Intro to Homer and The Odyssey

Hi, Mr. Gomez. What are you doing here? Coffee. Must...have... coffee... Are you OK? I'm fine. How's school? I just started to read The Odyssey by some guy named Homer. Have you read it? Yes, it's a great story. It says his name is Homer. Does he have a last name? No, just Homer. Just like Prince. Or Drake. Or Elvis! Can you tell me something about him? I'd love to! Homer wrote only two books that survived. The Iliad and The Odyssey. Some people say he never even existed. Some say that the books were copied down by anonymous scribes from a variety of sources. But he was supposedly a bard who traveled around Greece telling his stories. Legend has it that he was blind. Why don't we know if he was real? He's a mystery man. He lived around 900 BCE. People back then didn't keep good historical records. What was the other book he wrote? The Iliad was a story about a war between Greece and Troy. We're not sure where Troy was, but we think it was in Turkey. Have you ever heard of the Trojan Horse? Sure. That was the giant hollow horse. Soldiers hid inside of it. When the enemy brought the horse inside the gates of the city, the soldiers jumped out and killed everyone. That's right. The Trojan Horse was the idea of a clever man named named Odysseus. Odysseus? Yes, the book you're reading is the story of his long trip home after the Trojan War. Because of that, an odyssey has come to mean a long and difficult journey. My mom has a mini-van called Odyssey. When Honda first released the Odyssey, it was marketed as a rugged off-road vehicle, believe it or not. It's a boring family mini van. That's hilarious. Do you have any questions about the book? Maybe I can help. The characters talk about someone named Agamemnon. Who's that? Agamemnon was a Greek general in the Trojan War. When he was away at war, his wife Clytemnestra had an affair. When he came home, he took off his protective armor, both literally and figuratively. When he got in the bathtub, Clytemnestra and her lover killed Agamemnon. That's horrible. That's not all. When Agamemnon's son found out what happened, he killed his mother and her lover. He took revenge for his father's death. But the Greeks believed that anyone who killed a family member would be hounded to death by horrible creatures called harpies. Harpies? That's right. So in the Odyssey, people compare Odysseus and his wife, Penelope, to Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. It's a clear contrast since Penelope is virtuous and loyal. I see. Also, did you know that the Odyssey is one giant poem? People didn't write stories down back then, either. So Homer memorized that entire book! That's impossible! Not really. In the original Greek, it has a specific rhythm, like a song. And he recycles some lines many times, like "the wine-dark sea." That's amazing. Mind blown. And since that time, the Odyssey has inspired countless other stories, movies, a space orbiter, as well as your mom's minivan. Am I going to like it? I hope so. People have been enjoying it for almost 3000 years. It has blood and guts, sex and romance, monsters, gods, and ghosts. It's a fantastic story! OK, thanks, Mr. Gomez. I'm looking forward to reading it now. I'm glad. Well, I'd better get my coffee. If I don't, I might fall down and never get up. OK, thank you. See you at school. Yep. See you.