First 4 Books are all about Telemachus.
Book 1- Athena decides it is time to bring Odysseus home. She goes to Ithaca to speak with Telemachus
to inspire him to look for his father.
Book 2- Telemachus gets ready to leave, and stands up to the suitors. All the suitors are noblemen of
Ithaca.
Book 3-Goes to visit Nestor and hears that Menelaus might know where Odysseus is.
Book 4- Goes to Menelaus and hears that his father is still alive.
Book 5- Odysseus leave Calypso
Book VI- Odysseus Encounters Nausicaa
Book VII and VIII- Odysseus goes to Alcinous
Now Odysseus is telling us his story
Book IX-Cicones- people who attack Ody’s men. They kill 6 of Odysseus’ men per ship. Odysseus’s men
did not listen to him (they were told to leave quickly) so they died.
Lotus Eaters-people who are addicted to eating lotus fruit. Odysseus has to tie down two of his men
after they eat the lotus. Then, they leave.
Cyclops- His men want to leave. Odysseus ignores them. He loses six men. The Cyclops is blinded and
Odysseus is cursed by Poseidon.
Book XBag of wind – they almost get home but his men screw up and open the bag of wind.
Laestrygonians- Lose all but one ship. Most of his men are now dead.
Circe- Turns Ody’s crew into pigs for a while. He and his crew party there for a year.
Book 11- Goes to Hades, Tiresias warns him, His mom tells him about Ithaca, and Achilles says that
death stinks, even for a hero
Book 12- They encounter the Sirens
They run into Charybdis and Scylla
Circe tells Odysseus that if he takes his boat by Scylla, she will eat 6 people. Charybdis swallows the
boat. She says to choose Scylla.
They go to the island of the cattle of Helios . Circe and Tiresias both warn Odysseus not to
touch the cattle. Odysseus tells his men not to, but they do anyway. Zeus traps them on the island until
their food runs out. They sacrifice and eat the cattle. They don’t forget what they are doing. They know
the consequences and make the choice. Zeus kills all of Odysseus’s men. Odysseus survives.
Odysseus is back in Ithaca
Book 13- Odysseus lands in Ithaca. The Phaecians send him home. He encounters Athena and Odysseus
recognizes her. She gives him advice. They plan how to address the suitor issue.
Book 14- Odysseus stays with the shepherd, Eumaeus. He herds pigs for Odysseus. Eumaeus takes
Odysseus in, but does not recognize him.
Book 15- Telemachus leaves Sparta to go home . He says he is going to see Eumaeus (Athena told him
to)
Book 16-
The Odyssey
Cassandra was kidnapped from Athena’s temple while praying to Athena for help. This is an incredible
act of sacrilege. She is then taken prisoner by Agamemnon
The Greeks leave Troy quickly without making a sacrifice to Poseidon
These two acts make the gods angry at the Greeks, particularly Odysseus.
A massive storm drives the Greek fleet all over the place. They separate and some take many years to
get home. Odysseus takes the longest time getting home.
The Odyssey takes place ten years after he leaves Troy, which is 20 years after he left home. His home
was the Island kingdom of Ithaca.
Back home, Odysseus has a small family waiting for him. Odysseus’s wife is named Penelope. Many
people want to marry her. His son, Telemachus, has not given up hope that Odysseus will come home.
The OdysseyAn Epic poem
-long
- generally oral
-involve supernatural forces and humans facing them
-start in media res ( in the middle of things; the story starts in flashback)
-when classical – start with an invocation to a muse
Classical (Greek and Roman era) invocation (asking the permission of a muse) to a muse (female
mythical creatures that support the arts)
-lots of epithets
Book 1:
What does Athena ask Zeus for? What does she plan to do herself? She wants Odysseus to go home. It
has been 20 years. All the gods love him. She asks Zeus to be able to make that happen.
Odysseus is on the island of Calypso with the nymph there. Poseidon is angry because Odysseus blinded
the Cyclops.
1. Why does Poseidon care that Odysseus did this? Polyphemus, the Cyclops is Zeus’s son.
2. What happened to Odysseus’s crew?
They ate the sun god’s cows.
3. There are important lines that Zeus says in the abridged version. What are they?
“It’s disgraceful how these humans blame the gods.
They say their tribulations come from us,
when they themselves, through their own foolishness,
bring hardships which are not decreed by fate.
Based on what you remember from Greek values, why wouldn’t Telemachus just kill or kick out the
suitors? The Greeks cannot treat guests that way. He is also not the “man of the house”.
What is an epithet? What are some example from this text? A description or adjective giving
information, “grey-eyed Athena” “master of schemes”.
