2. The Iliad and the Odyssey were written by a poet or poets known as Homer. They were stories written about heroes in Mycenaeans times. Homer focused on one important event to base the stories after, the Trojan War. The story was about Paris Prince of Troy, taking Helen of Sparta from her husband. A war started to get Helen back to her husband because her husbands honor was hurt. The story told in the Odyssey is one of the king of Ithaca trying to return to his wife and son after being gone for ten years. The writing of the Iliad and the Odyssey are historically important, because it was one of the earliest ancient texts recorded. The stories gave the Greeks a sense of who they were and taught them how to feel all emotions, as well as …show more content…
These four kingdoms formed a cohesion and a common language was used between all four called, koiné. Together these kingdoms created more cities, trading routes, and created alliances. However, because of the high tax rate to fund all that the kingdoms were doing, farmers were poor. The successors of Alexander the Great are historically important because they spread out the Hellenistic civilization. Those kingdoms created new art in forms of encyclopedias, libraries, and technologies. Scientific innovation were also brought together from the Greek, Egyptian and Persian traditions. Medicine, astronomy, geography, and mathematics are some to name. 6. A polis was a community in the ancient Greek world. In order for the community to be a polis, the people located in the community needed to believe in something larger than oneself, share the same obligations, rights and responsibilities. Polis communities came to be when Greece no longer needed imports to survive. The communities could self-govern themselves. The poleis of Greece, began to expand and they grew into a society built for war. A polis is historically important, because it introduced diversity. Each polis had its own gods, festivals, laws, and practices. 7. The Delian League was established in 478 BCE. It was created as an alliance between all the poleis after the Greeks defeated the Persians. The Greeks believed that they had not seen the last of the Persians so the Delian League was created.
In what ways did these empires differ from one another? What accounts for those differences?
The Delian League was an establishment formed in 478 BC. A large number of Greek cities formed an alliance under this league and together aimed to provide a strong defence against Persia, under the
During The Iliad we see the warrior ethos as being the main ethos, but as we transfer to The Odyssey we see the transformation from warrior ethos to domestic ethos. Furthermore, the novel is based on domestic ethos and how home affects the warrior. Throughout The Odyssey we see Odysseus trying to make his way home after the Trojan War. On his adventure home he goes through trials and challenges before he actually makes it home. He has to outsmart people to be able to get where he wants to with out dying. This task is not easy but eventually he makes it. Moreover, we realize that warrior ethos is not the major ethos represented in the novel. It is domestic ethos. Odysseus learns how to use the domestic ethos to his
During this time they created what was known as the polis or city-state. The polis was a fundamental institution in Greek society. Citizens of polis assembled in the central place for political, social, and religious activities. Although the polis was great individually it ruined the unity of Greece as a whole. With the creation of the polis came a new military system.
Virgil 's Aeneid takes a character form Homer’s Odyssey and constructs a life for him beyond Homer’s ideas. It is quite obvious that Virgil was heavily influenced by both Homer’s writings, The Iliad and the Odyssey. Both stories tell of parallel journeys home from Troy at the end of the Trojan War. Homer’s Odysseus is returning to Greece and the family he left behind ten years ago. Virgil’s Aeneas, in contrast has been given a direct command by the God, Mercury to create a new Empire. Both men set out on their ships, into the Mediterranean Sea, and both encounter mythical creatures along the way. Sirens and harpies respectively curse and unsuccessfully attempt to lure the men off course. Bad weather however is noted to blow both ships off course. Aeneas lands on an island and lives with the beautiful Dido for a period of time, putting his journey to found a new city on hold. Similarly, Odysseus remained on the Island of Cyclops with the beautiful Calypso for several years, only leaving when the Gods command him to. The love in not everlasting and both tales tell of the men subsequently abandon their loving women waiting for them at home.
Homer’s two tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are both incredibly well known and widely taught across the world and at many different levels of education. Some call Homer the “greatest poet to ever live” and although this can be disputed his works truly speak for themselves and have braved the test of time quite well. This paper will cover who/whom Homer is as a person, or persons, and the time period of his writings, the truths versus the dramatizations of the Iliad and Odyssey, how the author’s perspective and writings portray ancient Greek culture, along with how the two of them interact with our culture today.
In The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer has different portrayals of the roles that women play in each epic. These differences are so striking that some readers have even argued that there is a possibility that a woman could have created The Odyssey, modeled after Homer’s Iliad. In The Iliad we see women represented as war prizes and slaves, vulnerabilities to men, and in positions of limited power. In The Odyssey however, we see women capturing men and keeping them as prizes, rising from a status of limited power to dominating their household, and breaking free of the constraints of the “typical” household woman stereotype. We even see them making their own decisions and challenging their husbands. By comparing and contrasting these epic women
In the Hebrew Bible and The Odyssey there are heroic figures that play an important role through out each of the books. These heroic figures from the Bible and The Odyssey have many similarities and differences that reflect the different cultures they are from. These heroes are called upon by greater beings, such as gods, to complete difficult journeys and or tasks that the god has made them destined to complete. Each of these legendary heroes demonstrates a particular culture’s needs. Through these journeys and or tasks they are forced to overcome challenging obstacles and make sacrifices.
