Aim: How can a concise understanding of both an epic poem and the Iliad enhance our reading of the Odyssey?
Today’s lesson
Do Now:
Today’s do now reads:
“For the following quotation: "The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference." - Henry Miller
Interpret it in your own words
Then agree or disagree with the sentiment being expressed and explain why or why not.”
I thought that the quote referred to the difference between “proactive” and “reactive”. The “ordinary man” gets involved in situations because they have no other choice, making them reactive. A “hero”, on the other hand, gets involved in situations willingly. That is the difference between the two. I agreed with the sentiment, but I thought that although the sentiment is true that should not mean that the “ordinary man” should be shamed. Not everyone is capable of being a hero and that is okay.
The following are summaries of what everyone shared:
For the first part (“Interpret it in your own words”):
Max said that he thinks that the quote means that anyone can listen to a person and follow their steps, while the hero starts it.
Aurora said that ordinary people get involved and try to change the world but a hero will actually change things. She brought up climate change as an example.
Brian said that “actions speak louder than words” and it’s better to complete the task like the hero instead of just trying to get involved.
Bridget said that a hero takes action and directs it while an ordinary person is a participant and witness. A hero takes it into their own hand.
Erica said that normal people participate as bystanders and say that they will do things but they aren’t passionate and they do it for the sake of doing it while heroes are leaders that do things because they are passionate about it.
For the second part (“Then agree or disagree with the sentiment being expressed and explain why or why not”):
Elizabeth F said that a normal man is impacted by the world around him and the hero impacts the world around him. She agrees with the sentiment but says that it is controversial because everyone has a different view of what a hero is.
Abigail said that she agrees with the sentiment because this can be seen a lot because there's always injustice but nobody takes action until a hero does and then when the hero does everyone follows like sheep.
Tianna said that the hero does something first and ordinary people follow and she agrees because she sees it in herself: if someone doesn’t do something first she won’t follow.
I shared my response.
Reading:
Next we spirit read "Apple of Discord".
We were told to keep the following question in mind while reading:
How do the gods and goddesses in the story display human qualities?
What is the role of prophecy and fate in “The Golden Apple of Discord” ?
How does xenia play a role in King Menelaus’ treatment of Paris?
a) How is this ironic?
“Apple of Discord” told the story of Paris, the son of the king and queen of Troy. There was a prophecy that foretold that Paris would be the downfall of Troy, so the king and queen told a herdsman to kill baby Paris once he was born. The herdsman couldn’t do it, and when leaving Paris alone in the woods overnight didn’t kill him, the herdsman decided to secretly raise Paris as his own son. Paris grew up and became known as a very honest man after he fulfilled his promise and gave a golden crown to Ares, who had won a bullfighting competition against Paris. This honest reputation meant that one day Paris was called to judge a beauty contest between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. This beauty contest was caused by the goddess Eris, who was upset that she had not been invited to a wedding. She rolled an apple inscribed with those words “for the fairest” into the party and sparked an argument among the previously mentioned goddesses over who the apple was meant for. Paris had to decide which goddess was the fairest, and each one tried to bribe him into choosing them. Aphrodite promised him the love of the most beautiful women in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris chose her offer and this decision later led to the Trojan War.
After reading the myth, we then answered the first two questions.
Here are summaries of people's answers to question one:
Anthony said that they’re very competitive
Wendy said that they feel fear of death and other attributes because they were afraid of death and chaos.
Bridget says they aren’t super fair and used bribes to get what they want- manipulative.
Luca said that they’re fearful of not being known and of being below the others.
Abigail said that they’re desperate and that they don’t care whether they’re actually fairest, they just want to be declared the fairest- vanity.
Emily H then answered question 2, and said that Paris is prophesized to be the downfall of Sparta but he somehow lived and reinforced the prophecy and then the prophecy came to light.
Ms.Peterson said that we would discuss question 3 later as we did not yet know what “xenia” was.
Ms.Peterson gave us some background information in the form of this video:
The video explained what happened before the story told in the “Golden Apple of Discord”.
It explained that the wedding in the story was that of Peleus and Thetis. Zeus and Posiedon had originally wished Thetis for themselves, but changed their minds upon finding out a prophecy that said that Thetis’s child would be even better than his father. They then told Peleus, a king, that he should marry Thetis, and he had to prove his worth to Thetis by holding on to her while she shapeshifted in order to keep her from escaping. He succeeded, and their wedding was thrown on mount Olympus, setting the scene for the Goddess’s argument. The video also explains that Paris eventually went back to Troy and was recognized as the long lost prince due to a distinctive birthmark that he possessed.
After watching the video, Ms.Peterson asked why Zeus and Posiedon decided not to marry Thetis.
Rory said that it was out of respect for each other.
Ava said that it was because there was a prophecy that the child of Thetis would be stronger and overthrow their father
Ms.Peterson then revealed that the child of Thetis and Peleus was actually Achilles.
She asked the class whether anyone knows who Achilles is.
Charles said that Achilles was a man who’s weak spot was his heel.
Ms.Peterson asked whether anyone knew why Achilles’ weak spot was his heel.
Nicole said that Achilles’s mother dipped him in a river that made every part of him invincible except the heel.
We then had to consider a chart that explained what promises and oaths are. The chart explained that promises are a declaration/assurance that someone will do something or something will happen, while an oath is a promise about someone’s future actions/behavior that usually invokes a divine witness (like a god) to make it seem even more serious.
Ms.Peterson asked about the difference between promises and oaths.
Andrea said that breaking an oath will have serious consequences while breaking a promise really won’t.
We then discussed Xenia.
