The Truth Behind The Myth

He maintains his focus on Greek myths not only because of the sheer number of myths around the world, making it impossible to interpret and clarify them all, but also because European men, who would have been familiar with the myths from Greece, write most of the classics we analyze. He explains that these myths are not only a part of them but also “so much a part of the fabric of our consciousness, of our unconscious really, that we scarcely notice” (Foster, 51). Which suggests that, we can recognize Greek myths even if we do not realize it. With this simple fact presented to us, we no longer wonder why allusions to Greek myths have been used since they emerged and are still employed today. Myths are often exercised as “overt subject matter for poems and paintings and operas and novels” but more often “writers have…borrowed from and emulated” these myths (Foster, 52, 53). Instead of explaining every detail about every character, place or moment authors rely on other stories, such as myths, to expand and develop their tale. The writer will subtly hint at myths and hope you recognize their allusions to these old legends. Since we established that, we know these myths, whether consciously or not, we can take these allusions and decipher any hidden meanings the author has for us, giving each story a new level.

Homer’s The Odyssey, is an epic poem of mythology which includes twenty-four books. The ancient writings focused its topics of discussions on the Trojan War, a hero named Odysseus, and the challenges he faced

The Odyssey by Homer is an epic poem consisting of 24 books that share individual stories. The Odyssey tells a story of Odysseus, son of Laertes, known as a Great hero. Odysseus fought in the Trojan War for ten years and it took another ten years for him to return home to his grieving wife Penelope and son Telemakhos. Throughout the poem, Odysseus and Penelope go through pain, hardships, and sacrifices always showing their heroic qualities of courage and wits.

Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, first started as an oral storytelling tradition dating from about 1100 BC, after the Trojan war.

INTRO: Despite difference of around 400 years between them Greek poet Homer and tragedian playwright Euripides explore many of the same themes in their works the Odyssey and Trojan Women (written by each respectively). Both works are inspired by the events of 12th Century BCE Trojan War that Homer previously explored in the Iliad. The two examine the worth of cunning over brute strength, the dangers of temptation and the role of women in their respective time periods. Despite having extremely similar central ideas, the techniques employed by each are markedly different. These differences arise as the result of changes in socio-historical contexts and format of each work’s presentation, for example the critical shift of the 5th century which saw the rise of sophistry and a certain scepticism in regard to Athenian leadership and the very existence of the gods.

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey takes place in and around ancient Greece near the time of the Trojan War. The protagonist is Odysseus, the guile hero and king of Ithaca. Just after his first son Telemachus was born, Odysseus is called to battle in the ten year long Trojan war. After the war, angry at his and his men’s hubris in battle, the gods made the return journey last ten harsh years. Meanwhile, growing up fatherless, Telemachus has to cautiously take charge of the hold, while staying loyal to Odysseus with their home filled with demanding suitors that woo his mother, Penelope. Although Telemachus acts with more caution and didn’t always have his father by his side, they both display loyalty and bravery as warriors in battle.

The Iliad was an epic poem written in the 8th century BCE by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is considered to be the earliest work in Western literature, and is one of the most well-known and respected stories ever written. The Iliad covers the events of the last couple weeks of the ten years that the Trojan War took place. The Iliad is an epic that has many underline themes such as love, war, hate and forgiveness. The poem greatly covers Achilles roll in the Trojan War and how the gods and goddess were constantly intervening with the outcome of the war. The Iliad also vastly covers Achilles and Hectors relationship thought the last weeks of the Trojan War.

Say “Greek Tragedy” to an English major and you’re likely to elicit a groan, or even perhaps a screech of terror. For me however, Greek tragedy, as well as Greek mythology, has always fascinated me. When I was younger, the Greek God’s always captured my interest, and I could never get enough of them. As I grew older, I became interested in the more refined aspects that Greek literature had to offer. Sophocles and The Three Theban Plays in particular, left me awestruck. I quickly began to realize that many of the new and inventive books and movies I had seen, had actually been written in one form or another, generations ago.

Homer's epic poem The Odyssey was written after his Iliad which told the tales of the Trojan War. This Odyssey told of the wanderings of a prominent warrior and ruler, Odysseus. Odysseus fought in the Trojan War and, after the Greeks claimed their victory at Troy, began his prolonged journey home. During his travels Odysseus faced many obstacles which he had to overcome. Through his wanderings, Odysseus had to prove his valor, intellect, and determination. Incorporated into The Odyssey are many current-day characteristics of man including a constant dependence on others, the presence of a greater vision, or lack there of, and the essence of a sensitive side behind courage and pride.

One significant difference between the Iliad and Troy is the timespan. The Iliad is not a story of a Trojan war, but a story of a hero’s wrath. The time span it covers is only a few weeks in the tenth year of the siege of Troy. Homer chooses to focus on events that occurred during a quarrel of King Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, and Achilles, the most powerful warrior of the Achaean army. Homer doesn’t go into detail about other events and battles, as the story of the Trojan War was well-known to the Greek society because it has been told and retold by bards for numerous times and the general plot was still fresh in the minds of the Greeks. For his poem to stand out, Homer had to be original, so he didn't tell his audience about the war as a whole, but rather spotlighted the wrath of an individual hero, Achilles. Troy,

Little can be definitively said about Homer, however Ancient Greek tradition places him to have lived and wrote sometime in the eighth or ninth centuries B.C. Early Greeks insist that there was a single individual named Homer, to whom they accredit the Illiad, Odyssey, and several other minor works. The Illiad begins in media res, Homer recounts an episode near the end of the war between the Trojans, ruled over by King Priam, and the attacking Greeks, led by King Agamemnon of Mycenae. The Greeks, or Achaeans, that Homer writes about, were not people of a unified

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.

From the standpoint of the study of Homer as a poet, the War of Troy was a war actually fought nearly four centuries before Homer's time, and the causes of that war were almost certainly political and economic (Moss and Wilson). Homer thus, adopted the historical fact of the war and the tradition of an exciting legend. In The Iliad Homer uses the War of Troy as an example of the tragic futility of all wars, rather than assuming either an antiwar or a pro-war position.

The history of Greek mythology is an extravagant chronicle of tales of heroism, tragedy, and tradition. The Greeks had an extreme talent with fine arts, and these abilities are strongly reflected in their

Ancient Greek literature is seen in our modern day. Epics were created in ancient Greece, and today many movie and books are made in that form. Also, fables like “The Tortoise and the Hare”, are still told today. Today, comedians make fun of social issues, politics, and public figures, just like in ancient Greece. Plays written in the form of dramas and tragedies are modeled like in the ancient Greece. Finally, many historians today model after Thucydides work. Ancient Greek writers created so many works that have changed the world and out