Homer Essay Examples and Topics

While Odysseus was the central hero in The Odyssey, a case can be made for his wife Penelope being a hero as well. One heroic characteristic that stands out with Penelope is her protective demeanor in caring for the household while Odysseus was away from…

The Odyssey by Homer is one of the most well known epic poems ever. This story takes place in ancient Greece after Odysseus fought in the Trojan War in Troy. It was written around 700 BCE and tells the story of Odysseus’ journey home to…

Ancient Greek culture values having moral virtue and living up to one’s potential in order to bring the most fulfillment to one’s life as well as the lives of whom they interact with as seen in Homer’s, The Odyssey. Greeks deem morality and excellence as…

Odysseus is the brave and cheerful character of Homer’s poem ‘The Odyssey”, the oldest written monument of Greek literature. The ancient Greeks listened to the stories about the adventures of a cunning traveler performed by singers. This story is still popular nowadays, and it has…

Challenges are what make life interesting, and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. In the epic, The Odyssey written by Homer is about a heroic leader named Odysseus, who struggled to return back to his homeland Ithaca, after fighting for 10 years in the…

 Homer develops Odysseus’s character by showing him as intelligent and valiant. Odysseus is smart because he is a fast thinker in pressuring situations and as we know he is always in intense situations . For example,”But I brought them back, back to the hollow ships,…

Telemachus, one of the main characters in The Odyssey, endures a series of events that shape him into a different character than at the beginning of the poem. As an infant, his father, Odysseus, left to go to war. After many years of being away…

While Sparta and Athens were both city-states they had different views on life and what valuable character traits were. Sparta was known as the most militaristic city-state. The people who lived in Sparta were tough and valued strength and war above everything else. It is…

The Odyssey illustrates how the ancient Greeks worshiped the god/goddesses and how some didn’t. The people worshiped the gods by praying to them, making sacrifices, and obeying them. Telemachus prays to the gods to help him get rid of the suitors. Penelope also prays to…

Penelope exhibits several identical traits to Hesiod’s Pandora, which is shown by her immense physical charm, renowned weaving ability, and through her cunning method of deceiving the suitors for three years. By using her immense feminine charm and cunning intelligence, Penelope perfectly fits the model…

In contrast to other characters within Homeric poems, Achilles’s traits do not improve much over the course of The Iliad. The untimely death of Patroclus (a close friend) persuades him to seek out a resolution with Agamemnon, after the incident with Briseis. This however does…

Homer’s The Odyssey is filled with so many clues to what ancient Greek life was like and what the culture valued. One thing that stood out in this historic work was the amount of hospitality that was shown to Odysseus and his men while they…

In Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey,” the story of heroes and triumph are continued after the Trojan War. It resumes with the adventures of Odysseus and his crew on their way back home to Ithaca. Throughout his 20 year journey, he faces many challenges such…

Epic stories and poems have been passed down through generations. Some are written down in book form, some are oral accounts, and some are even transmitted in the form of songs. A heroic epic is a type of poem that is described as “a heroic…

Odysseus leaves home for 19 years to fight in the Trojan War and to get back home, and the significance of home clearly pertains to the three main characters. Odysseus leaves on the same day when his son, Telemachus is born. He suffers through another…

In the painting “Penelope and the Suitors”, the artist John William Waterhouse uses the example of the suitors trying to get to Penelope and receive her love, but Penelope ignores them to show loyalty to her husband Odysseus who is out at war, while in…

For as long as authors have put pen to paper, they have painted a picture of what people think, say, and do in their society—no matter the type of story, the reader can get a glimpse into the traits a culture values or shuns by…

Odysseus undoubtedly experiences countless struggles and pain during his 19-year journey home. However, he faces all these difficulties bravely until he goes to the underworld and feels the real sorrow and despair. He is called to fight in Troy on the same day when his…

In these works of literature, there are female characters that can both be compared in the way that they solve their problems. In The Odyssey the woman character that will be in comparison is Penelope which is Odysseus’s wife. In the story “A thousand and…

