Zeus, Poseidon, and Circe
The odyssey, the oldest written story in the world passed on through oral tradition by a blind man named Homer. It is a long tale a about a man name Odysseus trying to get back home from Troy. He encounters many obstacles, most of them being gods. He met many gods on his journey but the ones that had some of the biggest impacts were Zeus king of the gods, Poseidon king of the sea, and Calpso a goddess of the sea.
Zeus, is the king of all gods and the most powerful of them all. He is the son of Cronus and Rhea, two great titans. When he was a baby he was saved by his mother from being swallowed by his father, Cronus. His father swallowed his siblings Hera, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, and Poseidon. When Zeus was older he returned to his father and was able to get him to regurgitate his siblings. With the help of his siblings he revolted against the titans and banished them. Then he cut his father Cronus into a billion pieces and through him into Tartarus. Zeus is the god of lightening, thunder, and rain. In other cultures that worship these gods like the Greeks, he was looked at as a thunder god but those are his main attributes. As the king of the gods, Zeus gives orders to all the gods which will come to be a good and a bad thing for Odysseus. Odysseus encounters Zeus in many ways but never in person. Most of them were either messages sent from him delivered by Hermes or weather related things sent down as punishments to him and his men. The first time Odysseus encountered Zeus's works was when he was stuck on calypsos island and was put under a spell to want to stay there. Athena herd of this and pleaded to Zeus that this was unfair to Odysseus. Zeus listened to Athena and sent Hermes, the messenger o...
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...and given the best of everything. To their surprise when they got there instead of being greeted with gifts some of Odysseus’s men were eaten by the Cyclops and in order to save themselves Odysseus gave brandy to Polyphemous and got him drunk. That bought them some time to be able to poke out the Cyclops eye with a large stick. After they blinded him they escaped the cave with some clever planning by Odysseus. They eventually get to the ship and are on their way to escaping but the mistake Odysseus made that changed his life was bragging to Polyphemus about who he was and telling him who he is and where he was from. After this polyphemous prays to his dad to basically make his trip longer than it has to be and kills all of his men in the long term.
Calpso, a sea nymph that is known to trap castaway men on her island. Calypso is the daughter of the titan Atlas
One of the myths was, Polyphemus was in love with a sea nymph named Galateia, a sicilian nereid who had cheated on him with a man named Acis. When Polyphemus discovered this he crushed Acis under a rock. Another myth was the story of Odysseus. This story was when Polyphemus had captured Odysseus one of victorious greek leaders and twelve of his crew members when they were sailing for home from the trojan war. They became captured when they arrived to an unknown island of cyclopes. Odysseus and his men came upon the cave of Polyphemus, and went inside in hopes to steal food while Polyphemus was away tending his flock. Curiosity got the best of Odysseus as he wanted to see what a cyclops looked like. Odysseus and his men hid in the cave waiting for Polyphemus to come back.
The Odyssey is an epic home it was written by homer in the classical Greek. The story is about the main character Odysseus a Trojan war hero and his journey to return home to Ithaca conflict and obstacles are throughout the story and affect different characters many of the characters experience some form of reciprocity by the end of the epic and get what they
The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by W.H.D. Rouse (between 900 and 700 BC.) is "The best story ever written" (7). This is a story about a man named Odysseus Laertiades who went off to war. After winning the war, he and his men were heading home when their ship got off track. They ended up in the land of the Cyclops. They were held captive by a god's, Poseidon Earthholder, son. Odysseus came up with a plan to get out of there which involved poking the Cyclops' eye out. The Earthholder got mad and vowed Odysseus and his men would not make it back home to Ithaca. If Odysseus was to make it home, he was to arrive "There late and in misery, in another man's ship, ' lose all his companions, and ' find tribulation at home" (111). With the help of the gods, Odysseus finally does make it home, late, alone, and on another man's ship. He arrives there to find trouble in his house. In The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus Laertiades is a static character; he doesn't change throughout the book. Yet Homer still retains the readers interests by the situations Odysseus finds himself in, how he always finds a unique way out, and how he triumphs in the end.
Then the hero arrives at the home of Polyphemos. Polyphemos is a huge cyclops and also a cannibal. Odysseus and twelve of his men are trapped inside Polyphemos’ cave and can’t get out. Polyphemos comes back and eats some of the hero’s men. The next night Odysseus gets the cyclops drunk on wine, and when it falls asleep, Odysseus and his remaining men blind it with a large pole. He and his men barely escape with their lives and continue on the voyage.
