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Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer; Greek mythology sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, on the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Calabrian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the ...
Henry Fuseli's painting of Odysseus facing the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, 1794–1796. Charybdis (/ k ə ˈ r ɪ b d ɪ s /; Ancient Greek: Χάρυβδις, romanized: Khárybdis, Attic Greek: [kʰárybdis]; Latin: Charybdis, Classical Latin: [kʰäˈrʏbd̪ɪs̠]) is a sea monster in Greek mythology.
Homer greatly influenced Greek literature as a whole. [4] Plato refers to the two gates in his dialogue Charmides: Socrates: "Listen then," I said, "to my dream, to see whether it comes through horn or through ivory." [5] A reference to the Odyssean image also appears in the late (c. AD 400) epic poet Nonnus:
The Odyssey (/ ˈ ɒ d ɪ s i /; [1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, romanized: Odýsseia) [2] [3] is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.It is one of the oldest works of literature still widely read by modern audiences.
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Homeric Hymns.It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of an archaic form of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic. [1]
In a similar vein, the word "Homer" may simply be a carryover from the Mediterranean seafarers' vocabulary adoption of the Semitic word base ’MR, which means "say" or "tell". "Homer" may simply be the Mediterranean version of "saga". Pseudo-Plutarch suggests that the name comes from a word meaning "to follow" and another meaning "blind". [17]
A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, as in "rosy-fingered" Dawn or "swift-footed" Achilles.Epithets are used because of the constraints of the dactylic hexameter (i.e., it is convenient to have a stockpile of metrically fitting phrases to add to a name) and because of the oral transmission of the poems; they are mnemonic aids to the singer and the audience alike.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey portray Odysseus as a culture hero, but the Romans, who believed themselves the heirs of Prince Aeneas of Troy, considered him a villainous falsifier. In Virgil 's Aeneid , written between 29 and 19 BC, he is constantly referred to as "cruel Odysseus" ( Latin dirus Ulixes ) or "deceitful Odysseus" ( pellacis , fandi ...