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What is a hero?

Explain yourdefinition

and give examples.

Not too much is known about the author of the Odyssey. In fact, historians are not even exactly sure of the century in which Homer was born.

All that is REALLY known about Homer is that he wrote two VERY famous pieces of literature, poems actually, called epics: The Iliad and the Odyssey.

Homer’s poems helped shape Greek education during a time when great thinkers like Socrates and Plato were living. The Greeks themselves recognize Homer, not only as their first poet, but their greatest as well.

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who tried to reach understanding by getting rid of error. Plato was one of his disciples.

The Iliad is an epic poem about the tenth and final year of the Trojan war and the siege of the city Troy by the Greeks.

…but some scholars believe he lived well before the year 776 B.C.

Before the invention of the written language, and even before the start of widespread literacy, oral tradition was how a nation preserved its histories. Do you remember Chinese whispers or the telephone game? They were games played by children on the playground or at parties. A phrase or sentence is passed from one player to another, by the time the message reaches the last person it is hardly recognizable. This is similar to oral tradition; however, those who told the stories, the scops, memorized every detail, and tried very hard not to alter the tale.

Today,  popular forms of storytelling in many cultures include novels, movies, television and other forms of technology.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away... Slower Homer, I can only tap so fast!

Hey, did you hear the one about the traveling scop?

Try to imagine what it would be like in a world without a written language. How would you ensure your history was preserved?

1. Epics were originally meant to be sung or recited to music.

2. Deities (gods) and other supernatural beings often involve themselves in human matters.

3. The poem often has national interest and the hero favors the nation.

4. Epics were often inspired by national periods of turmoil, struggle and adventure.

5. Often, the main characters were larger than life. Its heroes were of huge stature and strength.

6. These heroes represented cultural ideals of endurance and cunning, fair play and selflessness or chivalric self-sacrifice.

Sing, sing a song...

What kind of stories will you tell of your nation’s struggles?

With your classmates, choose a modern hero. Then, place him or her in a different era. How would that person look, what great feats would they accomplish? What qualities would be important?

The Odyssey is not a novel, it’s a poem, a very LONG poem, and poems are written differently then a novel.

Epics celebrate the adventures and achievements of a hero, as well as their nation’s mythical or historical traditions. To help tell the story Homer develops a style called the Homeric or epic simile.

1. Determine the Poem’s Genre

2. Identify the Themes in the Story

3. Identify Literary Devices

Bloom's: knowledge comprehension

The Odyssey is an epic poem. An epic is a long poem telling a story about a hero and his adventures.It is also considered a folk epic because it is put together from stories or folk tales told though the oral tradition. The writer, or teller in this case, of the Odyssey, Homer, is called the father of the Western epic because he created all the elements contained in this style of writing.Today, the Odyssey is still one of the great stories ever told about a hero’s struggle to return home.

Falling Action

The wanderer is reunited with his wife, Penelope.

Resolution

Odysseus is at peace.

Introduction (Exposition)The story begins explaining the

difficulties the hero’s wife and son have endured during Odysseus’s absence.

Rising ActionOdysseus arrives in Phaeacia

where he tells his story of wandering and his eventual return

to Ithaca.

ClimaxOdysseus completes his revenge

on those who would steal his world.

Ithaca is an island in the Ionian Sea in Greece. Homer established Ithaca as the homeland of Odysseus and where the hero is king. It is described as mountainous, with rich, wooded forests, surrounded by many other islands, but “Ithaca is the furthest out to sea towards the sunset”.

Modern day Ithaca has only a little over 3,000 residents, and in 1953, an earthquake destroyed many of its buildings, those that have been rebuilt are frequented by tourists from all over the world.

Ithaca

Italy

Ionian Sea

The protagonist of the Odyssey and the King of Ithaca, Odysseus is the hero of the Trojan War who is forced to wander the seas until he can make peace with the gods.

Odysseus’s son who is an infant when Odysseus left for Troy, and who is about twenty at the beginning of the Odyssey.

Lines 1-17“Oh Goddess of Inspiration, help me sing of the skilled Odysseus, that master of schemes!"

So Homer, the singer of the Odyssey begins his epic. Odysseus, himself, does not appear until the next section.

Homer gives the reader a glimpse into Odysseus’s character and background in his struggle to return home: “ …he fought only to save his life, and to bring his shipmates home”.

Homer then goes on and foreshadows Odysseus’s journey from Troy to the island of Phaeacia.

Why is Homer asking for inspiration to help tell his stories?

Homer gives the reader a summary of the events in book one. Why does he tell us what is going to happen before we read?

What does Homer tell us about Odysseus’s character?

Lines 431-525Once safely out to sea Odysseus begins to taunt Polyphemus who comes out to the edge of the seaside cliff. In his fury the angered Cyclops hurls a huge boulder at the ships. The rock lands in front of the bow, Its splash almost drives Odysseus and his fleet back onto the beach.

Odysseus waits until his panicked men row further out to sea to once again taunts the Cyclops. His men try to stop him but he is too full of pride. Without forethought Odysseus exclaims, “Cyclops, if someone asks who did this, the name is Odysseus!” The Cyclops hurls another bolder and is left howling on the cliff, calling out to his father, Poseidon, for vengeance.

…and Poseidon hears and answers his son’s prayers. Zeus too, turns aside Odysseus’s offering and plots destruction for Odysseus and his crew.

Odysseus is a clever leader, but why does he taunt the already beaten down Cyclops?

Why does Zeus plot destruction for Odysseus and his men?

Odysseus IS a clever, but how does saying his true name cause trouble for him and his men?

Directions: Select the best answer to each question.Directions: Select the best answer to each question.

1. What does Penelope device in order to choose a suitor? a) a contest b) a scheme c) a game

2. How many suitors shoot the arrow through the axe handle sockets? a) all of them b) none of them c) some of them

3. In the end, how does Odysseus get his revenge on the suitors? a) he kills them all b) he exiles them all c) he forgives them all a) he kills them all

a) a contest

b) none of them

1.Demonstrate and

Apply Knowledge

WWhat I WANT to Know

LWhat I LEARNED

 

   

What do you know about The Odyssey and its Hispanic culture? Find the K on the chart below and write down everything you know about The Odyssey. Next, in the column labeled W, write down what you want to learn about The Odyssey. Do not write in the L column. A sample is provided for you.

K What I KNOW

Bloom's: knowledge

The Epic Adventures of Odysseus Part 1. Use the template provided to create an Odyssey comic strip that summarizes the epic's action and adventure. Select one major event from the story such as one of Odysseus’s battles against: The Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops, or the Scylla and Charybdis.

After almost 20 years gone Odysseus finds his way to the island of King Alcinous.

Reproducible: Permission granted to teachers to duplicate for instructional use. Reproduction by others for any purpose is prohibited without written permission from Simply-novel.com. © 2010