HOMER'S MYTHOLOGY: TRACING A TRADITION

Homer’s Mythology: Tracing a Tradition has been designed to help students to:

• identify Homer and the time and place in which he wrote;

• recognize the major events and characters of the Iliad and the Odyssey to ancient Greek mythology and legend;

• identify the major themes of the Iliad and the Odyssey to ancient Greek mythology and appreciate their universality; and

• understand the origin and importance of the epic as a literary form.

• Introduction and Summary

The Iliad and the Odyssey mark the beginning of Western Literature; they are its earliest surviving works. These long epic poems were composed and recited orally in the days before the Greeks used an alphabet, but at some time about 500 B.C. both works were written down. The Iliad and the Odyssey were both recognized in antiquity as great works of art and still retain this place in Western Literature. For centuries, study of these two epics formed the basis of all Greek education.

HOMER’S MYTHOLOGY: Tracing a Tradition is a three-part video which introduces students to the Iliad and the Odyssey and to the social and historical context in which these works were written. Because both poems are long and complex, and are concerned with life and events far removed from today’s world, students need background information and preparation before beginning to read them.

Part 1: Homer’s World provides historical context for both poems by explaining their oral composition, the role of poets in ancient Greek society, and the importance of Homer’s works. The little that is known about the poet the Greeks called Homer is summarized and the mythology—the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus—and the legendary material on which the poems are based are introduced.

Part 2: The Iliad begins by defining the qualities that make an epic and explains Homer’s use of epithets. The major characters and conflicts in the Iliad are introduced, and the legendary cause of the Trojan War and the story of the Wooden Horse—not parts of the poem itself—are also discussed. Quotations from the text of the Iliad highlight some of the main episodes. Part 2 ends with a discussion of the themes in the Iliad.

The treatment of the Odyssey in Part 3: The Odyssey is similar to that of the Iliad in Part 2. The structure of the poem is analyzed, significant events are discussed, and major characters introduced. The universality of the poem’s themes and its influence on later art and literature are also discussed.

• Background Information

• The Early Civilizations of Greece

The first known civilization in Greece flourished on the island of Crete from about 2500 to 1400 B.C. Called Minoan, after the legendary King Monos of Crete, its center was the elaborate palace of Cnossus. From archaeological findings, it is known that the Minoans were an advanced and wealthy society and that they traded with the East and with Egypt. Their religion was a form of nature worship centered in a Mother Goddess.

Minoan civilization ended abruptly in 1400 B.C. when invaders from mainland Greece, who were known as the Achaeans, sailed to Crete, occupied Gnossus, and destroyed it. It is the Achaeans—also called the Danaans—who are the main characters in Homer’s poems. They fought in the Trojan War and their era, also known as the age of the Mycenaean civilization, was the Heroic Age of Greece.

The Achaeans themselves had come from northern Europe to Greece where they conquered a native people whom they called Pelasgi. The Achaeans embarked on expeditions of conquest—first to Crete, where they assimilated much of what they found in the Minoan culture. In the time the Achaeans developed a wealthy and warlike civilization, intent on conquest and expansion. They expanded eastward toward Asia Minor and Cyprus until they ran into the powerful kingdom of Troy, which controlled the Black Sea. The Trojan War, for centuries considered only a legend, doubtless did take place. Although its legendary cause was the rescue of Helen, its real cause was probably the Mycenaean desire for expansion and trade.

The ten-year-long Trojan War apparently weakened the Achaeans and some fifty years after the war ended, they were overrun by a new wave of invaders from the north—the Dorians. These invaders conquered all of Greece, and Mycenaean empire collapsed. The Heroic Age was over.

Even before the Dorians conquered Greece, many Achaeans had founded communities on the western islands and on the shores of Asia Minor. With the Dorian conquest, many more fled to these colonies. Little is known about life in ancient Greece from about 1200 to 800 B.C., a period called the Dark Ages of Greece. Civilization was apparently less elegant, less prosperous, and life more difficult than it had been during the height of the wealthy Mycenaean Empire. Poets told and retold idealized stories of the “good old day”—days when men were great heroes. Homer, sometimes said to have been born at Smyrna and to have lived in Chios, wove these stories into two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

• The Homeric Question

In Part 1 the narrative touches lightly on the question of whether or not there really was a single poet named Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Controversy over this “Homeric Question” has raged since a German scholar named F.A. Wolf raised it in 1795. During the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century the Homeric question aroused impassioned debate. Those critics and scholars who maintained that there was one author for both poems have been called “Unitarians,” while those who thought there were two different authors, or whole host of authors, or that the poems evolved over many centuries have been called “Analysts.”

