Several years ago, there was a school assignment given to me and my classmates. The assignment? To design and create a cardboard standee for the ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey . The story follows Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman Mythology) on his journey back home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. The assignment was to design a standee for Odysseus, who is the main character of The Odyssey. The poem itself follows The Odyssey as it describes his journey home after ten years of fighting in the Trojan War.
The poem becomes full-fledged when Odysseus returns home, only to find out his beloved wife Penelope is being courted by many other Greek kings and Princes. The poem also discusses how she deals with her suitors while tending to Odysseus’ neglected farmlands. After much struggle, this eventually results in the death of all the suitors, ending with Penelope choosing to stay married to Odysseus because he deserves her loyalty more than any other man who has approached her. The Odyssey follows her journey as well, even though it is not the focal point of the poem.
The main idea for my standee was to show Odysseus’ journey back home after The Trojan War. The fact that The Odyssey is written in Homeric Greek only made the assignment more interesting because I had no clue what these poems were about. The reason why I chose The Odyssey specifically was because there are many books and movies based on this epic poem, so I already knew some of its story beforehand which gave me a head start on my project. The first thing I did for this standee was create a basic sketch of the scene that would be taking place, without any details included whatsoever.
Afterward, I started developing The Odyssey scene by sketching out The Odyssey characters’ bodies and clothing styles. The Odyssey characters were considered “mythic” because The Odyssey is an ancient poem, so I wanted to model their clothing styles after The Roman version of The Odyssey . After I completed my sketches, I began to create pieces of cardboard that would act as the standee’s frame. Once The frame was created, It was time to cutout The characters’ shapes onto The cardboard pieces. When cutting them out, making them slightly oversized allowed me room to refine the sizes with sandpaper.
Next, I added small details like wrinkles and creases in order to make the standee look more realistic through shading. The reason why this is crucial is because it gives The characters The sense that they’re not flat cardboard cutouts. Once The details were done, The standee was starting to look like The Odyssey characters. The final step was painting The board pieces with brown cardboard paint in order to turn The board pieces into the color of dirt and mud because The Odyssey takes place during The Trojan War.
This gives The strip of dirt even more life because it makes The entire scene feel like Ithaca (the setting) by adding an element found in The story (dirt). Finally after many hours of crafting and painting, my standee for Odysseus’ journey back home was complete! It was time to share it with the class, which is When I took all these pictures to show you now. The process of creating The Odyssey standee was extremely fun, and I enjoyed The challenge it gave me. The project itself may have been difficult, but The results are definitely rewarding. The result is The strip of dirt that makes the entire scene seem more realistic.
As one can see in The final product shown at The end of this article, the amount of detail that was put into it made The standee almost come to life! Everyone who saw my standee told me how much effort I put into designing it because It looked like a professionally-made design for The Odyssey characters. Even though I didn’t win any awards for my work, I still felt accomplished knowing that people were impressed by it enough to want to know how I did it. The reason why I’m sharing The process of creating The Odyssey standee is because The design might be useful to someone who wants to make their own Odyssey standee for The classroom.
The poem begins with the fall of Troy at the end of the Trojan War and follows Odysseus on his journey home to Ithaca. The true theme is not just about Odysseus’ adventures, but also how he learns that being virtuous is more important than gaining material goods or achieving glory. The Odyssey can be seen as an introduction to ancient Greek literature and culture. The story is told through many different characters so each audience member can relate to their own role in it.
The main themes are mostly carried out through travelers who visit foreign lands where they learn about themselves and others them during times of war or peace. The Odyssey was written as a sequel to The Iliad, another Greek epic that Homer wrote about the Trojan War. The story of The Odyssey begins where The Iliad ends, on the battlefield at Troy after Odysseus had slain Hector, Hectors’ brother Paris slays Achilles, and the Greeks have begun looting the spoils of war.
The first ten years of The Odyssey are spent telling of Odysseus’ journey home from Troy. A Trojan Horse is used to gain entry into their city which ultimately leads to their defeat by the Greeks. The capture of Helen, wife of Menelaus leader of Sparta, made Helen one of the most wanted women in Greece and led up to this great war between the Trojans and Greeks. The war was fought over her.
The Iliad is about this war; The Odyssey is the journey home of one of the soldiers, Odysseus. The Odyssey begins with Athena, who hears a cry for help from Odysseus’ son Telemachus after being shouted at by Penelope’s suitors. The omen represents how Odysseus will cut short what would have otherwise been an eternal punishment for his men on Calypso’s island if they had heeded his warnings not to touch any cows but instead leave them alone as offerings to the gods that abide there.
The theme of wanting material gains that are ultimately unnecessary comes up immediately in Book 1 when his crew obeys the gods and takes the cows but not before eating some of them themselves. The suitors want to take control over Odysseus’ kingdom which includes Penelope, Telemachus, and his father Agamemnon’s old throne. The Odyssey is a story about trials and tribulations; it shows the journeys of many characters who each learn something from their experiences whether it be good or bad, gains or losses.