Books 3-4, The Odyssey

After reading through the books of 3 and 4 of the Odyssey,we see how Telemachus travels around Greece in search of his manlihood. The purpose of this is to gain experience and knowledge of his father. In book 3 he has no luck hearing of any decent information about his father, but is told a story of King Agamenmon and his fate. This alowed Telemachus to hear a story of the men who fought beside his father. Next in book 4 he travels to Sparta to speak with the King and Queen. Helen is the first to recognize Telemachus because of how much he looks liek is father. They both rejoice Telemachus' mind with epic deeds that his father accomplished in the Trojan war. They then talk about his cunning ( metis ) actions. His idea of the Trojan horse and is mastmind plan of dressing up as a beggar to sneak into the walls of Troy.

Putting myself in Telemachus' shoes, I believe that hearing these great stories about his father would encourage him to make a change in his life. It is just like watching a profesisional sport. You watch and learn. In your mind you try and picture yourself doing the things that these heroesin your mind are doing. This will then give you that little boost of confidence that is needed. Being confident is the number one thing that a man like Telemachus needs in his life. He has nothing to look forward or up to in his life because of his fathers absence. The more Telemachus hears, watches, and sees about what a great impact his father Odyssesus had on the Greeks lives, the more he will mature into the hero that he was meant to be.

Architecture Dissappears out of no Where!

(pg 41, The Ancient Mediterranean World) "Mycenaean Places were often constructed on high ground, either for social reasons( to symbolize the higher status of the ruling class) or for military reasons( to make the site more defensible)"

Although the Mycenaean civilization could be said to be descendants of the Minoan culture, their technology in their architecture was still below that of the Minoans. Even though the Minoans were alive before the Mycenaeans, their technological innovations were lower. Mycenaeans built their palaces on high mountains/hills. Like the quotation states, it was for both military and social reasons. Building a town or palace on a hill/mountain is extremely smart for the time because as enemy lines would approach the palace to attack, they would need to be angle up while defenders of the palace would be aiming down, making it allot easier to defend. Also it would show from a distance where the palace was and showing off the social status of the people in the area. They also built their walls very thick, 25 feet thick to be exact! This made it extremely hard to think about breaching the walls as it would have been impossible in the time period. But for the time period these were extremely innovated techniques that we will not see for another 1000 years. While the Minoan culture was above the Mycenaeans, they both were extremely innovated cultures that would shape history throughout the ages.

Right time, Right place!

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It is in times of emergency that heroes are looked for, and found."

A hero does not gain glory by what he or she does at everything they do in their life. It is at one point in the life, where they decide to make a change and stand up for what they believe in. This moment is decided by the hero. Like the quote says, "in times of emergency that heroes are looked for, and found." Heroes magically have found the power to be in the right place at the right time, earning everlasting glory. We the people need this hero, they pull through and know exactly when to step in and exactly what to do.
The more we read about heroes the more we can understand their mindset when it comes to their claim to fame. When they make the choice to do something in their life that their name will be forever remembered.

Heros are never Satisfied

“If everybody was satisfied with himself there would be no heroes.”

Mark Twain In my mind a hero is a human who battles adversity and goes above and beyond what a normal human thinks they can do. A heroes battles throughout his or her life for immortality. Played out with battles, tasks, and great challenges to prove his or her heroism. Heroes are never satisfied with being a number in a crowd, left to die and forgotten. But to do something extra ordinary so that thousands of year after their death their name lives on.

Reflecting on the Values of the Myths

Gaea's heart overflowed with pride and satisfaction.

Over the coarse of the myth, many feelings throughout the family become apparent as though it was a modern day family. First off when Uranus sends his children to Tartarus in secrecy of Gaea, his wife. This secrecy is a sneeky effect that arises in modern day marrages/relationships, that in turn causes hatred, distrust, and a feeling of betrayal. In my quote at the top it talks about when Gaea asks her children to seek revenge on their father for his wrong doings and only one of them shows the courage to face their father. This youngest Tritan was named Cronus. As a mother showing pride and satisfaction to her children would be like a modern day mother feeling the same way about their child succeeding in school or sports. I find that these values in society to family's show a lot of relation to modern day family values. Which I believe is why myths are still relevant in our lives today.

The Value of Myths

Myths throughout history has stood the past of time because of there able to relate and reflect on the common persons. In the times when these myths first were told they serve a higher purpose. They showed people of the time proper rights and behaviours in society. In the 21st century, these myths still are around, and we read them not only for entertainment purposes but to reflect on how these mythological tales connect to our everyday life.