Homer's Appeal

The Seven Marvelous Sights (7 Wonders of the Ancient World, ed.) have long been famous in story, but the Marvelous Sounds? If they were ever numbered in the same way, Homer's poetry would be the first of them."(Eustathios - 12th century)

"It is an old saying that out of Ocean arise all rivers, all springs, all wells. So out of Homer flooded down to the sages most if not all of the great stream of language." (Eustathios - 12th century)

This poetry captivates even kings. Alexander the Great, carried Homer's book along with him even in battle, as his treasure, and was never without it. He used it as a pillow, so that he should not be separated from Homer, and so that he should dream well.

Nearly 3,000 years after Homer, we still say "Achilles' heel," "Trojan horse," or "the face that launched a thousand ships." All of these sayings are from "The Iliad" or the mythic cycle on which it is based.

His Life:

Almost nothing is known about the life of Homer. He was most likely a Greek who lived in approximately the eighth century B.C. According to legend, he was blind and made a living as a poor singer of stories (called bards).

A portrait of Homer may be imagined from one part of "The Odyssey". In the court of the Phaeacian king, where the shipwrecked Odysseus is being generously entertained, a poet, Demodokos, (whose name may be rendered "favored of the people") is described as a "divine singer to whom the god gave delight of singing whatever his soul prompted him."

He is introduced by a herald to the gathering in the hall and is called an "honored minstrel whom the Muse befriends--yet she gave him both good and bad, in that she conferred on him sweet song but deprived him of his eyesight." (In antiquity there was a belief that Homer was blind.) After the banquet, "the Muse stirred the bard to sing of the deeds of men, whose fame has reached wide heaven, to wit, the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles, how they wrangled with violent words at a sacred banquet."

When Demodokos finishes his heroic tale, Odysseus is made to remark how singers such as he "are held in honor and respect by all mankind; for the Muse herself has taught them." And, addressing Demodokos, he says, "I praise thee beyond all mortals: either the Muse, God's daughter, has taught thee, or Apollo(God of the Sun); for thou singest most fitly and aright the destiny of the Greeks, the deeds that they wrought and suffered, and the hardships they endured. Either thou thyself must have been present or heard it all from another."

His Writings:

In the 1920s, a scholar argued that "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" were composed orally. The poems follow a formula, relying on like descriptions (such as "wine-dark sea" and "rosy-fingered dawn"), repetition of stock lines, and descriptions and themes typical of oral folk poetry.

Thus, Homer was most likely a poor professional reciter--who improvised pieces to be sung at Greek festivals. He probably wove together parts of standard epic plot in order to connect his story into a whole. However, Homer's genius was as a shaper of traditional poetic elements into works that far exceed the sum of their borrowed parts.

The oral versions of the poems were handed down by local bards from generation to generation and eventually were written down on papyri after Homer's death. Once set down in writing, the poems probably became the exclusive property of the Homeridae, the "sons of Homer," a bardic guild whose members performed and preserved the poems.

The first printed edition of Homer's works appeared in Europe in 1488 and remained in use until the seventeenth century.Today scholars believe, on the basis of internal evidence, that "The Iliad" was written much earlier than "The Odyssey".

The Illiad:

For all practical purposes, Western literature begins with "The Iliad".

What happened before"The Iliad" begins:

On a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, fell in love with Helen, and she either eloped with or was abducted back to Troy by Paris. In anger, Menelaus called upon Helen's past suitors to make good their oaths to attack Troy.

Eventually an army of a thousand ships (thus "the face that launched a thousand ships") was gathered by Menelaus' brother Agamemnon. They landed at Troy, eventually, where the Greeks laid siege to Troy for nine years. The siege was broken at times by fighting until the tenth year.

The plot of "The Iliad" :

"The Iliad"is about 15,000 lines long and is divided into twenty-four books. It takes place during the tenth year of the Trojan War, which took place in the twelfth century B.C. In simplest terms, the plot recounts an episode near the end of the war between King Priam of Troy and the kings of Greece, led by King Agamemnon of Mycenae and his brother Menelaus of Sparta.

"The Iliad" focuses mainly on Achilles and his rage against king Agamemnon, the Greek commander-in-chief, who has taken an attractive slave and spoil of war from Achilles. Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, follows the advice of his mother and withdraws from battle in revenge and the allied Achaean (Greek) armies nearly lose the war.

However, the eventual battle between proud Achilles, the greatest warrior, and brave Hector, the Trojan hero and son of King Priam, is a popular part of the story. Hector knows that he will die, but meets Achilles before th walls of Troy to defend his city and his family. After the battle and Hector's death, Achilles ties the body to his chariot and arrogantly drags it before the wall of the city.

Later Hector's father, king Priam, comes to Achilles disguised as a beggar to ransom his son's body back, and Achilles is moved to pity; the funeral of Hector ends the poem.

