Notes on the Odyssey
Directions: Using the “Introduction to the Odyssey” from the book, please fill in the study
guide. The answers follow the text in order.
I. An Introduction to the Odyssey
A. __________________: person credited with gathering Greek war stories together
B. _______________ and _______________: Homer’s two epics that told about battles from
___________ B.C.
1. The Iliad:
a. __________ ________: ten-year war fought outside the great walls of Troy
b. fought between ____________ and ________________
c. cause of the war was ________________ when _____________ abandoned
her husband, ________________, a Greek king, and ran off with
_______________, a prince of Troy
2. The Odyssey:
a. attempt of a ______________ soldier, _______________, to return home
after the Trojan War
C. epic poems from the ______________ world owe credit to the ____________ patterns
established by these two stories
II. Epics and Values
A. Epics:
B. Purpose of the Iliad and the Odyssey:
1.
2.
C. Other cultures:
1. imitated Homer’s style
2.
D. Other epics and their sources:
1. Aeneid - Rome
2.
3.
4. Gilgamesh - Mesopotamia
5. Mahabharata and Ramayana – India
6.
E. Epic Models
1.
2.
III. The War-Story Background: Violence and Brutality
A. Cause of the Trojan War:
B. ____________________: brother of Menelaus, leader of Greek kings
C. ____________________ won the Trojan War
1. gained entrance to Troy
2.
3.
4. took some Trojans back to Greece as slaves
D. __________________: greatest of the Greek warriors who died at a young age in the final
year of the ten-year war
E. __________________: Greek king who was known for his intelligence and his fighting
abilities
IV. Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
A. Heroes:
B. Appeal of Odysseus to the reader:
1. hero in trouble
2.
3. deal with unfair figures of authority
4.
C. Odysseus is treated unfairly by __________________ and the people of ____________
D. _______________: married to Odysseus; strong, beautiful, and faithful
E. _______________: son of Odysseus and Penelope
F. Odysseus’ bout of insanity:
V. The Wooden-Horse Trick
A. Odysseus was a great ___________________ and commander
B. _______________ devised the wooden-horse trick
1. reason for the trick:
2. plan:
3. result:
VI. The Ancient World and Ours
A. World of Odysseus:
B. Odysseus and his men acted like ______________ because they would enter a town and steal
all of their “______________ _______________”
VII. A Search for Their Places in Life
A. Theme of the Odyssey:
B. Structure of the story:
1. Beginning:
a. Telemachus:
b. Odysseus:
c. Searching: Telemachus is searching for _______________ while Odysseus is
searching for ________________________________, and the reader is
searching for his or her real identity
VIII. Relationships with the Gods
A. Myths:
1. traditional stories, rooted in a particular culture
2. usually explain a _____________, a ______________, or a __________
___________ _____________
3. essentially religious because they are concerned with the relationship between
_______________ ________________ and the ____________ or _____________
_____________
B. Homer’s view of religion:
C. a god can reflect a hero’s best or worst qualities
1. __________________: goddess of __________________; always with
_______________
2. _________________: god of the ________________; works against
_______________; known for ___________________ and a certain
________________
3. Odysseus is known as wise but also violent and cruel
IX. Who was Homer?
A. Homer’s identity:
1. According to the Greeks:
2. According to scholars:
3. Homer as a rhapsode
a. rhapsodes:
b. traveled from community to community to explain recent events or the activities
of the heroes, gods, and goddesses
X. How Were the Epics Told?
A. Oral tradition: originally told aloud by people who could not ______________ or
_______________
B. Structure of story: followed a basic story line, but most of the words were
__________________ --made up on the spot—in a way that fit a particular ______________
or ____________
C. Purpose of Formulas:
1. audience:
2. singer:
D. Homeric or epic similes:
1. Example: She brushed it away from his skin as lightly as when a mother
Brushes a fly away from her child who is lying in sweet sleep.
E. Performance Time:
XI. A Live Performance
A. traveling singers appear throughout the Odyssey and sing their tales
B. Setting: