1. Homeric Epithet
The Iliad/Trojan War

2. What is an Epithet?
An epithet is a descriptive word or a phrase that a writer frequently connects to a certain character.
In epic poems such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, it adds description and also helps the poet complete the number of syllables needed for that line of poetry.
Sometimes epithets are hyphenated in English because just one English word can’t translate the original Greek word

3. What is an Epithet?
With the use of epithets, writers are able to describe the characters and settings more vividly in order to give richer meanings to the text. Since they are used as a literary tool, they help in making the description of someone or something broader and hence easier to understand. With the help of epithets, the writers and poets develop suitable images in fewer words.

4. swift-footed
Achilles

5. wide-ruling
Agamemnon

6. red-haired
Menelaus

7. Hector,
breaker
of horses

8. white-armed
Andromache

9. Paris,
son of Priam

10. lovely-haired
Helen

11. great-hearted
Odysseus

12. wide-seeing
Zeus

13. ox-eyed
Hera

14. gray-eyed
Athena

15. silver-footed
Thetis

16. stallion-breaking
Trojans

17. long-haired
Achaeans
strong-greaved
Achaeans
bronze-
cloaked
Achaeans
Achaeans = “Greeks”

18. Your Turn!
Create your own epic epithets, following the Homeric model - 15 points!
You will create 3 epithets for each of the following:
One for yourself
One for someone else
One for an object or place
Each epithet should be written, labeled, and illustrated on a sheet of white paper. You must create a string of epithets for each of the above including the following categories:

19. Your Turn! Each of your epithets must include the following forms:
Hyphenated as a noun-adjective phrase: wine-dark sea,
stallion-breaking Hector; “breaking” is a participle – a verb
with an ING or ED added to the end used as an adjective
Hyphenated as an adjective-noun phrase: swift-footed Achilles, gray-eyed Athena; “eyed” is a gerund – a noun with an ING or ED added to the end used as an adjective
Prepositional phrase: lord of men, son of Atreus Agamemnon; counselor of the Trojans Aneias; breaker of horses Hector
Simile phrase: godlike Achilles; childlike Ares
Title phrase: brave son of Achilles, leader of the Achaens, Alexander the great

20. Example
Mrs. Williams: Title phrase: educator of the Buccaneers Prepositional: bleacher of tresses Hyphenated: wedge-wearing Simile or adjective: blue-eyed Williams or OCDlike Williams Blue-eyed, OCDlike Williams, wedge-wearing, bleacher of tresses and educator of the Buccaneers