CantaClassics

No life of luxury for me.

I live to serve, to give the higher class the luxuries in life, spending a majority of my days chopping wood and helping with the crops, the slave life.

Do not slay him, take him back, work him as a slave’ they said when I was captured so long ago, during the war, taken from those in my family who remained alive. My only hope is that my boy will get a better chance, and not live the life of a slave.

But I must accept my place, and my master is fair to me, compared to what other slaves endure from their masters, and his woman seems nice, though I do not speak with her often.

I would tell you of my day to day accounts, but I have not the exhilarating stories like that of a hero, the trees that I hack are not going to glorify me and I will receive no recognition or glory.

Life and freedom it seems have turned their back on me.

 Oh dear Zeus. That husband of mine has gone and voted for the wrong man. AGAIN. I wish us women were allowed the vote; we are much smarter and organized than the women. I would like to see then clear up the mess our slaves made when they lost the brand new bundles of wool that were supposed to be spun this morning. It’s been hectic; I can hardly feel my fingers as I have been spinning so fast to catch up time. Thank Zeus for my two wonderful daughters, if they had been sons I think the wool would still be missing. Men are only good for one thing, and I am fortunate that my father chose a great husband for me. Although sometimes he should take his head out of the clouds and concentrate on what is best for his family like he should. Well, I’m off to bed, If I work for much longer I feel I shall collapse.

it’s so good being a noble. just to day i got up had my wife and slave girls bring me my morning meal and then i decided to go for a walk around the town until i was challeneged by some pipsquek to a fight to the death because i killed his father in a fight. well all i can say is that little brat sliced me with a cheap shot so to save face i slew him slowly and removed his head as a sign of superiority. now no one will challenge my kleos. with my blade in hand i went for my own share of revenge apone the theive that shamed my brother when he took his gold. i waited at the place where the braggats had done the deed and waited for them to come along to find their next victim, well we know who the victims are now ha ha ha. my arm is so sore as my slaves hadn’t sharpend my sword so i must remember to punish him to.

In today’s lesson we will examine Homeric Society (Greek society as portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey). The values and structure of society in the The Odyssey are very different to today’s. The Greek view of heroism is also quite different to today’s views.

Task

Read pages 15-16 of the booklet, then download and complete the worksheet below

Homeric Society (Click here to download worksheet)

Your second task is to blog some of your learning from today. Remember how to do this? Just log in to this blog and write a post. I have outlined what to do below. Use the content from the booklet to give you ideas.

(Keila you can just write the post in an email and I will post it on the blog)

Sam – you are a hero. Write a diary entry that gives an indication of what heroes valued in Homeric society

Corey – you are a slave in a typical Greek household. Write a diary entry that indicates what the structure of a Homeric household was

Lucy – you are a woman living in the Homeric world. write a diary entry that indicates your roles in society

Keila – you are a guest in a Homeric Houshold. Write a diary entry that indicates how you would be treated.

Worksheet to be emailed or faxed to me by the end of the Thursday. Blog entry done by the end of Thursday night.

In today’s lesson we will look at how Greek poets put their poems together. Hopefully you have read a few pages of the Odyssey text and you may have notice the nature of the language. Characteristics of Greek oral epic poetry includes:

• Written in an elevated style (grand themes)
• Heroic
• Composed to be read aloud
• Repitition
• Detailed descriptions
• Extended similes / metaphors

TASKS

Read pages 5-6 in your Odyssey Booklet (not the text). The heading should read “The Nature of Greek Oral Epic Poetry”. Put the same heading up yourself and complete these activities

1. What is an epithet? Give yourself an epithet that indicates something about your personality or a physical trait (e.g. blue eyes)
2. What is meant by formulaic phrases and scenes? (be careful you will have to think about the answer)
3. Why did Greek poets use such detailed description?

MAIN TASK – The four of you are going to write a collaborative, chain epic poem that you will then have to recite in the lesson on Friday. Keila will start it off, followed by Sam, Lucy than Corey. Each person should aim to add two paragraphs to the story. Use Microsoft Word to write it and attach the file to an email that is sent to the next person, and so on and so on, until it gets to Corey. Corey will then send it to me.

The poem is written about an everyday event that is written in the style of Greek Epic poems. This means it needs to use the type of language that you read about in the booklet and I outlined in the bullet points above. When I say an everyday event, it could mean a trip to Macdonalds, washing the dishes, driving home from school, etc. The key is to use ‘elevated’ language to make it sound epic.

THE CHALLENGE IS TO GET THE POEM TO ME BY THURSDAY MORNING!

To recap – Keila will start it off. She will then email it to Sam, who will write his part and then email it to Lucy who will add her bit and email it to Corey, who will apply the final flourish and send it to me.

I look forward to reading it. Have fun.

This is a simple note-taking lesson on the setting of the Odyssey and includes some information about the author.

Task:

Read pages 3-4 and complete the following tasks

1. Around what time is this story set and why is it so difficult to pinpoint this time?
2. Where is the story set?
3. Explain the debate surrounding Homer.
4. Where is it likely Homer drew inspiration for his story?
5. Note down all the reasons the life of a poet might have been hard.

PLEASE EMAIL OR FAX YOUR WORK TO ME BY TUESDAY NIGHT

This is our first week on Homer’s Odyssey, one of the all time great epic stories. This reads like a novel (although in a very different style to what you are used to), but is actually an oral poem. Yes that’s right…oral. This means it was never written down, but recited from memory.

It tells the story of the Greek King Odysseus after the Trojan War so runs on nicely from our previous unit. Without giving too much away it is a tale of persistence, courage and love as Odysseus battles his way back home to Ithaca. All the way he is thwarted by the god Poseidon who Odysseus earlier insulted.

Our first week will focus on backrgounding the story and will use the booklet I emailed you.

Visit this website for an excellent overview of the story – Mythweb