To Agree On These Three Things? It all begins with what is known as the The Homeric Question is: How did the poems originate? Could a bunch of short poems have been put together to make a longer poem? Some scholars felt that the work was too long to have been composed without writing. We have 16,000 lines of the Iliad and 12,000 lines of the Odyssey But Homer’s world does not contain writing...

The Homeric Question By the 1920’s, scholars had come up with two basic answers to the Homeric Question Option #1 Many “Homers” singing tales which later became a coherent whole. Option #2 One single, very gifted individual was responsible for both poems. In the 1930’s a scholar named Milman Parry changed the debate by studying oral poets in what is now the former Yugoslavia...

Homer and the Origins of Writing The poems exist for us today, but they come from a largely oral tradition and were created by a system that is hostile to writing Writing is known to the Greeks as “the drug of forgetfulness, silent but speaking”. It seems as if writing was invented around 800 BCE, the exact time when Homer’s poems were composed Now the Greeks no longer had to use their minds to remember words, but had a system of symbols to use which stood for specific sounds in their language.

Homer’s Other Questions and Themes Who am I? How do I fit into humankind? What is my role in life? What is my relationship to other humans? Life triumphs over death Ordered world wins out over disordered Simple revenge Right over wrong