152-553: During the Iron Age and Classical antiquity , Libya (from Greek Λιβύη : Libyē , which came from Berber : Libu ) referred to modern-day Africa west of the Nile river . Greek and Roman geographers placed the dividing line between Libya/Africa and Asia at the Nile. In contrast, the areas of Sub-Saharan Africa were known as Aethiopia . More narrowly, Libya could also refer to
304-666: A clay cup found in Ischia , Italy, are the words "Nestor's cup, good to drink from." Some scholars, such as Calvert Watkins , have tied this cup to a description of King Nestor's golden cup in the Iliad. If the cup is an allusion to the Iliad , that poem's composition can be dated to at least 700–750 BC. Dating is similarly complicated by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were performed regularly by rhapsodes for several hundred years. The Odyssey as it exists today
456-526: A Celtiberian stronghold against Roman invasions. İt dates more than 2500 years back. The site was researched by Francisco Martins Sarmento starting from 1874. A number of amphoras (containers usually for wine or olive oil), coins, fragments of pottery, weapons, pieces of jewelry, as well as ruins of a bath and its pedra formosa ( lit. ' handsome stone ' ) revealed here. The Iron Age in Central Asia began when iron objects appear among
608-488: A catastrophic change reduced the vast body of fresh water to a seasonal lake or marsh. Ibn Khaldun and Herodotus distinguish the Libyans on the basis of their lifestyles rather than ethnic background, those practicing agriculture, and the others nomadic pastoralism. Modern historians tend to follow Herodotus's classical distinctions. Examples include Oric Bates in his book The Eastern Libyans . Some other historians have used
760-699: A combination of bivalve moulds of distinct southern tradition and the incorporation of piece mould technology from the Zhongyuan . The products of the combination of these two periods are bells, vessels, weapons and ornaments, and the sophisticated cast. An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has been associated tentatively with the Zhang Zhung culture described by early Tibetan writings. In Japan, iron items, such as tools, weapons, and decorative objects, are postulated to have entered Japan during
912-742: A common pedestal that supports a huge transverse beam. In the Terrgurt valley, Cowper says: "There had been originally no less than eighteen or twenty megalithic trilithons, in a line, each with its massive altar placed before it". In ancient times, the Phoenicians / Carthaginians , the Neo-Assyrian Empire , the Persian Achaemenid Empire ( see Libya (satrapy) ), the Macedonian Empire of Alexander
1064-485: A fig tree. Washed ashore on Ogygia , he remained there as Calypso's lover. Having listened to his story, the Phaeacians agree to provide Odysseus with more treasure than he would have received from the spoils of Troy. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on Ithaca. Odysseus awakens and believes that he has been dropped on a distant land before Athena appears to him and reveals that he
1216-513: A leading role. Unable to hide his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his identity. He then tells the story of his return from Troy. Odysseus recounts his story to the Phaeacians. After a failed raid against the Cicones , Odysseus and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. Odysseus visited the lotus-eaters who gave his men their fruit which caused them to forget their homecoming. Odysseus had to drag them back to
1368-631: A particular version of the text had become canonised. The Iliad and the Odyssey were widely copied and used as school texts in lands where the Greek language was spoken throughout antiquity. Scholars may have begun to write commentaries on the poems as early as the time of Aristotle in the 4th century BC. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, scholars affiliated with the Library of Alexandria —particularly Zenodotus and Aristarchus of Samothrace —edited
1520-478: A plan to ambush his ship and kill him as he sails back home. Penelope overhears their plot and worries for her son's safety. In the course of Odysseus's seven years as a captive of Calypso on the island Ogygia , she has fallen deeply in love with him, even though he spurns her offers of immortality as her husband and still mourns for home. She is ordered to release him by the messenger god Hermes , who has been sent by Zeus in response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds
1672-405: A raft and is given clothing, food, and drink by Calypso. When Poseidon learns that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft, but helped by a veil given by the sea nymph Ino , Odysseus swims ashore on Scherie , the island of the Phaeacians. Naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep. The next morning, awakened by girls' laughter, he sees the young Nausicaä , who has gone to
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#17327727941911824-455: A re-telling of the Odyssey set in Dublin , is divided into eighteen sections ("episodes") which can be mapped roughly onto the twenty-four books of the Odyssey . Joyce claimed familiarity with the original Homeric Greek, but this has been disputed by some scholars, who cite his poor grasp of the language as evidence to the contrary. The book, and especially its stream of consciousness prose,
1976-624: A speculative territory west of Egypt. Modern Arabic uses Libya . The Lwatae, the tribe of Ibn Battuta , as the Arabs called it, was a Berber tribe that mainly was situated in Cyrenaica. This tribe may have ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to modern Libya , however, and was referred to by Corippius as Laguatan ; he linked them with the Maures . Ibn Khaldun 's Muqaddimah states Luwa
2128-466: A type scene in the Odyssey. Two important parts of an omen type scene are the recognition of the omen, followed by its interpretation . In the Odyssey , all of the bird omens—with the exception of the first—show large birds attacking smaller birds. Accompanying each omen is a wish which can be either explicitly stated or only implied. For example, Telemachus wishes for vengeance and for Odysseus to be home, Penelope wishes for Odysseus' return, and
2280-537: A universal "Bronze Age", and many areas transitioned directly from stone to iron. Some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was developed in sub-Saharan Africa independently from Eurasia and neighbouring parts of Northeast Africa as early as 2000 BC . The concept of the Iron Age ending with the beginning of the written historiographical record has not generalized well, as written language and steel use have developed at different times in different areas across
2432-409: A very specific type scene that accompanies it. Throughout the epic, the testing of others follows a typical pattern. This pattern is: Omens occur frequently throughout the Odyssey . Within the epic poem, they frequently involve birds. According to Thornton, most crucial is who receives each omen and in what way it manifests. For instance, bird omens are shown to Telemachus, Penelope, Odysseus, and
2584-422: A wooden stake. When Polyphemus cried out, his neighbors left after Polyphemus claimed that "Nobody" had attacked him. Odysseus and his men finally escaped the cave by hiding on the underbellies of the sheep as they were let out of the cave. As they escaped, however, Odysseus taunted Polyphemus and revealed himself. The Cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon, asking him to curse Odysseus to wander for ten years. After
2736-491: A world beyond man and that influences the fact he cannot return home. These beings that are close to the gods include the Phaeacians who lived near the Cyclopes, whose king, Alcinous, is the great-grandson of the king of the giants, Eurymedon , and the grandson of Poseidon. Some of the other characters that Odysseus encounters are the cyclops Polyphemus , the son of Poseidon; Circe, a sorceress who turns men into animals; and
2888-400: Is abundant naturally, temperatures above 1,250 °C (2,280 °F) are required to smelt it, impractical to achieve with the technology available commonly until the end of the second millennium BC. In contrast, the components of bronze—tin with a melting point of 231.9 °C (449.4 °F) and copper with a relatively moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F)—were within
