Odyssey I and II: term list
nostos =homecoming
Each hero of the Trojan war had a homecoming myth.

Structure of the Odyssey
In medias res “in the middle of things”
Books 1-4: Telemachy: Telemachus’ struggle to find out his father’s fate and oppose the suitors, who are plotting to kill him.
Books 5-8: Odysseus leaves Calypso’s island and comes to the land of the Phaeacians.
Books 9-12: Odysseus recounts his adventures
Books 13-24: Odysseus’ homecoming and battle with the suitors.

symmetry and ring composition in the Odyssey

The adventures fall into three kinds:
1. Situations where folly or stupidity cause trouble
2. Temptations to forget his home or who he is
3. Straightforward monsters
Each time the challenges come in a different order. Each group of three has one main adventure and two minor ones and the main adventures repeat these three themes.

Geography of the Odyssey
Straits of Messina

Thematic differences between the Iliad and the Odyssey
1. Broad vs specific
2. Odyssey is much more interested in women
3. Odyssey has a greater emphasis on family
4. Odyssey is not as morally complex as the Iliad
5. Odyssey is rich in folktale elements or motifs, whereas the Iliad is not.

Epic conventions in both the Iliad and Odyssey
1. in medias res
2. Begins with invocation to the Muse.
3. Epic similes:
4. Meter: dactylic hexameter
5. role of the gods

Features of early Greek society that we learn about in the Odyssey:
1. Importance of hospitality
2. Gift exchange

Term list for Hesiod and Greek myth

Hesiod, author of Works and Days and the Theogony
differences between Hesiod and Homer

The Muses
Mt. Helikon
Mnemosyne

Theogony: the creation of the universe and the gods.

GAIA (earth)
CHAOS (the void)
EROS (desire)
TARTARUS (the pit).

Children of Gaia alone
Children of Gaia and Ouranos : the Titans
Kronos
creation as separation


The succession myth: the son succeeds his father as ruler