Name _________________________________

“An Introduction to the Odyssey”

Notes from Introductory PowerPoint; adapted from pp. 740-746

The person credited with gathering Greek stories together and telling them as an epic is a man
named ________________.

Homer’s great war stories are called the ______________ and the ______________.

The Iliad, Homer’s first epic, tells of a ten-year war fought outside the walls of a great city called
__________.

The cause of the war was ____________________; the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen,
abandoned her husband, Menelaus, a Greek King, to run off with Paris, a prince of Troy.

The Odyssey, Homer’s second epic, tells the story of a Greek soldier named ______________
and his journey home after the Trojan war ended.

______________ are long narrative poems that tell of the adventures of heroes who in some way
embody the values of their civilizations.

The theme of the long journey has been a basic element in Western literature and is found in
novels like ______________ and movies like ______________.

Odysseus was a/an ________________, known as much for his __________ as his __________.

In Homer’s day, heroes were placed somewhere between the gods and ordinary human beings.
They experienced pain and death, but they were always _______________________________.

Odysseus is different than this, though, because he is a hero ____________________.

_____________ is the home of Odysseus, his wife ________________ and their son
___________________.

When his son was still a toddler, Odysseus was called to fight in the war by _________________
and _________________. He didn’t want to go, so he attempted _____________________ by
acting like he was insane when the kings came to fetch him.

However, Odysseus revealed his ____________ when he turned his plow to avoid running over
Telemachus.

Once in Troy and in the midst of the war, Odysseus was an extremely successful soldier and
commander. He thought of the famous __________________ trick that lead to the ultimate fall
of Troy.
Odysseus and his family are people ______________ for the right relationships with
__________________ and with ___________________. It is this __________ that sets the tone
for the Odyssey.

Instead of beginning at the beginning of Odysseus’ departure from Troy, the story begins with
his son Telemachus as a 20 year-old being threatened by ____________________________.

Meanwhile, his _______________ is stranded on an island, longing to find a way to get back to
his __________, __________ and ___________.

___________ are traditional stories, rooted in a particular culture, that usually explain a belief,
ritual, or a ________________________________________________.

Myths are essentially __________ because they are concerned with the relationship between
___________________ and the unknown or ______________ realm.

Though no one knows for sure who Homer was, later Greeks believed he was a ______________
____________.

Wandering minstrels or bards were later called ____________, “singers of tales.” They served
as the historians and mythmakers of their time because there was no written history or book of
religious stories. So, rhapsodes traveled about from community to community singing of
______________________ or of the doings of ______________________________.

Scholars suggest that stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey were originally told __________ by
people who could not _____________________.

The stories followed a basic story line, but most of the actual words were __________________
in a way that fit a particular rhythm or meter. Therefore, the singers needed an audience that
could ___________ closely.

______________ or _____________ similes compare heroic or epic events to simple and easily
understandable everyday events that the audience would recognize instantly.

Most of the time a minstrel was only in town for a few days, so he would ______________ some
of the story and sing the rest in ______________, in as many sittings as he had time for.