1.Characters
and Gods
Achilles
In Greek
mythology, Achilles
was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad. His mother was the immortal nymph Thetis, and his father, the mortal Peleus, was the king of the Myrmidons.
Achilles’ most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the
Trojan hero Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not
presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan
War by Paris, who shot him in the heel with an arrow.
Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the 1st century AD) state that Achilles was
invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Because of his death
from a small wound in the heel, the
term Achilles' heel has come to mean a point of weakness in
what otherwise appears to be an impregnable façade.
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Hephaestus
l
Symbol:Hammer,anvil,tongs
Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes.Hephaestus'
Roman equivalent is Vulcan. In Greek
mythology, Hepuhaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of the gods. In another version,
he was Hera's parthenogenous child, rejected by his mother because of
his deformity and thrown off of Mount Olympus and down to earth.
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Mercury
l
Symbol:a staff with two snakes wound
about it
Mercury is a major
Roman god, being one of the Dii Consentes within the ancient
Roman pantheon. He is the
patron god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry),
messages/communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck,
trickery and thieves; he is also the guide of souls to the underworld.He was considered the
son of Maia and Jupiter in Roman
mythology. In his earliest forms, he appears to have been related to the Etruscan deity Turms; both gods share
characteristics with the Greek god Hermes. He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand.
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Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector
was a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy
in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, who was a descendant of Dardanus and Tros, the founder of Troy,he was a prince of
the royal house and the heir apparent to his father's throne. He was married
to Andromache, with whom he had an infant son, Scamandrius (whom the people of Troy called Astyanax). He acted as leader of the Trojans and
their allies in the defense of Troy, "killing 31,000 Greek
fighters", offers Hyginus.During the European Middle Ages, Hector
figures as one of the Nine Worthies noted by Jacques de
Longuyon, known
not only for his courage but also for his noble and courtly nature. Indeed,
Homer places Hector as peace-loving, thoughtful as well as bold, a good son,
husband and father, and without darker motives. James Redfield writes of
Hector as a "martyr to loyalties, a witness to the things of this world,
a hero ready to die for the precious imperfections of ordinary life.
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Cassandra
Cassandra, also
known as Alexandra or Kassandra, was a daughter of King Priam and of Queen Hecuba of Troy. In modern usage her name is employed as a rhetorical
device to indicate someone whose prophecies are not believed by those around
them.
A common
version of her story relates how, in an effort to seduce her, Apollo gave her the power of prophecy—but when she refused him, he spat into
her mouth to inflict a curse that nobody would ever believe her prophecies.
In an alternative version, she fell asleep in a temple, and snakes licked (or
whispered in) her ears so that she could hear the future. (A snake as a
source of knowledge is a recurring theme in Greek mythology, though sometimes
the snake brings understanding of the language of animals rather than an
ability to know the future. Likewise, prophets without honor in their own
country reflect a standard narrative trope.)
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2.The Iliad
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The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a
coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the
weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.
Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war,
the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the
siege; the earlier events, such as the gathering of warriors for the siege, the
cause of the war, and related concerns
tend to appear near the beginning. Then the epic narrative takes up events
prophesied for the future, such as Achilles' looming death and the sack of
Troy, although the narrative ends before these events take place. However, as
these events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly, when it
reaches an end the poem has told a more or less complete tale of the Trojan
War.
The Iliad
is paired with something of a sequel, the Odyssey, also attributed to Homer. Along with the Odyssey, the Iliad
is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around
the 8th century BC.Recent statistical modelling based on language evolution
gives a date of 760–710 BC. In the modern vulgate (the standard accepted
version), the Iliad contains 15,693 lines; it is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek and other dialects.
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3.The Odyssey
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The Odyssey
is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The Odyssey
is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of
Western literature; the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey
was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.
The poem
mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths) and his journey home after the
fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War.In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus
has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly
suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.
The Odyssey
continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into modern languages
around the world. Many scholars believe the original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos (epic poet/singer), perhaps a rhapsode (professional performer), and was more likely intended
to be heard than read.The details of the ancient oral performance and the
story's conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars.
The Odyssey was written in a poetic dialect of Greek—a literary
amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek, and other Ancient Greek
dialects—and
comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic
hexameter.Among the
most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, and the influence on events of
choices made by women and slaves, besides the actions of fighting men. In the
English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage.
The Odyssey has a lost
sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer. It was
usually attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of
Sparta. In one
source, the Telegony was said to have been stolen from Musaeus by
either Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene.
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4.Supplements
l Pyre
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A pyre also
known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for
burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire.
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l Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the
defense of territories in warfare, and also used to
solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed
defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly
complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis
("strong") and facere ("to make").
From very early
history to modern times, walls have been a necessity
for cities to survive in an ever changing world of invasion and conquest. Some
settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be
fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls
had been built in Mycenaean
Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge
stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek Phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a
military garrison, and is the
equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These construction mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to
guard certain roads, passes, and lands that might threaten the kingdom.
Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than
a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border.
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l Motto
of Harvard university:Veritas
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In Roman
mythology, Veritas, meaning truth, was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn and the mother of Virtus. It was believed that
she hid in the bottom of a holy well because she was so
elusive. Her image is shown as a young virgin dressed in white.
Veritas is also the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness,
which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess.
In Greek mythology, Veritas is known as Aletheia
and is the daughter of Zeus,or a creation of Prometheus.Veritas was often depicted nude, holding a hand mirror.
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5.Vocabulary and syllable
l
vir-/ver-
vir-
1. "male, man"
2. "poison, virus"
3. "green"
ver-
1. "true"
2. "green"
l -en："cause to
be"
example：awaken, fasten, shorten, moisten
l ig-："started,initiate"
example：ignite
l Foreshadowing (n.)
Foreshadowing is a literary device by which an author hints what is
to come. Foreshadowing is a dramatic device in which an important plot-point is mentioned early
in the story and will return in a more significant way.It is used to avoid disappointment. It is
also sometimes used to arouse the reader.
l Flashback(n.)
in literature and dramatic media,
an interjected scene or point that takes the narrative back in time from the
current point.
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