3040-669: Is also speculated that Early Iron Age sites may exist in Kandarodai , Matota, Pilapitiya and Tissamaharama . The earliest undisputed deciphered epigraphy found in the Indian subcontinent are the Edicts of Ashoka of the 3rd century BC, in the Brahmi script . Several inscriptions were thought to be pre-Ashokan by earlier scholars; these include the Piprahwa relic casket inscription,
3192-582: Is based on the ethnonym Libu ( Ancient Greek : Λίβυες Líbyes , Latin : Libyes ). The name Libya (in use since 1934 for the modern country formerly known as Tripolitania and Barca ) was the Latin designation for the region of the Maghreb, from the Ancient Greek ( Attic Greek : Λιβύη Libúē , Doric Greek : Λιβύᾱ Libúā ). In Classical Greece , the term had a broader meaning, encompassing
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#17327727941913344-404: Is considered native to the land, in this version of the story she is the daughter of Poseidon and Tritonis a Libyan lake nymph..in another version of the story in the same source, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and that, being for some reason angry at her father, she gave herself to Zeus , who made her his own daughter, on the other hand some say that she sprang from
3496-536: Is considered to last from c. 1200 BC (the Bronze Age collapse ) to c. 550 BC (or 539 BC ), roughly the beginning of historiography with Herodotus , marking the end of the proto-historical period. In China , because writing was developed first, there is no recognizable prehistoric period characterized by ironworking, and the Bronze Age China transitions almost directly into
3648-433: Is discovered by the housekeeper Eurycleia when she recognizes an old scar as she is washing his feet. Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about the beggar's true identity, but Athena makes sure that Penelope cannot hear her. Odysseus swears Eurycleia to secrecy. The next day, at Athena's prompting, Penelope maneuvers the suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus's bow. The man who can string
3800-543: Is divided into two periods based on the Hallstatt culture (early Iron Age) and La Tène (late Iron Age) cultures. Material cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène consist of 4 phases (A, B, C, D). The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by an elaboration of designs of weapons, implements, and utensils. These are no longer cast but hammered into shape, and decoration is elaborate and curvilinear rather than simple rectilinear;
3952-873: Is from Malhar and its surrounding area. This site is assumed as the center for smelted bloomer iron to this area due to its location in the Karamnasa River and Ganga River. This site shows agricultural technology as iron implements sickles, nails, clamps, spearheads, etc., by at least c. 1500 BC. Archaeological excavations in Hyderabad show an Iron Age burial site. The beginning of the 1st millennium BC saw extensive developments in iron metallurgy in India. Technological advancement and mastery of iron metallurgy were achieved during this period of peaceful settlements. One ironworking centre in East India has been dated to
4104-436: Is indeed on Ithaca. She hides his treasure in a nearby cave and disguises him as an elderly beggar so he can see how things stand in his household. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own slaves, swineherd Eumaeus , who treats him hospitably and speaks favorably of Odysseus. After dinner, the disguised Odysseus tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself. Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set by
4256-471: Is likely not significantly different. Aside from minor differences, the Homeric poems gained a canonical place in the institutions of ancient Athens by the 6th century. In 566 BC, Peisistratos instituted a civic and religious festival called the Panathenaia , which featured performances of Homeric poems. These are significant because a "correct" version of the poems had to be performed, indicating that
4408-556: Is likely that the use of ironware made of steel had already begun in the third millennium BC in Central Anatolia". Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities about 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during the New Hittite Empire (≈1400–1200 BC). Similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron-working in
4560-722: 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. Like the Iliad , the Odyssey is divided into 24 books . It follows the Greek hero Odysseus , king of Ithaca , and his journey home after the Trojan War . After the war, which lasted ten years, his journey from Troy to Ithaca, via Africa and southern Europe, lasted for ten additional years during which time he encountered many perils and all of his crewmates were killed. In his absence, Odysseus
4712-626: Is recorded to extend 10 ha (25 acres) by 800 BC and grew to 50 ha (120 acres) by 700–600 BC to become a town. The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief were excavated in Anaikoddai, Jaffna . The name "Ko Veta" is engraved in Brahmi script on a seal buried with the skeleton and is assigned by the excavators to the 3rd century BC. Ko, meaning "King" in Tamil, is comparable to such names as Ko Atan and Ko Putivira occurring in contemporary Brahmi inscriptions in south India. It
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4864-445: Is singularly scarce in collections of Egyptian antiquities. Bronze remained the primary material there until the conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 671 BC. The explanation of this would seem to be that the relics are in most cases the paraphernalia of tombs, the funeral vessels and vases, and iron being considered an impure metal by the ancient Egyptians it was never used in their manufacture of these or for any religious purposes. It
5016-402: Is that he will eat him last. Calypso also exemplifies poor guest-friendship because she does not allow Odysseus to leave her island. Another important factor to guest-friendship is that kingship implies generosity. It is assumed that a king has the means to be a generous host and is more generous with his own property. This is best seen when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, begs Antinous, one of
5168-653: Is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages , after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age . It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progressing to protohistory (before written history). In this usage, it is preceded by the Stone Age (subdivided into the Paleolithic , Mesolithic and Neolithic ) and Bronze Age. These concepts originated for describing Iron Age Europe and
5320-411: Is the mass production of tools and weapons made not just of found iron, but from smelted steel alloys with an added carbon content. Only with the capability of the production of carbon steel does ferrous metallurgy result in tools or weapons that are harder and lighter than bronze . Smelted iron appears sporadically in the archeological record from the middle Bronze Age . Whilst terrestrial iron
5472-457: The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey . Both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are known for traveling to the ends of the earth and on their journeys go to the land of the dead. On his voyage to the underworld, Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, who is located at the edges of the world and is associated through imagery with the sun. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on how to reach
5624-554: The Ancient Near East . The indigenous cultures of the New World did not develop an iron economy before 1500 . Although meteoric iron has been used for millennia in many regions, the beginning of the Iron Age is defined locally around the world by archaeological convention when the production of smelted iron (especially steel tools and weapons) replaces their bronze equivalents in common use. In Anatolia and
5776-622: The Atlas ranges of North Africa as that was the well-known dwelling place of Atlas as he was enduring punishment by Zeus, he was visited by Herakles as well as Perseus in North Africa. This coincides exactly with North Africans being well known for their worship of their sun god 'Tafukt' or commonly identified by the Greeks as Apollo they were believed to inhabit a sunny, temperate, and divinely-blessed land. The oldest myths portray them as
