Written by Homer

Written Approximately 1200 B.C.

Translated from Greek by Robert Fitzgerald

Mythology Matters…..•Literary allusions

•The characters represent human qualities, the virtues and flaws that are innate in all humans

• Deeper understanding of another culture and their history

• A Myth is a traditional story from a particular culture.

•“mythos” = meaning word or story

•“logos”= meaning the logical study of

•explains a belief of that culture, a ritual of the culture, an emotion, or a mysterious natural phenomenon

*Types of myths: Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Native American

*Topics of Myths include: nature, creation, historical.

*Ancient Greek mythology is the most influential

It has influenced literature, sculptures, and paintings.

*The earliest sources of Greek mythical tales are the works of the poets Hesiod and Homer.

The Olympians12 immortals who dwelt in a palace on Mount Olympus (can you identify them all)

Zeus / Jupiter•Title/Duty: King of the gods/god of air, sky, rain,

heavens, earth, weather, justice

•Symbols: eagle, oak tree•Uses Thunderbolts as his weapon

•Son of Cronos and Rhea•Most powerful Olympian•Personality: dislikes liars or people who break promises

Jupiter is so named because it is so big – it is the “King of Planets”

Hera / Juno•Queen of the gods•Title/Duty: protector of marriage

•Wife/sister of Zeus•Symbols: cow, peacock•Personality: Jealous of Zeus’ affairs, motherly

No planet, but there is an asteroid named after her plus a city in Alaska

Pallas Athena / Minerva

•Title/Duty: Goddess of wisdom and defensive war, Odysseus’ protector

•Symbols: owl, olive tree•Daughter of Zeus and Metis (Titan) – she popped out of his head after he swallowed the pregnant Metis

•She carries a shield with Medusa’s head on it

•Personality: finds pleasure in peace rather than battle

Minerva was a tiny robot designed by the Japanese to land on an asteroid, but got lost in space.

Poseidon / Neptune•Title/Duty: God of the sea and earthquakes

•Symbols: trident, horse, dolphins

•Trident is weapon•Amphitrite is his wife•Zeus’ brother•Son of Cronos and Rhea•2nd most powerful•Personality: gruff, quick to anger, resentful of Zeus’ reign

Neptune is so named because the blue looks like water

Hades / Pluto

•Title/Duty: God of the Underworld and Wealth

•King of the dead but he is not Death, oversees punishments of the dead

•Symbols: Cerebrus, cypress tree

•Zeus’ brother•Son of Cronos and Rhea•Has a helmet that makes the wearer invisible

•Persephone (Spring) is his wife•3rd most powerful•Personality: Not evil, unpitying, rarely let anyone who enters the Underworld leave

Demeter / Ceres•Daughter of Cronos and Rhea•Symbols: wheat, cornucopia •Title/ Duty: Goddess of vegetation

•Had powers of growth and resurrection

•Her daughter is Persephone•Personality: kind, gentle, nurturing

The asteroid Ceres was the first asteroid ever discovered and is one of the largest (about the size of Texas). It almost became a designated as a planet

Artemis / Diana•Apollo’s Twin sister•Title/Duty: Goddess

of the hunt, moongoddess, goddess of

•Symbols: crescent moon, bow and arrow

•Virgin goddess

•Personality: protective & defensive, loves nothing more than hunting

The Artemis navigation satellite

Apollo/ Phoebus •Title/ Duty: God of truth, light, poetry, music, archery, prophecy, youth, light and healing

•Symbols: golden lyre, laurel wreath, crow, dolphin, silver bow

•Sun god in some myths (Helios is the sun god in other myths)

•Son of Zeus and Leto•Wolves, cattle, dolphins, and crows are sacred to him

Apollo asteroids are near-earth asteroids

Hermes / Mercury•Title/Duty: Messenger god and the god of thieves & commerce ($)

