Showing posts with label The Land of the Dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Land of the Dead. Show all posts

Monday, March 07, 2016

March 7, 2016 - March 11, 2016; The Odyssey: the Land of the Dead

Monday, March 7th:
BIC:
Please be aware that one week from tomorrow, March 15th, your second AR test and AR reading log will be due.

Aeolus is the god of what force of nature?
What favor did Aeolus do for Odysseus?
What did Odysseus do with this favor?
What do the events that follow show about human nature?
What should both Odysseus and the men have done to prevent this event?

Which sailor did not partake of Circe’s food and drink?
Why didn’t he eat Circe’s food?
What did this sailor do instead?
What happened to the men who ate Circe’s food?
What does this reveal about the true inner nature of Odysseus’ men?
What god gave information to Odysseus?
What did the god give Odysseus as protection against Circe?

How did Odysseus retrieve his men from Circe?
How long did the men stay in Circe’s court?
What evidence does Circe give to prove to Odysseus the length of time he has stayed?
Why did Odysseus and his men stay so long at Circe’s court?
What lesson can be derived from this particular adventure of Odysseus?
Watch the movie

Tuesday, March 8th:
BIC
1st Period: 
How to do test corrections for The Odyssey test: 

First, put your name on your test corrections: 
Jasmine Salazar
Period 1
March 8, 2016

Then, at the top, write exactly what it is: 

The Odyssey, Books 1 - 9 Test Corrections

Then, write out the question and the right answer like this: 

1.     The Odyssey begins immediately___________after the fall of Troy.
Answer: a. ten years

2.     The first major character we meet in The Odyssey is:
Answer: c. Telemachus

Then, staple your test corrections to your test and turn it in. If you follow the directions, your test grade will go up  one letter grade. 


The last day to turn in your second reading log and AR reading test is Tuesday, March 15th.

Watch “The Odyssey”: Chapter 5: “Homeward Bound”, “The Cyclops”,
“Aeolus, the Wind God”, “On the Far Side of the World”, “The Rescue”, “Circe” (stopped at 11:11:11) after Penelope tells the suitors she will not choose a new husband until she has finished a burial shroud for her father-in-law.



Period 3:
Kahoot.it: “Aeolus the Wind God”

Watched THE ODYSSEY; watched the second part of Circe and Odyssseus' descent into the Underworld to speak to Teiresias.


Wednesday, March 9th:
BIC
Kahoot.it:
“Aeolos the Wind God” and “Circe”

Watched the film “The Odyssey” up to Odysseus washing up on the shores of Calypso.

Note: the men survive Charybdis. The men sail on to the isle of Helios which is where the starving men disobey – again – Odysseus’ warning not to eat the cows and sheep “that are never born and never die”. Odysseus had been warned by Circe about this and was told that despite his warnings to the men, they would eat the cows and sheep anyway, favorite pets of the sun god Helios, and they would be killed for it. Once the men board the boat, Zeus – at the enraged Helio’s request – will send a thunderbolt, which will destroy the boat and all the men on it, with the exception of Odysseus. Circe also told him that he alone would survive and be the  only man to return home.

Tomorrow, begin reading again.

Friendly reminder:

Tuesday, March 15th is the last day to turn in your AR reading log and AR reading test.

3rd Period: 


Period 3:
The Odyssey
Questions over pages 914 – 915 in The Odyssey
We are going to read aloud pages 914 – 915, “The Under World” first. We will then discuss vocabulary and background information. After that, you will silently reread the passages and find the answers to the following questions:
1.     Where does Circe send Odysseus?
2.     Why does Circe send Odysseus there?
3.     What must Odysseus do when he gets to his destination?
4.     What does Odysseus learn at this destination?
5.     What does Teiresias tell him about the Island of Thrinakia, the land of Helios, the sun god?
6.     What must Odysseus’ men NOT do on the Isle of Helio’s?
7.     But according to Teiresias, what will the men do anyway on the Isle of Helio’s?
8.     What will happen to Odysseus’ men due to their behavior?
9.     How will this affect Odysseus?
10. According to Teiresias, what will Odysseus find when he gets home?
11. After Odysseus resolves the issues at home, what is he to do?
12. If he does as Teiresias tells him, what reward will Odysseus have at the end of his life?