5928-931: The Badli pillar inscription , the Bhattiprolu relic casket inscription, the Sohgaura copper plate inscription , the Mahasthangarh Brahmi inscription, the Eran coin legend, the Taxila coin legends, and the inscription on the silver coins of Sophytes . However, more recent scholars have dated them to later periods. Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details. Archaeology in Thailand at sites Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo yielding metallic, stone, and glass artifacts stylistically associated with
6080-670: The Berbers (El-Barbar or El-Barabera(h)). There were many tribes in ancient Libya, including the now extinct Psylli , with the Libu being the most prominent. The ancient Libyans were mainly pastoral nomads, living off their goats, sheep and other livestock. For subsistence, milk, meat, hides and wool were gathered from their livestock for food, pitching tents and as clothing. Ancient Egyptian sources describe Libyan men with long hair, braided and bearded, neatly parted from different sides and decorated with feathers attached to leather bands around
6232-661: The Caucasus , or Southeast Europe , the Iron Age began during the late 2nd millennium BC ( c. 1300 BC). In the Ancient Near East , this transition occurred simultaneously with the Late Bronze Age collapse , during the 12th century BC (1200–1100 BC). The technology soon spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin region and to South Asia between the 12th and 11th century BC. Its further spread to Central Asia , Eastern Europe , and Central Europe
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6384-685: The Egyptians . The nation of Egypt contains the Siwa Oasis , which is bordering Libya at the Western Desert . The Siwi language , a Berber language , is still spoken in the area by around 21,000 people. Their Ancient Egyptian neighbors referred to the various Libyan tribes as the Temehu, Tehenu, Rebu and Meshwesh . Homer names Libya, in the Odyssey (IX.95; XXIII.311). Homer used
6536-687: The Ganges Valley in India have been dated tentatively to 1800 BC. Tewari (2003) concludes that "knowledge of iron smelting and manufacturing of iron artifacts was well known in the Eastern Vindhyas and iron had been in use in the Central Ganga Plain, at least from the early second millennium BC". By the Middle Bronze Age increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by
6688-540: The Geum River basin . The time that iron production begins is the same time that complex chiefdoms of Proto-historic Korea emerged. The complex chiefdoms were the precursors of early states such as Silla , Baekje , Goguryeo , and Gaya Iron ingots were an important mortuary item and indicated the wealth or prestige of the deceased during this period. Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details. The earliest evidence of iron smelting predates
6840-424: The Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently and that the stories formed as part of a long oral tradition . Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed by an aoidos or rhapsode and was more likely to be heard than read. Crucial themes in the poem include the ideas of nostos (νόστος; "return"), wandering, xenia (ξενία; "guest-friendship"), testing, and omens. Scholars still reflect on
6992-580: The Iliad , Alexander Pope began to translate the Odyssey because of his financial situation. His second translation was not received as favourably as the first. Emily Wilson , a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania , notes that as late as the first decade of the 21st century, almost all of the most prominent translators of Greek and Roman literature had been men. She calls her experience of translating Homer one of "intimate alienation." Wilson writes that this has affected
7144-727: The Indo-European Saka in present-day Xinjiang (China) between the 10th century BC and the 7th century BC, such as those found at the cemetery site of Chawuhukou. The Pazyryk culture is an Iron Age archaeological culture ( c. 6th to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost in the Altay Mountains . Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details. In China, Chinese bronze inscriptions are found around 1200 BC, preceding
7296-687: The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt , during the 13th century BC. LBW appears as an ethnic name on the Merneptah Stele to designate Libyans. Menelaus had travelled there on his way home from Troy ; it was a land of wonderful richness, where the lambs have horns as soon as they are born, where ewes lamb three times a year and no shepherd ever goes short of milk, meat or cheese. When the Ancient Greeks actually settled in Libya,
7448-616: The Odyssey alone spans nearly 2,000 oversized pages in a twentieth-century edition. The first printed edition of the Odyssey , known as the editio princeps , was produced in 1488 by the Greek scholar Demetrios Chalkokondyles , who had been born in Athens and had studied in Constantinople. His edition was printed in Milan by a Greek printer named Antonios Damilas. Since the late 19th century, many papyri containing fragments of
7600-576: The Odyssey and the Iliad , published together in 1616 but serialised earlier, were the first to enjoy widespread success. The texts had been published in translation before, with some translated not from the original Greek. Chapman worked on these for a large part of his life. In 1581, Arthur Hall translated the first 10 books of the Iliad from a French version. Chapman's translations persisted in popularity, and are often remembered today through John Keats ' sonnet " On First Looking into Chapman's Homer " (1816). Years after completing his translation of
7752-590: The Odyssey have been found in Egypt, some with content different from later medieval versions. In 2018, the Greek Cultural Ministry revealed the discovery of a clay tablet near the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, containing 13 verses from the Odyssey 's 14th book. While it was initially reported to date from the 3rd century AD, the date is unconfirmed. George Chapman 's English translations of
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#17327727941917904-399: The Odyssey was in the 16th century. Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be produced across a wide variety of media . In 2018, when BBC Culture polled experts around the world to find literature's most enduring narrative, the Odyssey topped the list. The Odyssey begins after the end of the ten-year Trojan War (the subject of the Iliad ), from which Odysseus (also known by
8056-730: The Orchid Island . Early evidence for iron technology in Sub-Saharan Africa can be found at sites such as KM2 and KM3 in northwest Tanzania and parts of Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Nubia was one of the relatively few places in Africa to have a sustained Bronze Age along with Egypt and much of the rest of North Africa . Archaeometallurgical scientific knowledge and technological development originated in numerous centers of Africa;
8208-493: The Pentapolis of the Roman era on the current west Italian coast. The exact boundaries of the whole of ancient Libya are unknown, but it likely constituted the western regions of Ancient Egypt , and was known as "Tjehenu" to the Egyptians. Ibn Khaldun, who dedicated the main part of his book Kitab el'ibar , which is known as "The history of the Berbers", did not use the names Libya and Libyans , but instead used Arabic names: The Old Maghreb , ( El-Maghrib el-Qadim ), and
8360-408: The Qin dynasty of imperial China. "Iron Age" in the context of China is used sometimes for the transitional period of c. 900 BC to 100 BC during which ferrous metallurgy was present even if not dominant. The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is believed to have begun after the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia , the Caucasus or Southeast Europe during
8512-417: The Yangtse Valley toward the end of the 6th century BC. The few objects were found at Changsha and Nanjing . The mortuary evidence suggests that the initial use of iron in Lingnan belongs to the mid-to-late Warring States period (from about 350 BC). Important non-precious husi style metal finds include iron tools found at the tomb at Guwei-cun of the 4th century BC. The techniques used in Lingnan are
