The Odyssey: An Introduction by David Adams Leeming
The Odyssey was written about 3,000 years ago by Homer, a famous epic writer. Two of his famous epics are The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Iliad is about the Trojan war taking place within ten years with the Greeks and the Romans. The major spark of the war was jealousy. The war was caused by Helen, the Greek king's wife, who ran away with the Prince of Troy. The Odyssey is a continuation of the Iliad. The Odyssey is about a Greek warrior named Odysseus trying to get on his way home. |
Epics and ValuesAn epic is a long narrative poem about the adventures of a legendary hero. The Greeks used The Iliad and The Odyssey in schools to teach Greek virtues.
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The War-Story BackgroundThe background of the Odyssey was found in the Iliad, which was set in the final year of the Trojan War. In the Iliad, the Greeks attack the Romans after the Greek king's wife runs away for the Prince of Troy.
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Odysseus: A Hero In Trouble
Odysseus was a great solider in the Trojan war because he came up with the idea of the Trojan horse. The Trojan horse was a wooden horse made by the Greeks and was a war tactic to get into Troy. Since Odysseus killed the Prince of Troy this upset the Gods and decided Odysseus punishment is for him to get home 20 years later.
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The Wooden Horse Trick
For ten years, the Greeks had been fighting the
Trojans but they always failed. They were unable to break into these walls. Odysseus' plan was to build an enormous wooden horse to get into the gates of Troy.The Greeks got inside the horse's stomach and waited for their attack.They succeeded and won the Trojan war. |
The Ancient World and OursThe world Odysseus lived in was very harsh. The people living believed in gods they thought were real. The Greeks lived in elaborated mud houses and stone farmhouses. They think nothing of entering a town and carrying all their goods. Their goods were pots, pans, cattle and sheep.
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A Search for their Places in Life
Odysseus and his family are searching for the ethical
relationships with one another and with the people surrounding them. This is the theme in The Odyssey. |
Relationships with The Gods
At this time period, they would bring up mythic & religious questions in The Odyssey. Myths are stories that use fantasy to express ideas about life that cannot be expressed in realistic terms. Homer was religious and believed that the Gods controlled everything.
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Who was Homer?
No one is sure who Homer was. There is not much information about him just the fact that many Greeks in this time period believed that Homer was a blind storyteller and lived in the island Chios. But scholars believed that there were two Homers or thought he was legend or just simply didn't exist, just like William Shakespeare.
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How were the Epics Told?Scholars have found that oral epic poets are still composing today in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. The stories were composed orally according to a basic story line. We can understand the value of the extended comparisons that we call Homeric or heroic similes today.
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A Live Performance
The live performance of The Odyssey is unimaginable. Just imagine a large hall full of people who are freshly bathed, rubbed with fine oils, and draped in clean tunics. Imagine the smell of meat and imagine the wine being freely poured.