Blogger #22 - Luciano Pantano - Period 1 - 5/7/2021 - Day A

Aim: How does Odysseus' strategic leadership further characterize him as an epic hero in "The Sirens" episode of Homer's Odyssey?

We started off with the do now, which asked- How do we define the term flattery? We were given references to Aesop’s three moral “laws” or “facts”. I personally believe that flattery is compliments meant to boost someone’s mood or self esteem, whether that be for malicious purposes or not; sometimes people want to take advantage of you by being extra nice, but sometimes they really do mean what they say.

We then moved on to Odysseus and the sirens. The sirens were a group of creatures that lived in the Wandering rocks, and would lure whoever was there to their deaths by singing so beautifully that they’d sail right into the rocks. They sang about everyone’s deepest and most personal desires, and played with the emotions of weary sailors. They’re usually depicted as half bird half woman, though some other interpretations have come up over the years.

We were also given a reference--Sirens: The Seductive

Creatures of Greek Mythology -

Mythology Dictionary #15 - See U in History [2:00]

Odysseus wants to tie himself to his boat so he can’t leave, but leave his ears open so he can hear what the Sirens sing about, because even though they can kill you, they sing of wisdom and knowledge alongside the desire. If he succeeds, he’ll become the first person ever to survive such a feat.

And here’s the link- “The Sirens” [3 pgs]

After that we worked with our teammates and answered the questions on slide 5 of our slideshow, which talk about the meaning of some of the lines and words in the text.

Our Aim now is- How does Odysseus' strategic leadership further characterize him as an epic hero in "The Sirens" episode of Homer's Odyssey?

Our next task was to answer two questions pertaining to the “Sirens’ Song” on the slide after this one. We looked at how their strategy was to lure men in with flattery, which is what our aim was for in the beginning.

And some extra references- Pirates of the Caribbean Mermaid Scene [3:29]

The Odyssey by Homer | Book 12

Summary & Analysis [2:25]  

Then we moved on to the second slideshow, continuing with our next aim:

How does the episode of "The Land of the Dead" further our understanding of

Odysseus as the epic hero?

We had a second do Now, which was to discuss some traditions we know and use to honor the dead in our culture or in others. I know that some people hold certain rituals for their dead according to their culture, and heard some interesting answers. Personally, All my family would do is hold a funeral and maybe go to a restaurant and talk about the happy memories.

The Greeks believed that they went to the underworld when they died. Once there, they would be judged and sent either to Elysium, which was a world of happiness and bliss, or Tartarus- a place of hell and pain, based on their life choices.

Taken from the slideshow-
“The Greeks held elaborate burial rituals
A proper burial was necessary, omission of burial rites was seen as an insult to human dignity
If the body was not given a proper burial according to Greek ritual, the soul would remain trapped between the worlds of the living and the underworld.
In ancient Greece the continued existence of the dead depended on their constant remembrance by the living
If one forgot to honor and remember the dead one was considered impious and, while this particular breach of social conduct was not punished as severely as Socrates' breach, it was certainly frowned upon severely.”

This is a little bit more than what I do, as you can tell.

Then we were given the text itself, Land of the Dead-“Land of the Dead” pdf [4.5 pgs]

Some Vocab as well-




ignoble (adj) - dishonorable, shameful

assuage (verb) - to calm, to mollify, to lessen




Then we went back into teams again and discussed questions on slide 5 about what we had just read, and were introduced to the idea of a foil- an opposite character to cancel out the main one. Typically, this manifests itself in the form of a villain, but sometimes it isn’t.

We were asked- How is Eurylochus a foil to Odysseus in Book X?

My answer-

Eurylochus is a laid back troublemaker who doesn’t care as much about getting home as Odysseus does, and is meant to portray what Odysseus is trying not to be but actually is on the inside. This contrast between their personalities is a good example of Foil in action.

Conclusion

Overall, This was a very interesting and memorable lesson, as we learned about some of my old favorite myths. My interest in greek mythology began with Percy Jackson, as immature as that may seem- but I easily remembered most of the important old myths and stories from those books (though I notice now that they are pretty heavily diluted for the attention span of an 8 year old). We went over flattery and what it can do (shown in the Sirens myth), and We went over the Land of the Dead and how the Greeks greeted death, which is a pretty deep and important topic. We’re at an age where these things (both flattery and death) are beginning to mean a lot more than they did before, when we were innocent little kids. I’m glad that I could draw all of this from a seemingly ordinary english lesson.