Odyssey/ Blog by Eric Ott https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott Made to try to understand the stories of the text. en-us 2021-03-18 19:56:33 UTC 2025-10-18 15:35:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1432821596592-e2c18b78144f?ixid=Mnw3ODI2fDB8MXxzZWFyY2h8OHx8QmxvZ3xlbnwwfHx8fDE2MTYwOTExMTY&ixlib=rb-1.2.1 Prologue eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327438025 The ten-year war waged by the Greeks against Troy, culminating in the overthrow of the city, is now itself ten years in the past. Helen, whose flight to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris had prompted the Greek expedition to seek revenge and reclaim
her, is now home in Sparta, living harmoniously once more with her husband Meneláos
(Menelaus). His brother Agamémnon, commander in chief of the Greek forces, was
murdered on his return from the war by his wife and her paramour. Of the Greek
chieftains who have survived both the war and the perilous homeward voyage, all
have returned except Odysseus, the crafty and astute ruler of Ithaka (Ithaca), an
island in the Ionian Sea off western Greece. Since he is presumed dead, suitors from
Ithaka and other regions have overrun his house, paying court to his attractive wife
Penélopê, endangering the position of his son, Telémakhos (Telemachus), corrupting
many of the servants, and literally eating up Odysseus’ estate. Penélopê has stalled
for time but is finding it increasingly difficult to deny the suitors’ demands that she marry one of them; Telémakhos, who is just approaching young manhood, is becom-
ing actively resentful of the indignities suffered by his household. Many persons and places in the Odyssey are best known to readers by their Latinized names, such as Telemachus. The present translator has used forms (Telémakhos) closer
to the Greek spelling and pronunciation. A slanted accent mark ( ́) indicates stress;
thus Agamémnon is accented on the third syllable. A circumflex accent (ˆ) indicates that the vowel sound is long; thus Kêrês is pronounced “Care-ace.” A dieresis ( ̈) indicates pronunciation as a separate syllable; thus, Thoösa has three syllables rather than two.]]> 2021-03-18 20:02:28 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327438025 The ten-year war waged by the Greeks against Troy, culminating in the overthrow of the city, is now itself ten years in the past. Helen, whose flight to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris had prompted the Greek expedition to seek revenge and reclaimher, is now home in Sparta, living harmoniously once more with her husband Meneláos(Menelaus). eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327445782 This is the first two sentences of the prologue, this is very much needed to be here. This is due to the fact that this is the second of the two odyssey. The first one being about the war against Troy. This text shows us that the 10 year war to overthrow Troy happened 10 years ago. The war that famously had the Trojan horse was over, and Helen, who fought to keep Troy, flead, but not for long. She went on a revenge campaign with the prince of Troy, Paris. They sought revenge on the Greeks for what they did to Troy, yet after that she lives with her husband in Sparta.

]]> 2021-03-18 20:04:55 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327445782 Why This Prologue is Great. eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327472993 This prologue in the story shows us just what is happening, we get enough of a history to know what is happening, but not too much to give anything away. It is a perfect blend between a given and a solution. We don't know what is going to happen, yet feel it happening. An example of this is we know Icarus is going to die by flying too close to the sun, but we don't know when, or how or anything about it, so we are still intrigued by the story to find a solution to this ending. This is sorta at play with headlines, they give you something, sometimes the ending of the story, so that you stay in it. They know that they have to hook you, they have to give you the rundown of what happened, but not too much that you stop reading right then and there. It is meant to find a happy medium of keeping the reader through this, you drip feed them the information, slowly, enough so that they stay, but not too much so that they leave for they have already been told what they need to hear. This is why this prologue is so very well written, they keep us here, on our toes, wanting more, yet giving us near nothing, leaving all the twists hidden away from our prying eyes.

]]> 2021-03-18 20:13:17 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327472993 eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327499570 2021-03-18 20:21:21 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327499570 The Simpson's Take on the Prologue eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327529056 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sRtZ8fjHws]]> 2021-03-18 20:30:24 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1327529056 Book 1-8 eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1349738914 When watching books 1-8 of the Odyssey I have come to pick a few tips of what to never do when in Greek Mythology story time. The first rule and probably the most important, never curse the gods, as much as they seem to be idiots, with no moral high ground, they are still powerful. They can make your life horrible, they can kill you if they wanted to or they could just torture you on earth, making everything that could possibly go wrong go wrong and then add 10. They have all the cards, they are the house and you never bet against the house. Rule #2 is bring people up rather than bring them down. Whenever you are fighting or trying to get something done, if you strengthen your team to be better usually the Gods will help you, they like to see people get better, just don’t get too good for that might make the gods jealous. So if you bring up a team and treat everyone as the best they could be, the gods are very likely to help you, send a god your way, or even give you godlike powers. So work your hardest to bring people up to your speed and not vice versa. Rule #3 and the last one I have made is to work with the gods and never against them. When you are asked to do something by the gods, do it. Just like rule one, never curse the gods, working actively against them could lead to you going to a very bad place. They have power over everything, including your life. If you are working against them, or place another task before their tasks you will either never finish your task or your task will be a punishment to you. Always try to win favor over the gods by being there for them at all times, when they ask you to do something, do it, do it to the best of your ability and 10 times better and do the job quickly. Do not have the gods wait on you for you might be feeling the wrath of their anger in due time.]]> 2021-03-24 19:16:37 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1349738914 A summary of books 1-8 eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1349739905 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV-a_AtlilM&list=PLz_ZtyOWL9BTT6cHpSFM3HnK9ongAYDBl]]> 2021-03-24 19:16:53 UTC https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1349739905 So half of use embarked and rowed away. Our ships moved fast—some god had made the yawning sea grow calm.We came to Tenedos and sacrificed to all the gods, still keen to get back home.But even then Zeus had not decided to let us all return—a stubborn god! eott20241_1 https://padlet.com/eott20241_1/Ott/wish/1349757497 This part of the text comes after the war Odyssues just won the war with when tricking Troy that they have won with the famous Trojan horse. He Claimed that he no longer needed the gods, that he could do anything. He himself was on the level of gods, and then the gods cursed him, cursed him to never get home. Though, thinking himself nearly a god, he sails home, not heading the gods warning. That is where this quote comes in, they were on the move, fastly moving on to get back home. They were blessed to good oceans, for the trip moving fast. Then they went to sacrifice to the gods, yet that seemed to anger Zues and he decided to curse them with bad seas and travel. The claim is that Zues is a stubborn god, if not the most stubborn. 

With the entirety of Greek mythology being the constant struggle between gods and humans, this suits the story nicely. They sacrifice to all the gods, instead of just individually to Zues and when the Gods are just like man, Zues felt cheated. He felt that he should have been his own sacrifice. This is showing that the gods are just humans that have powers and live forever. That besides the powers they get and the life that have, their actions are just the same as man. That the gods are not any morally superior but instead just on the moral ground as everyone else. This is the story of the Greek gods, they are always trying to fit life to suit them, they still have manly desires of fame, money, sexual acts, and power. Everything we man yearn for, the gods yearn for too.
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