Western Literature 2016/9/22(Week2)

▲Roman numerals

⨀Roman numerals are based on seven symbols.

symbol	I	V	X	L	C	D	M
value	1	5	10	50	100	500	1000

⨀The numbers 1 to 10 are usually expressed in Roman numerals as follows

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX	X

⨀Don’t need to remember all the Roman numerals. Only need to follow some rules.
Example:

àI placed before V or X indicates one less, so four is IV and nine is IX.
àX placed before L or C indicates ten less, so forty is XL and ninety is XC.

àC placed before D or M indicates a hundred less, so four hundred is CD and nine hundred is CM.

number	4	9	40	90	400	900
notation	IV	IX	XL	XC	CD	CM

⨀Roman numerals’ chart:

⨀Roman numerals use in clock:

▲Helen of Troy

Written By: Ronni Kern
Directed By: John Kent Harrison
Produced By: Ted Kurdyla

Main characters:

cast	character	about the character
Sienna Guillory	Helen	The most beautiful woman in the world and wife of Spartan King Menelaus.
Matthew Marsden	Paris	Youngest son of Priam and also the lost son. His love affair with Helen sparked the Trojan War.
John Rhys-Davies	Priam	King of Troy
Emilia Fox	Cassandra	Princess of Troy
Rufus Sewell	Agamemnon	Mycenaean king and the main antagonist in the movie.
Joe Montana	Achilles	He is shown as an enforcer of Agamemnon and a brute, neither of which he was in the Iliad. In mythology, Achilles never liked Agamemnon and the Mycenaean king nearly lost the Trojan War because of Achilles' feud with him.
Katie Blake	Clytemnestra	Sister of Helen and wife of Agamemnon, she also kills Agamemnon in the final scene which is wrong and this doesn't happen until he sails home where he is then killed by his wife. He also never raped Helen, though it shows this in the movie.

Plot: The abduction of beautiful Helen, wife of Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris of Troy triggers a long war.

▲ Homer’s epic poems

epic poem	about epic poem
Iliad	The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. It tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.The Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege; the earlier events, such as the gathering of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war, and related concerns tend to appear near the beginning.
Odyssey	The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature; the Iliad is the oldest. The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy.

▲Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences.

From its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

▲Definition
⬥lyric: Having the form and musical quality of a song, and especially the character of a songlike outpouring of the poet's own thoughts and feelings, as distinguished from epic and dramatic poetry.
⬥narrative: A story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.