The ancient Greeks believed there was a single Homer, author of both poems, although they were aware that some additions had been made to the original texts. Most critics agree that the Catalogue of Ships in Book 2 of the Iliad, for example, was basically an ancient document somehow inserted into the poem. Many critics believe that the Odyssey originally ended in Book 23 with the reuniting of Penelope and Odysseus and that all of the rest of Book 23 and Book 24 are later editions.

Details of the Homeric question are probably too scholarly for most high school classrooms, and today most critics no longer are interested in whether one man or two or many wrote the poems. The Homeric question, they feel, will never be answered, and energy is better spent in studying the poems themselves.

• Using the Program

HOMER’S MYTHOLOGY: Tracing a Tradition is a flexible program that may be used in a variety of ways to suit individual class needs. You may want to show all three parts of the video on succeeding days. (A single part takes approximately 15 minutes). Or you may choose to show individual parts as they relate to your curriculum.

The varied perspectives from which the Iliad and the Odyssey are viewed make the program appropriate for a wide range of classes in literature, history, or the humanities. It would be particularly useful in a course on the epic, in a close study of either the Iliad or the Odyssey (traditionally part of the ninth-grade literature curriculum), or in courses on the hero, Greek mythology (or any other mythology), poetry of action, or world literature.

In classes in which you are using the program to introduce epic poetry, students can read portions of the Iliad and the Odyssey and compare them with works from other cultures, noting the similarities and differences. Such a sampling might include the Elder Edda (Scandinavian), Gilgamesh (Babylonian), the Mahabharata and Ramayana (Hindu), and Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon), The Aeneid by Virgil (Roman), Paradise Lost by John Milton, and the Divine Comedy by Dante.

• Presenting the Program

Before showing the program to your class, preview them as you would any classroom material. This will enable you to decide how best to use them and what preparation students may need.

Ask your school or public librarian for the best available map of modern Greece. Familiarize students with the location of Greece and with its island geography. Point out the surrounding seas: the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea. Locate the islands of Crete and Ithaca and the city of Athens.

Compare the map of modern Greece with an historical map of ancient Greece. The best source is the Atlas of the Classical World by A.A. M. Van der Heyden and H.H. Scullard, published by Thomas Nelson Inc., 1959. If this atlas is not available, ask your librarian for help in locating another map of ancient Greece. You will want to show a map of the periods from about 1400 to 1200 B.C. (the Mycenaean civilization) and from about 900 to 700 B.C. (Homer’s time). Such maps are sometimes titled the “Prehistory of Greece.” Have students note especially the strategic location of Troy, which controlled the entrance to the Black Sea.

Before showing the video, it is a good idea to introduce vocabulary words which may be unfamiliar to the students. You may want to e write the words on the board, providing brief definitions or synonyms. On the following pages, you will find difficult words in the context in which they occur.

• Discussion Questions and Activities for Students

Part 1

1. Name and identify the important gods and goddesses of ancient Greek mythology. How were these different from the earlier Greek gods and goddesses?

2. Why were the Iliad and the Odyssey so important in ancient Greece?

3. What do we know about Homer? Why do you suppose so little is known about him?

4. Who were the rhapsodes? Is there anything comparable to a rhapsode in today’ world? The rhapsodes, and Homer himself, were part of an oral tradition. They existed before there was any writing. How has our society—with its records, television, newspapers and books—changed the role of the poet and the folk singer.

5. Explain the Greek concept of arete. Dow we have any term or idea that is its equivalent today? The Greeks thought of arete as the highest human quality. What do you think our society considers the highest human quality or qualities?

6. What are some of the contributions that the ancient Greek culture has made to our civilization?

7. If they were written almost three thousand years ago, why do people still read the Iliad and the Odyssey? What meaning can they have for modern people?

• Part 2

1. The Iliad is one of the earliest surviving stories of a war. Homer depicts both sides—the Greeks and the Trojans—as having noble heroes. Although he himself was Greek, he portrays the Trojans with compassion. Is this attitude different from modern “war stories” you have read? If so, how?

2. In the argument at the beginning of the Iliad, Achilles feels that Agamemnon has insulted his honor. To the Greeks an individual’s sense of honor was enormously important. Do people still feel the same way about honor today? What does honor mean to you?

3. Some critics have said that the Iliad might well be called the Achilliad because it is all about the wrath of Achilles. How are the fates of Troy and the wrath of Achilles directly intertwined?

4. Achilles shows two kinds of wrath in the Iliad. First he is furious at Agamemnon, who insults him in Book 1. Later, when he learns that the Trojan prince Hector has killed his best friend Patroclus, Achilles’ wrath is directed toward Hector. How does he show his rage at Hector? When does Achilles’ wrath end? Why does it end?

5. The Trojan War lasted ten years. Why do you suppose Homer chose to write a very long poem about a small portion of that war? Why didn’t he tell the whole story of the war?