•Personality: trickster, impulsive, friendly

•Very fast•Symbols: winged cap & sandals, staff (magic wand), bag of money

•Son of Zeus and Maia•Loves Aphrodite•Greeks believed he guided souls to Hades

Mercury revolves around the sun so fast, it was named for the messenger god. One year is faster than one day on Mercury

The Hermes Asteroid

Hephaestus / Vulcan

•Title/Duty: God of fire and the forge,

blacksmiths, metalworkers, craftsmen•Symbols: forge, anvil, quail, volcano•Son of Zeus and Hera•Ugly •Lame because he was thrown off Mt. Olympus for interfering with a fight between Hera and Zeus

•Husband to Aphrodite

Aphrodite / Venus

•Title/ Duty: Goddess of beauty and love

•Symbols: dove, sparrow, rose

•Mother of Eros/Cupid•Wife of Hephaestus/Vulcan but lover of Ares/Mars and other guys

• Born from the foam/blood in the sea caused by the attack of Cronos/ Saturn on Uranus

•Personality: Can make anyone love her

Venus is so named because it is a beautiful planet and can be easily seen with just the eye

”

Ares / Mars•Son of Zeus and Hera, but both dislike him

•Title/Duty: God of War•Symbols: dogs, vultures, spear & shield

•The Romans glorify him, but the Greeks make him out to be a coward

•He has three children with Aphrodite: Phobos (panic) and Deimos (fear) are twins

•Personality: Brave and strongargumentative, impulsive,bloodthirsty, and destructive

Mars and its moons, Phobos and Deimos

Hestia / Vesta•Zeus’ sister – Oldest of the original gods

•Title/Duty: Goddess of the hearth and home

•Symbols: hearth, fire•Gave up her spot on Mt. Olympus for Dionysus

•Worshipped daily•Invented the art of building houses•A virgin priestesses served her for 30 year time periods

•Not very active in Greek mythology•Personality: kindest, most virtuous, and most charitable of the Olympians

Asteroid Vesta

Where was ancient Greece? Greece is a country in Europe.

Greece

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1666: The Great Fire of London

55 BC - 400 AD: Roman Britain

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The Viking Age

3100 BC – 1069 BC: Ancient Egypt

When and where was ancient Greece?

1000 BC – 323 BC: Ancient Greece

How have the ancient Greeks influenced our buildings?

Look at buildings in your area or in pictures. Can you spot any of these Ancient Greek features?

a pedimentcolumns

capitals cornices

A look inside the Greek Alphabet. Compare and contrast this to our own English alphabet. What do you notice?

What similarities are there between ancient Greek schools and our school?

At school we learn reading, writing and math. We also learn singing and musical

instruments.Only children from rich families can go

to school, because you have to pay.

Girls don’t usually go to school, they are mostly educated at home.

We start school at the age of seven and stay until we are about fourteen.

After school most children learn a job or trade. The richer ones might go to

Athens to study with a philosopher.

Socrates 470-399 B.C.

•Socrates was a philosopher of Ancient Greece.

•A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the nature of life

•Socrates thought people could learn best by asking questions. This method of questioning is still called the Socratic method. He also thought that philosophers could study human behavior to learn how to improve society.

The Death of Socrates• The trial of Socrates was based on

two charges: corrupting the youth and impiety (immorality and sin). More specifically, Socrates’ accusers cited two ‘impious’ acts: ‘failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges’ and ‘introducing new deities.’ 501 chosen jurors voted to convict him.

• Socrates was ultimately sentenced to death by drinking a hemlock-based liquid. A well-known account of the trial was given by one of Socrates’ student, Plato.

• The trial is one of the most famous of all time. Whether Socrates was punished unjustly is a thought-provoking and contested issue, which to this day inspires discussions about the nature and meaning of justice.

Plato 428-348 B.C. Plato was a student of

Socrates. Plato later teaches

Aristotle. He started a school called

The Academy. Plato’s writing took the

form of a dialogue between teacher and student.

