1. The Odyssey

2. Ancient Greece

3. Homer 900-700 BCE Ancient Greek bard “Wrote” epic poems
The Iliad and The Odyssey.

4. Homer 900-700 BCE Epic poems were sung for centuries.
Around 300 BCE people began writing them down.

5. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
Virgil (70-19 BCE)
Roman poet;
wrote his own epic
in Latin

6. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
Chaucer ( )
Middle Ages

7. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
Shakespeare ( )
Renaissance Era

8. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
Keats ( )
Romantic Era

9. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
James Joyce
Modernist
Based Ulysses on
The Odyssey

10. Homer’s work has influenced writers for thousands of years.
The Coen brothers: 21st century
A modern adaptation of Odysseus’ struggle to return home and protect his wife from marrying another man

11. We read him today because…
His poems shaped Greek culture, and hence Western ideals and society.
Furthermore, many modern writers and artists allude to The Odyssey, The Illiad, and Greek mythology in general.

12. The Iliad and The Odyssey
These poems memorialize Bronze Age Greece, which ended 500 years before Homer.
They are legends of Greek gods and heroes.

13. The Iliad and The Odyssey
The Iliad deals with the Trojan War.
The Odyssey deals with Odysseus’s travels after the Trojan War.

14. The Trojan War
Helen is the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta.

15. The Trojan War
Paris is a Trojan prince.

16. The Trojan War Paris kidnaps Helen.
Menelaus and his troops besiege Troy for 10 years.

17. Ancient Greece

19. The Trojan War
Finally Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca, thinks of the Trojan horse, which ends the war in favor of Menelaus.

20. Ancient Greece

21. The Gods
While Athena was happy about the outcome, Aphrodite was not.

22. The Gods
As a result, Odysseus had some really, really bad luck on his way home, which is what The Odyssey is about.

23. The Odyssey
The Odyssey tells the story of how Odysseus gets home after the Trojan War.

24. The Odyssey
He sails from Troy with 12 ships and 720 men.

25. The Odyssey
He wants to get home to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.

26. The Odyssey
It takes him 10 years to get there. He has many encounters with monsters and goddesses that hold him up.

27. The Odyssey
In the meantime, Penelope is fending off suitors who want to marry her, thereby gaining Odysseus’s power and wealth.

28. Epic Poem The Odyssey is an epic poem.
A narrative poem about a hero’s adventures.
The outcome of the story affects nations or the world.

29. Elements of an Epic Poem
Epic Hero
Has great strengths and abilities
Has human flaws
Is helped or hindered by the gods
Emerges victorious from
perilous situations
Embodies qualities that a
culture considers admirable

30. Elements of an Epic Poem
Epic Plot
Involves a long journey full of complications including:
Strange creatures
Divine intervention, both helpful
and harmful

31. Elements of an Epic Poem
Epic Setting
Includes exotic, far-away lands
Involves more than one nation or people

32. Elements of an Epic Poem
Epic Themes
Universal themes such as:
Courage
Loyalty
Homecoming

33. Elements of an Epic Poem
Archetypes
Characters or situations that are recognizable in many times and cultures, such as:
Epic hero
Loyal servant
Wicked temptress
Buried treasure
Test of faith or loyalty