Greek Mythology

Page
1

Slide 1

Greek Mythology, Monsters and Exotic Worlds, Part I

HOMER

AND

STANLEY

KUBRICK’S

2001: A SPACE

ODYSSEY

Slide 2

You can’t have an Odyssey without an Iliad

The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War – a long, bloody conflict

lasting ten years.

How did Troy finally fall?

Slide 3

The Trojan Horse

Odysseus gets all the credit for the Trojan Horse, which finally

allows the Greeks to capture Troy, thus setting off the epic

cycle of myths surrounding the return (or dispersal) of the

heroes of the war (eg. Menelaus, Diomedes, Aeneas)

Vergil’s famous line:

quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes

The horse appears as a gift to the Trojans, but a gift fraught with

dangers (keep this theme in mind when we get to Kubrick)

Slide 4

The Odyssey in 1500 Words Or Less

1. Odysseus visits the Lotus-Eaters. Where were they going again?

Our hero visits the land of Polyphemus. In a fit of pique, he

decides to tell the Cyclopes his real name, thereby bringing

down the wrath of Poseidon upon him and his men.

Aeolus, king of the winds, gives Odysseus enough wind to get him

where he’s going. His companions open the bag at the wrong

time and get blown off course.

Odysseus visits the Laistrygones, thereby making his men lunch.

I mean, they REALLY became lunch.

Slide 5

Our Hero Soldiers On

Odysseus ends up on Circe’s island. With a little help from moly,

he saves his men from a life of swine.

6. The Sirens’ Song.

The Greek version of “between a rock and a hard place” – Scylla

and Charydis.

Odysseus’s men slaughter the Sun’s cattle. Zeus then proceedes

to sink their boat when they leave the harbor.

Slide 6

Just One More Adventure!

After getting blown back to Charydis, Odysseus paddles about for

nine days, winding up with Calypso.

John van Sickle sums this adventure up thusly:

“From there he gets carried for another nine days to another island,

where the nymph Calypso receives him in her vine-girt cave by

the sea. For seven years, then, he remained there, required to make

love to the goddess by night, but sitting by day on the shore and

longing for his distant home.”

Odysseus finally gets home, bloodily reclaims his palace, and….

the story ends. What happened then?

Slide 7