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Homeric simile, also called an epic simile, is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that are many lines in length. The word "Homeric", is based on the Greek author, Homer, who composed the two famous Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Many authors continue to use this type of simile in their writings although it is usually found ...
Polyphemus (/ ˌ p ɒ l i ˈ f iː m ə s /; Ancient Greek: Πολύφημος, romanized: Polyphēmos, Epic Greek: [polypʰɛːmos]; Latin: Polyphēmus [pɔlʏˈpʰeːmʊs]) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey.
The painting depicts an incident in the Odyssey, the epic poem by Homer which recounts the Greek hero Odysseus' 10 year long return journey home from the Siege of Troy. A blind giant Cyclops, Polyphemus, is preparing to hurl a large rock at the escaping boat of Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus in return is taunting him from the stern of the vessel.
A mosaic depicting Odysseus, from the villa of La Olmeda, Pedrosa de la Vega, Spain, late 4th–5th centuries AD. The Odyssey begins after the end of the ten-year Trojan War (the subject of the Iliad), from which Odysseus (also known by the Latin variant Ulysses), king of Ithaca, has still not returned because he angered Poseidon, the god of the sea.
In the Idyll, Theocritus gives advice to a friend suffering from Love. He recommends seeking the "medicine" for his "wound" in song, as the Cyclops Polyphemus was once able to do. Although he once was "languishing" while he sang of his love, eventually the Cyclops was able to find the cure through a different kind of song.
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.
It is a central part of the Epic Cycle. The Iliad is often regarded as the first substantial piece of European literature . The Iliad and the Odyssey were likely written down in Homeric Greek , a literary mixture of Ionic Greek and other dialects, probably around the late 8th or early 7th century BC.
Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus is an 1829 oil painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner.It depicts a scene from Homer's Odyssey, showing Odysseus (Ulysses) standing on his ship deriding Polyphemus, one of the cyclopes he encounters and has recently blinded, who is disguised behind one of the mountains on the left side. [1]