| Why does Odysseus want to remain in the cave until the owner (the cyclopes) comes home? | He wants to remain in the house because he is curious about who the owner is because of the size of the cave and the things inside. |
| Why does Odysseus lie to the cyclopes and say his ship was destroyed. | He lies about this information because he wants to protect his comrades on the other ship. He also didn’t want the cyclopes to search for the other men. |
| Odysseus compares Polyphemus to what large natural object? | A brute. |
| Why doesn’t Odysseus stab Polyphemus the first night while he sleeps? | Odysseus doesn’t stab Polyphemus on the first night because he needed to create a plan to get the cyclops drunk enough to let his guard down and he also needed to establish his name as Nobody. In naming himself Nobody, he made it impossible for Polyphemus to pray to Poseidon against him. But when Odysseus yells his real name at Polyphemus, he is in trouble because now Polyphemus knows Odysseus’s name and can now tell Poseidon who to curse. |
| What “noble” gift does Polyphemus offer Odysseus for telling him his name? | He says that he will eat him last. |
| Why can’t Polyphemus get the other Cyclopes to help him? | Polyphemus is unable to receive the aid of the other Cyclopes because Polyphemus yells “Nobody! Nobody’s trying to kill me!”. |
| Why can’t Odysseus and his men easily escape from the blinded Polyphemus? | They can’t easily escape from Polyphemus because Polyphemus is sitting in front of the door making it impossible for something to get through without him knowing. |
| What plan does Odysseus devise to escape the cave? | They tied themselves beneath lambs so that as they tried to get through the opening, Polyphemus would feel that they were lambs and not notice the rope tied around it and the people beneath because of the thickness of a lamb’s fur. |
| Why does Homer have Polyphemus stop the large ram Odysseus hides under and talks to the sheep? What effects does this have on the reader? | Homer has Polyphemus stop the large ram Odysseus is hiding under because it makes the reader feel remorse for Polyphemus and it also creates suspense for the reader on weather Odysseus is going to be caught. |
| What two mistakes does Odysseus make as he is escaping from Polyphemus? | Odysseus makes the mistake of telling Polyphemus his real name and he makes the mistake of taunting the cyclops. |
| What are the results of each his two mistakes?(one is the “curse”-explain it) | The result of the taunting conducted by Odysseus was rocks being hurled his way by Polyphemus. The result of him yelling his name at Polyphemus is Polyphemus praying to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus. The curse says that Odysseus will not reach his home and if the gods wish for him to reach his home, he should suffer along the way and should arrive to bad fortune at his home. |
| What does Polyphemus reveal about prior knowledge concerning his wounded eye? | Polyphemus revealed that he was told by a prophet that his sight would be robbed by a man named Odysseus. |
| Book ten has three settings, what are they? | The three setting in book ten are Aelia, the Laestrygonian island, and the Circes island. |
| Describe the first location? | The first location, Aelia is an island walled around by bronze. The king of this island was named King Aeolus and the gods had made him the lord of the winds. This king had twelve perfect sons and daughters, these sons and daughters inter married each other and they feast all day inside their bronze palace. |
| What gift does Odysseus receive from the king? What happens to it? | The gift Odysseus received from the king as described by Odysseus: “He captured the winds and bound them up in a great bag made from the hide of a full-grown ox, sealing the neck tight with wire so nothing could escape. But he left the west wind free to blow us straight on our course for home.” Jealous of what they think is a bag full of money Odysseus is keeping all form himself, they open it while Odysseus is sleeping and it releases all the winds and blows them all the way back to the palace of the king, Aeolia, from which they received the bag. |
| Why does the king refuse to help Odysseus the second time around? | He refuses to help them once more because he states,”the gods must truly despise you, and I will not go against their will.” |
| Who are the Laestrygonians and what are peculiar about them? | The people of Laestrygonia are very large compared to Odysseus’s men based on one lady they run into. When Odysseus and his men attempt to meet with the king and his kingdom, their reception is guided with savageness and beastlike behavior. |
| Who escapes from them? | When Odysseus and his men are driven out of Laestrygonia, all of his boats of men are killed off except for him and his boat. |
