Home learning task:

• Research the ancient phorminx

• Materials
• Tone

• Read Odyssey book 21, lines 35-end. How could a bard use his
instrument to bring this scene to life for his audience?
Homer’s literary influences
Babylonian texts and Contemporary Ancient Greek myths
Recap: Zeus and Odysseus Is the poem a
moral fable?

Homer, Odyssey, book. 22

So they chattered, but once wily Odysseus had flexed the great
bow and checked it all over, he strung it easily, as a man skilled
in song and the lyre stretches a new string onto its leather tuning
strap, fixing the twisted sheep-gut at either end. Then grasping
the bow in his right hand, he plucked the string that sang
sweetly to his touch with the sound of a swallow’s note.The
Suitors were mortified, and their faces were drained of colour,
while Zeus sounded a peal of thunder as a sign.
Justice in Homer’s world:
the Oresteia Orestes Aegisthus Clytemenestra
Wife of Agamemnon

Zeus, Odyssey book 1 • 9kpGhivh05k

‘How surprising that men blame the gods, and say
their troubles come from us, though they, through
their own un-wisdom, find suffering beyond what is
fated. Just as Aegisthus, beyond what was fated, took
the wife of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, and murdered
him when he returned, though he knew the end would
be a complete disaster, since we sent Hermes, keen-
eyed slayer of Argus, to warn him not to kill the man,
or court his wife, as Orestes would avenge
Agamemnon, once he reached manhood and longed
for his own land. So Hermes told him, but despite his
kind intent he could not move Aegisthus’ heart: and
Aegisthus has paid the price now for it all.’ Athenian red figure vase 5th
century BC
Homer and Hesiod
• Herodotus- historian writing in 5th century
‘I think that Homer and Hesiod were older than I by 400 years and no more, and they are the ones who created
the divine genealogy for Greeks’
Didactic poetry
Hesiod, Works and Days
Muses of Pieria who give glory through song,
come hither, tell of Zeus your father and chant
his praise. Through him mortal men are famed
or unfamed, sung or unsung alike, as great Zeus
wills. [5] For easily he makes strong, and easily
he brings the strong man low; easily he humbles
the proud and raises the obscure, and easily he
straightens the crooked and blasts the proud,—
Zeus who thunders aloft and has his dwelling
most high.
Homer, Odyssey
Tell me, Muse, of that man of many resources, who
wandered far and wide, after sacking the holy citadel
of Troy. Many the men whose cities he saw, whose
ways he learned. Many the sorrows he suffered at sea,
while trying to bring himself and his friends back
alive. Yet despite his wishes he failed to save them,
because of their own un-wisdom, foolishly eating the
cattle of Helios, the Sun, so the god denied them their
return.
Epic of Gilgamesh
• What was this poem?
• https://youtu.be/yPjmKR5BOVo
Epic of Gilgamesh
• 2150-1400 BC
• Ancient Babylon
• Written on clay tablets
 Epic of Gilgamesh

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the great king is thought to be too proud and arrogant by the
gods and so they decide to teach him a lesson by sending the wild man, Enkidu, to
humble him. Enkidu and Gilgamesh are considered an even match by the people but, after
a fierce battle, Enkidu is bested. He freely accepts his defeat and the two become friends
and embark on adventures together.

They kill Humbaba, demon of the Cedar Forest, and chop down the sacred cedar tree. This
attracts the attention of Inanna (known by her Akkadian/Babylonian name Ishtar in the
story). Inanna tries to seduce Gilgamesh but he rejects her, citing all the other men she has
had as lovers who ended their lives poorly. Inanna is enraged and sends her brother-in-law,
the Bull of Heaven, down to earth to destroy Gilgamesh. Enkidu comes to his friend's aid
and kills the bull but, in doing so, he has offended the gods and is condemned to death.

Gilgamesh is devasted by Enkidu’s death and offers gifts to the gods, in the hope that he
might be allowed to walk beside Enkidu in the Underworld.
Gilgamesh fails to at both opportunities to obtain immortality, and he disconsolately returns
to the massive walls of his own city of Uruk.
Ancient Mesopotamia
and Greece

• No mention of Mesopotamia n
Iliad/Odyssey
• Trading contact?
Concluding questions
• To what extent does Homer promote the gods on the Odyssey?
• Did Homer know Hesiod?
• Do we think Homer was influenced by the Babylonian epic of
Gilgamesh?
Home learning task
• What was the Iliad about?
• https://youtu.be/-QPXpCqwHec
Half term assignment
Who was Homer?

What are the conclusions you have drawn about Homer. You may wish
to consider:
• Later sources
• Possible locations and identities
• Oral poetry- rhythmns and music
• Possible influences from Epic of Gilgamesh
• Possible purpose in writing- moral fable?