Where's the Trojan Horse in "The Iliad" or what happened next:

Achilles was killed on the battlefield by Paris, with a poisoned arrow to his heel. ("Achilles' heel" was his only weakness) Ajax the Greater and Odysseus feuded over who would keep his armour. They drew lots and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and slaughtered his livestock, believing they were the Greek commanders. Overcome with grief, he then killed himself. The Amazons came to join the battle.

Odysseus devised a plan to take the city. He had his men build a large, hollow wooden horse, then he and twenty others hid inside. The Greek ships withdrew out of sight of Troy, admitting defeat, and left behind them only the horse, supposedly as an offering to Poseidon for good winds on the return trip.

The Trojans took this inside the city, and then feasted and celebrated in the belief the war was over. At night the soldiers crept out and opened the gates to the other Greeks who had sailed back under cover of night. The city was sacked, and in some accounts burned for seven years. Priam was killed.

A Roman tradition held that Aeneas escaped with his family and several hundred people, who after years of migration eventually founded Rome. (This was used by Virgil in his Aeneid.)

Odysseus' long journey home is narrated in Homer's "The Odyssey". Menelaus and Helen returned to Sparta to rule. Agamemnon took home as a slave the priestess Cassandra, who was gifted with prophecy but cursed never to be believed.

The Odyssey:

"The Odyssey" takes its name from the hero of the epic, Odysseus, King of the Island of Ithaca, who participated in the Trojan War and is sailing eastward toward home. "The Odyssey"begins with these lines:

"Oh Goddess of Inspiration, help me sing of wily Odysseus, that master of schemes!"

His wanderings take place over the span of ten years, but "The Odyssey" covers only the last six weeks of his journey. Odysseus tells about his fantastic adventures in flashbacks. Odysseus embodies such qualities as bravery, physical strength, and supreme cleverness, but he eventually also comes to represent the more mature attributes of endurance, wisdom, and self-control. While he is depicted as vulnerable to the whims of Poseidon the god of the sea, he also enjoys the guidance and protection of the goddess Athena.

The Adventures of Odysseus:

The Cyclopes:
They arrived next at the island of the Cyclopes, a race of fierce one-eyed giants. A monstrous giant with a single eye in the middle of its forehead, the Cyclops is found throughout Greek mythology. The word for more than one Cyclops is Cyclopes. In Homer' s `Odyssey', they were a colony of man-eating giants said to live in caves high in the mountains of Sicily.

Odysseus with 12 men landed on the island of the Cyclopes and blundered into the cave of the Cyclops, Polyphemus. After blocking the entrance with a huge stone, Polyphemus began to dine on Odysseus' men. Odysseus made Polyphemus drunk. While the giant slept, Odysseus stole his staff and sharpened it. With this weapon, heated red-hot, he burned out the giant's eye.

After the giant was blinded, Odysseus and his men escaped by tying themselves to the bellies of some sheep let out to pasture. The giant could not see the men and when he felt the backs of the sheep, he did not discover the men clinging under the sheep's belly.

The Aeolian Isle:
Their next stop was at the Aeolian Isle, a peaceful land where Aeolus, Keeper of the Winds, lived. When they left after a month of relaxation, Aeolus gave them a favorable wind to speed them on their way. The other winds he bound into a leather bag and put on board Odysseus ' ship.

The ships sailed smoothly for nine days until Ithaca was in sight. While Odysseus was sleeping his men determined to open the leather bag because they believed it was filled with gold. Upon doing so, the winds were released. They drove the ships back to the Aeolian Isle. This time, however, they were not welcomed. Aeolus believed that men so unlucky must be hated by the gods.

Isle of Circe:
Their next stopping place was the island home of Circe, the enchantress. She cast a spell on Odysseus' men, changing them into swine. Odysseus himself was protected by an herb given to him by Hermes, messenger of the gods. When Circe realized he was protected by Hermes, she changed the swine back into men and prevailed upon them all to remain for a year at her palace.

When they decided to leave, she said they must first journey to Hades, the dwelling place of the dead. When they reached Hades, Odysseus met many of his departed comrades, including Achilles. He and his companions were told that many perils still awaited them. There was a chance of reaching home.

If they were to do so, however, they must curb their greed when they came to the place where the sun-god Helios pastured his herds. If a single beast were harmed, they would all be doomed.

Sirens:
As they continued their journey, they were forced to sail past the dwelling place of the Sirens , sea nymphs whose singing lured men to certain death. To prevent this from happening, Odysseus had his men put wax in their ears. He had himself tied to the mast so he could listen to the singing.

Scylla and Charybdis:
Once this danger was bypassed, a more ominous one lay ahead. The ship had to sail between Scylla and Charybdis. On one side of a narrow strait Charybdis pulled everything nearby into a vast whirlpool. On the other side Scylla, a six-headed monster, waited to devour anyone who passed by.

The ship succeeded in getting through with a burst of speed but not before losing six sailors to the jaws of Scylla.

