...the Stoic interpretation of Homer’s and Hesiod’s epic poems is in many (although not in all) aspects an apology, meant as a response to the criticism of Xenophanes and Plato. Their point of view is based on a specific theory of transmission of knowledge and on a new reading of the common philosophical opposition of truth and opinion. The question about the possible allegorical status of these interpretations is heavily debated. On one hand, it was proven by several scholars that Heraclitus, the author of Homeric problems whose defense of Homer was often taken as the best example of a Stoic allegorical reading of epic poems, was not a Stoic philosopher. On the other hand, there is no consensus...
Words: 1052 - Pages: 5
...Biography of Homer (?-? BC) Beyond a few fragments of information, historians and classicists can only speculate about the life of the man who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey. The details are few. We do not even know the century in which he lived, and it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that the same poet composed both works. The Greeks attributed both of the epics to the same man, and we have little hard evidence that would make us doubt the ancient authorities, but uncertainty is a constant feature of scholarly work dealing with Homer's era of Greek history. The Greeks hailed him as their greatest poet, as well as their first. Although the Greeks recognized other poets who composed in Greek before Homer, no texts from these earlier poets survived. Perhaps they were lost, or perhaps they were never written down‹Homer himself was probably on the cusp between the tradition of oral poetry and the new invention of written language. Texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey existed from at least the sixth century BC, and probably for a considerable span of time before that. These two great epic poems also had a life in performance: through the centuries, professional artists made their living by reciting Homer, performing the great epics for audiences that often know great parts of the poem by heart. It is impossible to pin down with any certainty when Homer lived. Eratosthenes gives the traditional date of 1184 BC for the end of the Trojan War, the semi-mythical...
Words: 5074 - Pages: 21
...In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus demonstrates many heroic traits, and he shares some of those traits with heroes in the modern real world. Odysseus is the main protagonist in The Odyssey. He faces many obstacles on his journey back to his home island of Ithaca, a place he holds dear to his heart. The aforementioned obstacles include beasts, monsters, temptation, an insatiable whirlpool, and betrayal. Of the many sour encounters, by far the most grueling was the one of the Cyclops. Odysseus’s actions in ‘The Cyclops” demonstrate that he is clever, which is a trait he has in common with Harriet Tubman. Odysseus and his American counterpart both share the trait of cleverness. In the episode of The Cyclops, Odysseus’s wit beyond measure...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
...The ten year journey Odysseus experiences teaches him lessons that benefit him throughout the rest of his life. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus undergoes various obstacles while trying to reach his goal. Odysseus’ goal to go home is more essential to his character than his journey; this is because he constantly reminds himself of his goal, his goal gives him a purpose, and he always keeps his goal in mind when making decisions. To begin, Odysseus frequently reminds himself of his objective. In the episode Land of the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus notices his men ate the Lotus flowers, which makes them lose all desire to go home. He then reminds himself of his goal to go home and singlehandedly carries all his men back to the ship. Odysseus...
Words: 398 - Pages: 2
...is the other self of the author. It is considered that stream of consciousness writing is exerted all through the novel to write the interior minds of characters. In the episode 1, Telemachus,[2] it is revealed that Stephen did not kneel down and pray for his dying mother when she asked him to do so, and actually Joyce himself did not pray for his mother when she is dying although she asked him to kneel and pray for her, since Joyce was an agnostic thinker. Stephen thinks whether he should have prayed for his mother or not and he is distress by meditation on his mother. Her [Stephen’s mother] grazing eyes, staring out of death, to shake and bend my soul. […] Her eyes on me to strike me down. Liliata rutilantium te confessorum turma circumdet : iubilantium te virginum chorus excipiat.[3] Ghoul! Chewer of corpses! No, mother. Let me be and let me live.[4] Stephen is obsessed with the image of his mother and he feels as if the ghost of her is gazing at him. He is thinking seriously about whether he should have chosen his agnosticism or his affection for his mother. In this scene, Joyce suggested the matter of a connection of son and mother and agnosticism, derived from his experiences. Stream of consciousness writing is exerted luxuriantly and humorously in the novel and in the episode 4, Calypso,[5] Leopold Bloom who is one of the protagonists talks with his wife, Molly in their house and he is considering about her and her manner, which is written by stream...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...Gender role in The Odyssey, specifically focusing on the women's role and how women's treatment by men can be indicated as sexist. They are usually identified by their looks and treated based on how their physical appearance is, and whether they have power over any men. She makes it clear that throughout Odysseus’ journey to the underworld, he spots and gets a glimpse of different variety of women. She says that throughout the Odyssey, they do not state anything about the women’s accomplishments in their lifetime, but only about their important son's, good looks and pleasingness, and their affairs with gods. She also talks about how women are known for their action and activity towards their sons and husbands, but never for the action and deeds of their own, or how they are, nor what accomplishments they did for themselves. Helene states that it seems in the book Odyssey, the only achievements women could achieve was being pretty and attractive to they eyes of the men. She proves throughout her paper that even Homer made it sound as...