6. What part do the gods and goddesses play in the Trojan War?

7 Achilles is the bravest, fiercest, strongest fighter of all the Greeks. What other qualities does he possess?

8 What did the word hero mean to Homer and to the ancient Greeks? What does the hero mean today?

• Part 3

1. What is the relationship between the Iliad and the Odyssey? Name some of the characters (humans or deities) who play parts in both poems.

2. In both the Iliad and the Odyssey Odysseus is described as “clever, crafty, and wily.” How does he show his cleverness in the Odyssey?

3. Which god or goddess plays a special part in helping Odysseus? Which god or goddess works against him? Why do these deities like or dislike Odysseus?

4. From what you know of the characters of Achilles and Odysseus, tell what qualities you think the Greeks admired.

5. In three of his adventures Odysseus comes to a pleasant place where he finds a beautiful young woman who is anxious to have him stay. Odysseus has a chance to make a new life for himself. Why does he refuse? What is his single purpose throughout the poem?

6. The land of the Lotus Eaters represents a world without responsibilities. Odysseus saves himself and his men from this escapist existence. Some people think that people today pay too much attention to responsibilities, work, success, and money. They think people would be happier escaping from this existence into something like a Lotus Eater’s world. What do you think of this view?

7. Odysseus and twelve boatloads of his men leave Troy when the war ends. Only Odysseus and a single boatload survivie the visit to the Lastrygonians. Later, against Odysseus’s advice, these men slaughter the cattle of the sun god and are killed by Zeus. Of all his men, only Odysseus survives. What does this reveal about Odysseus?

8. Describe Penelope. Does she behave cleverly and heroically in her own right? How?

9. At the beginning of the Odyssey, Telemachus is an angry young man who is unable to make the suitors leave his home. What helps him to change in the course of the Odyssey? How does he come to the aid of Odysseus in the end?

10. In the scene in which Odysseus slays the suitors, he reveals his identity and takes his revenge at the same time. To the ancient Greeks, it was clear that Odysseus must kill the suitors. Not only do they trespass against the laws of hospitality—greedily consuming Odysseus’s wine and food—but they plot to murder Telemachus. When Odysseus mingles with them, disguised as a beggar, they taunt him unmercifully. How do you react to the killing of the suitors? Do you find this scene shocking?

11. At the end of the Odyssey, Odysseus has regained his kingdom and his home. He is reunited with his family and has punished the suitors. Compare the ending of the Odyssey to the ending of the Iliad.

• Suggested Activities

1. Read book 24, the last book of the Iliad, and discuss the scene between Achilles and Priam. Why is Achilles so moved by Priam’s appeal? How does this scene affect our view of Achilles as a hero?

2. When Hector kiss Patroclus, he take Achilles’ armor from the body of Patroclus. Hephaestus, the lame god, makes a magnificent new set of armor for Achilles. Read the description of Achilles’ armor at the end of book 18 of the Iliad. What does this passage tell us about Homer’s view of human life?

3. Compare Odysseus as he appears in the Cyclops episode (recounted in Book 9) with Odysseus as he appears in Book 23, after the slaying of the suitors. How was Odysseus changed?

4. You may be interested in reading more about Telemachus. Read and discuss the first four books of the Odyssey. How is Telemachus’ journey a search for identity and self-knowledge? If you are interested in seeing how Telemachus changes in the Odyssey, compare his portrayal in the early books with Books 16 and 22.

5. Think of some famous world odysseys: journeys of exploration, mountain-climbing, bicycling, hiking, or sailing long distances in small ships. Why are these odysseys admired? What element do they have in common?

6. As a class project, compile a scrapbook of literary works, cartoons, phrases, and advertised products that allude to Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey. You might begin by including Tennyson’s poems “Ulysses” and the “The Lotos-Eaters.” You might use Granger’s Index of Poetry to find other works.

7 Write a first-person report of one of the episodes in the Iliad or the Odyssey. Imagine yourself one of Achilles’ army, a citizen of Troy, or one of Odysseus’s men. Before you begin your first-person version, read a prose version of the episode you choose to write about.

8. If you are interested in drawing, you may want to illustrate one of the characters in the poems. You might try one of the monsters, or one of the major episodes.

9. You may want to compare several translations of Homer’s works. Try to get as many different translations as you can—in prose and poetry—and compare several different versions of particular passages, such as the opening paragraphs of the Iliad and the Odyssey. On the basis of this comparison decide which translation you think you would most like to read. If the translators are all working from the same Greek texts, why do you think the translations are so different?

10. With a group of your classmates, work together to act out interviews with Achilles, Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, and any other figures you choose. You might use a modern-day television talk show format or a news interview setting. Several of you can work together to think up good questions for the interviews, practice your performances, and then present the interviews to the class.

11. Try writing newspaper articles announcing the end of the Trojan War, the death of Hector, Odysseus’ slaying of the suitors, or from any other episode.