8664-399: The bard , performs a narrative poem for them. That night, Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the insolent suitors, who then scoff at Telemachus. Accompanied by Athena (now disguised as Mentor ), the son of Odysseus departs for the Greek mainland to
8816-475: The desertification of the area is provided by megalithic remains, which occur in great variety of form and in vast numbers in presently arid and uninhabitable wastelands: dolmens and circles akin to Stonehenge , cairns, underground cells excavated in rock, barrows topped with huge slabs, and step-pyramid-like mounds. Most remarkable are the trilithons , some still standing, some fallen, which occur isolated or in rows, and consist of two squared uprights standing on
8968-451: The eighth circle of hell , where Odysseus appends a new ending to the Odyssey in which he never returns to Ithaca and instead continues his restless adventuring. Edith Hall suggests that Dante's depiction of Odysseus became understood as a manifestation of Renaissance colonialism and othering , with the cyclops standing in for "accounts of monstrous races on the edge of the world", and his defeat as symbolising "the Roman domination of
9120-424: The history of Egypt , historians know little about the history of Libya, as there are few surviving written records. Information on ancient Libya comes from archaeological evidence and historic sources written by Egyptian scribes, as well as the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines , and later from Arabs of Medieval times. Since the Neolithic, the climate of North Africa has become drier over time. A reminder of
9272-418: The Berbers for themselves, such as Imazighen . Late period sources give more detailed descriptions of Libya and its inhabitants. The ancient historian Herodotus describes Libya and the Libyans in his fourth book, known as The Libyan Book . Writers such as Pliny the Elder , Diodorus Siculus , and Procopius also contributed to what is now primary source material on ancient Libya and the Libyans. The name
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#17327727941919424-405: The Bronze Age. In Central and Western Europe, the Roman conquests of the 1st century BC serve as marking the end of the Iron Age. The Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia is considered to end c. AD 800 , with the beginning of the Viking Age . The three-age method of Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages was first used for the archaeology of Europe during the first half of the 19th century, and by
9576-411: The Egyptian ones, but probably, some tribes were named in the Egyptian sources and the later ones as well. The Meshwesh -tribe documented by the Ancient Egyptians represents this assumption. Moreover, scholars believe it would be the same tribe called Mazyes by Hektaios and Maxyes by Herodotus, while it was called "Mazaces" and "Mazax" in Latin sources. All those names are similar to the name used by
9728-446: The Great and his Ptolemaic successors from Egypt ruled variously parts of Libya. With the Roman conquest, the entire region of present-day Libya became part of the Roman Empire . Following the fall of the Empire, Vandals , and local representatives of the Byzantine Empire also ruled all or parts of Libya. The territory of modern Libya had separate histories until Roman times, as Tripoli and Cyrenaica . Cyrenaica , by contrast,
9880-481: The Homeric poems, wrote commentaries on them, and helped establish the canonical texts. The Iliad and the Odyssey remained widely studied and used as school texts in the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages . The Byzantine Greek scholar and archbishop Eustathios of Thessalonike ( c. 1115 – c. 1195/6 AD ) wrote exhaustive commentaries on both of the Homeric epics that became seen by later generations as authoritative; his commentary on
10032-406: The Indian subcontinent began prior to the 3rd millennium BC. Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila, Lahuradewa, Kosambi and Jhusi , Allahabad in present-day Uttar Pradesh show iron implements in the period 1800–1200 BC. As the evidence from the sites Raja Nala ka tila, Malhar suggest the use of Iron in c. 1800/1700 BC. The extensive use of iron smelting
10184-592: The Indian subcontinent suggest Indianization of Southeast Asia beginning in the 4th to 2nd centuries BC during the late Iron Age. In Philippines and Vietnam , the Sa Huynh culture showed evidence of an extensive trade network. Sa Huynh beads were made from glass, carnelian, agate, olivine, zircon, gold and garnet; most of these materials were not local to the region and were most likely imported. Han-dynasty-style bronze mirrors were also found in Sa Huynh sites. Conversely, Sa Huynh produced ear ornaments have been found in archaeological sites in Central Thailand, as well as
10336-443: The Late Bronze Age continued into the Early Iron Age. Thus, there is a sociocultural continuity during this transitional period. In Iran, the earliest actual iron artifacts were unknown until the 9th century BC. For Iran, the best studied archaeological site during this time period is Teppe Hasanlu . In the Mesopotamian states of Sumer , Akkad and Assyria , the initial use of iron reaches far back, to perhaps 3000 BC. One of
10488-440: The Late Bronze Age. As part of the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age, the Bronze Age collapse saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region. It was long believed that the success of the Hittite Empire during the Late Bronze Age had been based on the advantages entailed by the "monopoly" on ironworking at the time. Accordingly, the invading Sea Peoples would have been responsible for spreading
10640-416: The Latin variant Ulysses), king of Ithaca , has still not returned because he angered Poseidon , the god of the sea. Odysseus's son, Telemachus , is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and the suitors of Penelope , a crowd of 108 boisterous young men who each aim to persuade Penelope for her hand in marriage, all the while reveling in
10792-478: The Mzata, were from the Qibt s (Egyptians). According to Ibn Khaldun, this claim is incorrect because Ibn Hazam had not read the books of the Berber scholars. Oric Bates , a historian, considers that the name Libu or LBW would be derived from the name Luwatah whilst the name Luwatah is a derivation of the name Libu. Furthermore, Bates considered all the Libyan tribes to be a single civilization united under central Libu and Meshwesh control. Compared with
10944-607: The Romans, though ironworking remained the dominant technology until recent times. Elsewhere it may last until the early centuries AD, and either Christianization or a new conquest during the Migration Period . Iron working was introduced to Europe during the late 11th century BC, probably from the Caucasus , and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years. The Iron Age did not start when iron first appeared in Europe but it began to replace bronze in
11096-654: The archaeological record. For instance, in China, written history started before iron smelting began, so the term is used infrequently for the archaeology of China. For the Ancient Near East, the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire c. 550 BC is used traditionally and still usually as an end date; later dates are considered historical according to the record by Herodotus despite considerable written records now being known from well back into
11248-608: The beginning of the Western Han dynasty . Yoon proposes that iron was first introduced to chiefdoms located along North Korean river valleys that flow into the Yellow Sea such as the Cheongcheon and Taedong Rivers. Iron production quickly followed during the 2nd century BC, and iron implements came to be used by farmers by the 1st century in southern Korea. The earliest known cast-iron axes in southern Korea are found in
11400-406: The bow and shoot an arrow through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition, and he alone is strong enough to string the bow and shoot the arrow through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. He then throws off his rags and kills Antinous with his next arrow. Odysseus kills the other suitors, first using the rest of the arrows and then, along with Telemachus, Eumaeus, and
