Homer and Aesop

Question 1

What is a Mycenaean Syllabary?

Answer 1

It is like an alphabet, however symbols correspond to syllables instead of individual sounds.

Question 2

When did the Mycenaean civilization come to an end?

Answer 2

1200 B.C.E.

Question 3

The world of Homer is neither _______ nor purely _________

Answer 3

Historical in a modern sense, fictional

Question 4

Oral poets in ancient Greece used a traditional form, fitting their own riffs into the rhythm, with musical accompaniment. What was that traditional form?

Answer 4

Hexameter

Question 5

A complete performance of these poems (Illiad and Odyssey) would have lasted at least __ hours

Answer 5

20

Question 6

Illias is another name for ____

Answer 6

Troy

Question 7

Who awarded Paris Helen of Troy as his wife? Why?

Answer 7

Aphrodite, because Paris awarded her a golden apple.

Question 8

How long did the Trojan War last?

Answer 8

Ten Years

Question 9

The Iliad begins in which year of the Trojan War?

Answer 9

10th

Question 10

What is the first word and main theme of the Iliad?

Answer 10

Rage (Sing o Goddess in Greek)

Question 11

The Iliad is about war, ______, and aggression.

Answer 11

honor

Question 12

The plot (of the Iliad) deals with an exchange of bodies both living and dead. Explain:

Answer 12

“ownership of people”, exchanges of one life for another, or a dead hero for a live woman

Question 13

Although human beings cannot avoid death, they can choose ____ they will die.

Answer 13

how

Question 14

What does Achilles know that the other warriors in the story do not?

Answer 14

Fighting in Troy will mean his death

Question 15

What reason is given for Hector as the most likeable character in the story?

Answer 15

He fights not for honor or vengeance, but to protect his wife and child. AKA Family Values

Question 16

The major contrast drawn in the Iliad is not between the Greeks and the Trojans but between humans and the ________

Answer 16

immortal gods

Question 17

In the Iliad human action and divine action work _______

Answer 17

together

Question 18

On Mount Olympus all quarrels end in laughter and drinking not ______

Answer 18

death

Question 19

The most important fact about all the warriors in the Iliad is that they ____

Answer 19

die

Question 20

The Iliad provides a bleak but inspiring account of human suffering as a kind of power, which the gods themselves _______ achieve

Answer 20

cannot

Question 21

In the Greek, the first word of the Odyssey- our first clue to the poem’s subject is ________

Answer 21

“andra or man

Question 22

Who is “a man of many turns” and what is conveyed by this phrase?

Answer 22

Odysseus, the phrase conveys that he is able to deal with any outcome no matter how challenging or unexpected

Question 23

The many cultures of the poem (the odyssey) include both the exotic and the ________

Answer 23

Ordinary

Question 24

What is the Greek word for hospitality?

Answer 24

xenia

Question 25

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

Answer 25

ours

Question 26

Odysseus defeats the cyclops Polyphemus. What does his name mean and why is this ironic in the telling of the story?

Answer 26

Polyphemus means “much named” and this is ironic because Odysseus defeats him by calling himself “No man”

Question 27

The act of homecoming seems to require several ____, beyond merely reaching a geographical _________.

Answer 27

stages, location

Question 28

What is on of the most important ways in which Odysseus is a man of many turns?

Answer 28

The way in which he controls and multiplies his stories, able to see the multiplicity of the world and redefining his place in it.

Question 29

Pick your favorite test that Odysseus has to pass

Answer 29

The knowledge of people in his household

Question 30

List at least three elements in the Odyssey we associate with other types of literature:

Answer 30

Travelers Tales, Heroism, Family Drama, Romance, Folklore

Question 31

Fables are an enjoyable ___________ of funny anecdote, proverbs, animal stories and morality tales.

Answer 31

hodgepodge

Question 32

Aesop’s Fables were not produced by a single author at a single point in time. True or False?

Answer 32

True

Question 33

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

Answer 33

ordinary, change

Question 34

The fable is usually a conservative genre that reinforces the __________

Answer 34

status quo

Question 35

Fables give easy access to pure narrative _______. They can _____ to anybody, of any age, from any era.

Answer 35

pleasure, appeal