Greek Gods, Heroes & The Odyssey

What you’ll learn

• The ancient Greeks were polytheistic; their most powerful gods ruled from Mount Olympus and behaved much like powerful, flawed humans.
• Greek heroes follow a repeating pattern, the "hero's journey", that still shapes modern movies and books.
• Homer's Odyssey is a roughly 2,700-year-old epic poem about Odysseus's ten-year voyage home from the Trojan War.
• Odysseus succeeds through cleverness (metis) rather than brute strength, and the poem prizes hospitality (xenia) while warning against pride (hubris).
• Dozens of everyday English words, odyssey, siren, panic, nemesis, Achilles' heel, Trojan horse, come straight from these myths.