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The Epic

Classification

Iliad

Menis—song of wrath

Odyssey

Tradition of the epic of return (nostos). The story of the romance of a hero escaping incredible perils and arriving in the nick of time to reclaim his bride—a master of the house coming back to reclaim his own.

Aeneid

Develops the theme of return into one or rebirth; the end in New Troy becomes the starting point renewed and transformed by the hero’s quest.

Christian Epic

Carries the same themes into a wide archetypal context; the action of the Bible includes the themes of the three great classical epics: theme of destruction and captivity of the city (Troy) in the Iliad; the theme of the return in the Odyssey; the theme of building a new city in the Aeneid. Adam is like Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas—a man of wrath, exiled from home because he angered God by going beyond his limit as a man. A provocation against God is the eating of food reserved for the deity. As with Odysseus, Adam’s return home is contingent on appeasing of divine wrath by divine wisdom.