Words: 1092 - Pages: 5
...The Shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles utilized as a part of his battle with Hector, portrayed in a standout amongst the most acclaimed entries of Homer's Iliad, and is rich in imagery and point by point symbolism. The Shield of Achilles is immense, substantial, and round. There are a few concentric circles on the shield, each portraying diverse scenes. Then again shield of Aeneas' delineates Rome so completely; the shield specifically relates Aeneas' destiny to the fate of Rome. The Shield indicates hard battled Roman triumphs and military victories spoke to as minutes when the protection of the city-state and its amazingness was in intense peril. Aeneas' shield had a more positive and cheerful undercurrent by depicting Rome's...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homer's Iliad. The Iliad relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy; its sequel, the Odyssey describes Odysseus's journey home. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan...
Words: 529 - Pages: 3
...JAMES JOYCE -AN IRISH MODERNIST MODERN FICTION GROUP NUMBER 4 GROUP MEMBERS : HAFSA SHAHID R CONTENTS: Introduction to James Joyce Modernism and James Joyce A portrait of an Artist as aYoung Man Ulysses Themes and Style of Joyce's two Works a) Mythological Allusions b) Kunslerroman c)Stream of conciousness c)Focus on inner time rather than outer time d)Search for identity e)Treatment of religion f)Treatment of sexuality Conclusion James Joyce (from February 2, 1882 to January 13, 1941) was one of the most preeminent Irish authors of the 20th century. He is known for his literary innovation strictly focused narrative and indirect style. James Joyce matriculated from University College of Dublin in 1903. After moving to Paris, Joyce planned on studying medicine. The lectures were conducted in a technical French but Joyce’s education had not prepared him for it. Despite his mother’s attempts to get him to return to Catholic Church, Joyce remained unmoved even after her death. Joyce studied at Clongowes Wood College from 1888 until 1892. When the family’s financial state devolved, Joyce had to leave the school. After a brief time at Christian Brothers School, Joyce was enrolled at Belvedere College in 1893. In 1898, Joyce began studying Italian, English and French at University College Dublin. At this time, Joyce also began his entry into the artistic...
Words: 9723 - Pages: 39
...elements of mythology, or explanations of natural phenomena, but they are associated with a particular locality or person and are told as a matter of history. * Some legends are the unique property of the place or person that they depict, such as the story of young George Washington, the future first president of the United States, who confesses to chopping down the cherry tree. EPIC * A long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds, although the term has also been loosely used to describe novels, such as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and motion pictures, such as Sergey Eisenstein’sIvan the Terrible. In literary usage, the term encompasses both oral and written compositions. * The prime examples of the oral epic are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Outstanding examples of the written epic include Virgil’s Aeneid and Lucan’s Pharsalia in Latin, Chanson de Roland in medieval French,Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata in Italian, Cantar de mio Cid in Spanish, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene in English. PROVERB * A succinct and pithy saying in general use, expressing commonly held ideas and beliefs. Proverbs are part of every spoken language and are related to such other forms of folk literature as riddles and fables that have originated in oral tradition. * Comparisons of proverbs found in various parts of the world show that the same kernel of wisdom may be gleaned under different cultural...
Words: 723 - Pages: 3
....Homer’s life is a shadow in the mists of ancient history. All that we know for certain about him is that he composed two of the greatest epics in world literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as several hymns to the gods. The content, ideals, and style of his epics formed the basis of Greek education in the classical age of Socrates, Plato, Sophocles, and Aristotle and influenced the course of western literature for centuries to come. .......The Iliad and The Odyssey stand as two of the greatest works ever composed. They have influenced writers throughout the ages for the beauty and power of their imagery, for their character development, for the universality of their themes, and for their extraordinary stories. They take their place alongside the Bible, Sophocles’ Oedipus the Rex, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Tolstoy’s War and Peace as among the most popular and most highly praised literary works in history. Remarkably, Homer had no authors to imitate, no prototypical literature to guide him, for literature—indeed, civilization itself—was still in its infancy when he composed his works. He was the world's first great writer, a model for others to imitate. .......Scholars conjecture from scraps of evidence that Homer was a blind poet who may have been born on the island of Chios (also spelled in English as Khios) in the Aegean Sea; in Smyrna, a seaport in western Turkey; in Colophon, near Ephesus, Turkey; on Rhodes, an...