11552-415: The cannibalistic Laestrygonians destroyed all of his ships except his own, Odysseus sailed on and reached the island of Aeaea , home of witch-goddess Circe . She turned half of his men into swine with drugged cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus an herb called moly , making him resistant to Circe's magic. Odysseus forced Circe to change his men back to their human forms and
11704-557: The cannibalistic giants, the Laestrygonians. Throughout the course of the epic, Odysseus encounters several examples of xenia ("guest-friendship"), which provide models of how hosts should and should not act. The Phaeacians demonstrate exemplary guest-friendship by feeding Odysseus, giving him a place to sleep, and granting him many gifts and a safe voyage home, which are all things a good host should do. Polyphemus demonstrates poor guest-friendship. His only "gift" to Odysseus
11856-482: The capabilities of Neolithic kilns , which date back to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures greater than 900 °C (1,650 °F). In addition to specially designed furnaces, ancient iron production required the development of complex procedures for the removal of impurities, the regulation of the admixture of carbon, and the invention of hot-working to achieve a useful balance of hardness and strength in steel. The use of steel has also been regulated by
12008-876: The centers of origin were located in West Africa , Central Africa , and East Africa ; consequently, as these origin centers are located within inner Africa, these archaeometallurgical developments are thus native African technologies. Iron metallurgical development occurred 2631–2458 BC at Lejja, in Nigeria, 2136–1921 BC at Obui, in Central Africa Republic, 1895–1370 BC at Tchire Ouma 147, in Niger, and 1297–1051 BC at Dekpassanware, in Togo. Odyssey The Odyssey ( / ˈ ɒ d ɪ s i / ; Ancient Greek : Ὀδύσσεια , romanized : Odýsseia )
12160-465: The continent that later (second century BC) became known as Africa , which, in antiquity, was assumed to constitute one third of the world's land mass, Europe and Asia combined making up the other two thirds. The Libu are attested since the Late Bronze Age as inhabiting the region ( Egyptian R'bw , Punic : 𐤋𐤁𐤉 lby ). The oldest known documented references to the Libu date to Ramesses II and his successor Merneptah , pharaohs of
12312-603: The country immediately west of Egypt, viz Marmarica ( Libya Inferior ) and Cyrenaica ( Libya Superior ). The Libyan Sea or Mare Libycum was the part of the Mediterranean Sea south of Crete , between Cyrene and Alexandria . In Greek mythology , Athena was believed to have been of Libyan origins and was therefore nicknamed Athene Tritogeneia ("born of Trito"), from her birth in Lake Tritonis in North Africa (Modern day Algeria and Tunisia) where she
12464-511: The cowherd Philoetius, with swords and spears. Once the battle is won, Telemachus also hangs twelve of their household maids whom Eurycleia identifies as guilty of betraying Penelope or having sex with the suitors. Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She is hesitant but recognizes him when he mentions that he made their bed from an olive tree still rooted to the ground. She embraces him and they sleep. The next day, Odysseus goes to his father Laertes 's farm and reveals himself. Following them to
12616-428: The crew overriding Odysseus's wishes to remain away from the island. Zeus caused a storm that prevented them from leaving, causing them to deplete the food given to them by Circe. While Odysseus was away praying, his men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe and hunted the sacred cattle. Helios insisted that Zeus punish the men for this sacrilege. They suffered a shipwreck, and all but Odysseus drowned as he clung to
12768-586: The crown of the head while wearing thin robes of antelope hide , dyed and printed, crossing the shoulder and coming down until mid calf length to make a robe. Older men kept long braided beards, while women wore the same robes as men, plaited, decorated hair and both sexes wore heavy jewelry. Depictions of Libyans in Egyptian reliefs show prominent and numerous tattoos, very similar to traditional Berber tattoos still seen today. Their weapons included bows and arrows, hatchets, spears and daggers. The Libyan script that
12920-417: The development of iron metallurgy, which was known by the 9th century BC. The large seal script is identified with a group of characters from a book entitled Shǐ Zhòu Piān ( c. 800 BC). Therefore, in China prehistory had given way to history periodized by ruling dynasties by the start of iron use, so "Iron Age" is not used typically to describe a period of Chinese history. Iron metallurgy reached
13072-586: The earliest smelted iron artifacts known is a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia , dating from 2500 BC. The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia ) by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The development of iron smelting was once attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia during
13224-497: The economics of the metallurgical advancements. The earliest tentative evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük in modern-day Turkey, dated to 2200–2000 BC. Akanuma (2008) concludes that "The combination of carbon dating, archaeological context, and archaeometallurgical examination indicates that it
13376-613: The emergence of the Iron Age proper by several centuries. Iron was being used in Mundigak to manufacture some items in the 3rd millennium BC such as a small copper/bronze bell with an iron clapper, a copper/bronze rod with two iron decorative buttons, and a copper/bronze mirror handle with a decorative iron button. Artefacts including small knives and blades have been discovered in the Indian state of Telangana which have been dated between 2400 BC and 1800 BC. The history of metallurgy in
13528-583: The end of the Bronze Age . The Iron Age in Europe is often considered as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East . Anthony Snodgrass suggests that a shortage of tin and trade disruptions in the Mediterranean about 1300 BC forced metalworkers to seek an alternative to bronze. Many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during that time, and more widespread use of iron resulted in improved steel-making technology and lower costs. When tin became readily available again, iron
13680-515: The end of the Odyssey . For instance, one example is that of Agamemnon's homecoming versus Odysseus'. Upon Agamemnon's return, his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, kill Agamemnon. Agamemnon's son, Orestes , out of vengeance for his father's death, kills Aegisthus. This parallel compares the death of the suitors to the death of Aegisthus and sets Orestes up as an example for Telemachus. Also, because Odysseus knows about Clytemnestra's betrayal, Odysseus returns home in disguise in order to test
13832-439: The escape, Aeolus gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. Just as Ithaca came into sight, the sailors opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking it contained gold. The winds flew out, and the storm drove the ships back the way they had come. Aeolus, recognizing that Odysseus had drawn the ire of the gods, refused to further assist him. After
13984-498: The excavation of Ugarit. A dagger with an iron blade found in Tutankhamun's tomb , 13th century BC, was examined recently and found to be of meteoric origin. In Europe, the Iron Age is the last stage of prehistoric Europe and the first of the protohistoric periods, which initially means descriptions of a particular area by Greek and Roman writers. For much of Europe, the period came to an abrupt local end after conquest by
14136-452: The farm is a group of Ithacans, led by Eupeithes , father of Antinous, who are out for revenge for the murder of the suitors. A battle breaks out, but it is quickly stopped by Athena and Zeus. The Odyssey is 12,109 lines composed in dactylic hexameter , also called Homeric hexameter. It opens in medias res , in the middle of the overall story, with prior events described through flashbacks and storytelling. The 24 books correspond to
