Homer was the ancient Greek poet said to have lived between around the 8th and 9th century B.C. Some believe that he was born on the island of Chios and others say he was in Ionia. He was said to be a court singer and a storyteller. He is famous for the writings of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.
While there is controversy weather or not Homer alone wrote these pieces or many other people wrote it over a period of time and even if Homer was an actual person. Homer also wrote Homeric Hymns which are short poems celebrating various Gods. Some of the most celebrated and distinguished characters of mythology play roles in either one or both of the epics. Such characters include Achilles, Ajax, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Paris, Hector, Odysseus, and Penelope. Homers ethnic decent can be traced from the Odyssey.
Homer is an historical figure. This is because Homers epics the Iliad and the Odyssey are the foremost leading sources for information on a beneficial number of mythological figures.
The Iliad
The Iliad is a reliable source of information about the city of Troy in the late Bronze Age. This is because it presents the evidence from two very different fields: archaeology and linguistics/philology. Though there is the idea that details in the Iliad reflect society, as it was long before the eighth century B.C. Then on the other hand the Iliad isn’t entirely a reliable source. Homer wasn’t writing to accurately recount history, but instead his objective was to entertain the people with epic poetry. Homer was so far disconnected from the events that took, so where did he get his information? Homer most likely collected his information from generations before him, stories told from generation to generation. The pr...
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... and they were in short supply of everything. To make matters worse the Trojan’s were constantly spied on. The Greeks couldn’t of possible make and wheeled a wooden horse large enough to hold up to 50-armed men. In the amount of time they couldn’t of made one thousand ships either, they amount of supplies available to them would be next to nothing when making one thousand ships. Even if one thousand ships were made and sailed, many would have been destroyed during the voyage there. The amount of food and fresh water available to each ship would be limited. Many army people would of died on the way there and many people would have gotten sunstroke and sun burnt.
In conclusion, I highly doubt that as the movie of Troy suggests that the war was over love. Resources, lives, and more then love would have been lost during this war. Too much was lost over a small falt
Often through great literature, there is an epic hero. In the Odyssey, Homer tells the story of one man’s journey home from the Trojan War. The protagonist of the epic poem Odysseus is often regarded as a great hero. However, Odysseus is not quite the glorious soldier that people often see him as. Odysseus shows that he is an antihero through his pride, disloyalty, and bloodthirstiness.
Perhaps a more suitable question would be “Has archaeology proved the historicity of the Iliad?”, or even “Did the version of events Heroditus describes have any foundation in truth?”. If the existence of Troy itself is uncertain, then the historicity of the war can only be more so. Bibliography Ancient Sources:.. Homer, the Aeneid, translated by Samuel Butler, taken from www.patroclos.de. Homer, the Aeneid, translated by T.E. Lawrence (Wordsworth, 1995).
Homer is best known for his marine subjects. He painted many pictures of the Civil War some of his firsts were The Veteran in a New Field and Prisoners from the Front. His first teacher was his
The question has been raised as to whether or not Odysseus, the hero of Homers The Odyssey, is an epic hero. An epic Hero portrays many classic properties, including being very strong and courageous. Odysseus is an epic hero, because he portrays many of these and other traits, such as having a goal that is foremost in his mind, and having descended into the underworld.
The ancient Greeks have brought upon numerous ideas, inventions, and stories to the world. Greek mythology influences modern day literature and life. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, which tells the story of Odysseus's journey home after the Trojan War. Odysseus does not achieve his goal of reaching home so easily; monsters and gods come in his way and hinder him. The Odyssey expresses Greek values of hospitality from the customs of Ithaca, humility from Odysseus’s reform, and loyalty from Odysseus’s family.
...iece together circumstantial evidence relating to the Iliad, such as the layers of Troy, the citadel of Mycenae and the shaft graves revealing numerous clues into what the Mycenaean civilisation was like. Mycenaean pottery found in Troy gives evidence to the importance of late Bronze Age trade and the wealth, inevitably leading to the Achaeans sacking Troy. The Hittite archives give outstanding evidence to this proving that the Mycenaean’s really did fight at Troy, although instead of it being a ten year time span, it was over hundreds. Therefore Homers legend seems to have been based on a real conflict between two super powers of the late Bronze Age. These conflicts were distilled into a tradition of a single war lasting around 10 years . It seemed the war occurred because Troy was a wealthy city with a strategic location and both super powers wanted to control it.
