Author: [Ancient Greece] Homer
Type: epic
Background search
Homer's epic was officially written in the 6th century BC. It consists of two epics, one is Iliad (translated as Ilion) and the other is Odysseus (translated as Odyssey). The content of the epic originated from the end of 12 BC, when the war between achaean in the south of the Greek Peninsula and the Trojans in the north of Asia Minor lasted for 10 years. After the war, many legends circulated among the people. Legend praises the heroes and their deeds that emerged in the war in the form of short songs, which are intertwined with ancient Greek myths and passed down from generation to generation by folk singers. Every feast or festival, they sing in the official residence of the clan nobles. From the 9th century BC to the 8th century BC, Homer, a blind poet (from the 9th century BC to the 8th century BC), based on short songs, processed it into a singing script, which was formally written in the 6th century BC. From the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century BC, scholars in Alexandria edited it completely, which is Homer's epic we see today. Homer's epic is the earliest and most important work in European literature, which provides rich materials and inspiration for later poets and contributes to the birth of countless emperors' masterpieces. Homer statue
The Iliad published by People's Literature Publishing House and translated by Fu Donghua and Ode to Xiu Ji published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House and translated by Yang are both good versions.
Content essence
The Iliad: Helen, the queen of Sparta in ancient Greece, was kidnapped by Paris, the prince of Troy. To this end, the Greeks went to Troy in 10 and captured the cruiser. Luc Seyis, the daughter of the priest of Apollo Temple in this city, was captured by Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Greek Coalition forces and taken away as a trophy. The priest tried to redeem his daughter, but he was insulted. Achilles, the most heroic general in the Greek army, had a dispute with Agamemnon for this reason. Later, Agamemnon returned the daughter of the priest, but took the female prisoner of Achilles as compensation. Achilles was deeply humiliated and angrily withdrew from the battle.
The Greeks advanced on Troy, and Hector, the prince of Troy, led an army to participate in the war. Paris, the Trojan prince who kidnapped Helen, called for war with Menelaus, Helen's ex-husband. Menelaus fought, and the two men reached an agreement: the winner of the duel possessed Helen and all her property, and the two sides stopped fighting. In the duel, Menelaus almost strangled Paris, and Cupid saved Paris back to Troy with fog.
On Mount Olympus, where the gods lived, when the gods were discussing the issue of concluding a treaty and making peace, the goddess Athena instigated Troy Pan Da Los to shoot Menelaus, and the war broke out again, and the gods who sheltered both sides also took part in the war. When Troy retreated, hector returned to the city. For the sake of his family and his own honor, he ignored his wife's request and returned to the battlefield. He fought a fierce battle with the Greek hero Aeneas, regardless of the outcome. The next day, the fighting continued, and the Trojan army led by Zeus went straight out of the Greek barracks. Agamemnon asked Achilles to join the war, but Achilles flatly refused. The next day, the two sides started a tug-of-war, and a large number of Greek generals were injured. Hera, with a kind smile, lured Zeus into the house to sleep. Poseidon took the opportunity to help the Greeks fight back, and hector was injured. When Zeus woke up, he knew the trap, so he forbade the gods to help the Greeks. The Trojans fought back again, hitting the Greek ship and setting it on fire.
Patroclus, Achilles' good friend, was deeply saddened to see this scene. He lobbied Achilles to return to the battlefield, but failed, so he put on Achilles' armor and went into battle himself. The Trojans mistook him for Achilles and lost their courage. But was eventually killed by hector. Achilles was very remorseful, so he reconciled with Agamemnon and returned to the battlefield to avenge his friends.
Craftsman Hevistos made armor for Achilles. After returning to the battlefield, he pounced on hector like a god of war, as if Shan Ying pounced on pigeons. Finally, with the help of Athena, he pierced hector's neck with a spear. The victorious Achilles dragged hector's body behind the car and demonstrated around the city.
Nine days later, the Pharaoh of Troy came to beg Achilles to return his son's body. Achilles was deeply moved by the sad old man and returned hector's body to him. The Trojans sadly and solemnly buried their hero hector.
Odysseus: After the Trojan War, all the Greek soldiers returned to their hometown, except the resourceful Odysseus.