14288-482: The favorites of Apollo , and some ancient Greek writers regarded them as the mythical founders of Apollo's shrines at Delos and Delphi . Masinissa received a golden crown from the inhabitants of Delos as he had offered them several shiploads of grain to the temple of Apollo in Delos the famous birthplace of the sun god and his twin sister Artemis. Berbers have occupied North Africa for thousands of years alongside
14440-465: The first millennium BC. In Southern India (present-day Mysore ) iron appeared as early as 12th to 11th centuries BC; these developments were too early for any significant close contact with the northwest of the country. The Indian Upanishads mention metallurgy. and the Indian Mauryan period saw advances in metallurgy. As early as 300 BC, certainly by 200 AD, high-quality steel
14592-546: The forehead of her father Zeus in the same location in North Africa. According to Herodotus , it is the Libyans who taught Greeks how to ride chariots, this is further shown when Mastanbal the prince of Numidia who is well versed in Greek literature. A sportsman in his youth, the prince took part in chariot races and the Panathenaic Games which only populations whom the greeks considered equal to them culturally and religiously were allowed to participate. Mastanbal
14744-480: The forms and character of the ornamentation of the northern European weapons resemble in some respects Roman arms, while in other respects they are peculiar and evidently representative of northern art. Citânia de Briteiros , located in Guimarães , Portugal, is one of the examples of archaeological sites of the Iron Age. This settlement (fortified villages) covered an area of 3.8 hectares (9.4 acres), and served as
14896-569: The homeland of Odysseus, which may or may not be the same island that is now called Ithakē (modern Greek: Ιθάκη ). The wanderings of Odysseus as told to the Phaeacians, and the location of the Phaeacians' own island of Scheria, pose more fundamental problems, if geography is to be applied: scholars, both ancient and modern, are divided as to whether any of the places visited by Odysseus (after Ismaros and before his return to Ithaca) are real. Both antiquated and contemporary scholars have attempted to map Odysseus's journey but now largely agree that
15048-433: The host's home. Another theme throughout the Odyssey is testing. This occurs in two distinct ways. Odysseus tests the loyalty of others and others test Odysseus' identity. An example of Odysseus testing the loyalties of others is when he returns home. Instead of immediately revealing his identity, he arrives disguised as a beggar and then proceeds to determine who in his house has remained loyal to him and who has helped
15200-454: The household of Nestor , most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy , who resided in Pylos after the war. From there, Telemachus rides to Sparta , accompanied by Nestor's son . There he finds Menelaus and Helen , who are now reconciled. Both Helen and Menelaus also say that they returned to Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt. There, on the island of Pharos , Menelaus encounters
15352-456: The island of Thrinacia and that failure to do so would result in the loss of his ship and his entire crew. He then meets his dead mother Anticleia and first learns of the suitors and what happened in Ithaca in his absence. Odysseus also converses with his dead comrades from Troy. Returning to Aeaea, they buried Elpenor and were advised by Circe on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted
15504-411: The king's palace and eating up his wealth. Odysseus's protectress, the goddess Athena , asks Zeus , king of the gods , to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Poseidon is absent from Mount Olympus . Disguised as a chieftain named Mentes , Athena visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality, and they observe the suitors dining rowdily while Phemius ,
15656-446: The knowledge through that region. The idea of such a "Hittite monopoly" has been examined more thoroughly and no longer represents a scholarly consensus. While there are some iron objects from Bronze Age Anatolia, the number is comparable to iron objects found in Egypt and other places of the same time period; and only a small number of these objects are weapons. Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details. Iron metal
15808-567: The lack of nickel in the product) appeared in the Middle East , Southeast Asia and South Asia . African sites are revealing dates as early as 2000–1200 BC. However, some recent studies date the inception of iron metallurgy in Africa between 3000 and 2500 BC, with evidence existing for early iron metallurgy in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, from as early as around 2,000 BC. The Nok culture of Nigeria may have practiced iron smelting from as early as 1000 BC, while
15960-463: The land of the Sirens . All of the sailors had their ears plugged up with beeswax, except for Odysseus, who was tied to the mast as he wanted to hear the song. He told his sailors not to untie him as it would only make him drown himself. They then passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis . Scylla claimed six of his men. Next, they landed on the island of Thrinacia, with
16112-412: The land of the dead from a divine helper: the goddess Siduri , who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth, whose home is also associated with the sun. Gilgamesh reaches Siduri's house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mt. Mashu , the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky. West argues that the similarity of Odysseus' and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges of the earth are
16264-551: The landscapes, especially of the Apologia (Books 9 to 11), include too many mythic aspects as features to be unequivocally mappable. Classicist Peter T. Struck created an interactive map which plots Odysseus's travels, including his near homecoming which was thwarted by the bag of wind. Scholars have seen strong influences from Near Eastern mythology and literature in the Odyssey . Martin West notes substantial parallels between
16416-547: The last 548 lines of the Odyssey , corresponding to Book 24, are believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet. The events in the main sequence of the Odyssey (excluding Odysseus's embedded narrative of his wanderings) have been said to take place in the Peloponnese and in what are now called the Ionian Islands . There are difficulties in the apparently simple identification of Ithaca,
16568-528: The late 2nd millennium BC ( c. 1300 BC). The earliest bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh , Jordan about 930 BC (determined from C dating ). The Early Iron Age in the Caucasus area is divided conventionally into two periods, Early Iron I, dated to about 1100 BC, and the Early Iron II phase from the tenth to ninth centuries BC. Many of the material culture traditions of
16720-550: The late Yayoi period ( c. 300 BC – 300 AD) or the succeeding Kofun period ( c. 250–538 AD), most likely from the Korean Peninsula and China. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū . The Kofun and
16872-507: The latter half of the 19th century, it had been extended to the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Its name harks back to the mythological " Ages of Man " of Hesiod . As an archaeological era, it was first introduced to Scandinavia by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen during the 1830s. By the 1860s, it was embraced as a useful division of the "earliest history of mankind" in general and began to be applied in Assyriology . The development of
17024-597: The letters of the Greek alphabet ; the division was likely made after the poem's composition, by someone other than Homer, but is generally accepted. In the Classical period , some of the books (individually and in groups) were commonly given their own titles: Book 22 concludes the Greek Epic Cycle , though fragments remain of the "alternative ending" of sorts known as the Telegony . The Telegony aside,
17176-490: The loyalty of his own wife, Penelope. Later, Agamemnon praises Penelope for not killing Odysseus. It is because of Penelope that Odysseus has fame and a successful homecoming. This successful homecoming is unlike Achilles , who has fame but is dead, and Agamemnon, who had an unsuccessful homecoming resulting in his death. Only two of Odysseus's adventures are described by the narrator. The rest of Odysseus' adventures are recounted by Odysseus himself. The two scenes described by
