The Odyssey

Myths and Legends

What you know / What you want to know
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The first unit we are going to study is one of the earliest works in western literature. Although it is 2500 years old, many of the heroes, monsters and ideas in this story are still relevant today. Now as part of your KWL, consider the following from Homer’s Odyssey and write down anything you know about them, even if they are from something other than this ancient Greek epic poem. Think video games, movies, books, computers, etc.

Trojan Horse –

Cyclops –

The Walls of Troy –

Poseidon –

Fate/Destiny –

Trash Talking –

Mortality/Immortality –

Journal: Think about the story of “The Little Engine That Could.” What message does this American Myth convey? (If you can’t remember the story, ask someone!)

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As a class, we will uncover dozens of messages and life lessons from Odysseus’ experiences in The Odyssey. Be on the lookout for these lessons woven through his travels because we will be keeping a class log at the back of this packet

Epic Poem

Characteristics of an epic

1. Important and glorified: Odysseus is a king and a respected chieftain.

2. On a quest or long and dangerous journey: During this time the hero shows his strength and cunning. The Odyssey describes Odysseus’ ten-year journey.

3. The setting of an epic is large in scale. Odysseus wanders the entire Mediterranean area and even visits the underworld.

4. Supernatural beings and events play a role in epic affairs. The gods and goddesses of Greek mythology are key characters in The Odyssey.

5. The style of an epic is formal and grand. This style fits the importance of its subject. Some of the translation that we will read preserves the poetic structure of the ancient Greek.

6. The action of an epic starts in medias res, “in the middle of things,” rather than at the true beginning of the story. The Odyssey begins when Odysseus is nearly home.

Use the space below to create a word-map for the word Hero:

HERO

Greek Mythology and History:

3,200-3,500 years ago: city-states were large Greek cities that had their

  • Own kingdom
  • Own army
  • Own rules

The city-states were all Greek. Most of the time they got along, but other times, they would fight over ______.

Homer – a ______storyteller in Greece

  • Created The Iliad and The Odyssey
  • These two stories take place over ______years
  • The Illiad is the story about the great war between Greece and Troy known as ______. If Troy had won, Turkey would have been as famous as ______.
  • The Greeks used the strategy of the Wooden Horse to defeat the Trojans.

Characters

Greeks / Trojans
King Agamemnon / King Priam
Achilles / Hector
Odysseus / Paris

Key items tied to the plot making this story last:

  • Legendary ______
  • Influential characters - ______

The name Odysseus means ______in Greek. Although he suffers, he also endures.

This ability to get back up after being knocked down is critical for human existence.

  • Love ______

Greek trade ship found in the deep

Shipwreck: An intriguing discovery at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea could reveal the secrets of ancient mariners.

February 22, 2001|By Michael Stroh | Michael Stroh,SUN STAFF

A Maryland deep-sea salvage company has discovered the deepest ancient shipwreck ever found: a 2,300-year-old Greek trading vessel sunk nearly two miles under the Mediterranean.

The find, by Hanover-based Nauticos Corp., may upend long-held theories of how ancient mariners navigated the open seas and provide clues to environmental changes during the past two millenniums. Details of the discovery will be published Monday in Archaeology, the magazine of the Archaeology Institute of America.

FOR THE RECORD - An article on Page 1A yesterday about the discovery of an ancient Greek ship by a Maryland company mistakenly noted the ship's location as 300 miles from the island of Corsica. The wreck is actually 300 miles from Cyprus, as an accompanying map correctly showed.

Nauticos is no stranger to unusual missions. While its primary business is contract work for the Navy, the company has sent a team of engineers and remote-control robots to the Titanic to film a Discovery Channel documentary. The company is also hunting for the remains of Amelia Earhart, who disappeared somewhere over the Pacific on her round-the-world flying attempt in 1937.

The Greek wreck was found by accident, during a mission for the Israeli government to find a submarine that disappeared mysteriously in 1968.

While sweeping the eastern Mediterranean sea bottom with sonar for the sub, company general manager Tom Dettweiler and his crew picked up an unusual signal. Dettweiler ordered the crew to send down a remote-control robot to check it out.

"They called me back sounding really disappointed and said, `It's this really old ship,'" recalls Dettweiler. The crew spotted hundreds of amphoras - large clay jugs commonly used by ancient traders to transport wine, olive oil and other commodities - lying on the sea floor.

As soon as he heard that, Dettweiler says, "I got pretty excited."

The wreck is nearly 300 miles off the coast of Corsica, and in water roughly 10,000 feet deep. Ancient shipwrecks, he knew, were unusual in waters so deep and so far from land. He told the crew: "Send those pictures over."(Modern shipwrecks in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, where the sea floor is much deeper, have been found even farther down. The Titanic, for example, sits 13,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. The German battleship Bismarck, sunk during World War II, lies even deeper, at 16,000 feet, says Dettweiler.)

