Elizabeth Kim Wilson COR 101-17 12 September 2013 The Odyssey’s Son of Pain Homer’s epic tale The Odyssey recounts the many trials that Odysseus must face as he journeys from the Trojan War back to his homeland of Ithaca. Odysseus encounters many troubles over the course of his journey, some of which are thrown his way by the Gods (which he angers on many different occasions), and some of which he causes himself. His name in ancient Greek roughly translates to mean “troublemaker.” Odysseus is known for his clever mind, made famous by the ruse that won them the war in The Illiad, the Trojan horse. As he drifts from place to place, Odysseus and his men must depend on the hospitality of their hosts. Therefore Odysseus is very charming to whomever
The saga has been retold for hundreds of years and has become even harder to trace back to truth because of the many views on the account mainly by Homer’s take on the event in his fictions The Odyssey and The Iliad. His versions both contain gods and portray Achilles as immortal except for the heel of his foot. The movie Troy, aside from a bit of dramatization and a few minor twists in the tale, is probably more accurate than not. The main question that has been posed is if Troy really existed. Manfred Korfmann, a German archeologist, has led excavations on the site believed to be Troy told of by legends for the past 16 years.
The Odyssey, traditionally attributed to Homer, is one of the two great Greek epic poems1. It tells the story of Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War. Over the course of his ten-year journey, Odysseus encounters many perils: giants, a cyclops, witches, spirits and gods. At the time that The Odyssey was composed, the Greek alphabet had not yet been developed and the poem is a product of a completely oral tradition. The ancient Greek epic tradition was an oral-formulaic tradition.
The rulers held sway not just over their own people but over the Mediterranean, Europe and North Africa” (Menzies). The Greek philosopher, Plato, wrote the above description of Atlantis in 355 B.C. Plato had originally planned to write a trilogy of books on subjects such as the creation of the world, the nature of man, the story of Atlantis as well as other subjects. The first book, Timaeus, was completed, Critias, which contains the story of Atlantis, was incomplete, and Hemocrates, was never written (Levy). The story of Atlantis is one of the oldest myths of mankind, a lost paradise and the most popular of all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations.
This epic poem, written in 700 BC, (five hundred years after the war) is a compilation of the oral histories passed from one generation to another. The poem focuses on the wrath of Achilles, using Troy as the poetic setting for a conflict between men and gods. According to Korfmann, “There is nothing in the archeological record to contradict the assertion that Troy and the surrounding countryside formed the setting for Homer’s Iliad in 700 BC.” In his description of the city , the terrain, the landscape, the natural features, etc, can be matched up with the archeology and geography around Troy today. There are however inconsistencies in the Iliad which have questioned its reliability. Homer’s audience however, knew that a war had been fought in Ilios or Troy and accepted the mythology of the poem and the exaggerated feats of its Greek heroes without questioning its historical accuracy.
Undoubtedly, one of the greatest fictional characters recognized in English literature is the majestic King Arthur. The hundreds of legends surrounding this central figure and his kingdom in Camelot each have their different tweaks but contain the same basic plotlines: the marriage of Arthur and Guinevere, the betrayal of Guinevere and Lancelot, and the culminating battle between Arthur and his illegitimate son Mordred. Despite this compelling tale on the surface that has been alive for over a thousand years, a closer look deeper into its origins provides the true insight into the complexity of this beloved legend. As a compilation of Celtic mythology, pagan symbols, and Christian allegory, perhaps the element that stands out the most is the latter as it is reflected consistently throughout the legend. The beginnings of Arthur as king are an interesting juxtaposition of pagan symbolism and Christian allegory.
The truce was broken by the Athenians only ten years after it was signed because the empire looked to expand. In 433 BC Athens allied with Corcyra, who was a colony of Corinth, who was an ally of Sparta. This event is the main event that started the war in 431. Athens was accused of assault and Sparta threatened with war. Under Pericles leadership, Athens refused to back down and this war started.
Unlike many legends whose origins have been lost in the mists of time, we know exactly when and where the story of Atlantis first appeared. The story was first told in two of Plato's dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias, written about 330 B.C. Though today Atlantis is often conceived of as a peaceful utopia, the Atlantis that Plato described in his fable was very different. In his book Frauds, Myths and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, professor of archaeology Ken Feder summarizes the story: "a technologically sophisticated but morally bankrupt evil empire — Atlantis — attempts world domination by force. The only thing standing in its way is a relatively small group of spiritually pure, morally principled, and incorruptible people — the ancient Athenians.
That figures from Greek mythology were still being represented artistically in Homer’s time shows that the people still respected the tales after centuries had gone by. Homer also described great palaces belonging to kings and heroes, enormous structures the like of which was unknown in Greece in the eighth century BC. Such opulence and extravagance had not been seen in Greece since the twelfth century BC, not long after Troy was said to have fallen and Homer is describing a world of which his audience would have no experience (BHAG, p. 41 – 42). From archaeological remains of eighth century settlements, homes were much smaller
Beowulf, the Great Epic Hero There are two lengendary epic poems that have great epic heroes. The first is The Iliad, written by author Homer in 850 b.c., and the second is Beowulf, from the time period 750 a.d., whose author is unknown. Both of the poems tell a story about epic heroes. Between the two heroes, I think that Beowulf appears to show more traits of an epic hero than Achilles. One reason why I believe Beowulf is brave is because he fought Grendel with his bare hands.