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The World of the Hero – Homer’s Odyssey & Virgil’s Aeneid
1.1 - Thought to have lived in the 8th c BC, during the Bronze Age
Homer & context - Troy is thought to have been destroyed in 1200 BC.
- Epics were written in dactylic hexameter.
- The Mycenaean period is renowned for the palaces, dated to 1600 – 1100 BC
- Scholarship Oral poetry:
- ‘Since writing… became increasingly accessible in Greece from about 700 BC…
date the Odyssey to about the same time… ‘the style of the poetry is oral’. –
Emile Rieu
Greek culture:
- ‘Heroic stories were a valuable culture resource; they provided entertainmen
historical continuity and a method of ethical thought… making the occasion a
source of social cohesion’. – Ruth Scodel
Structure and plot of Features of an Epic:
the epic. - Involvement of supernatural beings
- Conflict in the form of battles
- Stylistic conventions (epithets and formulae)
- A formal statement of the theme
- Elevated, often archai, language
- A nation or universal theme
- Well-known stories
It’s evident the audience would be familiar with the Iliad as the Odyssey starts in me
res, a crisis of Odysseus absence.
- Scholarship media res:
- ‘Homer controls the narrative tension by introducing us to Telemachus first a
not revealing Odysseus until Book 5’ (Ruth Scodel)
-
- ‘…we are meant to judge, but not be bullied into judgment’ (Jaspar Griffin)
Language in the epic Flashbacks – Narrative technique interrupting the chronological sequence – book 9
– enables homer to start at high interest points.
Epithets – An adjective or adjectival phrase used to define a characteristic quality or
attribute – ‘wise Odysseus’ – it fits the metre of the poem.
Formulae – phrases which slot into the narrative, markers of time and rituals – dawn
‘rosy fingered’ – for repetition and impact.
Parrel Scenes – Repeated scenes – Penelope’s characteristic mirrored by other wom
of the Phaeacians – connecting the story.
Speeches – 2/3s direct speech – Odysseus’ speck reveals in heroic qualities – Charac
perspectives evoke reality.
Detailed Description – each object is a close-up picture – The blade of Calypso ‘han
of olivewood fixed firmly to its head’ – evokes realism.
1.2 Odysseus as a hero
The Concept, Values Noble birth Patronymics ‘Odysseus son of
and Behaviour of a Laertes’
Hero Relationship with Divine attention Athene is his patron
, immortals goddess
Kleos Talked about the Phaeacians knew
of him
Physical strength and Match of nobility ‘broad shoulders and
beauty strong thighs’
Excellence in war Kleos achieved Fighting in Troy.
Resourcefulness Capacity to survive Odysseus building a
raft in 4 days
Timē Public praise and Phaeacians gift
gifts Odysseus with safe
passage
Nostos Desire and duty to Throughout the
return home Odyssey
Societies in the Ismarus – Raided and feasted by Odysseus.
Odyssey
Lotus-eaters – Men hypnotised to never leave, Odysseus breaks free
Sicily – The cyclops – Polyphemus (Son of Poseidon)
Aeolus – Presented as a man, gives Odysseus a bag of hostile winds
Laestrygonians – cannibals
Aeaea – Home of Circe, place of enchantment
Land of the dead – The underworld, meeting his mother and Tiresias
Sirens – Odysseus with the aid of his men escape
Charybdis – whirlpool that swallows whole ships
Throncia – Cattle of the sun god Helios
Ogygia Isle – Home of Calypso
Phaeacia – Civilised and distant island, favoured by Poseidon
Ithaca – Home of Odysseus, challenged by the suitors
- Scholarship ‘When Odysseus describes the Cyclops…he speaks with the discerning eye of the
colonist…related to real-life Greeks…in the archaic age sailed into unknown water..’
Edith Hall
- Scholarship Characterisation:
‘…there are two kinds of Odysseus in the poems… the folktale figure, the trickster…a
there is the Odysseus of the Iliad, a hero of epic song…’ – Richard Jenkyns
‘…draws from several different genres and traditions, so it elicited a vast range of
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