Iliad & Odyssey

1. Iliad & Odyssey Story of the Trojan War: Set in Troy, action over a few weeks time Story of the Journey Home: Set in vast spaces, action over ten years time

2. Homer in Ancient Greece • Earliest Greek Literature • Written c. 750 BCE from oral trad. (c. 1200 BCE) • Recited by Rhapsodes • Epic = dactylic hexameter or long poem on war/myth…A long narrative poem about a legendary hero. (The Odyssey is 12,109 lines of hexameter verse!) • Cultural Importance for Greeks • Taken as History • Hellenic Unity

3. Homer • Poet • thought to be blind, but describes events as a seeing person • lived around 1200 B.C.E

4. Dactylic Hexameter • The meter consists of lines made from six ("hexa") feet. In strict dactylic hexameter, each of these feet would be a dactyl (long syllable followed by two short syllables ), but classical meter allows for the substitution of a spondee (two long syllables ) in place of a dactyl in most positions. Thus the dactylic line most normally looks as follows: — u u | — u u | — — | — u u | — u u | — u u

5. Dactylic Hexameter cont. • (note that — is a long syllable, u a short syllable) • The first line of Homer’s Iliad—“Sing, goddess, the wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles”—provides an example: • μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος • Dividing the line into metrical units: • μῆνιν ἄ | ειδε, θε | ά, Πη | ληϊά | δεω Ἀχι | λῆος • dactyl, dactyl, spondee, dactyl, dactyl, trochee (— u ). • Based on pronunciation time not stress like in English

6. Greece and Trojan War

7. The coward believes he will live forever If he holds back in the battle. But in old age he shall have no peace Though spears have spared his limbs. Cattle die, kindred die, Every man is mortal: But I know one thing that never dies, The glory of the great deed. “Words of the High One” by The Elder Edda

8. Areté Excellence, virtue, or what makes an individual the best or among the best; usually some combination of physical prowess & persuasive speech or command. Timé Honor, material symbol of status among others, usually capable of being taken away (prize, booty, trophies). Kleos Glory or Fame, understood as public opinion, or what others say or remember.

9. Acheans Achilles & Patroclus Agamemnon & Menelaus, Nestor Odysseus Penelope, Iphigenia Trojans Priam Hector & Paris (Helen) Gods Persons in the Iliad

10. Iliad • In medias res: Trojan War Behind the Walls of Troy • Hector as Tragic Hero? • Odysseus’ role • Is Achilles’ anger inhuman?

11. Death and Heroism • The prospect of death drives the heroes to pursue timé (honor). • The hero is defined by his action in the face of mortality, especially in combat or contests. • And resulting kleos (glory) is the hero’s only immortality.

12. Hector at the Gates of Troy …Achilles was coming closer…On his right shoulder he waved his dreadful spear
made of Pelian ash.The bronze around him glittered
like a blazing fire or rising sun.At that moment,as he watched, Hector began to shake in fear.
His courage gone, he could no longer stand there.
Terrified, he started running, leaving the gate.
Peleus' son went after him, sure of his speed on foot.
Just as a mountain falcon, the fastest creature
of all the ones which fly, swoops down easily
on a trembling pigeon as it darts off in fear,the hawk speeding after it with piercing cries,
heart driving it to seize the preyin just that way
Achilles in his fury raced ahead

13. Achilles abuses Hector’s body Then on noble Hector's corpse
he carried out a monstrous act.He cut through
the tendons behind both feet, from heel to ankle,
threaded them with ox-hide thongs, and then tied these
onto his chariot, leaving the head to drag behind.
He climbed up in his chariot, brought on the splendid armor, then lashed his horses.They sped off eagerly,
dragging Hector.A dust cloud rose above him,
his dark hair spread out round him, and Hector's head,
once so handsome, was covered by the dust, for Zeus
had given him to his enemies to dishonor in his own native land. So all his head grew dirty. (From Book XXII, translated by Ian Johnston)

14. Abuse of Hector’s Body

15. Iliad • Achilles’ grief • Achilles’ end • Odysseus

16. Questions about the Iliad • What are the chief motivations for war or conflict in the Iliad? • Compare/Contrast Achilles and Hector as representing heroic ideals. • If the Iliad is about the wrath of Achilles, what is the lesson to be learned, if any?

18. The Odyssey • Journeys • Disguise, Deception & Craftiness (lies!) • Fantastic Voyages • Women in the Odyssey • Homecoming: Loyalty & Order • An epic about humans on the journey of life overcoming temptations along the way.

