Aim: How can an understanding of Greek myths and heroes prepare us for our examination of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey?
Do Now: WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION
Brainstorm the qualities that you feel belong to a “hero”. What do you believe might be a working definition of “hero” you could share with the class.
Honor
Bravery
Integrity
For this part of the activity for our in-person people, we were asked about the qualities that made up a hero. As we sat down and raised our hands, I, John Lee was called on and I listed one of the qualities which I wrote down. I said bravery was a hero like characteristic. Others like Edward Novodvorsky said honor and integrity to which the class agreed. We did not have to write anything down yet I took note of each characteristic, which can be seen on the left. As we discussed we questioned what really makes a hero a “hero” and we also thought about how many people can be heroes despite having no super powers or a cape.
WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION
What (if anything) do you already know about Greek heroes and Greek mythology?
As soon as this question was asked we all smirked and grinned as most of us already knew a fair share or greek mythology due to its prevalence in pop culture (Mostly through the Percy Jackson series). When called on, Edward answered yet another question saying that there are three main gods, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. I remember reading the books and also having a book on greek folklore and I remember that most of the heroes and gods of greek mythology were a lot more human than we think. They were put on pedestals for their power yet in the opinion of many people today, they can becompared to oversized, sadistic children with too much time and power on their hands. They did despicable things yet were worshipped regardless which really makes you think about as to why these people back then worshipped them. It makes one thing about how we worship veterans who go to war regardless of their character. We Look up to their ability and job title instead of the person. It truly shows how humans and their behavior has not really changed all that much despite hundreds of years passing.Some important Gods to know...
Zeus
- The God of the sky, lightening and thunder
- King of the gods on Mount Olympus
Hades
- God of the underworld/Lord of the Dead
- his wife is Persephone
Athena
- Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom,
- courage, battle etc.
Poseidon
- God of the sea and earthquakes
Here we didn’t really discuss anything we just read a brief overview of the 3 main greek gods Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. As i read this, I looked back to my knowledge of greek mythology and found that the character of Hades and his job are at a juxtaposition to each other. Although the god of hell itself, he was arguably the most morally correct god out of the 3. We also learned about Athena, a god who turned a woman into a spider monster out of pride. As we can see yet again, the greek gods were pretty terrible “heros”/”gods.”
Story of Arachne
https://www.mwpai.org/assets/Education/MA-Resources-9-15-2016/Myth-Arachne-and-Athena.pdf
I learned no only about ancient greek culture, I also reflected on how western society has borrowed a great amount of customs and cultural practices from Greece. We took democracy which was great yet we took the hero worship as well. They worshipped the special abilities of these “Heroes” instead of the actual characters of a hero just as we do today.
We read the slides and what I learned surprised me greatly: That most of these stories were told orally. I was astonished because I thought that If it was mainly told through oral means, it would be lost to history as most of sub-saharan african history is lost today due to this very reason.
I thought about how similar Homer’s influence on literature was to Shakespeare influence on sonnets. They both were very popular in their fields and we still loo to them as the set standards for each of theirfields of literature.We can draw parallels between epics and modern pop culture as even today we glamorize many people and make them out to be more than who they are through movies and other forms of media.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Why would an author/storyteller choose to use these elements?
We read the slide and we answered the class discussion which started off with Elliot saying how these elements were used because they make the story dramatic and seem like it matters because of divine intervention. I thought the same and reminded me of how similar forms of media like “Anime” borrow such elements like formal speeches and flashbacks to push the narrative forward.
Etymology of the word “hero” & its overuse in the modern era
Today we sometimes toss the word "hero" around without thinking much about it. We use it to name TV shows. We speak of a Hollywood celebrity as our childhood hero. Every parent is a hero. Every journalist is a hero. Every American is a hero. Every working woman is a hero. Every police officer, firefighter, and soldier is a hero without question or regard for what they do or have done or are prepared to do. The list goes on.
Some argue that the overuse of the word "hero" is to such an extent that it doesn't really mean anything anymore. According to common parlance, almost nobody isn't a hero. It mirrors the classic injunction that "saying that everyone is special is another way of saying that no one is." If we use the word so much as to devalue it, we make it impossible to describe and understand real heroism, the rare, superhuman kind. So the question has been asked, has the word "hero" been so overused that it's losing its meaning?
Some argue that the overuse of the word "hero" is to such an extent that it doesn't really mean anything anymore. According to common parlance, almost nobody isn't a hero. It mirrors the classic injunction that "saying that everyone is special is another way of saying that no one is." If we use the word so much as to devalue it, we make it impossible to describe and understand real heroism, the rare, superhuman kind. So the question has been asked, has the word "hero" been so overused that it's losing its meaning?TEAM COLLABORATION
Draw your own conclusion on this argument. Do you agree or disagree with the concept that the word “hero” has become overused? Why or why not?
When we create heroes in fiction, we almost can't help but give them superhuman powers because what a hero does to be a hero is something which seems like people should be incapable of doing. It is something truly “other”.
Compare some of today’s superheroes with the original definition of “hêrôs”.
Do you think, as a modern society, we are searching for a “superhuman” hero similar to the Ancient Greeks, despite our overuse of the term? Why or why not?
We broke off into random groups for this part and we had many similar views. For number one my group said that the meaning of hero is right but society has overused it. It differed in that I said anyone can be a hero while my group members tuck more towards the idea that leaned towards a hero is someone who does something great and courageous. I said that the use of the word can mean your local wildlife protector or our essential workers. Or even a dude that cleans up the trash at a train station. I thought that being a hero is being a good human. We also discussed about superheroes today and how similar they are to greek mythology. We said it was mostly similar but differed in the fact that there are more anti heroes into today’s pop culture. We also discussed part 2b in which we said that today’s society is looking for heroes like the ancient greeks. We said this because we want to put the hero label on anybody. We put the hero label on celebrities and people who just have job titles like veterans. In all, all this discussing makes me thing about how heroes affect our thoughts and society itself. We look for heroes because most human characteristics are selfish. People blame others when they are angry. People don’t want to die for the sake of others. We look at heros with wonder because although they are human, there hearts are pure and just. They are strong when most are weak. Although having a hero is not a bad thing at all and can be quite a good thing, we also must ensure that people who aren’t heroes do not have the title of a hero. This is our duty as having a fool lead others is a very bad idea.
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