17328-509: The modern name of the Berbers in their works, such as the French historian Gabriel Camps . The Libyan tribes mentioned in these sources were: " Adyrmachidae ", " Giligamae ", " Asbystae ", " Marmaridae ", " Auschisae ", " Nasamones ", " Macae ", " Lotus-eaters (or Lotophagi)", " Garamantes ", " Gaetulians ", " Mauri ", and " Luwatae ", as well as many others. Iron Age The Iron Age ( c. 1200 – c. 550 BC )
17480-662: The name from Greek and the Punic languages. The Romans would have known them before their colonization of North Africa because of the Libyan role in the Punic Wars against the Romans. The Romans used the name Líbues , but only when referring to Barca and the Libyan Desert of Egypt. The other Libyan territories were called " Africa ", which were Roman provinces. Classical Arabic literature called Libya Lubya , indicating
17632-565: The name in a geographic sense, while he called its inhabitants " Lotus-eaters ". After Homer, Aeschylus , Pindar , and other ancient Greek writers used the name. Herodotus (1.46) used Λιβύη Libúē to indicate the African continent; the Líbues proper were the light-skinned North Africans, while those south of Egypt (and Elephantine on the Nile) were known to him as " Aethiopians "; this was also
17784-553: The narrative significance of certain groups in the poem, such as women and slaves, who have a more prominent role in the epic than in many other works of ancient literature. This focus is especially remarkable when contrasted with the Iliad , which centres the exploits of soldiers and kings during the Trojan War. The Odyssey is regarded as one of the most significant works of the Western canon . The first English translation of
17936-482: The narrator are Odysseus on Calypso's island and Odysseus' encounter with the Phaeacians. These scenes are told by the poet to represent an important transition in Odysseus' journey: being concealed to returning home. Calypso's name comes from the Greek word kalúptō ( καλύπτω ), meaning 'to cover' or 'conceal', which is apt, as this is exactly what she does with Odysseus. Calypso keeps Odysseus concealed from
18088-531: The nearby Djenné-Djenno culture of the Niger Valley in Mali shows evidence of iron production from c. 250 BC. Iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 2000 BC. These findings confirm the independent invention of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of large-scale global iron production about 1200 BC, marking
18240-540: The now-conventional periodization in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East was developed during the 1920s and 1930s. Meteoric iron, a natural iron–nickel alloy , was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. The earliest-known meteoric iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC , which were found in burials at Gerzeh in Lower Egypt , having been shaped by careful hammering. The characteristic of an Iron Age culture
18392-642: The old name taken from the Egyptians was applied by the Greeks of Cyrenaica , who may have coexisted with the Libu. Later, the name appeared in the Hebrew language , written in the Bible as Lehabim and Lubim , indicating the ethnic population and the geographic territory as well. In the neo-Punic inscriptions, it was written as Lby for the masculine noun, and Lbt for the feminine noun of Libyan . Latin absorbed
18544-412: The old sea-god Proteus , who tells him that Odysseus was a captive of the nymph Calypso . Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus's brother, Agamemnon , king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks at Troy: he was murdered on his return home by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus . The story briefly shifts to the suitors, who have only just realized that Telemachus is gone. Angry, they formulate
18696-454: The oldest works of extant literature commonly read by Western audiences. As an imaginary voyage , it is considered a distant forerunner of the science fiction genre, and, says science fiction scholar Brian Stableford , "there are more science-fictional transfigurations of the Odyssey than of any other literary text". In Canto XXVI of the Inferno , Dante Alighieri meets Odysseus in
18848-423: The original Greek, the word used is hai , the feminine article, equivalent to "those female people". The influence of the Homeric texts can be difficult to summarise because of how greatly they have affected the popular imagination and cultural values. The Odyssey and the Iliad formed the basis of education for members of ancient Mediterranean society. That curriculum was adopted by Western humanists, meaning
19000-414: The popular conception of characters and events of the Odyssey, inflecting the story with connotations not present in the original text: "For instance, in the scene where Telemachus oversees the hanging of the slaves who have been sleeping with the suitors, most translations introduce derogatory language ("sluts" or "whores") [...] The original Greek does not label these slaves with derogatory language." In
19152-580: The preparation of tools and weapons. It did not happen at the same time throughout Europe; local cultural developments played a role in the transition to the Iron Age. For example, the Iron Age of Prehistoric Ireland begins about 500 BC (when the Greek Iron Age had already ended) and finishes about 400 AD. The widespread use of the technology of iron was implemented in Europe simultaneously with Asia. The prehistoric Iron Age in Central Europe
19304-539: The result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the Odyssey . In 1914, paleontologist Othenio Abel surmised the origins of the Cyclops to be the result of ancient Greeks finding an elephant skull. The enormous nasal passage in the middle of the forehead could have looked like the eye socket of a giant, to those who had never seen a living elephant. Classical scholars, on the other hand, have long known that
19456-489: The seashore with her maids after Athena told her in a dream to do so. He appeals for help. She encourages him to seek the hospitality of her parents, Arete and Alcinous . Alcinous promises to provide him a ship to return him home without knowing the identity of Odysseus. He remains for several days. Odysseus asks the blind singer Demodocus to tell the story of the Trojan Horse , a stratagem in which Odysseus had played
19608-520: The ship by force. Afterward, Odysseus and his men landed on a lush, uninhabited island near the land of the Cyclopes . The men entered the cave of Polyphemus , where they found all the cheeses and meat they desired. Upon returning to his cave, Polyphemus sealed the entrance with a massive boulder and proceeded to eat Odysseus's men. Odysseus devised an escape plan in which he, identifying himself as "Nobody," plied Polyphemus with wine and blinded him with
19760-531: The story of the Cyclops was originally a folk tale , which existed independently of the Odyssey and which became part of it at a later date. Similar stories are found in cultures across Europe and the Middle East. According to this explanation, the Cyclops was originally simply a giant or ogre, much like Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh . Graham Anderson suggests that the addition about it having only one eye
19912-637: The subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period ; The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from that era. Iron objects were introduced to the Korean peninsula through trade with chiefdoms and state-level societies in the Yellow Sea area during the 4th century BC, just at the end of the Warring States Period but prior to
20064-493: The suitors wish for the death of Telemachus. There is no scholarly consensus on the date of the composition of the Odyssey . The Greeks began adopting a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet to write down their own language during the mid-8th century BC. The Homeric poems may have been one of the earliest products of that literacy, and if so, would have been composed some time in the late 8th century BC. Inscribed on
20216-411: The suitors, for food and Antinous denies his request. Odysseus essentially says that while Antinous may look like a king, he is far from a king since he is not generous. According to J. B. Hainsworth, guest-friendship follows a very specific pattern: Another important factor of guest-friendship is not keeping the guest longer than they wish and also promising their safety while they are a guest within
