Study Guide: ​
The Odyssey
​ame: __________________________ N
Date: ________________ Period: ____ Directions: ​
Answer in complete sentences; any answer that is not a complete sentence will be marked wrong. Please note that some of the answers can be found in the italicized synopses and in the definitions to the side. Book I: ​
A Goddess Intervenes​
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Class Packet, p. 371 1. What is a muse? 2. What does this tell us about what happens to Odysseus’ men? 3. What did Odysseus’ men do to make this happen to them? 4. Who is the muse’s father? 5. Who is the beautiful nymph who wanted to keep Odysseus in the caves on her island? 6. Who is the one god who did not pity or help Odysseus? 7. Who is Telemachus? 8. Who is Penelope? 9. What has Telemachus been doing? 10. What has Odysseus spent the last ten years doing? Book V: ​
Calypso, The Sweet Nymph​
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Class Packet 11. Where did Odysseus spend seven of those ten years? 12. Why has Hermes arrived on Calypso’s island? 13. What does Odysseus do each day on Calypso’s island? 14. What food and drink keep the gods immortal? 15. What does Calypso do to help Odysseus leave (as ordered by Hermes)? pg. 1 16. Odysseus’ raft is destroyed by a storm and he must swim to an island. Which god do you think caused the storm and why? Book IX: ​
New Coasts and Poseidon’s Son ​
pg. 372­373 ​
17. On whose island does the shipwrecked Odysseus land? 18. How did the people of ancient Greece feel about guests? How did they treat them? 19. Of whom is Odysseus the guest? 20. Who is Laertes’ son? 21. Where is Odysseus’ home? 22. Aside from Calypso, Who else wants to keep Odysseus for her own? 23. What does Odysseus think is the sweetest thing in the world? 24. What is Troy? 25. When Odysseus and his men first leave Troy, they land at Ismaros, the land of the Cicones. What do Odysseus and his men do to the Cicones? 26. What do the Cicones do to Odysseus’ men? The Lotus Eaters​
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pg. 373 27. Which God causes a storm that veers Odysseus and his men off course? 28. For how many days did Odysseus’ ships drift in the sea? 29. Where do Odysseus and his men land? 30. What happens to the three men that Odysseus sends to find out about the people of that land? pg. 2 31. What effect does eating the lotus flower have on a person? The Cyclops ​
pg. 374­385 1. Describe the race of the Cyclops 2. What seems to be the occupation of the Cyclops Odysseus observes? 3. What does Odysseus compare this Cyclops to? 4. Odysseus brings 12 of his best men with him. What else does he bring? 5. What do they find in the Cyclops’ cave, and what do Odysseus’ men want to do with it? 6. Why does Odysseus refuse to let his men do this? 7. What animals does the Cyclops care for? 8. How does the Cyclops close his cave? 9. What does Odysseus say about Agamemnon? Why do you think he mentions this? 10. Why do you think Odysseus reminds the cyclops of the Greek custom to honor and take care of guests? 11. What does the Cyclops say about Zeus and the gods? What reason does he give for this? 12. What does Odysseus tell the Cyclops happened to his ship? Why does he say this? 13. Odysseus is about to stab the Cyclops with his sword after the cyclops has eaten two of his men. Why does he stop? 14. What weapon do Odysseus and his men make to defeat the Cyclops? 15. What drink does Odysseus give the Cyclops and why? 16. What does Odysseus tell the Cyclops his name is? pg. 3 17. What gift does the Cyclops promise Odysseus since Odysseus told him his name? 18. What do Odysseus and his men do to the spike they carved before they stab it in Polyphemus’ eye? 19. What is the Cyclops name? 20. Why don’t other Cyclops come to help the blinded Cyclops? 21. Who is Polyphemus’ father? 22. What is Odysseus’ plan for his men and him to escape from the Cyclops’ cave? 23. What is being personified on line 347? 24. What did Odysseus and his men steal from Polyphemus? 25. Once Odysseus and his men make it back to the ship, what does Odysseus shout to Polyphemus? 26. What does Polyphemus do in response to Odysseus’ taunts? 27. Odysseus then shouts to the Cyclops that if anyone asks what happened to his eye, he should say: 28. Polyphemus responds that a prophet told him: 29. To which god does Polyphemus pray to ask that all Odysseus’ companions be killed? Book X: ​
Circe, the Grace of the Witch​
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pg. 386­388 30. What does King Aeolus do for Odysseus as a favor? 31. What error do Odysseus’ men make that drives their ship back to Aeolia? 32. Who were the Laestrygonians? 33. Who/what survives the Laestrygonian attack? pg. 4 34. Where does Circe live? 35. What animals does Circe keep in her house? 36. What does Homer compare those animals to? 37. What is Circe doing when the men first see and hear her? Why do you think she is doing this? 38. Which of the 23 men Odysseus sent to explore refuses to enter Circe’s house because he fears a trap? 39. What does Circe do to the remaining 22 men? 40. What does Odysseus have to help him resist Circe and who gave it to him? 41. What does Circe tell Odysseus he must do alone before he can return home? Book XI: ​
The Land of the Dead​
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pg. 388­391 1. What does Odysseus do to honor Tiresias? 2. How did Elpenor die? 3. What does Elpenor request that Odysseus do for him when he returns to Aeaea? 4. Tiresias warns Odysseus that his journey home will be filled with anguish because this god is mad with him: 5. What does Tiresias prophesize will happen to Odysseus’ men after landing on the island of Thrinacia? 6. What does Tiresias prophesize Odysseus will find when he returns home to Ithaca? 7. Where does Tiresias say Odysseus must travel to make a sacrifice? 8. What is a hekatomb? pg. 5 9.