Author Ursula K. LeGuin once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” The Odyssey is an epic poem told by Homer that is about a hero named Odysseus who faces many challenges on his journey home from the Trojan War. Even though Odysseus is a smart and strategic man, he still has many lessons to learn on his journey.
The Odyssey is an example of Greek history portrayed in literature. As in all Greek literature, the epic hero Odysseus answers a call to action, suffers through great confrontation, and returns with a better understanding of life. Greek stories such as, The Odyssey set the stage for today's modern action movies with epic heroes such as Indiana Jones, Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, and Western cowboys like Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger.
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.
In the ancient world, the gods of the Greeks had been predominately confined to cosmological deeds prior to the works of Homer. "As Hesiod laid out the roles of the gods in his Theogony and the Works and Days, it is apparent that though the gods were active in the creation of the cosmos, natural phenomenon, and cyclical events such as seasons, they were not however, functioning in any historical way"(Bloom 36). This strictly cosmological view of the gods was in no way unusual to the ancient world. Though the breech of theology into historical events was perhaps first introduced by the Hebrews at the turn of the first millennia B.C.E., it was soon echoed in the religious paradigms of homo religiosus throughout the Near East and Europe. In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. another predominate thought swept the ancient world; life is suffering. An obvious question arises from the mixture of these two thoughts; if the gods are functioning in the historical reality of mankind why do they allow and/or cause suffering? This is the dilemma that Homer sets out to solve in the epic poem The Odyssey.
In the story, he captures a Greek hero named Odysseus and his men. They were all on their way back from the Trojan War and were trapped in one of the caves looking for food where Polyphemus had blocked the exits. Polyphemus had eaten six of Odysseus’ men. The most famous part of the story was when Odysseus had gotten him drunk and blinded him by plunging a pole at Polyphemus’ eye whilst he was sleeping. He then told Poseidon to put a curse on Odysseus while he was on his journey back because he was enraged that Odysseus had hid his identity and
Odysseus, meanwhile, was shipwrecked on his journey home from Troy. He is trapped on the island of the beautiful goddess Calypso. ...
Polyphemus ate four men of Odysseus' crew and in return, Odysseus and his remaining crew administered justice: 'Seizing the olive pole, they drove its sharpened end into the Cyclops' eye'; (pg. 135). In doing this, they were able to escape and they set sail. Odysseus, carried away in his pride, announced his identity to Polyphemus. When he had heard Odysseus' name, Polyphemus called upon his father, Poseidon, to adminis... ... middle of paper ... ...
There is a copious amount of major characters in the story. Some of them include Odysseus, the main character, who is a soldier and returns home after a twenty-year absence. Some of his family includes Laertes, his father, Penelope, his wife, and Telemachus, his son. There are many gods that Odysseus must battle on his journey home, including Zeus, who is said to be father of all gods, and Poseidon, the god of the ocean who punishes Odysseus and his crew by giving them a very difficult trip home after they blind his son, Polyphemus, or the Cyclops by blinding him after stabbing him in the eye. Another major character is Calypso, a sea goddess who is in love with Odysseus.
... those phaeacians who have helped Odysseus to return home. And for Calypso, she tried to offer Odysseus the immortal life and promising him to be his eternal wife, but Odysseus’s love for his wife Penelope pushes him to fight for his return
Religion was deeply intertwined the culture of the ancient Greeks. In their stories, they prayed to the gods to satisfy their needs and offer assistance in their endeavors, and the gods would occasionally appear to select Greeks to give counsel, gifts, or other forms of aid. Alternatively, if the desires or endeavors of a mortal or mortals displeased one or more of the gods, they would also interfere with the fulfillment of their goals. In Homer’s Odyssey, the gods appear to or interfere with both Telemachus and Odysseus, either to help or hinder them in their journeys. Although the gods are responsible the difficulty Odysseus faces returning from Troy, they are equally responsible for motivating and assisting Odysseus and Telemachus in their respective travels. If not for divine interference, neither Odysseus nor Telemachus would have journeys to make.
Zeus is the god of law, justice, morals, thunder, lightning, and rain. It was his job to oversee and make sure laws were being kept. He was worshipped originally as a weather god. He was depicted as a middle-aged man with a youthful appearance; he was regale and was almost always shown ready to throw a lightning bolt (pantheon/zeus).