Have you read the Greek?

One of my favorite classes in high school was Humanities. In it we explored many different forms of art and literature from throughout Western Civilization. My favorite part was the reading of classic Greek poems and plays, the most famous being The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Well, The Odyssey is dropping onto the big screen this weekend, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce this epic to anyone unfamiliar with it.

The Odyssey is a poem credited to Homer, but there is a little controversy. Some believe “Homer” was a collection of multiple writers and not a real person. Others believe Homer was a real person who just collected the stories and wrote them down. Whatever the case, The Odyssey details the epic journey of Odysseus and his struggles to get home after the end of the Trojan War.

The story of the war itself is told in The Iliad (also credited to Homer). The Trojan War, with the beautiful Helen and the warrior Achilles, is one of the most famous tales from ancient Greece. Interestingly, there was a time when people thought Troy was fictional, until it was found in the 1800s.

Of course, The Iliad and The Odyssey are not the only examples of fabulous Greek tales. In fact, the themes that you find in the works of the great Greek writers have been retold in multiple forms by everybody from Shakespeare to James Joyce. Revenge, murder, betrayal can all be found in Greek works.

Not to mention the fact that they are very entertaining with plots that sound straight out of a soap opera. Seriously, if you want to have some fun check out these stories:

Oedipus by Sophocles is the one about the guy who was told he would kill his father and marry his mother. And that’s exactly what happened. You can’t escape fate it seems.

Oresteia by Aeschylus has lots of death. A wife kills her husband. His son kills her. But will the son be found guilty of matricide?

Medea by Euripides is the ultimate cheaters beware tale. After Jason leaves his wife Meda she goes on a rampage. Their children, Jason’s new wife, and her father, all die by Medea’s hands. Beware a woman scorned.

Lysistrata by Aristophanes is a fun one. Searching for how to end war? Well, the women of Lysistrata have it all figured out. Simply deny men “relations” until they agree to stop fighting. It turns out to be surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) effective.

If you end up going to see The Odyssey this weekend, be sure to take the time to check out the original story on which it was based or one of the other tales listed above. There is nothing like stories filled with gods, goddesses, heroes, and villains. And if you encounter a sphinx, make sure you have a riddle book handy!

Pamela M.
Antioch Branch