How does Tiresias prophesize Odysseus will die? 10. Odysseus also sees his dead mother in the underworld. How did she die? Book XII: ​
The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis ​
pg. 392­398 ​
11. Where do the men sail after leaving the land of the dead? 12. Name the four things Circe warns Odysseus about: a. b. c. d. 13. Who are the Sirens and what do they do? 14. To make it past the Sirens, what does Circe tell Odysseus he must do? 15. The Sirens are harpies which are: 16. What does Scylla look like? 17. What does Scylla sound like? 18. What are the consequences of sailing too close to Scylla? 19. What is Charybdis? 20. What is the consequence of sailing too close to Charybdis? 21. What is Circe’s advice about how to navigate through the strait of Scylla and Charybdis? 22. Who owns the cattle on the island of Thrinacia? 23. What does Circe say will happen to Odysseus’ men if they do anything to the cattle? 24. What does Odysseus do to keep his men from hearing the Sirens? pg. 6 25. What do Odysseus’ men do when he hears the Sirens and orders them to untie him? 26. Why doesn’t Odysseus tell his men what will happen to them when they go by Scylla? 27. Charybdis spits up water and then sucks it back down. What is the water like when she spits it up? 28. What does Odysseus compare his men who are being eaten by Scylla to? 29. What is this type of simile called? (see your Odyssey introduction packet if you don’t remember) Study Guide: ​
The Odyssey ​
Part II Part II: The Homecoming pg. 7 Book XVI: ​
Father and Son​
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Class Packet 1. Athena advises Odysseus to go to Ithaca in disguise. What does Odysseus disguise himself as? 2. Who is Eumaeus? 3. Explain what the suitors are doing: 4. How does the swineherd react when Telemachus returns? 5. How long has it been since Odysseus has seen his son? 6. What has Penelope been doing, according to Eumaeus? 7. How do Telemachus and Eumaeus treat the disguised Odysseus? 8. How does Athena change Odysseus’ appearance? 9. Who does Telemachus think Odysseus is after this change? 10. How do Telemachus and Odysseus react when they realize they are father and son? Book XVII: ​
The Beggar at the Manor​
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pg. 401­402 11. Who is Argos? 12. How does Argos recognize Odysseus? 13. How does Eumaeus describe Odysseus? 14. What happens to Argos? Book XXI: ​
The Test of the Bow​
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pg. 403­407 15. The first paragraph of this section (lines 1­15) is filled with imagery. What does Homer have us see, smell and hear? pg. 8 16. Describe the contest Penelope sets up for the suitors: 17. Which two men does Odysseus say prayed for him to return from the war? 18. What does he promise these men if they help him fight the suitors? 19. How does Odysseus prove to the old men that he is actually Odysseus? 20. Explain how Odysseus plans to kill the suitors: 21. List all of the sound imagery found in lines 105­116: Book XXII: ​
Death in the Great Hall​
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pg. 408­412 1. Which of the suitors does Odysseus kill first? 2. Explain the deal Eurymachus tries to make with Odysseus: 3. Do you think Eurymachus is a good leader? Explain: 4. How has the battle with the suitors taken on epic proportions? 5. What does Telemachus offer to get for his father? 6. Who else joins the battle? 7. Which god/goddess is helping Odysseus? 8. What are Odysseus and his men compared to as they kill the suitors? Book XXIII: ​
The Trunk of the Olive Tree ​
pg. 413­416 ​
9. How does Athena change Odysseus’ appearance? pg. 9 10. Why doesn’t Penelope seem happy that her husband is home? 11. Explain how Penelope tests to see if the strange man is really Odysseus: 12. How does Odysseus prove to Penelope that it is really him? 13. Odysseus is mad that Penelope tested him. What is her explanation for doing so? 14. What do we learn about Penelope’s morals from this? 15. Odysseus’ longing for his wife is compared to what? 16. Where does Odysseus journey after reuniting with his wife? 17. How is the conflict finally ended? pg. 10