Even though Troy may seem like a real city, it may or may not be because of many reasons such as scholars agree that Troy really existed, the real method of Troy’s destruction is unknown, and Troy may not have even been desTroyed by the greeks according to “Is Troy True? The Evidence Behind Movie Myth” by Stefan Lovgren. Troy is the legendary city where the book, The Iliad, by Homer takes place.To begin, scholars agree that Troy really existed.In the text, it states, “But most scholars agree that Troy itself was no imaginary Shangri-la but a real city, and that the Trojan War indeed happened” (Lovgren 1). This shows that Troy really existed because of the archaeological evidence.Furthermore, the real method of Troy's destruction is unknown.In
Homer was a very influential and significant part of the Greek civilization. The Greeks had been passing down stories, by word, of the Golden Age and of the great battles of the Greeks for many years. Homer ...
Picture this: a hero of great legends who travels to the underworld and back to get directions to his home from a blind prophet. It sounds like quite an impossible journey, but that is exactly what makes Odysseus all the more fascinating. The Odyssey, an epic poem orally transmitted by Homer, a Greek poet who wrote The Iliad, had to contain some variety of attributes that Greeks valued in a person. That one embodiment of what the Greeks found intriguing in a character is Odysseus. Odysseus is known as what is called an epic hero. An epic hero is a protagonist of a story that represents the most important attributes of a civilization. Odysseus, being based in ancient Greece, is the embodiment of intelligence, loyalty, and strength.
In the book the Iliad, The Odyssey, and Works and days, there are many things that can be similar when talking about Greek heroes and the world of Greek poetry. The stories and topics are describing similar events during this time of the eighth and seventh century B.C. In the end, however, they do have some differences in some parts when describing or explaining certain situations and ideas. The world of Greek heroes is written like a story; or Epic Poetry. That is what The Iliad and The Odyssey are; Epic Poetries. They are telling a story of a great hero and their adventures. On the other hand, the more realistic Greek World that is being described in Works and days is a Didactic poem, which tells more of a moral or message to the reader.
As we all know, Hollywood isn’t exactly accurate when it comes to the historical accuracy of movies. Although the Iliad is a myth, the movie Troy doesn’t follow the story quite as accurately as it could have. One major difference is the concept of time. In the Iliad, the battle spanned over a ten year period while in the movie, the battle only lasted about 17 days. However, it does have many similarities to the poem. Both the movie and the poem have similar plots as well as the feud of Achilles and Agamemnon, fall of Troy, the death of Patroclus, Achilles avenging the death of Patroclus and the supplication of Priam to Achilles. Other similarities include Thetis telling Achilles that if he is to stay home and refrain from fighting he will be forgotten. However, if he is to fight in the battle of Troy, he will be remembered forever. Another similarity can be found when Agamemnon confiscates Briseis from Achilles. There are many details in the movie that deviate from the epic poem as well. Some differences between the movie and the poem include the deaths of Agamemnon and Menelaus, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, the portrayal of some of the characters and the role of the Gods in the plot. Also, according to the film, the capture of Troy seems to be the subject of the entire movie whereas in the epic poem, the subject is the wrath of Achilles. Also, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is a little different. In the movie, Achilles and Patroclus are cousins and Patroclus is younger than Achilles. In the Iliad, Achilles and Patroclus are best friends. Patroclus is older than Achilles and acts as the advisor for Achilles. According to the epic poem, Achilles much more angry and violent than how he is portray...
The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the best Greek epics written by Homer. Despite their popularity, almost nothing is known about the author beyond the existence of his masterpieces. Surprisingly enough no concrete evidence of his existence is available; not even to confirm the same person created the two works. The authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey were debated even in the times of the ancient Greeks. Many scholars have argued that Homer did not compose the Iliad and the Odyssey; only compiled over the centuries by many different storytellers.
In conclusion, although the Iliad is based upon Troy, it is not really fair to compare the two. A book and a movie are two entirely different things. It is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Homer’s Iliad is a classic tale, and even though many people might agree that such a masterpiece should not be tampered with, it is important to keep it alive and spread it to all those around.
The Trojans take the horse back to Troy and while everyone sleeps, the Spartans (who have been hiding inside the horse) open the gates of Troy to let in their army and burn Troy to the ground. In the process, Prince Paris sees Achilles trying to get Briseis to safety and Paris kills Achilles. Though we do see some similarities between the Iliad and Troy, these similarities are very loosely based. I think the movie made the characters seem less barbaric and some of the sets, especially the city of Troy, seemed a bit too elaborate. The movie, though enjoyable, was definitely not a factual representation of Homers classic Iliad.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are two classic stories told by Homer. Within these two stories the roles of the gods are very important to the story line and how they affect the characters throughout. In the Iliad, more gods are involved with the characters whereas in the Odyssey there are only two major gods that affect two major characters. The roles of the gods in the Iliad are through two different stances of immortal versus immortal and mortal versus immortal. The roles of the gods in the Odyssey are through two major gods and they affect the plot as Poseidon versus Odysseus and Athena versus Telemachus.