The Odyssey
Book 4
By: Allison Matherne and Riley Roberts
Characters mentioned & location in Book 4
 Telemachus
 The King and Queen of Sparta
 Pisistratus
 Ajax
 Agamemnon
 Penelope
 Penelope’s sister
 The suitors
 Zeus
 The herald Medon
 Sparta
Review Questions
 In the beginning of Book 4, who was the King of Sparta marrying his daughter to? Where is she being
sent to? Why is she being sent there?
 A- The son of Great Achilles; north to the Myrmidons; Menelaus nodded assent at Troy & gave her
hand & now the gods are sealing the marriage. (page 124)
 How is King Nestor in Book 3 different from the King of Sparta?
 A- With king Nestor they started with religious practices when they met but they got straight down to
business about Odysseus. With the king of Sparta they question whether to let them in and then they
gape over the King’s riches before eventually discussing Telemachus’s father.(page 125)
 Why is the King of Sparta not so happy with his wealth?
 A- His brother was murdered by his wife and a stranger & he lost a lot of men at Troy. He’d rather trade
his riches for his men. (page 127)
 Why does the King of Sparta feel so strongly about Odysseus’s loss/death?
 A- No one else achieved as much as he did, or labor as hard. (page 127)
 “Just think of all the hospitality we enjoyed at the hands of other men before we made it home… and
bring them; strangers, guests, to share our flowing feasts” (Homer 38-42). What is this quote
displaying?
 A- Xenia (page 125)
Review Questions
 How do the King and Queen find out their guest is Odysseus’s son?
 A- The Queen recognizes the resemblance and says something, then the king notices and says he has feet
like Odysseus, hands like Odysseus, his glancing eyes, his head, and his hair.
 What did Helen, the queen of Sparta, put in the wine? Why did she do this? Where did she get it from?
 A- She put drugs in the wine; to ease the heart and forget pains; from the Egyptians.
 What was queen Helen’s story about after dinner?
 A- How Odysseus came into Troy without anyone noticing but her. She spotted him and swore not to tell
anyone his identity in trade for telling her all the plans of the Achaens.
 After Helen finished her story, what was the king’s?
 A- He told how Odysseus saved them from being caught in the horse when Helen would come near it and
talk to them inside. They all wanted to talk to her because she sounded like their wives at home, but
Odysseus kept them quiet.
 Why do you think the nymph helped Menelaus?
 A- She felt very bad for him because he was just trying to get home. She also doesn’t sound like she likes
her father too much by the quote, “He’s my father, they say, he gave me life.”
Review Questions
 What happened to Ajax?
 A- First Poseidon drove him onto the cliffs of Gyrae, but he survived and boasted about it so Poseidon
knocked him off the rocks and he drowned.
 What happened to Agamemnon?
 A- Aeigisthus invited him to a feast and ambushed him, and his team, and killed them all.
 What is the only reason Zeus doesn’t want Menelaus to die?
 A- He’s Helens husband now, and all the gods respect him as Zeus’s son in law.
 What are the suitors plans and how does Penelope find out?
 A- to kill Telemachus in an ambush when he returns. The herald Medon tells her after overhearing the suitors
conversation.
 Who comes to see Penelope and what did she come to say?
 A- Penelope’s sister comes and tells her Telemachus is protected by the goddess Athena.
 Where do the suitors plan to ambush Telemachus? Where do they plan to throw him to his death?
 A- They plan to do everything at Asteris because of its rocks where they can throw him and it has a harbor
with two mouths where they can hide.
The King and Queen of Sparta Pages 124- 151
Spark notes Summary
In Sparta, the king and Queen, Menelaus and Helen, are celebrating the separate
marriages of their son and daughter. They happily greet Pisistratus and Telemachus, the latter
of whom they soon recognize as the son of Odysseus because of their clear family
resemblance. As they all feast, the king and queen recount with holy melancholy the many
examples of Odysseus’s cunning at Troy. Helen recalls how Odysseus dressed as a beggar to
infiltrate the city’s walls. Menelaus tells the famous story of the Trojan horse, Odysseus’s
masterful gambit that allowed the Greeks to sneak into Troy and slaughter the Trojans. The
following day, Menelaus recounts his own return from Troy. He says that, stranded in Egypt, he
was forced to capture Proteus, the divine Old man of the Sea. Proteus told him the way back
to Sparta and then informed him of the fates of Agamemnon and Ajax, another Greek hero,
who survived Troy only to perish back in Greece. Proteus also told him news of Odysseus- that
he was still alive but imprisoned by Calypso on her island. Buoyed by this report, Telemachus
and Pisistratus return to Pylos to set sail for Ithaca. Meanwhile, the suitors at Odysseus’s house
learn of Telemachus’s journey and plan to ambush him upon his return. The herald Medon
overhears their plans and reports them to Penelope. She becomes distraught when she
reflects she may soon lose her son in addition to her husband, but Athena sends a phantom
in the form of Penelope’s sister, Iphthime, to reassure her. Iphthime tells her not to worry, for
the goddess will protect Telemachus.
Any Questions?
Anything that interested you a lot?
Anything you want us to go over again?
The Odyssey
Book 4
Works Cited
Homer, Robert Fagles, and Benard Knox. “Book 4.” The Odyssey. New York: Viking,
1996. 124-151. Print.
SparkNotes. “The Odyssey.” Sparknotes. Spark Notes, 2015. Web.16 Jan 2016.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/Odyssey/section 2. rhtml>