13. Who does Odysseus see, which greatly surprises him at the destination?
14. After Odysseus leaves, where does he go?
15. What information does Circe tell Odysseus when he returns to her?

“The Land of the Dead”
Pages 914 – 915
Background Information:
Teiresias is a blind prophet who is dead and is now in the Under World. Cultures from around the world attribute "inner sight" or the gift of seeing the unknown, the future, and the past, to those who are blind. In many folk tales, myths, and legends, seers, prophets, and soothsayers are blind. Circe sends Odysseus to the Underworld to find out his fate from Teiresias. She instructs Odysseus to take a sheep to make a blood sacrifice to bring forth Teiresias from the dead.
Vocabulary:
Assuage: to make a most unpleasant feeling less intense; to make something better.
Sovereign: independent; a power unto itself;
Background Info:
The Myth of Hades and Persephone or Where the Seasons Come from.
The Greeks believed that how one died is how one spends the rest of eternity, so if a soldier dies from impalement, he will walk around with a spear sticking out of him for all of eternity. 

Painting of Circe by John W. Waterhouse 1892
Tomorrow, read: 
“The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis”

Pages 916 - 922

Thursday, March 10th: 
BIC
1st Period:
The Odyssey
Questions over pages 914 – 915 in The Odyssey
We are going to read aloud pages 914 – 915, “The Under World” first. We will then discuss vocabulary and background information. After that, you will silently reread the passages and find the answers to the following questions:
1.     Where does Circe send Odysseus?
2.     Why does Circe send Odysseus there?
3.     What must Odysseus do when he gets to his destination?
4.     What does Odysseus learn at this destination?
5.     What does Teiresias tell him about the Island of Thrinakia, the land of Helios, the sun god?
6.     What must Odysseus’ men NOT do on the Isle of Helio’s?
7.     But according to Teiresias, what will the men do anyway on the Isle of Helio’s?
8.     What will happen to Odysseus’ men due to their behavior?
9.     How will this affect Odysseus?
10. According to Teiresias, what will Odysseus find when he gets home?
11. After Odysseus resolves the issues at home, what is he to do?
12. If he does as Teiresias tells him, what reward will Odysseus have at the end of his life?


13. Who does Odysseus see, which greatly surprises him at the destination?
14. After Odysseus leaves, where does he go?
15. What information does Circe tell Odysseus when he returns to her?

What is the story of Persephone, Hades, and Ceres (or Demeter)? Discussion.
Ceres is the name of the goddess of grains and harvest. Where do you think we got the word cereal from?

“The Land of the Dead”
Pages 914 – 915
Background Information:
Teiresias is a blind prophet who is dead and is now in the Under World. Circe sends Odysseus to the Underworld to find out his fate from Teiresias. She instructs Odysseus to take a sheep to make a blood sacrifice to bring forth Teiresias from the dead.
Helios: the sun god who drives his golden steeds (horses) across the sky in a chariot. He harnesses his horses in his stables in the east and drives them across the sky to the western stables where he unharnesses them for the night.
Vocabulary:
Assuage: to make a most unpleasant feeling less intense; to make something better.
Sovereign: independent; a power unto itself;
Woe: sadness, sorrow
Heifer: a young cow that has not had a calf (baby cow)
Background Info:
The Myth of Hades and Persephone or Where the Seasons Come from.
Discussion.
The Greeks believed that how one died is how one spends the rest of eternity, so if a soldier dies from impalement, he must walk around with a spear sticking out of him.
Vocabulary:
Bereft: feeling a profound sense of loss after losing something or someone of importance to one.
Odysseus will be bereft of his crew after they are killed by Zeus’s lightning bolt for eating Helios the sun god’s cows and sheep.
Winnowing fan: a farm implement or tool that is used to separate grains. It looks somewhat like an oar.
Odysseus will know that he has reached the right place for the sacrifice to Poseidon when someone who has never seen an oar will ask him why he is carrying a winnowing fan.
Question:
Why is it ironic that after he defeats the suitors who are destroying his home, Odysseus must travel far inland to make sacrifice to Poseidon?

