1. Why does Telemachus call the men to assembly?
2. . How has Penelope managed to hold off the suitors' demands for the past four years?
3. What sign does Zeus send to the assembly, and what is its meaning?
4. Why had Odysseus not yet returned home from the Trojan War?
5. What words are used to describe the suitors?
6. Athena tells Telemachus to seek information about his father, Odysseus, from which men?
7. Which god or goddess brings a message from Zeus to Calypso?
8. What help does Ino give to Odysseus?
9. Who discovers Odysseus on the shore?
10. Why doesn't his benefactor bring Odysseus to the palace in person?
11. What is being celebrated in Menelaus’ palace when Telemachus arrives?
12. Who first recognizes Telemachus in Sparta?
13. How does Helen stop everyone from crying?
14. What foreshadowing takes place in Helen’s story?
15. How does Menelaus present Helen in the tale of the Trojan Horse?
16. How does Menelaus know what happened to Odysseus after Troy?
17. Why does Telemachus refuse Menelaus’s gift of horses?
18. How do the suitors react when they learn of Telemachus’ voyage?
19. Who used to be the Phaeaceans’ neighbors?
20. Why does Nausikaa decide to wash the palace laundry?
21. What is she too embarrassed to mention to her father?
22. What makes the dance performed by the Phaeacean women unique?
23. What wakes Odysseus up?
24. How do the handmaidens reaction to Odysseus appearance? How does Nausikaa?
25. What decision must Odysseus make concerning his approach to Nausikaa?
26. What is the main reason that Odysseus appears godlike to the Phaeacean ladies?
27. What is the name of the first kingdom that Telemachus visits?
28. What is Nestor’s family celebrating when Telemachus arrives at their city?
29. When did Nestor and Odysseus part company?
30. Where was Menelaus when Agamemnon was assassinated?
31. What was Orestes doing when Menelaus finally returned to Greece?
32. Who does Nestor suggest that Telemachus visit?
33. How does Athena take her leave of Telemachus and Nestor, and how does Nestor react to this?
34. What occurs in the morning before Telemachus continues on his journey?
35.
What are the two reasons that Telemachus calls the Ithacans to meet in an assembly?
36.
Who are Telemachus’s two biggest advocates in the assembly?
37.
What is the main way that Penelope stalls the suitors?
38.
What is the sign read by Halitherses during the assembly and how does he interpret it?
39.
What two personae does Athena assume in the book?
40.
How does Telemachus manage to acquire a ship and crew?
41.
Why does Eurycleia protest against Telemachus’s proposed journey and what promise does he
exact from her?
42.
What ritual do the sailors engage in once their ship is at sea and why?
43.
Where is Odysseus physically located when the poem begins?
44.
Which of the Greek gods hates Odysseus and what did he do to make this god hate him?
45.
Who does Athena disguise herself when she visits Telemachus?
46.
Who are the main suitors in Odysseus’s house?
47.
Why does Phemius’ song bother Penelope?
48.
What is the name of Odysseus’s father and where is he when the poem begins?
49.
What is the name of Odysseus’s son and where is he when the poem begins?
50.
What is Eurycleia’s association with both Odysseus and Telemachus?
51.
Why are the suitors not worried even if Odysseus does return?
52.
Why does Odysseus not kill the Cyclops when he has the chance?
53.
Why does Odysseus reveal his name to Polyphemos after he has escaped?
54.
Why does Odysseus take some of his men by force away from the land of the Lotus-Eaters?
55.
Who does Odysseus initially tell Polyphemos that he is?
56.
What was the cause of Anticlia’s death?
57.
Whose cattle did the men eat?
58.
Who is Scylla?
59.
What does Odysseus use for his men and for himself to escape the lure of the Sirens?
60.
What advice does Circe give Odysseus regarding Scylla?
61.
What does Odysseus do when he returns to Aeaea?
62.
Who is the Trojan hero who refuses to speak to Odysseus?
63.
What does Odysseus tell Achilles about his (Achilles’) son?
64.
Who says the lines “I’d rather slave on earth for another man… than rule down here over the
breathless dead?”
65.
What view of women does Agamemnon's story suggest?
66.
Why can't Odysseus embrace his mother?