In Odysseus' palace, many aristocratic children took turns to propose to his beautiful wife Penelope. Trying to seize Odysseus' property. Penelope refused to propose in this way on the pretext of knitting mourning clothes for her father-in-law, knitting them during the day and opening them at night. Odysseus' son Telemarcos went out to look for his father. He knew that his father was still alive, trapped on the island in the myth of the goddess Calypso mythology.
Calypso mythology myth loves Odysseus deeply, but under the persuasion of Hermes, the messenger of God, she had to say goodbye to Odysseus. After 7 days away from Calypso Myth/KLOC-0, my hometown is close at hand. Unfortunately, Odysseus' ship was discovered by Poseidon. Poseidon broke the wooden boat, and Odysseus drifted to Scria. The daughter of the island king took Odysseus back to the palace under the sign of Athena, the goddess, and gave a banquet. During the dinner, Odysseus couldn't help crying when he heard the singer sing the Trojan War. The master was deeply surprised. Under his curious questioning, Odysseus described his wandering experience in 10: He left Troy with his own people and was attacked by Cuckney. After getting rid of the attack, several crew members mistakenly ate the fruit of an island and never wanted to go home again. Odysseus had to order them to be tied to the boat and taken away by force. They came to Giant Island. In order to save his companion, Odysseus stabbed Poseidon's son cyclops and angered Poseidon. On the way, Poseidon made waves against him. Fortunately, Odysseus got Fengshen's pocket on Fengshen Island, which can hold the headwind. But when he was near his hometown, the sailors on the ship mistakenly thought there was gold in his pocket and secretly opened it. The headwind in the bag blew them back to Fengshen Island, and Fengshen refused to help them again in a rage. They drifted to Giant Island again, and the giants sank 1 1 ship, but only Odysseus' ship survived. They sailed this boat to the witch Circe Island, and many of their companions were turned into pigs by witches. With the help of the gods, Odysseus defeated the witch and went to hades with the help of the witch to see his future in advance. They met a female sea monster, and the sea monster made him lose six close companions. When he came to the island of Apollo, his companions killed the bull by mistake, which angered Zeus and many people died. Odysseus was the only one who escaped and was washed to the island of Capripso myth by the sea, and was forcibly detained by Capripso myth for seven years.
The king was very moved by Odysseus' experience and specially sent sailors to take Odysseus home. After returning to his own country, Odysseus disguised himself as a beggar and recognized his son according to Athena's suggestion. Taylor Marcos told his father about his family, and the two of them made a careful plan to retaliate against the aristocratic children who proposed marriage.
Father and son returned to the palace one after another, and Penelope also knew that Odysseus had gone home through various signs. The next day, Odysseus proposed to compete with all the suitors, killed all the suitors, and finally the whole family was reunited.
personal seal
The following is selected from the ninth volume of Ode. Odysseus and his party drifted to Giant Island and were locked in a cave by Cyclops. In order to escape, Odysseus designed to blind the giant. This part fully demonstrates Odysseus' great courage and wisdom.
"He said so, I gave him some brilliant wine pulp; I poured it for him three times, but he drank it three times in a daze and it was gone; When the power of wine has reached his heart, I said to him with sweet words:' Cyclops, since you want to ask me the title of glory, I will tell you that you can give me a gift as you say; My name is nobody, and my parents and all my partners call me that.
I say this; He replied mercilessly:' I'll eat others first and save' nobody' for the last. This is my present.