When the Nauticos team returned to Maryland, they sent their video to oceanographer Brett Phaneuf at the Institute of Nautical Archeology at Texas A&M University.

To estimate the shipwreck's age, Phaneuf and his colleagues studied the amphoras - "the 50-gallon drums of the antiquities," whose size and shape depend on when and where they were made.

They counted six different types of wine amphoras among the estimated 2,500 jugs lying on the seabed. Their appearance, says Phaneuf, suggest that they came from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kos and were made around the second and third centuries B.C.

Scientists have found evidence of four other ships on the sea floor in the area. And there's some evidence, he says, to suggest that there could be as many as a dozen more. The discovery was made by Nauticos in May 1999, but was kept secret until the company finished salvaging the Israeli submarine.

While it wasn't unheard of for ancient mariners to navigate open waters most scholars have assumed that sailors rarely ventured into open waters.

"The preference was to stay near the coast as much as possible," says Anthony J. Papalas, a historian at East Carolina University who specializes in ancient Greek maritime history.

Warships, says Papalas, often weren't built to carry enough supplies for long voyages. And trading vessels preferred to take a more circuitous route rather than risking an open-sea voyage.

But the discovery of this new wreck more than 300 miles from the nearest land adds weight to the notion that open-sea crossings between the busy trading ports in ancient Greece might have been more common.

"We'd always believed that ships hugged the coast and stayed in sight of the land," says Phaneuf. "This is the nail in the coffin on that theory. These ships are as far as you can possibly get from any shore. They didn't get there by accident."

A related discovery could offer a gold mine for research: a large metal cauldron wedged upright on the ocean floor.

The container has been collecting sediment for 2,000 years. If scientists could take a core sample, Phaneuf says, they might be able to piece together how the atmosphere and sea have changed.

Scholars at Texas A&M are hoping to raise money so they can go back and excavate some of the wrecks in the area.

What excites them is that, unlike ancient wrecks in shallower waters, these ships haven't been disturbed by nature or man.

But getting back won't be easy. The waters are too deep for divers, so excavation will require expensive robots. Still, archeologists and Dettweiler and his colleagues at Nauticos, who hope to make a documentary of the effort, are excited about what surprises might lie in the sands.

"You can't guess what else could be down there," Dettweiler says.

Summary of “Shipwreck” Article

Complete the following details to help you write your summary:

Who is the article about?

What is the article about?

When was the discovery made?

Where was the discovery made?

How was the discovery made?

Why was the discovery made?

What will scientists try to learn more about in thefuture because of this discovery?

Using the details from above, write a 5-7 sentence paragraph to summarize the article…

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The Odyssey – Reading Assignment Choices

After we read sections of The Odyssey, you will complete one of the following choice assignments.

Choice 1 - Imaginary Dialogue

Select a part of the story in which to insert an imaginary dialogue between the poem’s characters. For example, in the “The Lotus Eaters”, you might write a conversation between Odysseus and his men where he tries to convince them to leave the island.

Your dialogue must be:

  • One page full page in length (single spaced – hand written)
  • Represent the characters accurately

Choice 2 – Theme Connection

Write a paragraph that includes example of a few of the following themes of the poem:

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  • Leadership
  • Identity
  • Pride
  • Fate/Destiny
  • Revenge
  • Choices
  • Courage
  • Temptation

Your paragraph must include:

  • A clear and focused topic sentence
  • Specific examples from the story
  • Elaborated explanation of A FEW of the themes in the story listed above

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Choice 3 – Dramatic Monologue/Soliloquy or Poem

A monologue is a long speech delivered by a character to another character. (a soliloquy is one delivered when alone). For this assignment, you must select one the minor characters of the poem (not Odysseus) and write a monologue/soliloquy from that character’s point of view. Your assignments must…

  • Be at least one page single spaced – handwritten
  • Include details from the poem
  • Be in first person (from the character’s point of view)
  • Elaborate on the character’s experience in the story that we do not get to read about. (For example, what is life like for Penelope, Odysseus’ wife; or what is it like to be one his men, or a Siren?)

Choice 4 – Tracking the Hero

A hero is a human with special traits who fights in conflict of good and evil. A hero defends ideas or habits valued by his people. Although Odysseus is a Greek hero, he also displays weaknesses, just as other humans do. Review the actions of Odysseus in the story you selected, and find examples of this.

  • In this episode, what heroic qualities does Odysseus display?
  • Why or why not does Odysseus deserve to be a hero?
  • What more human qualities has he shown in this story?
  • How has his tragic flaw caused him some trouble?

