Western Literature(Week7)

Odyssey

Book I

• Telemachus

Odysseus' son, Telemachus, undergoes a miniature odyssey of his own. A callow 20-year-old man is afraid of challenging the suitors at the start of the poem, by the end, thanks in part to Athena's grooming, he is an assured, mature young man ready to take on the suitors.
During his short journey to learn about the father he does not know, Telemachus is the beneficiary of "xenia," the Greek term for hospitality. He repays the favor to others who need help and is a respectful traveler.  Though he has not inherited his father's gift for cunning, The Odyssey ends with the promise that Telemachus will one day make a fine ruler of Ithaca.

• Aegisthus

 The son of Thyestes and his daughter, Pelopia.While Agamemnon was at the Trojan war, Aegisthus became the lover of the king's estranged wife Clytemnestra. The couple killed Agamemnon on his return. He became king of Mycenae for seven years before he was killed in his turn by Agamemnon's son Orestes.

Book XI

• Tartarus

In the ancient Greek mythology, Tartarus is the deep abyss that is  used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans.

Example:

1. Tantalus

King Tantalus was also in Tartarus after he cut up his son Pelops, boiled him, and served him as food when he was invited to dine with the gods. He also stole the ambrosia from the Gods and told his people its secrets.

2. Sisyphus

King Sisyphus was sent to Tartarus for killing guests and travelers to his castle in violation to his hospitality, seducing his niece, and reporting one of Zeus' sexual conquests by telling the river god Asopus of the whereabouts of his daughter Aegina (who had been taken away by Zeus).

• Hercales

A  divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae  and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters.

Dactylic hexameter

A form of meter or rhythmic scheme in poetry. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek and Latin and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry. The premier examples of its use are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid.

Vocabulary

carbon copy (n.) a copy of an email or other electronic document that is sent to one or more people in addition to the primary addressee  Abbreviation: c.c.
example: As the Brazilian-born son of German immigrants, Franco says he was too much of a carbon copy of Benedict.

xerox copy (n.) a copy made by a xerographic printer
example: I have a xerox copy of this book.

mourning (n.) the act or feelings of one who mourns; grief
example: The Shiite mourning month of Muharram begins on December 18.

lamentation (n.)  expression of sorrow
example: There was lamentation throughout the land at the news of the defeat.

lament (v.) to feel or express sorrow or regret for
example: She lamented to us about her wretched lot.

ransom (n.) the redemption of a prisoner, slave, or kidnapped person, of captured goods, ect.,for a price
            (v.) to redeem from captivity, bondage, detention, etc., by paying a demanded price
example: They held the travellers for rasom.
                They rasomed the kidnapped child with 10, 000 dollars.

anachronistic (adj.) pertaining to or containing an anachronism.
example: His views are anachronistic and absurd.

treaty (n.) a formal agreement between two or more states in reference to peace, alliance, commerce, or other international relations
example: This treaty is benefical to each other.