| Epic | A long narrative poem about gods and heroes |
| Suspense | Curiosity or uncertainty about the outcome of a literary work |
| Foreshadowing | The use of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur |
| Moral | A lesson taught by a literary work |
| Myth | A tale that explains the causes of natural events |
| Who told his men not to worry as he hurled insults at the Cyclops? | Odysseus |
| Who are the beautiful creatures that lure sailors to their death while singing to them? | Sirens |
| Who is the monster that lives next to Charybdis and ate 6 men? | Scylla |
| Who locked Odysseus in his house, then threw a mountain at him? | Cyclops |
| Who became angry when his cattle were eaten? | Helios |
| Who sunk Odysseus’ ship because the other gods complained about him? | Zeus |
| Who is the suitor who won’t give Odysseus food? | Antinous |
| Who is Odysseus’s son who fights with him? | Telemachus |
| Who warned Odysseus to tie himself to his mast? | Circes |
| Who had a test that Odysseus had to pass before she’d admit he was her husband? | Penelope |
| Who is the author of The Odyssey? | Homer |
| Where is Odysseus’s home? | Ithaca |
| Who is the seductive nymph who Odysseus stayed with for seven years? | Calypso |
| Who is Odysseus’s father? | Laertes |
| Who is the goddess that protected Odysseus? | Athena |
| Who is the six-headed monster and the whirlpool? | Scylla and Charybdis |
| Who is the god that kept Odysseus from returning home? | Poseidon |
| Who did Homer pray to for inspiration? | Muse |
| Who is Zeus’s winged messenger? | Hermes |
| Who is the blind prophet in the land of the dead? | Tiresias |
| Why is Odysseus sailing around the Mediterranean Sea? How long is he there? | Odysseus is sailing for 10 years around the Mediterranean Sea because he was fighting in the Trojan War. |
| Why does the Cyclops hate Odysseus so much? | The Cyclops hates Odysseus because it is in their nature, and Odysseus stabbed him in the eye. |
| Describe Scylla and Charybdis. | Scylla is a six-headed monster and Charybdis is a sea monster. |
| What happened to Penelope while Odysseus was gone? | Penelope waited for Odysseus to return. She declined the suitors’ requests for marriage. |
| How does Penelope put off the suitors? | She pretends to weave a burial shroud for Laertes. |
| Why does Odysseus hate Antinous? How does he get his revenge? | Odysseus hates Antinous because he was the ringleader among the suitors and was mean to the beggar. Odysseus gets his revenge by killing him. |
| Why doesn’t Penelope recognize Odysseus? | Penelope doesn’t recognize Odysseus because Odysseus was disguised as a beggar, and she thought he could have been an impostor. |
| What is Penelope’s test? How does Odysseus pass? | Penelope made the maid make Odysseus’s bed and had it moved from the bedchamber into a hall. Odysseus passed the test by explaining that one of the bed posts was made from a living olive tree, and it could not be moved unless by a god. Only he and Penelope knew this. |
| List 5 places that Odysseus visits while traveling. | Land of the Cyclops, Scheria, Land of the Lotus-Eaters, Land of the Laestrygonians, and Aeaea |
| List 5 Greek gods or goddesses mentioned in the story. | Athena, Hermes, Poseidon, Zeus, Helios |
The Odyssey Study Guide
April 24, 2020