Read The Odyssey, pages 914 – 915:
Discussion, comprehension, vocabulary, background information
For Homework tonight: finish answering the questions 1- 15 on this page.
Copy down the notes on this page for The Odyssey; pages 914 – 915.

Period 3: 
Answered the questions 1-15 in class today. 
Vocabulary: 
Atone: Some religions believe that when a mortal commits a sin, the sin separates the mortal from God. When one asks God or the gods for forgiveness, and tries to right the wrong one has done, one is then at one with God. From this we get the word "Atone" (at + one) or to be at one with God again. To atone is to ask forgiveness for a wrong one has committed and to try to right the wrong.

Bereft: To feel a sense of loss over losing something or someone of importance.

Friday, March 11th: 
BIC: 
8:00 - 8:15
1st Period: 
Back to the Island of Circe

Odysseus returns to the island of Circe after visiting the Land of the Dead

Circe gives further instructions to Odysseus on how to avoid the Sirens, get past Scylla and to avoid being sucked down by the whirlpool Charybdis.

Circe warns Odysseus about the Isle of Sirens which is where the Sirens live, hideous half-bird, half-women creatures who sing men to their deaths. Men who hear the beautiful singing of these wretched creatures will leap overboard to swim to the island to be closer to the music, but there they will die. The island is littered with the dried bones of those men who couldn’t resist the hideous creatures’ music.

Circe tells Odysseus that he should hear this music – he is after all Odysseus! - but that he should put beeswax in the ears of his men so they cannot hear. (Being ordinary men they would not be able to resist the Sirens’ music.) He should instruct the men to tie him firmly (to lash him) to the mast of the boat and if, while listening to the Sirens’ music, he is so overwhelmed by their seductive powers that he begs the men to untie him, then his men must tie him even more firmly to the mast.

Circe then warns him about the even more hideous Scylla. She has twelve legs, unjointed tentacles like an octopus. Scylla has serpent necks with six heads on each swaying neck. Each head has a mouth of triple serried teeth (like a knife).
Vocabulary:
Den: a cave where an animal or monster sleeps.
Abominably: So horrible as to be deserving of hatred.
Gullet: throat and esophagus (the tube that runs from the throat to the stomach).
From each ship she takes one man for each gullet.
Vocabulary:
Promontory: a high cliff overlooking a body of water.

Circe tells him that on the other side of the strait (narrow body of water between two land masses) lies Charybdis (Ka rib dis) which is a huge whirlpool that sucks down all the water three times a day and then vomits it back up (spews) like a geyser. Avoid it and stick as close as you can, Cire warns him, to the opposite side of the strait (close to Scylla) and away from Charybdis. Better you lose a few men than the entire ship.

Circe then warns him about the Island of Thrinakia, the Island of Helios, the sun god who sees all and hears all as he, in his chariot, drives his thundering steeds across the sky each day. Nothing escapes him. He keeps on his island cattle and sheep which he loves very much. These beeves and kine have never been born nor never die. Do not eat them, Circe warns Odysseus, for if you do you will meet certain death at the hands of the angry gods.
Circe by John William Waterhouse (1911 - 1914)



Period 3: 






Sunday, January 08, 2012

The Land of the Dead










The Land of the Dead

Heifer: a young cow before she has calved.
Ewe: female sheep
Vocabulary:
Assuage: to make better, to make someone feel better or to make a difficult situation better
Odysseus sacrifices animals to the dead. The Dead gather around eager to drink the warm blood of the sacrificed animals.
Flay: to skin
Sovereign: independent; ruler over oneself or a country
Odysseus slits the throats of the animals to attract Teiresias.
Rancor: ill will; anger
Implacable: unyielding; merciless
Scabbard: Sheath to hold a sword
Pommel: A rounded head on a sword or a saddle
Strait: a narrow stretch of water between two close bodies of land.
Teiresias tells him that Poseidon will keep him from returning home for many years.

