1. Everything You Need to Know Before We Embark on This Epic Journey

2. What is The Odyssey? An epic poem Told in the oral tradition (not written down) Attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller Homer This HomerNot this one © Fox Flash

3. What is The Odyssey about? The story picks up where Homer’s previous epic, The Iliad, left off. The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War, in which a coalition of Greek states battled the city of Troy in order to rescue their kidnapped queen, Helen of Sparta. Helen became known as “Helen of Troy,” “the woman with the face who launched a thousand ships.” Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London)

4. What is The Odyssey about? The Greeks eventually won the war by hiding inside a giant wooden horse (“the Trojan Horse”) they gave as a present to the Trojans, taking the Trojans by surprise once inside the castle walls, but this is not actually included in The Iliad. http://realisticbeinggreen.wordpress.co m/2012/07/29/beware-the-trojan-horse/ Odysseus, the hero of The Odyssey, was one of the soldiers who fought in the Trojan War.

5. What is The Odyssey about? The Odyssey mainly centers on Odysseus and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach his home in Ithica after the war. Mosaic from the A. D. 300S http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ni-Pa/Odyssey- The.html#ixzz2EBkfho6Vhttp://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ni-Pa/Odyssey- The.html#ixzz2EBkfho6V

6. What is The Odyssey about? While Odysseus is away, everyone back home assumes he died in the war. A group of unruly men constantly swarm in his house to court his wife, Penelope, and compete for her hand in marriage. Penelope and the Suitors by John William Waterhouse (1912)

7. What is The Odyssey about? Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, does not like this one bit, and, with a little push from the god Athena in disguise, ventures out to search for news of his father. http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Telemachus.html

8. What is The Odyssey about? The poem takes us back and forth between the adventures of Odysseus and Telemachus, in which they face various monsters, temptations, and other dangers. Lotus-eaters, a race of people who eat narcotic fruits which induce sleep and lethargy Calypso, a seductive sea nymph Circe, a witch-goddess who turns men into swine Sirens, mermaid-like female creatures who lure sailors to shipwreck with their enchanting music Polyphemus, a Cyclops (a giant with a single eye in the middle of his forehead)

9. Who are the gods? (Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html Zeus The god of the heavens The king of all the gods Hera The goddess of marriage The queen of all the gods Zeus’s wife AND sister

10. Who are the gods? (Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html Zeus’s other siblings: Hades Poseidon god of the god of the seaunderworld HestiaDemeter goddess of goddess of home & hearthagriculture & harvest

11. Who are the gods? (Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html Zeus’s children with Hera: Ares god of war Hephaestus god of fire and forge

12. Who are the gods? (Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html Zeus’s children with other gods/mortals/unknown: Artemis goddess of hunting & the moon Aphrodite goddess of love & beauty Athena goddess of wisdom

13. Who are the gods? (Images from greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html)greece.mr.donn.org/greekgods/index.html Zeus’s children with other gods/mortals/unknown: Hermes messenger god Apollo god of music Heracles (Hercules) half-man, half-god