All odysseys tell the story of a great adventure; in-fact the word odyssey literally defines as a heroic adventure filled with notable events and hardships. Likewise in the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is not permitted to arrive home until he overcomes his biggest challenge, fixing his prideful attitude. The purpose of the passage found in Book V lines 65-102, is to reinforce Odysseus’ image as an epic hero and his loyalty to his family and homeland, in spite of challenges that arise that attempt to deter him from returning home. The structure and language utilised by Homer builds up the meaning of the passage; creating a contrast from the lush and enchanting feel of the goddess Calypso’s estate, to the grief of Odysseus being away from his homeland Ithaca and his family, including his loyal wife Penelope.
The Odyssey by Homer and the Old Testaments: King James Version are two of the most read and most sophisticated pieces of literature that have transcended through generations. While they share similar qualities; both greatly differ as well, especially when it comes to the women characters. Classical historian and professor of classical studies at Wellesley College, Mary Lefkowitz, makes a significant contrast between these two famous writings. She believes that a major difference between the women of each story differ dramatically when it comes to their personality and actions. “[Although] the notion... that a man should be active and aggressive, a women passive and subjected to the control of the men in her family, are expressed in virtually every Greek myth, even the ones in which the women seek to gain control over their own live.…[so] that it is possible to show that the Greeks at least attributed to women a capacity for understanding that we do not alway find in the other great mythological tradition that has influenced Western thought, namely, the Old and New Testaments." (Women in Greek Myth, Mary Lefkowitz). I completely agree with Lefkowitz statement on these characters, it’s very clear that most of the women in the Old Testament are very flat while the Odyssey is full of well rounded characters especially when it comes to Jacob’s wife Rachel and Odysseus 's wife Penelope.
Hospitality has been around and important to cultures for almost forever. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, there are many themes, but the theme of hospitality reoccurs throughout the entire epic. This epic takes place in Ancient Greece after the Trojan War. The main character, Odysseus, is on a journey back home to Ithaca after being away for ten years. Along the way, he must make stops and stays in the homes of the different people during his journey. The individuals that are hosting the stranger are expected to act a certain way to show their hospitality. This is called xenia. Xenia is the relationship between the host and the guest. Rules are supposed to be followed and the hosts are supposed to provide certain resources to their guests. It is also important to the culture of the Ancient Greece to show good hospitality to the strangers that wish to stay in their home. Odysseus has stayed in the homes of many along his journey home. He has experienced both good xenia and bad xenia from the people who has stayed with.
When one hears the word Polis, a simple Greek region would usually come to mind, while it was an area by name it was much more than that to the Greeks it was a community. To the community of Greeks polis had more of a meaning than just an example definition of a city-state. Premiums such as security, peace, freedom of social interaction and thoughts, self-sufficiency, and togetherness helped to make the polis a prized possession. Polis might describe a city-state but it was also a way of life for many Greeks in a political, moral, economic, and cultural sense. It was a place where various different political activity and government events took place. And it usually located in the center of each city where commerce and trade occurred. While these cities where interesting by themselves they also played some importance to certain Greek philosophers.
The Odyssey by Homer tells the story of a Greek warrior named Odysseus, who faces challenges placed upon him by the supernatural, or more specifically, the Greek gods and monsters. His journey begins while sailing home from Troy, where Odysseus had won the Trojan war for the Greeks. Odysseus’ ship is forced to dock on many islands, most of which have hostile environments. Odysseus serves as the model for an epic hero, a fictional character who possesses many traits admirable to his or her society. The character also follows a code of honor and is willing to sacrifice themselves for the weak, such as women or children. Though this idea comes from an ancient story, it is relevant in modern popular culture. For example, Harry Potter, a hero
This short essay will identify five traditional epic characteristics that are evident in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Virgil was Rome’s unwilling epic poet, he gave the Roman people a cohesive narrative that tied them to the past and propelled them towards the future. This narrative, The Aeneid, had its basis in local lore as well as ties to the older Greek epics of Homer. The Aeneid almost functions as an extension of The Iliad and Odyssey, with its protagonist, Aeneas, being a minor figure in the earlier poems, and the work itself academically divided into “Odyssean” and “Iliadic” parts. In this relationship Virgil owes a creative debt to Homer, and there is a resemblance that can be seen with striking clarity when the experiences of Homers’ Odysseus and Virgil’s Aeneas are examined side by side. Odysseus and Aeneas are both honour bound to reach the destinations of their respective journeys, Odysseus to rule Ithaca and Aeneas to found Rome, and while ones journey often mirrors the others, there are significant differences between the two. The major differences that can be observed lie in their characters and forms of heroism and these variations shape the course of their narratives, yet the similarities of their internal journeys and ultimate fates remain intact.