The Odyssey Study Guide #1
Name ____________________________Period ________
Calypso, the Sweet Nymph (p. 891-893)
1. Who is Hermes and what is his mission?
2. Who is holding Odysseus “captive?”
3. What is her reaction to having to let Odysseus go?
4. What is the main problem Odysseus faces while traveling by sea?
I am Laertes’ Son (p. 895-898)
5. What does King Alcinous do for Odysseus before asking him who he is?
6. What happens when the sailors meet the Cicones?
7. What ritual do Odysseus’s men perform for those who died at the hands of the Cicones?
The Lotus Eaters (p. 898)
8. What happens when the sailors meet with the lotus eaters?
9. What does Odysseus do to remove the men from the lotus eater’s island?
12. What does the Cyclops think of Odysseus’s request?
13. Why does Odysseus not kill the Cyclops after his men are killed?
14. Why do you think after reading lines 270-295 that the Cyclops attacked and ate Odysseus’s men?
15. How does Odysseus escape from the Cyclops? Review pages 904-906.
16. What is important about the olive pole Odysseus uses?
17. What is important in terms of Greek excellence to how Odysseus escapes the Cyclops?
18. After escaping the Cyclops what does Odysseus do?
19. What does the Cyclops say at the end of page 908 and the top of page 909?
The Odyssey Study Guide #2
Name ____________________________Period ________
The Witch Circe (p. 911-913)
1. What is strange about Circe’s house to Odysseus’s men?
2. What does Circe serve to Odysseus’s men and then what does she do to them?
3. What is important about Circe’s lack of hospitality?
4. Who helps Odysseus on page 913?
5. Where must Odysseus go and whom must he speak with to receive help in returning home?
The Land of the Dead (p. 914-915)
6. What is different about the dead Odysseus sees compared to our concept of death?
7. What is Teiresias’s prophecy for Odysseus and his men?
8. Does Odysseus heed the warnings of Teiresias?
9. What does Circe warn Odysseus about when he returns from the land of the dead?
The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis (p. 916-922)
12. Why do you think Odysseus doesn’t tell his crew about the peril his men will face with Helios’s cattle?
13. How does Odysseus protect his men from the sirens? Does he do the same to himself?
14. Why does Odysseus rally his men on page 920, lines 773-779?
15. Describe the peril Odysseus faces with Scylla and Charybdis. Is this truly being stuck between “a rock and a hard place?”
16. Do you agree with Odysseus in line 831 that this was the worst suffering he had seen in his travels? Why or why not?
The Cattle of the Sun God (p. 916-922)
17. What does Odysseus warn his men in lines 853-858?
18. What is Eurylochus trying to convince the other men to do in lines 880-894? Is he driven by hunger or by mutiny?
19. In those same lines, what is worse to Eurylochus—death by the gods or death by starvation?
The Odyssey Study Guide #3
Name ____________________________Period ________
Part Two: Coming Home Introduction (p. 928)
1. Who appears to Odysseus and what is the suggestion given to him?
2. To whose hut does Odysseus and in what disguise?
3. How long has Odysseus been away from his home and his son?
The Meeting of Father and Son (p. 929-931)
4. What is the swineherd’s reaction to seeing Odysseus’s son Telemachus?
5. What Greek tradition is reinforced in lines 980-990? Examine the way they treat Odysseus as a beggar?
6. Who does Telemachus feel will abuse Odysseus the beggar?
7. Who changes Odysseus from beggar to his youthful self?
8. What is Telemachus’s reaction to his father?
11. Find the simile in the passage in 1029-35. Why is that a good term to refer to Telemachus and his father Odysseus’s problems?
The Beggar and the Faithful Dog (p. 932-933)
12. Who recognizes Odysseus even though he has disguised himself as a beggar?
13. What is important about how Odysseus’s dog has been treated to Odysseus’s home life now?
14. What are Odysseus’s feelings about his dog? What does it tell us about Odysseus as a person?
15. Find the irony on page 932 lines 1062 to 1065.
16. What is important about the lines “slaves without a master” at 1072-1076?
17. Read the italics on 933; describe Penelope’s actions toward the beggar?
18. Read the italics on page 934. What is Odysseus’s plan?
19. What is Penelope’s reaction to hearing that Odysseus has been seen in his travels by the “beggar?”
The Odyssey Study Guide #4
Name ____________________________Period ________
The Test of the Great Bow (p. 936-940)
1. What is Penelope’s plan to test the suitors?
2. Read lines 1082 to 1096. Why does Homer use the imagery he does to describe where Odysseus’s bow is kept?
3. After seeing the bow, what is Penelope’s reaction?
4. Read lines 1109 to 1114. What is important about Penelope’s words to the suitors?
5. Are the suitors able to pull the bow? Why not?
6. Why does Odysseus question the servants about their reaction to Odysseus returning home?
7. Who does Odysseus think will help him defeat the suitors?
8. Do the suitors want Odysseus to try the bow? Why or why not?
9. Why does Odysseus order the women locked in their room?
12. What god does Odysseus ask for help with in attacking the suitors?
Death at the Palace (p. 941-943)
13. Describe the death of Antinous. Why is he killed first?
14. Read lines 1250 to 1255. Describe Odysseus’s attitude at this point.
15. Why does Eurymachus speak so highly of Odysseus in lines 1261-1280.
16. What is Odysseus’s response to his speech?
17. What is important about Athena’s shield Aegis being used by Odysseus?
Odysseus and Penelope (p. 944-947)
18. What do Odysseus and Telemachus do to the maids?
19. Does Penelope believe Odysseus has returned, or does she believe something else?
