Background information on the Trojan War, the story of Odysseus, and the Greek gods and goddesses.

1. HHoommeerr’’ss TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
Must you have battle in your heart forever?
The bloody toil of combat? Old contender,
will you not yield to the immortal gods?
From The Odyssey, Book 12

2. NNootteess ffoorr TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
• The Odyssey is an ____ poem. It has
more than ____ lines and is divided into
____ books.

3. NNootteess ffoorr TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has
more than ____ lines and is divided into
____ books.

4. NNootteess ffoorr TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has
more than 12000 lines and is divided into
__ books.

5. NNootteess ffoorr TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has
more than 12000 lines and is divided into
24 books.

6. NNootteess ffoorr TThhee OOddyysssseeyy
• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has
more than 12000 lines and is divided into
24 books.
• Epics address universal concerns:
– Good and Evil
– Life and Death
– Sin and Redemption

7. SSoommee cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss ooff aann eeppiicc::
• 1) The story is set in many locations, real
or imaginary, across a wide area.
• 2) The hero is an important historical or
legendary character of high social rank – a
king or a prince, for example.
• 3) The hero is pitted against overwhelming
odds and must be strong and courageous.

8. • 4) Supernatural events play an important
role in the plot.
• 5) The story is told in language that is
formal and grand but also simple and
clear.

9. The hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus.
Sean Bean in Troy
Armond Asante in The Odyssey Marble carving of
Odysseus from 2nd
century BC - Greece

10. The hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus.
HHee iiss ffrroomm ______________________________ wwhhiicchh iiss
llooccaatteedd __________________________________________________________..
Sean Bean in Troy
Armond Asante in The Odyssey Marble carving of
Odysseus from 2nd
century BC - Greece

11. The hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus.
HHee iiss ffrroomm tthhee iissllaanndd ooff IItthhaaccaa wwhhiicchh iiss
llooccaatteedd __________________________________________________________..
Sean Bean in Troy
Armond Asante in The Odyssey Marble carving of
Odysseus from 2nd
century BC - Greece

12. The hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus.
HHee iiss ffrroomm tthhee iissllaanndd ooff IItthhaaccaa wwhhiicchh iiss
llooccaatteedd ooffff tthhee wweesstt ccooaasstt ooff GGrreeeeccee..
Sean Bean in Troy
Armond Asante in The Odyssey Marble carving of
Odysseus from 2nd
century BC - Greece

13. TThhee TTrroojjaann WWaarr
WWhhoo??
• Menelaus, King of Sparta, and the kings and
soldiers of Greece sail to Troy.
• Greeks: Agamemnon – leader of Greek Army
Achilles – Greatest Greek warrior – one physical weakness
Odysseus – “The Cunning One”
• Trojans: Priam – King of Troy
Paris – Son of Priam
Hector – Troy’s greatest warrior, son of Priam

14. TThhee TTrroojjaann WWaarr
WWhhyy??
• Paris kidnapped Helen, wife of Menelaus, who then sails
to kill Paris and destroy Troy, and retrieve his wife.
• Helen is known as the “most beautiful woman in the
world,” but is also forever associated with treachery and
infidelity.
• In his famous play Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
wrote that Helen was “the face that launched a thousand
ships.”

15. TThhee TTrroojjaann WWaarr
WWhheerree??
• The battles take place on the coasts and lands
surrounding Troy.
• Today this land is the country of Turkey.
• When?
• 1200 BC = When the events told in Homer’s
poems are supposed to have occurred.
• This means these stories have been told for
over 3200 years.
• 900-700 BC = The oral tradition is thought to be
first written down by Homer.

16. TThhee AAddvveennttuurreess ooff OOddyysssseeuuss
WWhhoo??
• Odysseus and his men – 12
ships and 720 men leave
Troy and head for home.
• Rather than soldiers, they
now must battle monsters
and enchanting women.
• Meanwhile, Penelope waits
for him at home while their
son, Telemachus sails the
sea looking for his father.

17. TThhee AAddvveennttuurreess ooff OOddyysssseeuuss
WWhhyy??
• Odysseus angers the gods who were on the
side of Troy, and one god who was on his side.
They have decided that he must suffer.

18. TThhee AAddvveennttuurreess ooff OOddyysssseeuuss
WWhheerree??
• The Mediterranean Sea – this was the entire known
world for the ancient Greeks.
When?
The 10 years immediately following the Trojan war.

19. The Olympian GGooddss aanndd GGooddddeesssseess
• The ancient Greeks believed that the gods
and goddesses were very “human” and
their pettiness, jealousies, and anger
caused humans to suffer.
• The Trojan war was prolonged because
the gods took sides during the conflict.

20. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh TTrrooyy
• Aphrodite
Goddess of Love
and Beauty
Protector of Paris

21. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh TTrrooyy
Ares
Greek God of War
- Greatly disliked by Greeks
- Defeated by Achilles in
battle and saved
by his sister, Aphrodite.

22. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh TTrrooyy
• Apollo
God of light and the sun;
truth and prophecy;
archery; medicine and
healing; music, poetry,
and the arts.
Most known for sun and
archery, and music.

23. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh GGrreeeeccee
• Athena
Goddess of Wisdom and War
Protector of Odysseus
Athens takes its name from her

24. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh GGrreeeeccee
• Hermes
Messenger of the Gods

25. GGooddss SSiiddiinngg wwiitthh GGrreeeeccee
• Poseidon
God of the Sea and Earthquakes
Inventor of horses
Second only to Zeus in power

26. ZZeeuuss
• King of the Gods
• God of the sky and thunder
• Also the god of hospitality
• Neutral in the Trojan war
• Known for his infidelities
against his wife, Hera

27. FFrroomm ““BBuurreeaauuccrraattss && BBaarrbbaarriiaannss:: TThhee
GGrreeeekk DDaarrkk AAggeess”” bbyy RRiicchhaarrdd HHooookkeerr
• “No other texts in the Western imagination
occupy as central a position in the self-definition
of Western culture as in the two
epic poems of Homer, The Iliad and The
Odyssey. They both concern the great
defining moment of Greek culture, the
Trojan War.”

28. FFrroomm ““BBuurreeaauuccrraattss && BBaarrbbaarriiaannss:: TThhee
GGrreeeekk DDaarrkk AAggeess”” bbyy RRiicchhaarrdd HHooookkeerr
• “If the Greeks regarded the Trojan War as
the defining moment of their culture, they
did so because of the poetry of Homer. It
would not be unfair to regard the Homeric
poems as the single most important texts
in Greek culture.”

29. FFrroomm ““BBuurreeaauuccrraattss && BBaarrbbaarriiaannss:: TThhee
GGrreeeekk DDaarrkk AAggeess”” bbyy RRiicchhaarrdd HHooookkeerr
• “Whether or not this war really occurred,
or occurred as the Greeks narrate it, is a
relatively unanswerable question. We
know that such a war did take place
around a city that quite likely was Troy,
that Troy was destroyed utterly, but
beyond that it’s all speculation.”