 The human condition entails the ongoing search for understanding what affects our human behavior, while seeking one’s sense of purpose in regard to the reality of life. The earliest written literature that addresses the human condition is, The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is an account…

Gender issues are present in every aspect of human life, also in literature, but we are not always aware of these issues (OWL, n.d.). Pat Barker’s book The Silence of the Girls is an example of feminist literature. This book is a retelling of Homer’s…

The Byzantine Empire was such a remarkable civilization with a widespread burst of fascinating ideas and list of accomplishments. Even though the Byzantine Empire existed a very long time ago, their ideas still live on even today. It is amazing to think that everyone from…

In the book The Odyssey by Homer, it tells the story of Odysseus and his 20 year long adventure. When Odysseus was younger, he was told a prophecy that if he took part in the Trojan War, it would lead to twenty years away from…

The Illiad is a story detailing the consequences of the competition between the three goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera on who was the most beautiful and most fairest of all the Gods. They decide to have Paris, prince of Troy, decide who was the most…

Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, is about Odysseus and his long voyage home from the Trojan War. He had a very hard time getting home from Troy, Odysseus had disrespected the gods so they weren’t in his favor. He sailed from Troy with many ships,…

Pablo Picasso once said, “There are only two types of women – goddesses and doormats.” Picasso’s words are completely true in modern society, which often puts women in certain archetypes and forces them to butt heads, as well as applicable Homer’s well-known epic the Odyssey….

Epic Hero or Epic Homecoming? Arguably one of the most famous poems centered around a homecoming, Homer’s The Odyssey tells the story of literature’s most famous veteran, Odysseus, and his journey home. After ten years of fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus’s priority was getting…

Homer’s Iliad is a poem that deals with various emotions and addresses the complexity of these said emotions. From lust filled desires that led to a war that waged on for 10 years to meddlesome gods that took control of the mortals, Iliad covers it…

The Homer’s Odyssey was written in second right after the Iliad. When I think about this epic I think about a long boring poem but it is not that even that. The Odyssey is one of the two major Greek epic poems. The Odyssey mainly…

Gods are very powerful beings that possess abilities that are unknown to man. Also, they tend to interfere in mortal lives and influence their decisions. Even with the immense amount of powers that they do have, there is still one thing that they have no…

This article is a study of the only four significant female characters in the Iliad (Helen, Andromache, Hecabe and Briseis) and their relationship with the male characters.’ It will demonstrate that despite the tremendous differences between them, Homer treated them all in the same manner….

The Economics of Gift Giving in the Iliad of Homer The exchange of property and value in the Iliad is central to its entire plot. Before the muse can sing of the “anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus,” they must first tell the story of Chryseis…

The gods in the Iliad played important roles in the war and affected the actions of warriors in the war greatly. Since the war was fated, they could not affect the outcome of the war but they did manipulate many conflicts in the war. Gods…

The ‘Iliad’ by Homer is an epic tale of death, triumph, war, and glory. The story starts off in the middle of a ten year war between the Greeks and Trojans. A great transgression was committed against the Greeks by the Trojans. King menelaus’s wife…

The Role of the Gods in The Odyssey In ancient literature, it is common to see two types of characters in a story: deity and mortals. Usually, the deity are the running forces of the Earth, while mortals make problems for the deity on Earth….

Setting is Significant One of the most important parts of a story is the setting. Setting includes not only place but period as well. In Homer’s short story, The Odyssey, the surroundings change frequently; however, the story takes place in Ancient Greece. This is vital…

Different individuals access to electronic frameworks organization associations by strategies for web on PCs and PCs or PDAs by downloading associations that online life offers an incentive to the PDAs (e.g. cell phones and tablet pcs) when joining with these associations individuals can make high…

Literature refers to the art of work normally expressed in written pieces in form of poems or short stories among others. In most cases, the literary works are considered to grander artistic advantage. Literature connects with life on numerous fronts. In most cases, the literary…

Odysseus: Good or Evil? Odysseus is the main character of Homer’s tragedy The Odyssey. He’s stoic, brave, strong, and commonly assisted by the Gods. While he is widely considered the main hero, could he not be considered the villain from some points of view? To…