Background for The Odyssey

1. Background for The Odyssey What I need to understand before I start reading.

2. Author of The Odyssey • Homer • Blind Bard • Oral tradition • Lived around 800 BCE • Wrote / Composed both Epic poems in verse. • Performed them regularly.

3. Setting for The Odyssey • Set in Ancient Greece • Greece is a series of city states (each with its own king) on the shores of the Mediterranean. • Many of the ancient Greek city states covered what is today parts of Italy, Macedonia, Bosnia, Albania and the rest of the Balkan penisula. • Most ancient Greek people believed in the Greco-Roman gods.

4. Map of Ancient Greece

5. Map of Odysseus’ Journey

6. The Greek Gods

7. Prior to The Odyssey • The Odyssey is a sequel to The Iliad. • The Iliad was also created by Homer • The Iliad covers the story of the Trojan War. • Trojan War was fought over Helen of Sparta (later became known as Helen of Troy) • Helen was awarded to Paris (prince of Troy) by Aphrodite because he claimed she was the most beautiful of the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. • One small problem. Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta, so he declared war on Troy to get his wife back…Thus began the Trojan War.

8. Prior to The Odyssey (Continued) • King Menelaus of Sparta gets all his Greek allies to help him fight in the war against the Trojans to get his wife, Helen, back. • King Odysseus of Ithaca was one of his friends who took several ships and helped Menelaus fight the Trojans. He leaves behind his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. • The Trojan War took 10 years. The Trojan horse (which Odysseus developed) helped Menelaus win the war and get his wife back. • When The Odyssey opens, it’s been 7 years since the Trojan War ended and no one knows why King Odysseus hasn’t returned to Ithaca yet.

9. Family Tree in The Odyssey • Both Penelope and Odysseus were descendants of the gods. • http://xsmyth2012.wikispaces.com/Helen+of+Troy