Homeric Digression Activity

A Homeric Digression is when the narrator breaks away from the main story line to speak in great length about someone’s lineage (family tree) or a weapon.

Your job is to look at the following Homeric Digression of a weapon or shield and recreate the weapon in as much detail as possible. You have all of the materials you need on your group table.

Book 11 Page 107 Lines 15 – 29

Agamemnon boomed out a command For his men to arm, and did so himself, Strapping on sunlit bronze . . . He covered his chest with a corselet, A gift from the Cypriot king, Cinyras. News had reached Cyrpus that the Greeks Were launching a fleet for Troy, and Cinyras Sent this corselet as homage to the warlord. It had ten bands of dark blue enamel, Twelve of gold, and twenty of tin. On either side were three enameled dragons With arching necks—iridescent as rainbows That Zeus anchors in clouds as portents for men.

Arm – put on armor Corselet – chest plate Enamel - a glassy decorative or protective coating, usually colored, that is fused onto metal Homeric Digression Activity

Your job is to look at the following Homeric Digression of a weapon, armor, or a shield and recreate the weaponry in as much detail as possible. You have all of the materials you need on your group table.

Agamemnon boomed out a command For his men to arm, and did so himself . . . Then he took up his shield, a crafted glory Of metalwork, ringed with bronze, embossed With white tin, and inlaid with dark cyan, A Gorgon flanked by Terror and Rout Glaring out of the midnight blue center. The shield was hung with a baldric of silver Upon which writhed an enameled dragon With three heads twisting from a single neck.

Embossed - stamped Cyan – a color; teal, greenish-blue Baldric – shoulder belt or sash used to support a sword or shield Homeric Digression Activity

Hephaestus made a shield first, heavy and huge, Every inch of it intricately designed. He threw a triple rim around it, glittering Like lightening, and he made the strap silver. The shield itself was five layers thick, and he Crafted its surface with all of his genius.

On it, he made the earth, the sky, the sea, The unwearied sun, and the moon near full, And all the signs that garland the sky, Pleiades, Hyades, mighty Orion, And the Bear they also call the Wagon. . . . On it he put a soft field, rich farmland Wide and thrice-tilled, with many plowmen Driving their team up and down in rows. The field was black, Behind them, just as if plowed, and yet It was gold, all gold, forged to a wonder.

Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, and the Bear – Constellations Thrice-tilled – turned over three times Homeric Digression Activity

. . . On it he put a vineyard loaded with grapes, Beautiful in gold. The clusters were dark, And the vines were set everywhere on silver poles. Around it he inlaid a blue enamel ditch And a fence of tin. A solitary path led to it. Girls, all grown up, and light-hearted boys Carried the honey-sweet fruit in wicker baskets.

Enamel - glassy decorative or protective coating, usually colored, that is fused onto metal Homeric Digression Activity

. . . On it he made a herd of straight-horned cattle. The cows were wrought of gold and tin And rushed out mooing from the farmyard To a pasture by the banks of a roaring river. Four golden herdsmen tended the cattle, And nine nimble dogs followed along. Two terrifying lions at the front of the herd Were pulling down an ox.

On it, the renowned lame god made a pasture In a lovely valley, wide, with silvery sheep in it, And stables, roofed huts, and stone animal pens. Homeric Digression Activity

On it he made two cities, peopled And beautiful. Weddings in one, festivals, Brides led from their rooms by torchlight Up through the town, bridal song rising, Young men reeling in dance to the tune Of lyres and flutes, and the women Standing in their doorways admiring them.

Around the other city two armies Of glittering soldiery were encamped. . . . Led by Ares and Pallas Athena, Both of them gold, and their clothing was gold, Beautiful and larger than life in their armor, as befits Gods in their glory, and all the people were smaller.

Lyres – harp-like instruments Encamped – camped out