Words: 2682 - Pages: 11
...Fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf by AEOSOP A Shepherd-boy, who watched over a flock of sheep near a village, amused himself three or four times by crying out, “Help! Wolf!” | | When his neighbors came to help him, he laughed at them for being so gullible. However, one day the wolf did come. The Shepherd-boy, now terrified, shouted: “Please come and help! The Wolf is killing the sheep.” But no one came to help or even paid attention to his cries. The Wolf, having nothing to fear, took his time destroying the whole flock. Hephaestus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Hephaestus (disambiguation). |Hephaestus | |[pic] | |Hephaestus at the Forge by Guillaume Coustou the Younger (Louvre) | |God of Technology, Blacksmiths, Craftsmen and Volcanoes | |Abode |Mount Olympus | |Symbol |Hammer, Anvil and Tongs | |Consort |Aphrodite, Aglaea | |Parents |Hera and Zeus, or Hera alone | |Siblings |Ares, Eileithyia, Enyo and Hebe | |Children...
Words: 2839 - Pages: 12
...GREEK MYTHOLOGY Background to Homer’s Odyssey As you read each story, ask yourself: What is most enjoyable, predictable, or bizarre about this story? How would I have responded in this situation? What mysteries or features of the world might this story try to explain? What bit of moral or religious instructions (i.e. don’t disobey the gods) might be contained in this story? How does this story compare with Christian beliefs, or with the values of our culture today? Are there any other stories or fables I’ve heard that follow the same pattern as this story? The Creation Myths Part 1 Before there was anything, there was Chaos, a formless void. This void, this pure nothingness, gave birth to Gaea (the Earth itself), Tartarus (the underworld), Eros (love), Erebus (underground darkness) and Nyx (the darkness of night). The two kinds of darkness joined together and gave birth two kinds of light: the Light of the heavens and the Light of day. Nyx (night) also gave birth to the three Fates, who control the course of the universe and determine the length of each person’s life on their wheel of fortune. Of the fates, Clotho spins the threads of each person’s life, Lachesis measures the length of the thread, and Atropos cuts the thread. The Fates – Francisco Goya (one of the best painters ever!) 1823 – Note the scissors in the hand of Atropos and Lachesis measuring with a magnifying glass. Who’s...
Words: 10610 - Pages: 43
...As humans or more importantly, mortals, even justified intentions can result in the deadliest of consequences. In addition, society often aims to choose the most viable of opportunities, however a compromise is usually forced and as a result, progress is made in irrelevant fields. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, many conflicts occur between Odysseus and his enemies, however the entirety of them have legitimate reasons. Odysseus injures Polyphemus out of necessity for the survival of his crew. Also, he kills the suitors as compensation for tarnishing his home. Similarly, the servants and other such characters are killed for betraying Odysseus’s household and supporting the suitors. To begin, Odysseus drugs and blinds Polyphemus, not...
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
...Understanding Self-Knowledge and Evaluating Understanding xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Grand Canyon University July 14, 2007 Understanding Self-Knowledge and Evaluating Understanding The purpose of this paper is to identify, describe, and critique personal views on the place of understanding self-knowledge from the point of view of both the teacher and the student. The paper will also provide an evaluation of the sequence and organization of instruction that was used during at least two teaching assignments (units). The focus of this evaluation will be toward the effectiveness of the sequence and organization in accomplishing the desired understanding expected from students. To allay the purpose of the paper, criteria from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s (2005) “backward design” will serve as a background for much of the information included in the paper. According to Wiggins and McTighe (2005), self-knowledge is “the wisdom to know one’s ignorance and how one’s patterns of thought and action inform as well as prejudice understanding” (p. 100). In consideration of today’s teaching milieu, it is possible that there are far too many instructors who are not familiar with the positive academic gains that they could bestow upon their students by paying attention to criteria that warns against instruction is devoid of any understanding, appreciation or acknowledgement of students’ self-knowledge. One of the greatest teachers and philosophers of Western thought, Socrates (Wiggins...
Words: 1832 - Pages: 8
