Tag Archives: Iliad

Introduction to the Odyssey (Part 4): setting the scene

This last portion of my introduction to the Odyssey sets the scene of the story told in the Odyssey. The purpose here is to equip the reader to understand what is going on. The description is of course primarily my … Continue reading

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Introduction to the Odyssey (Part 3): Greek religion and the Homeric epics

The purpose of this third and penultimate part of my introduction to the Odyssey focuses on how an ancient Greek and a modern reader can understand the portions of the Iliad and the Odyssey portraying gods and goddesses. Namely, one … Continue reading

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Introduction to the Odyssey (Part 2): Homer and the origin of the epics

The third and the final parts of this introduction will respectively discuss Greek religion (for which one is largely referred to Burkert for actual practice and attitudes) and the story of the Odyssey as a whole, at least enough to … Continue reading

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Introduction to the Odyssey (Part 1): how the work was performed

Just as one cannot truly appreciate Shakespeare without understanding that the plays would be performed on stage and what an Elizabethan era playhouse would be like, one also cannot fully appreciate Homer without knowing how the Iliad or the Odyssey … Continue reading

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