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The Odyssey (/ ˈ ɒ d ɪ s i /; [1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, romanized: Odýsseia) [2] [3] is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest works of literature still widely read by modern audiences.
Formal Greek prayer in the epic poems attributed to Homer is ritualized and consists of four basic stages: [citation needed] cleansing, prayer, sacrifice and libation. First, a mortal washes their hands, purifying themselves. They then attain an appropriate posture, lifting their arms.
Illustration for John Milton's Paradise Lost by Gustave Doré (1866). The spiritual descent of Lucifer into Satan, one of the most famous examples of hubris.. Hubris (/ ˈ h juː b r ɪ s /; from Ancient Greek ὕβρις (húbris) 'pride, insolence, outrage'), or less frequently hybris (/ ˈ h aɪ b r ɪ s /), [1] describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride [2] or dangerous ...
The oldest Greek verseform, [1] and the Greek line for heroic verse, is the dactylic hexameter, which was already well-established in the 9th and 8th centuries B.C.E. when the Iliad and Odyssey were composed in this meter. [2] The Saturnian was used in Latin epics of the 3rd century B.C.E., but few examples remain and the meter is little ...
A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, as in "rosy-fingered" Dawn or "swift-footed" Achilles.Epithets are used because of the constraints of the dactylic hexameter (i.e., it is convenient to have a stockpile of metrically fitting phrases to add to a name) and because of the oral transmission of the poems; they are mnemonic aids to the singer and the audience alike.
Eurymachus, son of Polybus, is the second of the suitors to appear in the epic.Eurymachus acts as a leader among the suitors because of his charisma. He is noted to be the most likely to win Penelope's hand because her father and brothers support the union and because he outdoes the other suitors in gift-giving.
With likely origins in oral tradition, the narrative technique of beginning a story in medias res is a stylistic convention of epic poetry, the exemplars in Western literature being the Iliad and the Odyssey (both 7th century BC), by Homer. [3] Likewise, the Mahābhārata (c. 8th century BC – c. 4th century AD) opens in medias res.
An example of direct assistance by Athena includes when she leads Odysseus to the Phaeacian palace in the disguise of a beggar. She also helps him by transforming him into an old beggar in the later books of the Odyssey , by planting helpful ideas into his head and by causing the javelins of the suitors to miss their target when Odysseus ...