ODYSSEY STUDY GUIDE excerpts from The Odyssey by Homer What are the characteristics of an EPIC POEM? What are the characteristics of an EPIC HERO? How were EPIC POEMS told? By whom? What memory tricks did these people use? What spiritual/religious beliefs guided the ancient Greeks? Describe the role of family, especially wives, homes and children, in ancient Greek culture. Other notes/observations: 1
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS BOOK I: INVOCATION (p 895 in the Orange Book) 1. Who does Homer say he is relying on to help him tell the story of The Odyssey? 2. Odysseus could not save his men by or by. 3. What SPECIFIC reckless behavior killed the last of his men? What god was responsible for their death? 4. Who held Odysseus captive for seven years? REFLECT After reading this short section on your own, how well do you feel you understand the reading? I understood it perfectly. I could take a quiz on this tomorrow and pass with flying colors. I could find the answers to the questions, but that doesn t mean I understood it! I couldn t even begin to answer the questions, and I d never understand it in a million years without some additional help. IX: NEW COASTS & POSIEDON S SON (p 896 in the Orange Book) 5. What was the effect of the Lotus plant? 6. How heavy is the door of the Cyclops cave (be as specific as the book is)? 7. What is the first villainous thing the Cyclops does? 8. Why doesn t Odysseus kill the Cyclops when he has the chance? 9. What does Odysseus give the Cyclops as a gift? 10. What gift does the Cyclops give in return? 11. What does Odysseus tell the Cyclops that his name is? 2
12. How do Odysseus and his men sneak out of the Cyclops cave? Give ALL the details. 13. What foolish thing does Odysseus do once they ve escaped from the cave? 14. What did a soothsayer/wizard once predict would happen to the Cyclops? Be specific. 15. What does the Cyclops ask his father Poseidon to do for him? OR REFLECT After having this longer section read aloud in class with pictures answer the following questions: How well did you understand the reading? I understood it perfectly. I could take a quiz on this tomorrow and pass with flying colors. I could find the answers to the questions, but that doesn t mean I understood it! I couldn t even begin to answer the questions, and nothing we did in class helped me at all. I was absent so much that I m feeling lost right now. Now that you ve tried both a personal, quiet reading approach and an oral, whole-class approach to the text, which approach would you prefer in reading The Odyssey excerpts? I d like to be let alone to read quietly and answer questions. I d like to hear the story as it was intended out loud with embellishments. BOOK X: GRACE OF THE WITCH (p 916 in the Orange Book) 16. Who is the god of wind? 17. What favor does he do for Odysseus and his men? 18. What stupid mistake do some of the men make on the ship? 19. How do even more men die after the bag accident? 3
20. What does Circe do to some of Odysseus s men? 21. How does Odysseus get her to release his men? 22. When Odysseus asks Circe to send them home, what does she tell him he must do first? 23. BOOK XII: SEA PERILS & DEFEAT (p 928 in the Orange Book) 24. Why should Odysseus be wary of the Sirens? 25. What should he and his men do to keep safe from the Sirens? 26. Describe Scylla use all the details the book does! 27. What will Charybdis do if Odysseus s ship gets too close? 28. What does Odysseus keep secret from his men? 29. Describe the circumstances of the rest of Odysseus s shipmates deaths. Is it Odysseus s fault? BOOK XXI: THE TEST OF THE BOW (p 944 in the Orange Book) 30. Whom does Odysseus trust to help him defeat the suitors? 31. How does Odysseus prove his identity to them? 32. Why don t the men want Odysseus to try and string the bow? 4
33. Why does Eurymachus curse this day? 34. What big, major Greek cultural law does Antinous break? 35. What is the dramatic irony in Queen Penelope s speech to Antinous (p. 950)? 36. What breaks the tension in the room? 37. Odysseus strings the bow just like a strings a. 38. What sign does Zeus give at the moment Odysseus strings the bow? 39. What does Odysseus prove about his abilities when he shoots the arrow through the axeheads? Why is that important in this situation? Note: he hasn t specifically proven his identity yet. BOOK XXII: DEATH IN THE GREAT HALL (p 955 in the Orange Book) 40. Whom does Odysseus kill first? How? Why? 41. How does Eurymachos plead his case with Odysseus? 42. How does Amphinomous die? 43. What does Telemachus do for his father when it seems hopeless? 44. Who finally helps Odysseus to win the battle with the suitors? BOOK XXIII: THE TRUNK OF THE OLIVE TREE (p 8 in this packet & p 961 in the Orange Book) 45. Describe ALL of the specific changes that Athena makes to Odysseus s appearance. Use Odysseus Before and After attached to this packet, page 8. 5
46. At the end of Odysseus Before and After, Homer uses another one of those epic similes as Athena is making Odysseus handsome again. The comparison is that Athena makes Odysseus beautiful just like a makes a beautiful by infusing onto it. 47. How does Penelope test Odysseus? Why does she test him? 48. Penelope is says the gods have denied her what two things? 49. Book 23 closes with an EPIC epic simile. Odysseus has been longing for his wife just like what? Be as specific as possible use the details the book uses. 6
QUOTE COLLECTING As we read excerpts from The Odyssey, keep track of quotes from the book that indicate what kind of person Odysseus is is he a mighty hero? Or is he just a big arrogant jerk? or Jerk? Hero? Hero Quotes Book & Line # Jerk Quotes Book & Line # 7
ODYSSEUS BEFORE & AFTER Shrugging off his rags... (he fights and kills all the suitors and hangs the unfaithful maids, then presents himself to his wife, Penelope) She, for a long time, sat deathly still in wonderment for sometimes as she gazed she found him yes, clearly like her husband, but sometimes blood and rags were all she saw. (Telemachus gives his mom a hard time for being so hard-hearted) Peace: let your mother test me at her leisure. Before long she will see and know me best. These tatters, dirt all that I m caked with now make her look hard at me and doubt me still... (Odysseus, the cowheard and the swineherd and Telemachus go to bathe; this is where it picks up in the orange book, but it s included here as the after picture ) Greathearted Odysseus, home at last, was being bathed now by Eurynome and rubbed with golden oil, and clothed again in a fresh tunic and a cloak. Athena lent him beauty, head to foot. She made him taller, and massive, too, with crisping hair in curls like petals of wild hyacinth but all red-golden. Think of gold infused on silver by a craftsman, whose fine art Hephaestus taught him, or Athena: one whose work moves to delight: just so she lavished beauty over Odysseus head and shoulders. 8