This plight in life where one has to choose between two opposite evils became known Scylla and Charybdis. Today, this conflict has come to be known as "being between the devil and the deep blue sea," or "being between a rock and a hard spot." However it is said, the essence of the dilemma remains the same. When people and societies have worked themselves into a situation where both choices spell calamity, and the margin of escape is extremely thin or non-existent, they often have no way out, with their only choice being to decide which of the two calamities is less destructive.

Isle of the Sun:
Those who survived reached the pleasant Isle of the Sun, where Helios pastured his animals. Odysseus wished to sail past it, but the men feared the night seas.

They disembarked and were held there for a month by strong winds. As their food supply ran out, the sailors decided they had to kill one of the animals. While Odysseus slept they did so. They were able to sail away without problems, leading them to think they had escaped the wrath of Helios. But Zeus, highest of the gods, replied to the sun-god's request for vengeance by sending a hurricane. It destroyed the ship and crew, leaving Odysseus alone in the sea, clinging to the mast.

Island of Calypso:
Ten days later he was carried ashore on the island of Calypso. Calypso was a sea nymph and daughter of the Titan Atlas. Calypso lived alone on the mythical island of Ogygia in the Ionian Sea.

When the Greek hero Odysseus was shipwrecked n Ogygia, she fell in love with him and kept him for seven years, and promised him immortality and eternal youth if he would stay with her.

Calypso could not make him overcome his desire to return home.

When Zeus, asked her, she finally released Odysseus. Calypso gave him materials to build a raft, provisions and instructions of the way of the sea, to leave the island.

Calypso died of grief after Odysseus left.

Home to Ithaca:

He made a raft, and after a series of other adventures he finally reached Ithaca. His problems were not over. He had been gone for 20 years, and no one believed he could still be alive. It was dangerous for him to make himself known because several men were waiting to wed his wife, Penelope and gain the kingship.

Athena changed Odysseus' appearance and hid in a cave his treasure that he had brought with him from his last stopping place. Penelope's suitors were staying at the palace, wasting the kingdom's wealth and trying to make the queen choose among them. Telemachus, the son and heir to the throne, had grown up and spent his time vainly trying to rid the palace of the suitors.

Penelope herself put them off by a ruse. She insisted she could not marry anyone until she had finished weaving a shroud for Laertes, the aged father of Odysseus, who was near death. What she wove by day she unraveled each night, so the cloth was never finished. Servants finally gave away her secret to the suitors, however, and they hounded her for an answer.

Odysseus meanwhile found shelter in the hut of his former swineherd. There Telemachus appeared, having escaped the plan of the suitors to kill him. Odysseus revealed himself to his son, and together they plotted what they would do. Telemachus returned to the palace, bringing along Odysseus disguised as a beggar. No one recognized Odysseus except his nurse and his aged dog Argos, but the animal was too weak and soon died.

Penelope did not recognize her husband, but she made him welcome and prepared a room for him. She had by this time decided finally to choose one of the suitors. She decided to make the choice on the basis of a contest among them. The next evening she brought out the great bow Odysseus had left at home, along with its quiver full of arrows. She announced she would marry the man who could drive an arrow through holes in the blades of 12 axes set in a row.

Many tried, but none could even bend the bow. Odysseus, still clothed as a beggar, stepped forward and asked to test his strength. The suitors thought the idea ridiculous, but Telemachus gave him the bow. Snatching an arrow, he sent it flying straight through the 12 axe blades. After Odysseus had shown who he was, he and Telemachus killed all the suitors.

Nearly 3,000 years after Homer, we still say ____ 3 ____ heel, "Trojan horse," or "the face that launched a thousand ships." All of these sayings are from "The Iliad" or they are from the famous and popular ____ 4 _____cycle on which the poems are based.

For all practical purposes, our Western ____ 5 _____begins with "The Iliad".

"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" were composed ____ 6 ____ . The poems were handed down by ____ 7 ____ from generation to generation and eventually were written down on papyri after Homer's death.

However, Homer's genius was that of a ____ 8 ____ storyteller. He shaped traditional poetic stories into tales that today are second only to the Bible in popularity.

Alexander the Great, carried Homer's book along with him even in battle, as his ____ 9 ____ , and was never without it. He used it as a pillow, so that he should not be separated from Homer, and so that he should dream well.

"The Iliad"takes place during the tenth year of the Trojan War, which took place in the twelfth century B.C.

"The Odyssey" takes its name from the hero of the epic, ____ 12 ____ , King of the Island of Ithaca, who participated in the Trojan War and is sailing toward home.

His wanderings take place over ten years, and Odysseus tells about his fantastic adventures using flashbacks. Odysseus ____ 13 ____, the qualities of bravery, physical strength, and supreme cleverness, but he also comes to represent endurance, wisdom, and self-control.

His most famous adventure is on the Island of the ____ 14 ____ where ____ 15 ____ Ulysses escapes a one-eyed giant by getting him drunk and blinding the eye.