19. Structure • 24 Books (chapters): Possibly divided this way because the original written texts were on papyrus rolls, and 24 were needed… • Books 1-4: The Telemacheia • Begins In media res (into the middle of things) • Use of Homeric Epithets ex. “much-enduring, brilliant Odysseus” or “a man of many schemes” ***Identify these as we read!

20. Translations Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turnsdriven time and again off course, once he had plunderedthe hallowed heights of Troy.Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove –the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sunand the Sungod blotted out the day of their return. . . . (Robert Fagles 1996) Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the storyof that man skilled in all ways of contending,the wanderer, harried for years on end,after he plundered the strongholdon the proud height of Troy.                                           He saw the townlandsand learned the minds of many distant men,and weathered many bitter nights and daysin his deep heart at sea, while he fought onlyto save his life, to bring his shipmates home.But not by will nor valor could he save them,for their own recklessness destroyed them all —children and fools, they killed and feasted onthe cattle of Lord Hêlios, the Sun,and he who moves all day through the heaventook from their eyes the dawn of their return. . . . (Robert Fitzgerald 1961)

21. Two Journeys in One Story • Odysseus and Telemachus • Fantastic and Worldly • Tele. journeys to become a man & find his place in the world • Ody. Journeys to get back to his rightful place- doing what he should do • Theme: Heroic Struggles • Gods/immortality (Bk. V) • Monsters (real? Symbolic?) • Finding home • Theme: Nostos (return) • Nestor, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Odysseus • Theme: Xenia • generosity and courtesy towards strangers

22. 6. Aeolia’s Island 7. Laestrygonians 8. Circe’s Kingdom 9. Land of the Dead 10. Sirens 11. Scylla & Charybdis 12. Calypso 13. Ithaca 1. Mt. Olympus 2. Troy 3. Cicones 4. Lotus Eaters 5. Cyclops

23. Women in the Odyssey • Seduction and Symbol • Danger & Loyalty The Women • Calypso • Nausicaa (& Arete) • Circe • Anticleia • Clytemnestra • Penelope • Charybdis & Scylla • Sirens • Ino….and more!

26. Land of the Dead (Bk. XI) • Rites of the Dead • Vision of the Underworld • Warnings & Lessons • The Message

27. Homecoming (Bk. XXIII) • Disguises at Ithaka • Now Athena • Killing the Suitors • Xenia? (hospitality?) • Penelope & Telemachus: • Loyalty and Order

28. Some Paper Topics(See also slide 20) • Compare the areté of Odysseus with Achilles (or hector, Gilgamesh, Moses, etc.). How does the quest for honor and glory account for their actions? How important is the recognition of mortality? • Compare the women characters from the Iliad and Odyssey. Clearly the women characters are more prominent in the Odyssey, but in what way are they similar or different? What role do women play in each epic work? • What is the role of women in Homer? Clearly they represent domestic ideals, but they also represent other important values and features in the narrative. Explicate what you think of Homer’s us of women characters in the Iliad and Odyssey. Are there any interesting modern parallels? • The Odyssey is best known for the fantastic series of adventures the Odysseus undergoes. Pick one or two episodes and draw modern parallel. What is the significance of this episode? Does it teach us a lesson or reveal something important about the human condition (or just archaic Greek values)? • Odysseus is constantly trying to get home to Ithaka. He forsakes a goddess (Calypso) and other alluring women (e.g., Circe), so why does he seek out home and a reunion with Peneolpe? What does this tell us about the virtues of Odysseus?

29. How does Homer portray the relationship between gods and humans in the Iliad and Odyssey? What roles do the gods play in human life? How does this make a difference in the storylines? • In what way does Odysseus’ character develop during the course of the narrative? Does he develop at all? Compare other characters (e.g., Achilles, Gilgamesh, etc.). • An important cultural concept in the Odyssey is xenia – generosity and courtesy to strangers, especially travelers form afar. What role does it play in the narrative? How is it established as a key value? Why might hospitality have held more significance in Homer’s time than it does today? • Draw a comparison between the themes presented in any two of the works we have read thus far (Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis, Exodus, Job, Iliad, Odyssey). Pick a theme that spans both works and discuss how it is similar and/or different, but also tell us why this is interesting or revealing. Use specific examples to illustrate the theme(s) and your main point about its treatment in the stories. • In the Odyssey and the story of Gilgamesh have given us two visions of the underworld. What is the picture of the underworld we are given in these works? Does it resonate with modern versions of the underworld? Why is water so important? Blood?