The blind prophet tells Odysseus that he and his men will land on the island of Thrinakia, the island of Helios, the Sun God, who drives his chariot (the sun) across the sky each day and who sees all and hears all. Nothing escapes him. Helios has beeves and kines (cows and sheep) he is partial to. These animals have never been born nor will ever die. Teiresias tells him that his men will eat the animals which will enrage Helios. Helios will demand that Zeus send a lightning bolt to set fire to Odysseus’s ship, which will either burn the men alive or cause them to drown. All of them will die except for Odysseus who will drift for years alone, finally returning home on a boat no one will recognize, to his home ransacked and plundered by insolent men.
Vocabulary:
Insolent: rude, disrespectful to one of a higher position.
Bereft: a profound sense of loss; to feel pain as a result of a great loss
Teiresias warns him that his way home is fraught with peril for Poseidon is “not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.”
Teiresias warns him about Thrinikia, the island of the Sun God Helios, and tells him not to eat of the beeves and kines (cattle and sheep) of Helios, those that have never experienced birth nor death. For if you do, then you will mee death at the hands of a vengeful god.

Teiresias tells him that his men will eat the cows and sheep of Helios and that they will be destroyed and only he will survive. He is told not to tell the men that they are going to die for he needs their cooperation in order to get home.
Moral dilemma.

Vocabulary:
Court: to woo, to flirt with in order to convince someone to marry him.
Oar: a paddle used to navigate a boat.
Winnowing fan: a farming device used to separate the outer covering of the grain.

He will be adrift for many years after the deaths of his men, and when he does finally return home he will be met by rogues and rude, insolent men who have been plundering his home and bothering his wife, Penelope to marry one of them.

After he kills them through stealth (trickery) or outright in battle, he must take an oar and walk inland far from the shore where men eat their meat unsalted (salt comes from the ocean) and he will know he has arrived at the right place for a farmer, mistaking the oar for a farming tool, will call it a winnowing fan. There Odysseus will plant the oar into the earth and then go home to carry out hecatombs (sacrifice of 100 cattle) for each god and goddess in the Greek Pantheon.

If he carries out the sacrifice to Poseidon as thanks for sparing him, then the gods will grant him an easy “sea borne death soft as this hand of mist” many years from now when he is “wearied out with rich old age” surrounded by his family and his loved ones.

In order to have a good death, Odysseus must give a sacrifice to Poseidon of hundreds of cattle.

Odysseus returns to Circe’s Island for further instructions.

Haiti is the name of the island country that has been devastated by the earthquake.
Hades is the name of the Greek underworld.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Land of the Dead


THE LAND OF THE DEAD

The Land of the Dead in THE ODYSSEY 
VOCABULARY: 
Heifer: a young cow who has not had a calf yet.
Ewe: female sheep (pronounced like "you".)
Assuage: to make someone feel better; to calm ruffled feelings.
To assuage her girlfriend's hurt feelings, she bought her a 25 dollar gift certificate.
Pommel: the horn on a saddle or the knob on the sword's handle.
Woe: Sadness; pain, suffering, emotional pain, troubles
Sovereign: ruler; autonomous or independent or self-governing
Lance heads: head of a sharp spear
Flay: to strip the skin off the body.
Scabbard: sheath; like a holster but it holds a sword
Implacable: Unforgiving; unshakable, unbending
Rancor: deep lingering anger, a grudge

Bereft: deep sense of grief over a profound loss
The Sirens: Harpies; half birds/half women
Mast: the biggest beam in the middle of the ship from which the sails are fastened.
Scylla: is a huge creature, she yelps like a dog; she has twelve legs; she has six heads on each neck and each head has three rows of serrated teeth. 
Across the narrow strait from Scylla is Charybdis, which is a huge whirlpool. 
Stealth: by clever secretiveness; clever and sneaky
Winnowing fan: a farming implement used to remove the useless outer husk of grain. It looks vaguely like an oar.
Oar: A boating implement used to paddle a boat; a paddle used to steer a boat.
Hecatombs: the sacrifice of 100 cattle to each of the gods.
Strait: a narrow stretch of water between two outcroppings of land. Steep banks of land from two different continents bracket the narrow stretch of land which flows between them.

