Name: ___________________
The Odyssey Books I-IV Quiz
Multiple Choice. Please circle the best answer for each question. (1 point each)
1. Poseidon has hindered Odysseus’s return to Ithaca by enlisting the help of who? (Hint:
this individual holds Odysseus on an island for seven years)
a. Calypso
b. Penelope
c. Zeus
d. Nestor
2. Who does Athena disguise herself as before she goes to meet Telemachus?
a. Zeus
b. Mentes
c. Menelaos d. Helen
3. What is the problem at Odysseus’s home?
a. It’s falling apart in his absence.
b. There are men trying to marry his wife.
c. His servants have all run away.
4. Why is Telemachus MOST troubled by his father’s absence? (Hint: think of Greek values
and what is important to Ithacans)
a. The suitors are eating his father’s food without paying for it.
b. His mother is sad and lies in bed all day.
c. His father does not have a proper burial and has been cheated of fame.
5. What is Telemachus’s first destination of his journey by sea?
a. Troy
b. Sparta
c. Ithaca
d. Pylos
6. According to Nestor who did Aegisthus kill?
a. Agamemnon b. Zeus
c. Nestor
d. Menelaos
7. Who became famous for avenging Aegisthus’s murder?
a. Hermes
b. Orestes
c. Hector
d. Helen
8. Penelope tricked her suitors for years by unraveling her woven shroud at night.
a. Ture
b. False
9. Who is the red-haired king?
a. Zeus
b. Nestor
c. Menelaos d. Mentor
10. For whom does Menelaos grieve most?
a. His brother b. His son
c. His wife
11. Where does Telemachus find Menelaos?
a. At a double wedding
b. On the battlefield
d. Soldiers lost in war
c. In a barn
12. Who is the first to person to identify Telemachus at Menelaus’s mansion?
a. Menelaos
b. Peisistratos
c. Eurycleia d. Helen
Short Answer. Please answer each short answer completely and to the best of your ability. Most
questions have two parts. Please answer both parts for complete points. (2 points each)
13. Who is Mentor? (Hint: different than Mentes)
14. How does Menelaos know the strangers should be treat with special respect?
15. Menelaos has things to say about Odysseus. What stands out?
16. What intervention does Helen make to dispute the men’s sudden outburst of sadness?
17. What is the effect of this intervention?
18. What prompted Menelaos to encounter Proteus?
19. Name two things Menelaos learns in this encounter.
20. What does Eurycleia reveal, and what does she advise to Penelope?