Black Athena

My journey here has been extremely tough, frankly I don’t really know how I survived it all. Thankfully, the gods found some mercy in their hearts to let me live. I was met again with death, but that will not stop me; I am forever determined to make my way back to my home, Ithaca. Once I found my way to land, my dream that once felt so far away wasn’t anymore. I knew that if I was able to survive my first night there without anybody or anything finding me, I would have a good chance. So I…

Mythology is a powerful thing. Evolving from fireside stories, through collective learning and into strong religions that shape cultures, it has been in use since early humans walked the Earth. It continues to influence the human cultures in many different ways. Going through the history of Mythology astronomy, great monuments, psychology, powerful gods, the Solar System and more come into play as all the myths are unfolded and the increasing complexity and Goldilocks conditions are unlocked,…

in my youth group. I continue to see this struggle to trust throughout the plot of “The Odyssey” by Homer. The protagonist Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and Odysseus’ ship’s crew all are prime examples. Just as these characters rely on the goddess Athena to get them home and guide them, my friends in my youth group and I have to trust God’s plan to get through phases of life. About a year ago I went on my second missions trip. The farthest away from home yet, my youth group and I traveled to LA.…

To begin with, a hero can be defined in many ways in multiple different cultures. According to Maya Angelou, she believes a hero can be defined as, “...any person really intent on making this a better place for all people”(Maya Angelou.) However, an ancient civilization known as the Greeks have six values one must fulfill to be known as a Greek hero. One person commonly known in Greek mythology is the Son of Laertes, Odysseus. Odysseus’s story was told by Homer and has been carried out for…

The Homecoming The Odyssey by the ancient Greek writer Homer takes us into the life of a man called Odysseus. Odysseus, the son of Lartes, has left both his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope, to fight a war in Troy. After 10 years of fighting the war, Odysseus and his men were finally ready to return home to their families, however, the Gods were not finished with Odysseus. They needed to test his wisdom, honor, piety and prudence to prove that he is truly a noble hero. While Odysseus was…

the women known as the wise strategists, the ones with dangerous sexuality, and the dependable family pillars. One representation of female power in this poem is the Wise Strategist. An example of a character such as this is the goddess of wisdom, Athena. She is one of the most important…

Nupinder Panesar 7855421 Aphrodite The True Mysterious Beauty Aphrodite, also known as Venus in the Roman myths, is the goddess of Love, Sex, and Beauty. Other than these titles, Aphrodite is the goddess of the sea and fertility. The birth of Aphrodite is separated into three different myths. The three myths are: 1) Born of the sea-form through the castrated genitals of the sky-god Ouranos, illustrated by Hesiodic; 2) Daughter of Zeus & Dione, told by homer ; 3) Hatched from an egg (Syrian…

Throughout history, there have been a manifold of variations on the mythical Siren. Traditionally told through Greek Mythology, they are mermaid-like creatures who sing beautiful songs that lure nearby sailors to their death by shipwreck. Two variations on this classic character are found in Homer’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song”. In both of these pieces of literature, we find very different tone usage, contrasting points of view, and various techniques of conveying the Siren's to…

The Terrible Ocean and Monstrous Female Representation In The Odyssey, Homer utilizes the female Scylla and Charybdis to represent the dangers of the sea and the dangers of female agency through drawing parallels between the ocean and femininity. In the text, the ocean is portrayed as something monstrous and uncontrollable. This is shown through the various creatures they encounter on their journey, specifically Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla and Charybdis are depicted as female monsters that are…

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus has several interactions with women on his journey back to Ithaca. No two women have the same exchange with Odysseus, but they all demonstrate different variations of the masculine-feminine relationship. Instead of the traditional masculine-feminine relationship, some women give Odysseus help instead, some don’t rely on depend on him entirely, but some however, swoon for him and give him her aid because of it. There is a strong masculine-feminine balance in the…