everything you need to know before we embark on this epic journey
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What is The Odyssey about? The story picks up where Homer’s previous epic, The Iliad, left off. The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War, in which a coalition of Greek states battled the city of Troy in order to rescue their kidnapped queen, Helen of Sparta. Helen became known as “Helen of Troy,” “the woman with the face who launched a thousand ships.” Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London)TRANSCRIPT
Onto The Odyssey…Everything You Need to Know
Before We Embark on This Epic Journey
What is The Odyssey?An epic poemTold in the oral tradition (not written down)Attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller
Homer
This Homer Not this one
© Fox Flash
What is The Odyssey about?The story picks up where
Homer’s previous epic, The Iliad, left off. The Iliad is the story of the Trojan
War, in which a coalition of Greek states battled the city of Troy in order to rescue their kidnapped queen, Helen of Sparta. Helen became known as “Helen of Troy,” “the woman with the face who launched a thousand ships.”
Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London)
What is The Odyssey about?The Greeks eventually won the
war by hiding inside a giant wooden horse (“the Trojan Horse”) they gave as a present to the Trojans, taking the Trojans by surprise once inside the castle walls, but this is not actually included in The Iliad.
http://realisticbeinggreen.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/beware-the-trojan-horse/
Odysseus, the hero of The Odyssey, was one of the soldiers who fought in the Trojan War.
What is The Odyssey about?The Odyssey mainly centers on Odysseus and
his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach his home in Ithica after the war.
Mosaic from the A . D . 300S http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ni-Pa/Odyssey-The.html#ixzz2EBkfho6V
What is The Odyssey about?While Odysseus is away, everyone back home
assumes he died in the war. A group of unruly men constantly swarm in his house to court his wife, Penelope, and compete for her hand in marriage.
Penelope and the Suitors by John
William Waterhouse (1912)
What is The Odyssey about?Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, does not like
this one bit, and, with a little push from the god Athena in disguise, ventures out to search for news of his father.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Telemachus.html
What is The Odyssey about?The poem takes us back and forth between the
adventures of Odysseus and Telemachus, in which they face various monsters, temptations, and other dangers.
Lotus-eaters, a race of people who eat narcotic fruits which induce sleep and lethargy
Calypso, a seductive sea nymph Circe, a witch-goddess who turns men into swineSirens, mermaid-like female creatures who lure
sailors to shipwreck with their enchanting music Polyphemus, a Cyclops (a giant with a single eye in
the middle of his forehead)
Who are the gods?(Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)
ZeusThe god of the heavensThe king of all the gods
HeraThe goddess of marriageThe queen of all the godsZeus’s wife AND sister
Who are the gods?(Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)
Zeus’s other siblings:
Hades Poseidon god of thegod of the sea underworld
Hestia Demeter goddess of goddess of home & hearth agriculture & harvest
Who are the gods?(Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)
Zeus’s children with Hera:
Ares god of war
Hephaestus god of fire and forge
Who are the gods?(Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)
Zeus’s children with other gods/mortals/unknown:
Artemisgoddess of hunting & the moon
Aphroditegoddess of love & beauty
Athena goddess of wisdom
Who are the gods?(Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)
Zeus’s children with other gods/mortals/unknown:
Hermes messenger god
Apollogod of music
Heracles (Hercules)half-man, half-god