Choice 1 Assignment – Imaginary Dialogue

Choice 2 – Theme Connection

Choice 3 – Dramatic Monologue/Soliloquy or Poem

Choice 4 – Tracking the Hero

Chapter One: The Wrath of Poseidon (pages 1-8)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 277:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Two: The Phaeacian Princess (pages 9-16)

Answer two of the chapter questions on page 277-278:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Three: In The Palace of The King (pages 17-23)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 278:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Four: Phaecian Sports (pages 24-33)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 279:

Any life lessons noted?

Odysseus reveals himself to the Phaeacians in the following excerpt from ():

“How shall I start and end my tale? First let me give you my name, so you all know, and if I escape from pitiless fate later, I will play host to you, though I live far off. I am Odysseus, Laertes’ son, known to all for my stratagems, and my fame has reached the heavens. My home is under Ithaca’s clear skies: our Mount Neriton, clothed with whispering forest is visible from afar: and clustered round it are many isles, Dulichium and Same and wooded Zacynthus. Ithaca itself lies low in the sea, furthest towards the west, while the others are separate, towards the dawn and the rising sun. It’s a rugged land, but nurtures fine young men: and speaking for myself I know nothing sweeter than one’s own country. Calypso, the lovely goddess, kept me there in her echoing caves, because she wished me for her husband, and in the same way Circe, the Aeaean witch, detained me in her palace, longing to make me hers: but they failed to move my heart. Surely nothing is sweeter than a man’s own parents and country, even though he lives in a wealthy house, in a foreign land far from those parents.”

From this speech, how would you describe Odysseus’ personality/mannerism?

Let’s Boast – “I am Odysseus”

Objective: To identify and employ elevated language as a quality of an epic / Build tone and delivery skills of an informal speech

Background: After dining with the Phaeacian’s, Odysseus is moved to tears when the blind poet sings of the Trojan War. The king of Scheria asks Odysseus what troubles him and he reveals who he is and describes his travels during “The Odyssey.” (Read the gray text pages 156-157)

Greeks spoke in elevated language making their life story “larger than life.”

Give it a whirl: We want you to have the opportunity to demonstrate your greatness. You will give a 30-45 second speech boasting about your life story, chores, etc.

Here are a few examples of elevated/boasting language (teacher and past student samples)

I, Ann Marie, Daughter of Michael the Great and Sheila the Perfectionist,

Hail from the land of Ambler Woods

Where I must endure to annoyingness of Jonathan,

The young god of trouble and pestering.

I escape his festering, gnat-like ways in the kitchen

A culinary enchantress, I am known for

Tantalizing stomachs around the globe.

Chores – Taking out the trash

I am the taker of refuse from the castle to the curb

Where the monstrous beast carries it off to distant lands

Walking the dog

I am the walker of the furry beast who barks at shadows

As he spritzes the earth with adoration

Playing basketball

The bleachers holler my name as I pound the floorboards

I am the goddess of the court, sinking orange balls of fire

Chapter Five: The One-Eyed Giant (pages 34-48)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 279-280:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Six: The Sorceress (pages 49-63)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 280-281:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Seven: The Land of the Dead (pages 64-76)

Answer two of the chapter questions from page 282:

Any life lessons noted?

Chapter Eight: The Six-Headed Monster (pages 77-91)

As you read this chapter, takes notes about what will happen if Odysseus faces Scylla or Charybdis on the following page.

Any life lessons noted?

Sea Perils and Defeat

Use the following chart to help you decide which route is the best for Odysseus to take.

Choice 1– Facing Scylla / Choice 2 - Facing Charybdis
Outline the dangers he will encounter / Outline the dangers he will encounter
Pro’s of this route are… / Pro’s of this route are…
Con’s of this route are… / Con’s of this route are…
This is the better route because.. / This is the better route because..

Scylla or Charybdis?

After Competing the Chart you will write, with your partner(s), a convincing argument directed to Odysseus. Your argument should recommend a course of action for him. Should he take the course and pass Scylla or Charybdis? Your explanation should include:

  • A focused topic sentence that states which route Odysseus should take and a basic reason why.
  • Specific details from the episode we read in class which helps support WHY he should do as you suggest.
  • A clear concluding sentence

Your paragraph should also be well written. Select convincing language and try your best to connect your ideas.

Group Presentation:

Which Peril Should Odysseus Face?

Pair 1 / Pair 2 / Pair 3 / Pair 4
Use of Convincing Evidence: Group uses the most convincing evidence from the text. Excellent use of details
10 points / Comments:
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Powerful and Convincing Delivery:
Presenter confidently delivers argument. Excellent pacing, intonation and volume
5 points / Comments:
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Well Written: Begins with clear topic sentence that states argument. Ideas are clear and developed. Ideas well connected. Clear conclusion.
10 points / Comments:
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Total Points / ____25 points / ____25 points / ____25 points / ____25 points

Chapter Nine: Back to Ithaca (pages 92-102)