The Odyssey Test
Circle the correct answer.
1. Who has taken over Odysseus’s home
while he was away at war?
a. nymphs
b. Cyclopes
c. suitors
d. Peacekeepers
2. Who does Zeus send as a messenger to
Calypso?
a. Poseidon
b. Athena
c. Circe
d. Hermes
3. Why does Odysseus have to tie his men
to the row benches at one point?
a. to escape the Cyclops
b. to avoid Charybdis
c. to flee the Land of the Dead
d. to escape the Lotus Eaters
4. What happens to some of Odysseus’s
men in the cave of the Cyclops?
a. They succumb to hunger and eat
the sheep.
b. The Cyclops eats the men.
c. They all escape to Panem.
d. They kill the Cyclops.
5. What does Odysseus do to the Cyclops?
a. pokes his eye with a spear
b. asks him for help
c. cuts his head off
d. ties him to a sheep
1. What is the name of Odysseus’ island?
a. Ithaca
6. What causes the Cyclops to curse
Odysseus?
a. Odysseus’s men insult him.
b. Odysseus taunts him.
c. The Cyclops is tricked by Hermes.
d. Poseidon demands it.
7. Who is the witch in Book 10?
a. Calypso
b. Penelope
c. Circe
d. Enobaria
8. Who is the blind prophet that Odysseus
seeks in the Land of the Dead?
a. Telemachus
b. his mother
c. Tiresias
d. Cinna
9. Who turns the men of Odysseus into
pigs?
a. Calypso
b. Argos
c. Helios
d. Circe
10. Why does Odysseus put beeswax in his
men’s ears?
a. to keep the bugs out
b. to prevent them from hearing the
Sirens
c. Poseidon orders to do so
d. to stop them from overhearing
his schemes
b. Greece
c. District 9
2.
3.
4.
5.
d. Troy
What is the name of Odysseus’ dog?
a. Foxface
b. Argos
c. Circe
d. Aeolus
Which suitor campaigns to kill
Telemachus and later is the first to die
by Odysseus’s arrow?
a. Achilles
b. Antinous
c. Eurymachus
d. Eumaeus
How does Odysseus reward his loyal
servants?
a. promises to treat them as family
b. a lottery ticket
c. gold from his journey
d. swords & shields
Which three men stand with Odysseus
in the fight against the suitors?
a. Telemachus, Eumaeus,
Polyphemus
b. Peeta, Haymitch, Effie
c. Tiresias, Eumaeus, Eurymachus
d. Telemachus, Eumaeus, Philoetius
6. How does Telemachus kill
Amphinomus?
a. a sword in the chest
b. poisoned food
c. spear in the back
d. ax to the head
7. What action did Odysseus NOT take to
defeat the suitors?
a. lock the gate
b. remove weapons from the walls
c. lock the door to the hall
d. send Telemachus to get more
men
8. What is Penelope’s bed post made of?
a. plastic
b. mesquite tree
c. rock
d. olive tree
9. Which suitor tries to talk his way out of
getting killed but is still shot down by
Odysseus?
a. Eurymachus
b. Polyphemus
c. Antinous
d. Homer
10. Who is the first person to see Odysseus
on his return to Ithaca?
a. Eumaeus
b. Penelope
c. Antinous
d. Apollo
Write the correct term in front of its definition.
metaphor
personification
epic
invocation
flashback
in media res
epic simile
metaphor
foreshadowing
epithet
1. _________________________ long, narrative poem
2. _________________________ the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen
later in a plot
3. _________________________ a plea for guidance to a deity or supernatural power; a
prayer
4. _________________________ a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many
lines in length
5. _________________________ comparison of two unlike things without using like or as
6. _________________________ an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality
characteristic of the person or thing mentioned
7. _________________________ a scene that interrupts the present action of a narrative
work to depict some earlier event
8. _________________________ giving human qualities to non-human things
9. _________________________ in the middle of things
10. _________________________ comparison of two unlike things
Write the correct literary device next to the matching quote from the story.
personification
epic simile
metaphor
epithet
allusion
1. _________________________ “Gull patrolling . . . Hermes” (5:9-15)
2. _________________________ “Light of my days, Telemachus” (16:26)
3. _________________________ “the bow . . . hummed and sang” (21:114)
4. _________________________ “sovereign Death, to pale Persephone” (11:20)
5. _________________________ “He seemed a shaggy mountain” (9:92)
Write the character term in the blank.
Calypso
Polyphemus
Helios
Athena
Charybdis
1. ______________________________________, the sun god angered over his cattle
being eaten.
2. ______________________________________ , Cyclops, who lost his eye to Odysseus
and later cursed him.
3. ______________________________________ patroness of Odysseus.
4. ______________________________________ held Odysseus captive for seven years.
5. ______________________________________ was a whirlpool “monster”
encountered by Odysseus on his journey home.
Write one to two complete sentences for your answer.
1. Describe how Odysseus and his men escape the Cyclops. (Use details!)
2. What is the sign and pledge between Odysseus and Penelope?
Bonus:
1. What is the name of Odysseus’s mother? _____________________________________
2. Who is Eurylochus? ______________________________________
3. How did Elpenor die? ______________________________________
4. Explain what part of the story this quote comes from: “companions like squirming puppies”.
5. What modern story characters and places are mixed into the answer choices?