Atone: to make amends; to make up for a sin one has committed
Court: to woo

Brief Overview:
Circe, the sorceress, sends Odysseus to the Land of the Dead to speak to Teiresias in order to learn his destiny.  He is instructed by Circe to bring a black ewe to sacrifice to entice the cold shadowy shades to him. The warm dark blood of the sacrificed lamb draws forth the dead, who hover ever closer to mortal Odysseus, who draws  his sword to ward them off until Teiresias appears.  After the blind soothsayer drinks his fill of the sacrificed blood, he intones what he foresees of Odysseus' fate. But he warns him that horrible monsters lie in his path towards home: the sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and a dangerous place lies in his future, the isle of the Sun God, Helios.  

The blind prophet tells Odysseus that he and his men will land on the island of Thrinakia, the island of Helios, the Sun God, who drives his chariot (the sun) across the sky each day and who sees all and hears all - nothing escapes him. Teiresias tells him of Helios' beloved beeves and kines (cows and sheep),  which have never experienced birth nor death, and warns him not to eat of these animals, for if he does,  he will meet death at the hands of a vengeful god. However, Teiresias continues,  his men will eat the animals,  which will enrage Helios, who will demand that Zeus send a lightning bolt to set fire to Odysseus’s ship.  All of them will die except for Odysseus who will drift for years alone, finally returning home on a boat no one will recognize, to his home ransacked and plundered by insolent men.

Teiresias warns him that his way home is fraught with peril for Poseidon is “not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.”

 He is told not to tell the men that they are going to die for he needs their cooperation in order to get home, which poses a moral dilemma for Odysseus. 

He will be adrift for many years after the deaths of his men, and when he does finally return home he will be met by rogues and rude, insolent men who have been plundering his home and harassing his wife, Penelope to marry one of them. He must fight his way past the suitors to win back both his home and his wife. 

Teiresias continues with his advice: After Odysseus arrives home and has defeated the suitors, he must take an oar and walk inland far from shore, where men eat their meat unseasoned with salt from the ocean.  He will know that he has arrived at the ordained place when a farmer, mistaking the oar for a farming implement, calls it a winnowing fan. There he will plant the oar in the land, far from Poseidon's domain, and sacrifice many heads of cattle, 100 hecatombs to each god and goddess on Olympus. If he does this, Odysseus will be blessed with a long life and a soft, gentle death surrounded by his loved lone.

While Odysseus is in the Land of the Dead, he is shocked to see his mother wandering among the shades.  Depressed by her son's long absence, she committed suicide, which of course, Odysseus knew nothing about.  When he tries to embrace her, he finds he cannot grasp her for she is without substance, being without corporal body. She asks why is he wandering in the dark world of the dead and urges him to leave this place and seek the sun kissed land and seas of the living. 

The dead spend the rest of eternity in the same state as they died. If someone has died by decapitation, he will remain headless (carrying his head under his arm) for all eternity. If someone dies in battle, his body pierced by an arrow,  he will forever walk around Elysian Fields with the arrow protruding from his body.  Strangely, the Greek concept of the dead closely corresponds to the modern Western view of the dead - clear, shadowy forms that look a lot like they did when they were alive, but transparent, insubstantial. Once the dead cross the River of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, their memories of life above ground will wither away. 

Some of the language in THE ODYSSEY is difficult.  Let's look at the following stanza and analyze it.  This is one of the warning Teiresias gives him about the anger Poseidon still bears him: 

But in anguish lies ahead;
The god who thunders on the land prepares it,
Not to be shaken from your track, implacable,
In rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.

The subject is: the god who thunders on the land
Not to be shaken from your track refers to Poseidon (or the god)
Implacable: refers to the god
In rancor: in anger
Whose son: Poseidon's son