However, when Achilles touches Priam as token that he should have no fear; both gods and mortals are said to be asleep. There is a sense of will in Achilles' gentleness towards the man, and his willingness to touch Priam's sleeve that night. In othe Continue Reading...
Homeric Epics and Mark Dennis McDonald's The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark (2000) is a book that was always guaranteed to upset orthodox Christian theologians and biblical literalists and fundamentalists everywhere, since its main thesis held Continue Reading...
For Peter Mazur, the two creation myths of the origins of the individual gods Apollo and Hermes represented two polar forces in the universe of man, two necessary ways the gods were a presence in the fate of human creation, as a tricking and deceitf Continue Reading...
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Homer in Hollywood: The Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film Continue Reading...
Thematic Comparison: Divine Intervention in Homer & Virgil Both works decently portray the horrors of warfare, and (albeit it in a reverent fashion) place the blame for this horror soundly at the feet of the gods. However while in Homer this int Continue Reading...
Homer was a legendary Greek poet who is traditionally credited as the author of the major Greek epics the "Iliad and the Odyssey," as well as the comic mini-epic "Batracholmyomachia" (The Frog-Mouse War), the corpus of Homeric Hymns, and various othe Continue Reading...
Revenge, too, is prominent in all of these works: Beowulf must destroy the monster our of revenge for the havoc on the Kingdom; the Greeks must avenge the kidnapping of Helen and the slights against their lands; the Knight, the Miller and the Wife Continue Reading...
Ulysses and Odyssey ODYSSEY AND ULYSSES Ulysses and Odyssey are on the surface two different stories dealing with different characters in different time period. Yet there is something about Joyce's Ulysses that constantly reminds you of Homer's Ody Continue Reading...
He is a full grown hero who only needs a goal to set him on his journey. Gilgamesh is young and inexperienced, and he needs help to grow and mature throughout his journey, which he obtains from his dear friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh has many lessons to l Continue Reading...
The tension of the opening is never fully dissipated even as Achilleus shows his hospitality and makes certain promises to Priam about holding off the fighting for twelve days while the Trojans bury the son of their ruler. However, just as it appear Continue Reading...
Ancient Greek Warfare From the Mycenaeans to the Polis The rapid progress experienced by the Ancient Greek in a relatively short period of time was reflected by the multitude of domains that started to flourish in the region. The appearance of city- Continue Reading...
The mood is not unlike the effect of the lotus, being a state of languor. The landscape is lush and detailed, the sort of landscape that would be appealing on its own and that visitors would not want to leave for its own sake. Such description begi Continue Reading...
Either as mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, mistresses, lovers or supernatural creatures, women populate the world of the Odyssey and bring thus an important source of information when it comes to finding parallels between their representations in Continue Reading...
Do you disagree with any of Pope's opinions or pronouncements in the Heroic Couplets or "An Essay on Man"? Pope is critical of individuals who "cry, if man's unhappy, God's unjust," suggesting that the unhappiest people are people who blame God, r Continue Reading...
Penelope: The Crafty Ideal of Greek Womanhood One might think of Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, as the Greek masculine ideal. He triumphs over his enemies in an open agonistic contest because he is a greater warrior than they. He shows the virtue Continue Reading...
Comparing the divine world in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Wolfgang Kullmann emphasizes that unlike in the Iliad, in the latter, "men themselves, not the gods, are responsible for their sufferings beyond their destined share. Gods, on the contrary, g Continue Reading...
Instead, it uses mock heroic allusions and meter in the style of Pope's translation of Homeric epic to make the mores and morals of the aristocracy seem absurd. In detailing the efforts of Belinda preparing herself for a party, Pope makes her sound Continue Reading...
In shaping his dramatic theory, Aristotle surveyed the drama of his time and developed certain concepts regarding the nature of the tragic hero. The tragic hero must be an important person with a character flaw that causes him to make a great mistak Continue Reading...
Mimesis" means "to imitate." Forms of imitation are diverse and include imitation, the presentation of the self, representation, resemblance, and mimicry. Mimesis, in psychology, illustrates a stage in human development that infers a child's ability Continue Reading...
Western Civilization From Prehistory to the Renaissance Early Civilizations What do historians mean by "pre-history?" What was life like for early humans during these years? There are many things that we as citizens of the modern world take for g Continue Reading...
Greek Mythology When the clay tablets that comprise the Akkadian / Old Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh were first pieced together and translated by scholars in the nineteenth century, some aspects of the ancient text seemed remarkably familiar. There w Continue Reading...
Also, from Herodotus's books we see that some of them, obeying the famous oracle of Delphi, or using its predictions as an excuse, decided to surrender, and give "earth and water." This is particularly relevant on the influence of religion in that Continue Reading...
Lysistrata stands in the foreground, guiding the men to peace, despite the fact that neither side wants to admit blame. She reminds the Spartans of Athenian assistance in the wake of the quake, and she likewise reminds the Athenians of Spartan assis Continue Reading...
Women in the Odyssey The roles women take in The Odyssey are as varied as society itself. There are good women, weak women, caretakers and even monsters. This paper will discuss three chief aspects women's roles in The Odyssey. The first is the role Continue Reading...
Eumaeus heard the discussion and said: "Don't listen to this girl, she has gone mad after having lost her father, the queen is not ready to pick a suitor yet!" I couldn't tell Eumaeus about my arrangement as he could have ruined it all. After all t Continue Reading...
Trojan Wars and Culture The three epic stories namely, The Iliad, the Trojan Women, Pericle's Funeral Oration are powerfully written master pieces of work, that illustrate the element of horridness of war beautifully. The Iliad The story of Homer' Continue Reading...
War is a fact of life, a terrible fact of life, but when it is willed by the gods it cannot be ignored. Achilles does have some positive moral characteristics: although he spends much of the Iliad retreating from the fighting, he is clearly not a c Continue Reading...
Orestia Ancient legends are known throughout the world and retold in versions generation after generation. Authors take an old story and reimagine it and reinvent it to fit the perspective of their own generation. The first known version of the Agam Continue Reading...
With respect to the mythology of the male gods, Zeus, Apollo, and Hephaestus seem to be a combination that matches the dynamism of their female goddess counterparts. These gods represent the good and the bad of males; they also represent the spectr Continue Reading...
Persian Wars (490 BCE to 479 BCE) between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire were predicated by various circumstances, ranging from cultural ideologies to political connivances. For the Greeks, particularly the Ionians and the Athenians, Pe Continue Reading...
In Homer, he can boast: "Do you not see what a man I am, how huge, how splendid / and born of a great father, and the mother who bore me immortal?" (Homer Book 21, lines 108-109, p. 421). In Cassandra however, he can still boast but doesn't always Continue Reading...
It is rather like a feud in this respect -- the one who commits the final act of revenge is declared the winner. Hector is the Trojan warrior whose character differs greatly from that of Achilles and who has very different reasons for fighting. Whe Continue Reading...
The Guilt and Shame In Heroes Sometimes, there is a misconception that heroes do not feel shame and guilt. For instance, in a movie, when heroes eliminate their adversaries, the viewers are happy because they just think of the good result that suc Continue Reading...
Homer and Caliban The development of the theories of art education by various theories has been influenced by the various artistic works, especially poetry. In the past few centuries, poetry has become an important element in the development of Engl Continue Reading...
Red Badge of Courage and the Things They Carried both use the experience of war to highlight changes in the characters' self-perception and perception of the world. In both stories, the protagonists struggle with societal expectations and especially Continue Reading...