Xenia, pronounced “Zenia”, is the ancient Greek set of rules for hospitality, how hosts and guests are supposed to behave towards each other, and how their relationship is supposed to be reciprocal.
We watched the first minute and thirty two seconds of the following video to give us a better understanding of what “Xenia” is.
The video explained that the guests and hosts both had rules to follow in Greek culture. Hosts could not ask guests why they were there until after they had given the guest food, water, a bed, and a place to clean off. The Ancient Greeks believed that the god Zeus sometimes disguised himself as a mortal beggar and asked for help at people’s doors, which is why hosts should treat all guests properly, just in case said guest is actually Zeus in disguise.
The next slide in Ms.Peterson’s presentation detailed the Trojan War. It explained that the Spartan King Menelaus’ wife, Helen, left him for Prince Paris of Troy because Aphrodite stayed true to her promise to Paris and made Helen fall in love with him. Prince Paris had been a guest at King Menelaus’s house and he was treated as an honored guest in accordance with xenia. Paris, on the other hand, broke the rules of xenia by taking Menelaus’ wife, a custom clearly not following the expected behavior of guests towards their hosts.
After looking at this slide, we finally answered question 3 from “Apple of Discord.”
Erica said that King Menelaus welcomed Paris according to Xenia because he didn’t ask why he was there and it was ironic because Menelus treated Paris so well even though he didn’t know that Paris was there to steal his wife.
We then looked at more slides about the Trojan War.
We learned about how the Trojan War began. Apparently, all of Helen’s former suitors took an oath saying that they would always respect and protect Helen’s marriage and were therefore obligated to help Menelaus go to Troy and get his wife back. And so, the Greeks attacked Troy.
We then learned how exactly this related to Odysseus, as he is the main character of the Odyssey and therefore the person we should focus on. Odysseus was one of Helen’s suitors and therefore had to help Menelaus, even though he knew of a prophecy that foretold that it would take Odysseus and very long time to return from Troy if he ever went there. Odysseus had to leave behind his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, to go to Troy. He originally tried to get out of going by using his cunning and pretending to be crazy. Ms.Peterson explained that Odysseus is extremely cunning and that his cunning will be a very big point in the Odyssey. It was all his idea to construct the trojan horse, which led the Greeks to victory.
We learned about the Trojan horse, Odysseus’s clever plot to end the Trojan war. Odysseus proposed that the Greeks build a giant wooden horse and fill it full of Greek soldiers. They did, left it as a “present” for Troy, and then sailed away as the Trojans took the horse inside of their city. The hidden soldiers inside of the horse destroyed Troy and brought about the end of the Trojan War. Ms.Peterson brought up trojan horse emails, emails that look normal but actually contain viruses.
We were given some background info on Homer’s epics. Homer’s epics, which include the Iliad and Odyssey, are meant to teach values such as honor, bravery, hospitality (xenia), intelligence, respect, and loyalty. They are also meant to teach the danger of faults like excessive pride, or “hubris.” Having hubris in a Greek myth means that you can expect something bad to happen to you. Homer’s epics were also originally oral, meaning that they were not written down and recited verbally.
We learned about the Odyssey itself. The Odyssey is actually the sequel to the Iliad, explaining why we spent today’s lesson learning about the latter- we need an understanding of the events preceding the story in the Odyssey in order to truly understand it. The Odyssey centers around Odysseus, who was already discussed, and his 19 year journey home after the Trojan War. The Odyssey consists of three major plot strands: the story in Ithaca as Penelope and Telemachus await Odysseus, the story of the years Odysseus spent sailing with his crew and the opponents that he had to overcome during this time, and then finally the story of how Odysseus returns to Ithaca and faces the opponents awaiting him there. The final plot strand merges the previous two, and ends with Odysseeus’ happy ending. Ms.Peterson explained that there are many varying translations of the Odyssey and Iliad, but all of them start with a “capsule summary,” or a short summary of the poem’s subject. The Iliad begins by speaking of anger and death, for it revolves around a war that was started and fueled by anger and one that caused many deaths. The Odyssey, on the other hand, begins by speaking of “twists and turns,” for Odysseus’s story is less about the anger of war and more about the many varied struggles that he had to go through in order to return to Ithaca. Despite the many translations, these two basic capsule summaries change very little.
Reflection:
Today’s lesson explained the stories of Paris and Odysseus. The class learned about these two men because although their stories may be mythological, they have lessons that we can use. For example, Paris’s story teaches us the importance of honesty and that being truly honest will probably have a better end than accepting bribes. Odysseus’s story shows us not to make promises that you don’t want to fulfill, as Odysseus promised to protect Helen and then he had to leave his newborn son in order to fulfill said promise. We also learned about the Greek custom of “Xenia”, and although I doubt that any guests are going to come to my house any time soon, it is interesting to see how that concept applies to my Greek friend who’s family always used to let me come over no matter what, and would always made sure to feed me some amazing food. Today’s lesson will definitely be useful when we begin reading the Odyssey, and it has given us enough background knowledge that understanding the Odyssey will be a lot easier than it would have been had we not had this lesson.
Supplementary materials:
Ms.Peterson gave us the following as enrichment:
Eris: The Goddess of Discord and Strife - Mythology Dictionary #05 - See U in History (Fixed) [2:28]
How and why the Trojan war started [3:22]
Zeus and the Myth of Hospitality (Philemon and Baucis) Greek Mythology Ep. See U in History [3:54]
I found an article that goes a little more in depth with Paris’s story:
https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Paris/paris.html
I also found an article giving more details about the Trojan Horse:
https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Trojan_Horse/the_trojan_horse.html
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