The Odyssey Introduction

Odyssey Intro Extension

by Kelsey Loudermilk

What is an Odyssey?

a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience​

​Who is Odysseus?

• Legendary hero in Greek mythology

• King of the island of Ithaca

• Main protagonist of Homer's epic, The Odyssey 

• The son of Laertes and Anticlea

• Well-known among the Greeks as a good speaker, and a smart trickster​

Multiple Choice

What do you think "trickster" means?

• someone who follows the rules

• someone who is an enemy of the gods

• someone who is smart and uses his intelligence for bad things

• someone who wants to be smart but is not

​An Epic Hero ...

Is an unmatched warrior

Receives guidance- usually gets help from a a god or goddess

Fights superhuman enemies

Is humble

Is a cultural legend

Multiple Choice

What do you think humble means?

• not proud; not thinking of yourself as better than other people

• proud; brags about their good things

• wanting and liking to do good things and to bring happiness to others

​Trojan War

​Story told in The Iliad by Homer

Menelaus (Greek) is married to Helen, the most beautiful woman on the planet

Helen runs away with Paris (Trojan) to Troy

Menelaus gets Agamemnon, the king of Greece, to start a war with Troy

They fight for 10 years

​Odysseus uses the Trojan Horse to win the war

Multiple Choice

What is the Trojan Horse?

• A gift from the Trojans to the Greeks showing they give up

• A statue to Odysseus for his bravery

• A trick Odysseus uses to win the Trojan War

​Greek Religion

• ​The Ancient Greeks (from a long time ago) were polytheistic, which means they believed in many gods and goddesses

• ​A god is male, and a goddess is female

• ​Each god has control over something

• The gods interact with humans

• ​The gods cause a lot of problems for humans

• ​Sometimes they help humans, but sometimes they harm (hurt) them

• ​It was easy to make a god angry

​Greek Gods in this story

• ​Zeus: Greek god of the sky and king of Olympus

• ​Athena: Zeus's daughter; goddess of war and wisdom

• ​Hermes: Zeus's son; messenger god

• ​Poseidon: Zeus's brother; god of the seas

• ​Aeolus: god of the wind

Multiple Choice

Polytheistic means people believe in _____ gods.

• one

• tiny

• multiple

• hidden

​Greek Values

• ​The gods and goddesses could disguise themselves as animals or humans

• ​Because of this, the Greek people were always worried a new person (visitor) could be a god or goddess in disguise

• ​Greek people treated visitors very kindly, because they did not want to anger the gods

• Greek people gave visitors gifts and presents

• ​Greek people were very impressed by intelligence and skills

• ​Odysseus was well-known and respected for his intelligence and skills

Multiple Choice

Why were the Greek people nice to visitors?

• they thought they would be killed if they were mean

• they would go to jail if they were mean

• they thought visitors could actually be gods