20368-418: The suitors. Telemachus and Penelope receive their omens as well in the form of words, sneezes, and dreams. However, Odysseus is the only character who receives thunder or lightning as an omen. She highlights this as crucial because lightning, as a symbol of Zeus, represents the kingship of Odysseus. Odysseus is associated with Zeus throughout both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Omens are another example of
20520-442: The suitors. After Odysseus reveals his true identity, the characters test Odysseus' identity to see if he really is who he says he is. For instance, Penelope tests Odysseus' identity by saying that she will move the bed into the other room for him. This is a difficult task since it is made out of a living tree that would require being cut down, a fact that only the real Odysseus would know, thus proving his identity. Testing also has
20672-730: The suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and meets Odysseus. Odysseus identifies himself to Telemachus (but not to Eumaeus), and they decide that the suitors must be killed. Telemachus goes home first. Accompanied by Eumaeus, Odysseus returns to his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He is ridiculed by the suitors in his own home, especially Antinous . Odysseus meets Penelope and tests her intentions by saying he once met Odysseus in Crete. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently been in Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus's recent wanderings. Odysseus's identity
20824-399: The text was so much a part of the cultural fabric that it became irrelevant whether an individual had read it. As such, the influence of the Odyssey has reverberated through over a millennium of writing. The poem topped a poll of experts by BBC Culture to find literature's most enduring narrative. It is widely regarded by western literary critics as a timeless classic and remains one of
20976-1048: The understanding of later Greek geographers such as Diodorus Siculus , Strabo ...etc, amongst other writers. In the Hellenistic period , the native Berbers were known collectively as Libyans to the Greco-Roman world, a Greek term for the inhabitants of the Maghreb, they Identified the Massylii , the Masaessyli , the Gaetuli , The phareusiens and the Mauri . The libyans were believers of an ancestral religion known as Numitheism . The Libyans were known far and wide as glorious warriors with extra-ordinary physical strength, they were efficient in battle and were an effective force when combined with an army, they were either employed as mercenaries or were made part of an army as
21128-660: The western Mediterranean". Some of Ulysses's adventures reappear in the Arabic tales of Sinbad the Sailor . The Irish writer James Joyce 's modernist novel Ulysses (1922) was significantly influenced by the Odyssey . Joyce had encountered the figure of Odysseus in Charles Lamb 's Adventures of Ulysses , an adaptation of the epic poem for children, which seems to have established the Latin name in Joyce's mind. Ulysses,
21280-460: The world and unable to return home. After leaving Calypso's island, the poet describes Odysseus' encounters with the Phaeacians—those who "convoy without hurt to all men" —which represents his transition from not returning home to returning home. Also, during Odysseus' journey, he encounters many beings that are close to the gods. These encounters are useful in understanding that Odysseus is in
21432-499: Was Greek before it was Roman. It was also known as Pentapolis , the "five cities" being Cyrene (near the village of Shahat) with its port of Apollonia (Marsa Susa), Arsinoe (Tocra), Berenice (Benghazi) and Barca (Merj). From the oldest and most famous of the Greek colonies , the fertile coastal plain took the name of Cyrenaica. These five cities were also known as the Western Pentapolis ; not to be confused with
21584-607: Was a sportsman who was passionate about horseback riding. He owned a stud farm of purebred horses. Around 168 BC or 164 BC, he won a gold medal for his people in Numidia at the Athens Hippodrome at the Panathenaic Games in the prestigious horse-drawn chariot racing event. In Pseudo-Apollodorus , the Greeks proceeded to write of Hyperborea as a place that existed in ancient Libya somewhere within or between
21736-617: Was an ancestor of this tribe. He writes that the Berbers add an "a" and "t" to the name for the plural forms. Subsequently, it became rendered as Lwat . Conversely, the Arabs adopted the name as a singular form, adding an "h" for the plural form in Arabic. Ibn Khaldun disagrees with Ibn Hazam , who claimed, mostly on the basis of Berber sources, that the Lwatah, in addition to the Sadrata and
21888-521: Was assumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus had to contend with a group of unruly suitors who were competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The Odyssey was originally composed in Homeric Greek in around the 8th or 7th century BC and, by the mid-6th century BC, had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity , Homer's authorship of the poem was not questioned, but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes that
22040-488: Was attributed to Seth, the spirit of evil who according to Egyptian tradition governed the central deserts of Africa. In the Black Pyramid of Abusir , dating before 2000 BC, Gaston Maspero found some pieces of iron. In the funeral text of Pepi I , the metal is mentioned. A sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in
22192-400: Was cheaper, stronger and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. In Central and Western Europe, the Iron Age lasted from c. 800 BC to c. 1 BC , beginning in pre-Roman Iron Age Northern Europe in c. 600 BC , and reaching Northern Scandinavian Europe about c. 500 BC . The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East
22344-412: Was invented to explain how the creature was so easily blinded. Homecoming (Ancient Greek: νόστος, nostos ) is a central theme of the Odyssey . Anna Bonafazi of the University of Cologne writes that, in Homer, nostos is "return home from Troy, by sea". Agatha Thornton examines nostos in the context of characters other than Odysseus, in order to provide an alternative for what might happen after
22496-449: Was produced in southern India, by what would later be called the crucible technique . In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. The protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 BC to 600 BC. Radiocarbon evidence has been collected from Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya . The Anuradhapura settlement
22648-416: Was seduced by her. They remained with her for one year. Finally, guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead . Odysseus summoned the spirit of the prophet Tiresias and was told that he may return home if he is able to stay himself and his crew from eating the sacred livestock of Helios on
22800-458: Was somewhat delayed, and Northern Europe was not reached until about the start of the 5th century BC (500 BC). The Iron Age in India is stated as beginning with the ironworking Painted Grey Ware culture , dating from the 15th century BC , through to the reign of Ashoka in the 3rd century BC . The term "Iron Age" in the archaeology of South, East, and Southeast Asia is more recent and less common than for Western Eurasia. Africa did not have
22952-451: Was the case with Numidian Cavalry in the ranks of both Roman Empire and Ancient Carthage , they completely overturned the tide of battle in Cannae for Hannibal and Battle of Zama for Scipio Africanus , Virgil speaks of the Libyans in this way: "The surrounding lands are Libyan , a race unbeatable in war" After the Egyptians, the Greeks; Romans; and Byzantines mentioned various other tribes in Libya. Later tribal names differ from
23104-416: Was used in Libya was mostly a funerary script . It is difficult to understand, and there are a number of variations. Ibn Khaldun divided the Berbers into the Batr and the Baranis . Herodotus divided them into Eastern Libyans and Western Libyans . Eastern Libyans were nomadic shepherds east of Lake Tritonis . Western Libyans were sedentary farmers who lived west of Lake Tritonis. At one point,
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