Homer and Aesop Flashcards
What is a Mycenaean Syllabary?
It is like an alphabet, however symbols correspond to syllables instead of individual sounds.
When did the Mycenaean civilization come to an end?
1200 B.C.E.
The world of Homer is neither _______ nor purely _________
Historical in a modern sense, fictional
Oral poets in ancient Greece used a traditional form, fitting their own riffs into the rhythm, with musical accompaniment. What was that traditional form?
Hexameter
A complete performance of these poems (Illiad and Odyssey) would have lasted at least __ hours
20
Illias is another name for ____
Troy
Who awarded Paris Helen of Troy as his wife? Why?
Aphrodite, because Paris awarded her a golden apple.
How long did the Trojan War last?
Ten Years
The Iliad begins in which year of the Trojan War?
10th
What is the first word and main theme of the Iliad?
Rage (Sing o Goddess in Greek)
The Iliad is about war, ______, and aggression.
honor
The plot (of the Iliad) deals with an exchange of bodies both living and dead. Explain:
“ownership of people”, exchanges of one life for another, or a dead hero for a live woman
Although human beings cannot avoid death, they can choose ____ they will die.
how
What does Achilles know that the other warriors in the story do not?
Fighting in Troy will mean his death
What reason is given for Hector as the most likeable character in the story?
He fights not for honor or vengeance, but to protect his wife and child. AKA Family Values
The major contrast drawn in the Iliad is not between the Greeks and the Trojans but between humans and the ________
immortal gods
In the Iliad human action and divine action work _______
together
On Mount Olympus all quarrels end in laughter and drinking not ______
death
The most important fact about all the warriors in the Iliad is that they ____
die
The Iliad provides a bleak but inspiring account of human suffering as a kind of power, which the gods themselves _______ achieve
cannot
In the Greek, the first word of the Odyssey- our first clue to the poem’s subject is ________
“andra or man
Who is “a man of many turns” and what is conveyed by this phrase?
Odysseus, the phrase conveys that he is able to deal with any outcome no matter how challenging or unexpected
The many cultures of the poem (the odyssey) include both the exotic and the ________
Ordinary
What is the Greek word for hospitality?
xenia
The poem (the Odyssey) deals with the fundamental desire we feel for our own people and our own place, not because they are better than any other, but simply because they are
ours
Odysseus defeats the cyclops Polyphemus. What does his name mean and why is this ironic in the telling of the story?
Polyphemus means “much named” and this is ironic because Odysseus defeats him by calling himself “No man”
The act of homecoming seems to require several ____, beyond merely reaching a geographical _________.
stages, location
What is on of the most important ways in which Odysseus is a man of many turns?
The way in which he controls and multiplies his stories, able to see the multiplicity of the world and redefining his place in it.
Pick your favorite test that Odysseus has to pass
The knowledge of people in his household
List at least three elements in the Odyssey we associate with other types of literature:
Travelers Tales, Heroism, Family Drama, Romance, Folklore
Fables are an enjoyable ___________ of funny anecdote, proverbs, animal stories and morality tales.
hodgepodge
Aesop’s Fables were not produced by a single author at a single point in time. True or False?
True
Fables are aimed at _______ people, not aristocrats and often suggest the danger and folly of trying to ______ one’s status in life, create revolution, or usurp the position of one’s betters
ordinary, change
The fable is usually a conservative genre that reinforces the __________
status quo
Fables give easy access to pure narrative _______. They can _____ to anybody, of any age, from any era.
pleasure, appeal
