The Iliad And The Odyssey

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, written by Homer, is an ancient tale filled with adventure, some sadness and much hope. These emotions are driven by the interaction between the characters in the story. Analyzing the many different relationships throughout this book will allow a deeper understanding of the love and sacrifice that prevailed.

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

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.

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

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.

Most believe that Homer was a man, however other think that he was a group of individuals, and an even smaller group believe that Homer was a woman. His birthdate is also debated frequently. His birth date ranges from 750 BCE to 1200 BCE. Greek historian Herodotus, commonly referred to as “the father of history”, places Homer’s birth date at 850 BCE. The location of Homer’s birth is also disputed. Possible contenders are Ionia, Smyrna, the coast of Asia Minor, or the island of Chois. Most of Homer’s aspects are derived from his works. For example, Homer is thought to be blind based on a blind poet named Demodokos which was interpreted as Homer referencing his own life, leaving many to believe Homer was blind as well. These references are the only outlook into Homer’s

In the epic poem, “The Odyssey” by Homer, it starts with Odysseus on the island of Calypso twenty years after he left for the Trojan War. The gods are were discussing what to do with Odysseus. Athena wanted to let Odysseus return home safely, while Poseidon didn’t. Athena disguised as Mentor, a family friend of Telemachus, visited him at a party. Telemachus talked to Athena, and she told him the procedures on how to find out if Odysseus is alive or dead. Telemachus followed Athena’s advice and gets ready for his quest to find his father, but Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors, did not want to leave without knowing who would be Penelope’s husband. The other suitors did not care if Penelope chose or not, so Telemachus decided to go on

One day Homer’s friends invited him to a beach, saying that is was the most popular ocean in the world. But, he forgot his bathing suit, luckily his friend said that he had one that would fit him as the paper on the wall. He found it in the basement, when he was putting it on he noticed that the suit was not his size it was for a much smaller person and his arms were sticking through where a couple of mice had made holes. When he finally arrived at the beach he noticed that everyone was staring at him, a cluster of people gathered around him, talking excitedly and laughing, girls stopped talking when they saw him and turned away, some boys came up to him and began to make personal remarks. Soon he left the party and hurried for the water his

The Odyssey was one of the greatest books of all time. The Odyssey is the second part of an epic poem, the first part of the poem being The Iliad, written by Homer near the end of the 8th Century BCE. The Odyssey took place after the Trojan War, as the protagonist Odysseus returns home from the war with his men, he and his men landed on the island of the Lotus Eaters, where his men ate the fruit and did not want to leave. They left and sailed to the land of the Cyclops, where they discovered the cave of Polyphemus, a Cyclops. The Cyclops came home to Odysseus and his men eating his food, so he ate a few men, drank some liquor and fell asleep, as he was asleep, Odysseus and his men to pierced the Cyclops’ eye with a wooden rod and escaped. As they were leaving, the Cyclops put a curse on Odysseus and his men making it difficult to return home.

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey have been treasured for centuries as outstanding works of poetry and regarded among the greatest works of Greek literature. The Iliad and Odyssey evoke a sense of wonder at the exploits of the heroes while at the same time serving information for Ancient Greeks who look to Homer’s epics as a source of historical and cultural knowledge. Ancient Greeks most likely regarded the description of the hero’s epic adventures and exploits as representation of the cornerstone of their civilization. Homer’s epics recount the story of the unfolding events in weeks leading to the tenth year of the legendary Trojan War and the siege of the city of Troy. Homer most likely fixed the Iliad and Odyssey from the original oral form

Homer and Ovid are two of the oldest, most influential poets that have ever lived. Although they are both poets, they have several differences in their writings. Homer, a Greek poet, is most famous for his epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Ovid, a Roman poet, is most famous for Metamorphoses a 15 book poem containing over 250 myths. To compare and contrast these two poets and their writing styles, I will use Achilles’ battle with Hector in Homer’s Iliad book 22 and compare it with Achilles’ battle with Cycnus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses book 12. The comparison of these battles will give us a better understanding of these poets different views on the Trojan War.

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.

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.

This short essay will identify five traditional epic characteristics that are evident in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.