| The animals in front of Circe’s house scare the men. Why? | The animals scare the men because they are dangerous animals acting like domesticated pets rather than wild animals. |
| Who suggests that they announce themselves? | Polites suggests that the men announce themselves to Circes. |
| Who “fears a snare” and does not enter the house of Circe’s home? | Eurylochus is skeptical and stays outside and observes. |
| What happens to the men who do enter? | The men who enter Circe’s house gets turned into pigs by eating her food. |
| How is Odysseus able to resist Circe’s magic? | He is able to resist the magic of Circe by eating an herb that Hermes administers outside of Circe’s house. |
| Where is Odysseus headed at the end of book ten? | Odysseus is headed to the land of the dead. |
| What promises does Odysseus make to the dead? | For the breathless dead he will sacrifice his best cow once he gets to Ithaca |
| What does he specifically promise Tresias? | For Tiresias he will sacrifice his best looking black lamb. |
| What are Odysseus and his men not to do when they land on Thrinacia? | They are told not to eat the cattle of Helios when they land on Thrinakia. |
| What will be the result if they don’t resist temptation in Thrinakia? | If they do not resist the temptation in Thrinakia, then their ship and crew will be destroyed and Odysseus will suffer long years at sea. Tiresias goes on to explain that Odysseus will return at last, but under a strange sail, unrecognized at home, and his palace will be overrun by enemies – suitors who seek to eat up his flocks and claim his wife. |
| What will Odysseus have to do when he returns home? | He must kill the suitors/put his house in order in his palace and then he must take his oar with him and travel inland until he reaches a country where men know nothing of ships or the sea. He will know he’s reached the place when a stranger asks him what is on his shoulder (an oar) and thinks it a flail or some tool for threshing grain. |
| Odysseus is to make a sacrifice to whom? | He is to make a sacrifice to Lord Poseidon. |
| How does Odysseus finally die? | If he makes the sacrifice to Lord Poseidon, then death will come upon him peacefully in old age, with his loved ones around him. |
| What threat do the sirens pose? | Their sweet song lures sailors to certain doom |
| What is Odysseus instructed to do to keep his men safe? | He is to plug his crew ears with beeswax and tell them to row on without stopping. |
| How is Odysseus supposed to endure their calls? | He is to be tied firmly to the mast. He tells his men that if he cries out for release, they must only bind him tighter. |
| Why wouldn’t Odysseus do the same thing to keep himself safe? | Because he was curious to see what the temptation was an if it was really that bad. |
| Describe Charybdis. What are the consequences of an encounter with her (she is considered a monster)? | “Right after steering clear of the steep, mist-shrouded mountain, you will find a headlant. On that headland, you will see an olive tree growing, and below it the sucking mouth called Charybdis. Three times each day the sea is swallowed down into this pit, and then vomited forth in a streaming geyser,” says Circe. If Odysseus and his crew go that way, their ship will surely be pulled down and broken into splinters. |
| Describe Scylla. What are the consequences of an encounter with her? | She is a six-headed monster who lives high up on the rocky cliff on the island with the tree on its headland. She is above the reach of the strongest bowshot but her long necks can reach down all the way to the sea to snatch up dolphins, seals, and fish who swim below. |
| What is ultimately the result of their passage through this straight? | six of his men are snatched away since the monster has six heads but the rest of the crew rowed for their lives and escaped with their ship intact. |
| What is the island where Helios cattle live called? | Thrinakia |
| To whom is Odysseus speaking to at the bottom of the second frame on page 142? | Alcinoos |
| What traps Odysseus and his men on the Sun God’s island? | The fact that his men are tired and they want to rest and they (his menz) are attracted to the cattle of Helios. |
| Briefly describe Eurylochus’ plan? | He tells the other members of the crew we’re gonna die no matter what because by that time they were almost starved to the point of death. So, he says why don’t we die in a good way and eat the cattle of Helios so we won’t be hungry. And if it really is gonna curse us, then so be it, we were gonna die either way. |
| What happens to Odysseus’ crew after they leave the island? | As Odysseus requested, Zeus strikes down his ship drowning all of the crew members except Odysseus. |
| What happens to Odysseus? | He is the only one on the ship who survives. Exhausted and nearly drowned, he makes his way to Calypso’s island. |
The Odyssey Books 1-12
April 20, 2020