Supplication- an advanced form of surrender where you put yourself at someone else’s mercy.
Telemachus is going to:
To get information about his father
Pylos – Nestor ( a very wise and respected ruler)
Sparta-Menelaus (the last one to get home from Troy)
Summary of Books 2-4
What does Telemachus hear from Nestor? Odysseus was caught in the same storm that Menelaus was
caught in.
What conflicts exist in Telemachus’s story?
1. The conflict between him and the suitors intensifies.
2. Needs to save his father who, but doesn’t know where he is or how to do it.
In this version, how does Helen feel about Troy’s destruction? She doesn’t seem to feel bad. She got to
go home.
The “Old Man of the Sea” is Proteus. Why is it so impressive that Menelaus was about to successfully
beat Proteus? Proteus is a shape-shifter.
What does Telemachus learn from Menelaus? He learns his dad is alive, but marooned and held captive
somewhere.
Book 5- The suitors want to kill Telemachus. They want to kidnap him before he returns to Ithaca and kill
him.
How does Athena try to make Zeus feel bad for Odysseus? She tries to make him sympathetic to
Odysseus because; 1. He hasn’t seen his son 2. Odysseus was a good king and seems to be getting
punished
In what way does Zeus ruin the tension in this story? Odysseus will return home
Books 6-8
King of Phaecia: Alcinous
Princess- Nausicaa
Queen- Arete
Odysseus crashed here because Poseidon ruined his raft. Athena makes Nausicaa fall in love with
Odysseus.
The King gets suspicious when Odysseus hears songs about the Trojan War and cries.
A framing device is an excuse to tell a story within a story. The one here is Odysseus telling Alcinous
about his travels.
Where did Odysseus go first? Ismarus, where the Cicones live.
What happened? He destroys the city and takes everything.
What did it cost him? His men don’t listen to Odysseus when he wants them to leave. The Cicones and
their friends come back to fight them.
Runs into the Lotus Eaters
Book 9
Polyphemus, the Cyclops, traps Odysseus and his men in his cave. Odysseus can kill the Cyclops, but he
doesn’t because they wouldn’t be able to get out of the cave if the Cyclops was dead. Cyclops is
blinded, and the men use the sheep to disguise themselves and escapes.
Polyphemus asks Odysseus his name, he says it is “nobody”
Odysseus did give himself up when he got back on the ship. Polyphemus asks that Odysseus never
return home, and if he does get to return, all of his men should die.
Book 10
What were the next two locations for Odysseus after the Cyclops? Aeolia and Telepylos- where the
Laestrygonians live.
Aeolus is the king of the wind. Odysseus gets a bag of wind from him. They get so close to Ithaca that
they are able to see the island.
What did he almost do with Aeolus’s help? Why might have Aeolus have refused to help him again? The
sailors open the bag of wind when Odysseus was sleeping and the wind blows them far away from
Ithaca again. Aeolus doesn’t help him again because he thinks Odysseus is cursed by the gods.
What are the Laestrygonians like? Big, ugly cannibals
What is the biggest consequence for Odysseus visiting their land? Odysseus had 6 ships. The
Laestrygonians sink all but one.
Aeaea (e, e ya)- Where Circe lives (she is a witch)
Who helps Odysseus beat Circe’s magic? Hermes
What does he tell Odysseus to do? Hermes tells him to take the herb moly which will block Circe’s
magic. When she draws her wand, Odysseus is supposed to draw his sword.
How does Circe’s respond when Odysseus doesn’t turn into a pig? Think of other fictional males who
have a similar affect on female characters?
What happens to his crew? Circe turns them back into humans. Why does he go back to his ship and
bring the rest of his men to Circe? She invites them to stay and hang out on the island.
How long does Odysseys stay on Circe’s island and why? A year
Circes tells him to go to Hades
Teiresias (dead prophet) he was turned into a woman for 7 years. He could see the future, although he
was blind. He is dead by the time of the Odyssey.
Book 11
Libation- the act of pouring out liquid in memory of the dead or as an offering.
The Rivers of the Underworld:
Acheron
Cocytus
Styx
Phlegathon
Lethe
Odysseus needs to take out his sword and defend himself from the ghosts until he asks Teiresias his
questions.
What does Teiresias tell Odysseus?
How do we already know how the story with the sun’s cattle will end? The touch the cattle and then
die. We already know that from the first book.
Does Teiresias tell Odysseus that he will get home? No, but he doesn’t say no. He says to take a big oar
and start walking until you reach a place where the people don’t know the sea. He has to make it right
with Poseidon by giving a sacrifice. This is good advice.