After that, he fell to the ground on his back, his thick neck crooked, and was conquered by sleep that overcame everything; He was so drunk that he vomited, and wine and chewed human flesh flowed out of his mouth. At this time, I put the stick deep into the charcoal fire, waiting for it to heat up, and encouraged my friends with words, lest any of them dare not back down. Although the olive branch is still green, it gradually turns red in the fire and is about to burn. I once took it out of the fire, and my friends stood by me; God made us brave. Our partner grabbed a sharpened olive tree and stabbed it in the giant's eye. I use my own weight to make the wooden stick rotate on it, just like a person drilling a boat board with an electric drill. Someone next to me grabs both ends of the belt and keeps it rotating back and forth. So we used a hot wooden stick to rotate in his eyes, and blood flowed around the hot drill; When the eyes are on fire, the eyelids and eyebrows are scorched by the fire, and the nerves in the eyes explode in the fire. Just like a blacksmith soaking a big axe or shovel in cold water and making a loud noise, the iron will be harder, and the giant's eyes will make a noise around the olive wood. The giant roared with a loud and terrible voice, and the rocks echoed; We are afraid to retreat; He pulled the stick out of his eye and bled a lot. Then he threw it away and shook his hands wildly, calling for the cyclops who lived in the cave on the nearby windy mountain. The giant heard his cry, gathered from all over the country, went outside the cave and asked him what pain he had. "Polly Hume, do you have any pain? Why do we cry in the holy night, so that we can't sleep? Did someone drive your sheep away by force? Or is someone trying to kill you with conspiracy or violence? '
..... "(selected from Yang's translation of Ode to Admonition, published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House)
Humorous words
If the gods openly oppose people, it will be difficult for someone to deal with them.
To be smart too late is to be stupid to the extreme.
If we want to insult each other, there is enough to sink a merchant ship. Tongue is a very flexible thing. It has a large number of words to use and can express our thoughts in any way.
Reading teaching
Homer's epic is a brilliant masterpiece with rich significance. It is not only a perfect literary work, but also an important historical document for studying ancient clan society.
The theme of Homer's epic is to portray the courage of heroes and show their wisdom. At the beginning of the Iliad, the poet said that "Achilles' anger is my theme", and the epic takes this as the main line to organize and sort out materials, focusing on praising the noble qualities of clan heroes. More than two-thirds of the poem is about Achilles' refusal to take part in the war, which leaves enough room for other heroes. No matter diomedes and Aeneas in the Greek army or hector in the Trojan army, their bravery and fearlessness are reflected in this part, which lays the foundation for finally highlighting Achilles' unparalleled strength. Once Achilles entered the war, Achilles' highest heroism was naturally displayed in the battle.
The Parthenon in Athens
Odysseus highlights the wisdom of the Greek hero Odysseus. Through his thrilling wandering experience of 10, it shows the struggle between the ancient Greeks and nature, which contains many ancient myths. The first half of Odysseus is full of romance. The second half is about family life, full of realism.
Epic shows a heroic era, which makes modern people feel strange and envious. The emphasis on the personal qualities and functions of heroes has reached its peak in this era. Here, the confrontation between heroes is like the confrontation between martial arts masters in China's martial arts novels, which contains the greatest understanding, the greatest gentleness and the most extreme cruelty. This era also confuses modern people: people are slaughtered like livestock, women are transferred as property, and ghosts and ghosts are fighting with each other.
This epic is exquisitely structured. Both epics span 10 years, but the Iliad only focuses on four days of fighting, a burial ceremony of 2 1 day and 26 days of leisure time * * * 5 1 day; Ode to discipline only focuses on the activities of 4 1 day. Events related to the theme constitute the core story, and other social activities, trade exchanges, religious activities and production are interspersed among them.
Epic is written in natural and plain spoken language, and uses a lot of Homeric metaphors, which is fresh, strange and expressive. Epic depicts simple and clear characters, and a few strokes outline vivid characters. Cleverly using the side foil technique, Helen's stunning beauty and the admiration of the elders of Troy are set off, showing Odysseus returning to his old club with his old dog wagging his tail, which has become a wonderful pen praised by the literary world since ancient times.
Homer's epic has achieved great success in all aspects and is a treasure in ancient Greek literature, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations. Some terms in the epic, such as "Trojan horse", "golden apple of discord" and "Achilles' heel", have been incorporated into people's daily vocabulary. Many writers in later generations have drawn rich creative materials and artistic nutrition from Homer's epics.
Reading suggestions
Engels said, "Homer's epic and all the myths-this is the main legacy of the Greeks from barbarism to civilization." So Homer's epic is a transitional work. The barbaric things contained in the epic, such as killing, cruelty, endless war and treating women as private property, must be understood from a specific historical background, otherwise they will not be understood, thus affecting the appreciation of the epic.