Wrote Plato’s Republic- proved one of the most intellectually and historically influential works of philosophy and political theory.

Aristotle 384-322 B.C. Aristotle taught

Alexander the Great. His writings cover many

subjects, including physics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.

He wrote The Poetics-offers an account of what he calls poetry, drama and comedies, tragedy, satires, lyric poetry, and epic poetry.

An Epic is a long narrative poem on a serious subject.

• Tells about the adventures of a hero and covers a vast amount of territory.

•embodies the values of the cultures it is written for

•The Iliad and the Odyssey were used in schools to teach Greek virtues.

•Values: honor, bravery, hospitality, intelligence, respect for the gods, loyalty to home and family

•Major faults: disrespect for the gods, lack of hospitality, excessive pride “hubris”

• Iliad is primary model for epic of war

• Odyssey is primary model for epic of the long journey

•Begins in medias res (Latin for “it begins in the middle of things”), then flashes back to explain action leading up to that point

•Begins with an invocation (calling upon a god for inspiration) or prayer to a god or gods•Always begins with a statement of theme

Characteristics of an Epic

•Involves an epic question•The opening lines of the poem that state the theme

•A physically impressive hero of national or historical importance

•A vast setting involving not only of the known world but also the underworld

•Action such as a quest or journey requiring superhuman ability and courage

•Evidence of supernatural forces

The Muses

•The Muses preside over the arts and sciences, inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians.

•Their name denotes “memory” or “a reminder,” since in the poets relied on their memories when telling these stories

•The nine Muses are the daughters of the Zeus and of Mnemosyne (ni-mos-a-nē), the goddess of memory

The Nine Muses

•Calliope (ka-lī-ō-pē)•the muse of epic poetry

•Clio (kl-ī-ō)•the muse of history

•Euterpe (yoo-tur-pē)•the muse of music

•Melpomene (mel-pom-e-nē)•the muse of tragedy

•Terpsichore (turp-sic-u-rē)•the muse of dancing

•Erato (er-e-tō)•the muse of love poetry

•Polyhymnia (pol-ē-him-nē-a)•the muse of sacred poetry

•Urania (yoo-rā-nē-a)•the muse of astronomy

•Thalia (the-lī-a)•the muse of comedy

• Singer “rapsode” of tales/ from the island Chios•historians and classicists can only speculate about the life of this man (details are few)•thought to be blind, but describes events as a seeing person. We do not even know the century in which he lived, and it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that the same poet composed both works. •All historians/entertainers of Homer’s time did not write their stories/facts down. •The Greeks hailed him as their greatest poet, as well as their first. Although the Greeks recognized other poets who composed in Greek before Homer, no texts from these earlier poets survived.

This Homer

Not ThisHomer…

Rhapsodes

•Homer was a model for a class of storytellers called rhapsodes

•Known as “singers of tales,” they were the historians and entertainers as well as myth-makers 

•None of these stories were written down. Each storyteller would have had to memorize the entire work and told it in such a way that it would be part performance.

•They did not memorize the story word for word but knew the basic story and improvised on the spot, following a basic rhythm of the words.

•There is a great deal of repetition in the stories, which makes it a bit simpler to tell.

Now, close your eyes and envision this as I read the following to you!

•The banquet is over and the fire has collapsed to a bed of embers. Amid bursts of laughter and boisterous conversation, serving maids clear the remains of bread and meat from the long wooden table. From his place at the head of the table, the lord of the hall signals to a man holding a stringed instrument starts to play while the guests shift their attention and slowly ease their talk. Then he begins to sing. Chanting rhythmically, occasionally touching the strings of his lyre, he sings of gods, heroes, and monsters; of love, war, travel, death, and homecoming. A stillness upon the hall and the listeners fall under the spell of his words. The singer of tales is working his magic.

•This is an example of what it would be like to hear the tales of Homer and other storyteller’s.