67.
How did Odysseus' mother die?
68.
What act of penance does Odysseus have to do after he deals with the suitors?
69.
Who does Tiresias tell Odysseus he should leave unharmed?
70.
What does Elpenor ask Odysseus to put on top of his grave?
Identify the speaker
71.
“Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all
their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their
proper share.”
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had
plundered the hallowed heights of Troy
72.
Who is speaking?
73.
Who is the man of twists and turns?
74.
“And you, my friend- how tall and handsome I see you now- be brave, you too, so men to come
will sing your praises down the years.”
75.
“So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep
the women working hard as well. As for giving orders, men will see to that, but most of all: I hold the
reins of power in this house.”
76.
“It is not the suitors here who deserve the blame, it is your own dear mother, the matching queen
of cunning.”
77.
Who is the matching queen of cunning?
78.
“Gladly, my boy, I’ll tell you the story first to last…Right you are, you guess what would have
happened if red-haired Menelaus, arriving back from Troy, had found Aegisthus alive in Agamemnon’s
palace.”
79.
“It was Zeus who made me come, no choice of mine…But there is no way, you know, for another
god to thwart the will of storming Zeus and make it come to nothing. Zeus claims you keep beside you a
most unlucky man...”
80.
“Farewell! But if you knew, down deep, what pains are fated to fill your cup before you reach
that shore, you’d stay right here, preside me in our house with me and immortal.”
81.
“Phaeacians we are, who hold this city and this land, and I am the daughter of King Alcinous.”
82.
“And still, much as I weep for all my men, grieving sorely, time and again, sitting here in the
royal halls, now indulging myself in tears, now brushing tears away”
Epithets
83.
Rose-red fingered
84.
Giant killer
85.
Sparkling-eyed
86.
Cool-headed
87.
Nymph with lovely braids
88.
The red-haired king
89.
Icarius daughter
90.
White-armed princess
91.
God of the sea blue mane who shakes the earth
State the speaker, who is being spoken to, and what the significance of the quotation
92.
“From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves with their own reckless ways
compound their pains beyond their proper share” (1.38-41)
93.
You must not cling to your boyhood... It is time you were a man. Haven’t you heard what glory Prince
Orestes won throughout the world” (1.341-343)
94.
“I will never issue that ultimatum to my mother. And you, if you have any shame in your own hearts, you
must leave the palace” (2.154-156)
95.
“I’m sailing off to Sparta and sandy Pylos too, for news of my dear father’s journey home” (2.396-397)
96.
“Some of the words you’ll find within yourself, the rest some power will inspire you to say. You least of
all- I know- were born and reared with the Gods good will” (3.28-32)
97.
“Odysseus sailed them back, the flexible, wily king, veering over to Agamemnon now to shore his fortunes
up” (3.181-182).
98.
“Into a mixing bowl from which they drank their wine she slipped a drug, heart’s ease, dissolving anger,
magic to make us all forget our pains” (4.244-245).
99.
“Scarring his own body with mortifying strokes, throwing filthy rags on his back like any slave, he slipped
into the enemy’s city” (4.274-279)
100.
241)
“She falls short of you, Your beauty, Your stature. She is mortal after all, and you, you never age” (5.239-
101.
“ He’ll try to escape- twist and turn into every beast that moves across the earth, transforming himself
into water, superhuman fire, but you hold on for dear life, hug him all the harder” (4.468-471)
102.
“Hard-hearted you are, you gods! You unrivaled lords of jealousy— scandalized when goddesses sleep
with mortals”(5.129-132).
103.
“She falls far short of you, your beauty, stature. She is mortal after all and you, you never age or die…”
(5.239-241).
104.
“Daddy dear,I wonder, won’t you have them harness a wagon for me... so I can take our clothes to the
river for a washing?” (6.60-64)
105.
“ Who are you? Where are you from?Who gave you the clothes you are wearing now? Didn’t you say you
reached us roving on the sea?” (7.274-276)
106.
“Nevertheless, despite so many blows, I’ll give your games a whirl. Your insults cut to the quick—you
rouse my fighting blood!” (8.213-215)
107.
“Cyclops— if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so—say
Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (9.558-562)