Happy Monday! Warm Up: Look at your Due Date Calendar to see what’s coming up this Term. Read the handout titled “About the Author” (It’s 2 sided). Highlight/underline any information you think is vital to understanding The Odyssey

The Odyssey “The man of many turns…” (polutropos) Character is fate – who a man is also determines how far he goes, how widely he is tested, what sort of a home he has made on his own. Heroism Adaptability Intelligence The journey tests his skills and provides opportunity to fulfill destiny.

Troy (Asia Minor) Ismarus - Cicones Lotus-Eaters Cyclops Aeolus Laestrygonians Circe’s island of Aeaea Land of the Dead – Tiresias Sirens Charybdis Scylla Thrinacia – Helios’ (Greek sun god) cattle Calypso on Ogygia Isle Phaeacia Ithaca

What is Epic Poetry? A long narrative poem on a great and serious subject that is centered on the actions of a heroic figure. Based on oral tradition (myths & legends) Elements of Epic Poetry Material is familiar to audience – action occurs in heroic past- periods of upheveal Myths about the gods and legends about a variety of heroes & their exploits were in constant circulation & development, handed down from generation to generation. Traditional language Formulaic pieces: themes, episodes, details, scope, and tone Bards (rhapsode) developed formalized language to chant the stories in public performances Conventions Invocation In medias res Catalogues Epithets (repeated) Simile Speeches Manner of address – courtly patronymics Recapitulations – retelling of stories by poets within the epic Epic = Drama + Narrative

Purpose of Epic Poetry An epic poem entertains, teaches, and inspires the audience with examples of how people can strive and succeed against great odds and challenges. An epic commemorates a culture’s heroes. Defines heroic code Greek cultural values: Arete Kleos xenia

Homer Greek poet thought to be blind, but describes events as a seeing person lived around 1200 B.C.E First written down using adapted Phoenician letters on scraps of hide.

The Odyssey Deals with Odysseus’ adventures as he returns to his home in Ithaca Wanderings (10 years) Homecoming (return to Penelope & Telemachus)

The Call to Adventure Odysseus seeks to return home to Ithaca (own choice) Wanderings – driven about by the winds of angered Poseidon Transferred from the known to the unknown (treasure and danger) Campbell: “This first stage of the mythological journey signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from the pale of his society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be variously represented: as a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves, or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delights. Odysseus is driven about the Mediterranean by the winds of the angered god, Poseidon. He encounters a series of obstacles. Telemachus leaves home at the advice of Athena. (parallel narrative)

Aid Mentor Companions Supernatural Athena Zeus Eurylochus Hermes Once the hero has committed to the quest, his/her guide appears or becomes known. Athena is a protective figure who provides the protecting power of destiny

Challenges & Obstacles Sirens - group of females who lured sailors by their singing The point where the hero crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his/her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known. The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the hero must undergo to begin the transformation. Meeting the goddess – Woman as temptress

Challenges & Obstacles Scylla - monster with 12 feet and 6 heads with 3 rows of teeth, carries off a sailor in each mouth Charybdis - 3 times a day pulls sailors into her whirlpool Poseidon – God of the Sea; Odysseus has angered him

Challenges & Obstacles Circe – an evil witch who turns Odysseus’ men into pigs Polyphemus – a Cyclops who traps Odysseus’ men and tries to eat them