The Odyssey Chapters 1-5 Flashcards
(29 cards)
epic poem
A long poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds.
in media res
Latin for “in the midst of thing”
hubris
excessive pride or self-confidence
kleos
It’s the implied meaning of “what others hear about you”. A Greek hero earns kleos through accomplishing great deeds, often through his own death.
Epithet
Descriptive term (word or phrase), accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It can be described as a glorified nickname. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature.
epic simile
Homeric simile, also called an epic simile is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length.
Achaeans
The inhabitants of Achaea in Greece.
aegisthus
The son of Thyestes.
agamemnon
was the son of king Atreus and queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra and the father of Iphigenia, Electra or Laodike (Λαοδίκη), Orestes and Chrysothemis.[2] Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon commanded the united Greek armed forces in the ensuing Trojan War.
antinous
Antinous (also Antinoüs or Antinoös; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίνοος; 27 November, c. 111 – before 30 October 130[1]) was a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite, or lover, of the Roman emperor Hadrian.[2] He was deified after his death, being worshiped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (theos) and sometimes merely as a divinized mortal (heros).
athena
the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
atreus
In Greek mythology, Atreus (/ˈeɪtriəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀτρεύς) was a king of Mycenae, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae.
Atreus and his twin brother Thyestes were exiled by their father for murdering their half-brother Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge in Mycenae, where they ascended to the throne in the absence of King Eurystheus, who was fighting the Heracleidae. Eurystheus had meant for their stewardship to be temporary, but it became permanent after his death in battle.
calypso
was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the island of Ogygia, where she detained Odysseus for several years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas
clytemnestra
in ancient Greek legend, was the wife of Agamemnon, ruler of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale, who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband
eidothea
was a prophetic sea-nymph, a daughter of the shape-shifting sea god Proteus. When Menelaus was becalmed on the island of Pharos near Egypt, Eidothea told him how he might capture her father to reveal prophecies that would ensure his escape.
eurycleia
is the daughter of Ops and granddaughter of Peisenor, as well as the wet-nurse of Odysseus. As a girl she was bought by Laertes, Odysseus’ father. He treated her as his wife, but she was never his consummated lover so as not to dishonor his real wife, Anticleia. She nursed Odysseus and Telemachus, Odysseus’ son.
helen
also known as Helen of Sparta, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was a sister of Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In Greek myths she was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War.
ithaca
whose delayed return to the island is one of the elements of the Odyssey’s plot.
lacedaemon
was mythical king of Laconia and son of the chief god Zeus and the Pleaid Taygete. He was a father of King Amyclas of Sparta and Queen Eurydice of Argos, by Princess Sparta, the daughter of King Eurotas. Also married his niece.
menelaus
was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War.
mentor
friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus’ foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus’ palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.
orestes
was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones.
penelope
the faithful wife of Odysseus
proteus
an early sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the “Old Man of the Sea”