•Sequel to the Iliad (900 and 700 BC)• The Iliad focuses on the days toward the end of the Trojan War (mid 1200s BC)• The Odyssey focuses on one of the soldiers that fought in the Trojan War returning home 20 years after the war—Odysseus .

• The Iliad and the Odyssey together were considered sacred to the Greeks—much like the Bible to many people today.

• Both books were not originally written down but were recited orally

•2 ways they were presented : sung with musical accompaniment

•Both contain Homeric similes & epithets

The Odyssey is comprised of 11,300 lines and divided into 24 books (It would take 20-25 hours to recite!!!)

•The Judgment of Paris- The Golden Apple Contest

•Spartan King Menelaus’ wife Helen (the face that launched a thousand ships) left him for the young Prince Paris of Troy.

•Greeks attacked Troy

•Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, led the siege.

• Odysseus (main character in the Odyssey) was another hero of the war.

• Odysseus was known not only for being a strong hero, but also for being a wise/smart hero.

• Another Greek hero, Achilles, died in the final year of the war “Achilles Heel”

•Trojan Horse & Greek forces were victorious!

How did it start?

•Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited to a wedding banquet on Mt. Olympus.

•Into the banquet hall, Eris tossed a golden apple inscribed “For the Fairest.”

•Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite asked Zeus to decide who deserved the apple.

•Zeus would not choose. (He’s no fool!)•Zeus says Paris is an excellent judge of beauty, and refers the goddesses to him.

The Judgment of Paris

•Paris was the son of King Priam of Troy.•He was rather weak and cowardly.•Priam had sent him away from Troy because an oracle prophesied that he would be the ruin of the city.

•When the goddesses appeared to him, they each offered him a bribe:•Athena would make him a great warrior.•Hera would make him ruler of Europe and Asia.•Aphrodite would give him the most beautiful woman in the world.

Whom did he choose?

•Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite.

•She then took Paris to Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

•Hera and Athena, however, vowed revenge.

Helen

•Helen was a daughter of Zeus.

•She was the wife of Menelaus.

•Menelaus was the brother of the Greek King, Agamemnon.

•See the problem?

Paris takes Helen

The Greeks Respond

•Menelaus asks all of Greece to help.

•Greek armies set off across the sea to lay siege to Troy and leave it in ashes.

•And so begins the Trojan War.

•Helen is often referred to as “The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships.”

The Fall of Troy

•They wait until the Trojans are asleep, and then they come out and slaughter them.

•The Trojan War is ended.

•The Greeks won.

•The Trojans lost.

•Odysseus is the greatest hero remaining alive…but now he has to get home…

Where’s Troy?

•Troy is across the Aegean Sea from Greece.

•Troy was also called Ilium, Ilion, and Ilios.

•A well-walled city with broad streets and beautiful palaces…until the Trojan War.

•Wife: Penelope Son: Telemachus Kingdom: Ithaca

•Great soldier of the war

• Originally tried to get out of going to the war—pretended he was crazy

• Came up with the wooden-horse trick that lead to Troy’s collapse.

• The Odyssey is the account of Odysseus’ journey home after the war.

• (1)Story in Ithaca about Odysseus’ wife and son as they await his return.

•(2)Tale of Odysseus’ wanderings during the ten years following the Trojan War.

•(3)Odysseus returns to Ithaca and joins forces with his son, Telemachus, to destroy their enemies.

Motifs in The Odyssey

•Hospitality•Respect for the Gods•The Importance of Lineage (family)•Loyalty•Pride and Honor•Self-discipline in resisting temptation•The Importance of Leadership •Revenge, Justice, & Reconciliation •Fate

2 Film Allusions

•2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange, Doctor Strangeglove). The movie is about creation by design- computers and their part in them- computers that can misfunction and cause destruction.

•O’ Brother Where Art Thou? The film is a 2000 adventure story directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Cohen (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Fargo,etc).Set in 1934 Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s epic poem.