For homework: Read until the bottom of 93
Book 11
What is Anticlea (Odysseus’s mother) able to tell Odysseus? She tells him about Ithaca. He finds out that
she is dead for the first time here. The reason is grief.
From a storytelling point of view, why is it important for Odysseus to hear from her?
What does Achilles say? He says he would rather be poor and obscure and alive than famous and dead.
Book 12
Sirens- live on a rock and sing pretty songs, everyone tried to join them on the rocks. If you tried to get
to their island, your boat would sing and you would die. Odysseus has to get by the Sirens, but he thinks
there is some clue for him in their song, so he has to listen to them.
Bireme- Greek boat that was a double-decker ship with two levels of oars.
After the sirens- he runs into Charybdis (a giant mouth that is like a big whirpool) If you pass by him, you
might all die… and Scylla- a woman with a snake tail and six dogs instead of legs. Scylla wins every fight
because she will eat six of your people. You must pass through this area and move near one of them.
Circe tells Odysseus to row near Scylla because he will lose less men.
Book 12
Circe tells Odysseus that after he sees Scylla, he will come to the island of Thrinacia, where the Sun god’s
cattle graze.She tells Odysseus not to harm the Sun god’s cattle.
Odysseus does exactly what Circe tells him to do (wax in the ears and tie him down), but he begs his men
to let him go so he can get nearer to the Sirens. They say that they know what has been going on in Troy
and want to tell him about it. He doesn’t tell them about Scylla. Scylla took the strongest and bravest
from the ship (6). They make it to the island of the cattle, and Odysseus makes the men promise not to
hurt the cattle. Zeus created a storm that kept the men on the island for a month. As long as they had
food, it would be ok and not try to eat the cattle. They began to starve, so Odysseus tells them to eat the
cattle, but sacrifice it first. Zeus sent a storm and destroyed the ship.
Book 13
Odysseus Reaches Ithaca after King Alcinous has his men take him home. Poseidon turns their ship to
stone. Odysseus does not realize he is back in Ithaca. Athena comes to him in the form of a young man.
Athena tells him he is home. She tells him not to tell anyone that he is king. She changes how he looks so
no one recognizes him. She tells him to go and see the man who cares for his pigs. Athena says she will go
and get Telemachus from Sparta.
Book 14 Odysseus goes to Eumaeus who treats him very well although he is a stranger. He even sleeps
outside and give Odysseus a bed close to the fire.
-As we've discussed, Greek myths have a lot of influence on our culture and the way we think to this day. For
instance: what extremely successful company today uses a siren as its logo? Starbucks
Considering that the sirens are irresistible, tempting people to mindlessly come to their island, how is this company's
use of the siren in its logo a little ironic? Saying that the people who go to Starbucks to buy coffee are mindless.
-Circe tells Odysseus a lot about the dangers ahead of him, and he shares most of it with his crew. What warnings of
Circe's does he decide NOT to share with his crew, and why? He doesn’t share that the monster is going to east 6
men and that he will lose them all before the gets home.
-Ody's been warned twice that he should not harm the cattle of the sun-god, or else he and his men will suffer
horribly. Why, then, do his men go ahead and harm the cattle of the sun-god? They were hungry and went through
all of their provisions
How much is it their fault, how much is it Odysseus's, and how much is it the gods'? It is mostly the gods.
-How does Odysseus survive Charybdis the second time he encounters it? He jumps up and hugs a fig tree. Then, he
floats for a few days. Then, he drifts to the island of Calypso
-What kind of help does Athena provide Odysseus when he gets back to Ithaca? She tells him that he is home. She
helps him store what the Pheaecians have given him. She tells him to not to tell anyone that he is the king.
-When Odysseus eventually reveals that he's the king, do you think he'll reward or punish Eumaeus? Why
Reward Eumaeus
Book 16- Telemachus meets Odysseus for the first time. They devise a plan to kill the suitors. Odysseus is
going to dress as a beggar, see if the suitors mistreat him, and if they do, Telemachus will hide all the
weapons, except for enough for T and O. Athena and Zeus will distract the suitors, and O and T will kill
the suitors.
Odysseus: stern, determined, not too old, shrewd (clever and crafty), not too old
Antinous: leader of the suitors who is upset that he went on a ship to kill Telemachus, and T got back,
anyway. He decides to try to kill Telemachus in Ithaca. Sly, cunning, cowardly,
Amphinomus: Doesn’t want to upset the gods. He says he will kill Telemachus himself, if the oracle says
that it is ok. A little more sensible, but nasty
Book 17Melanthius- a suitor
Eurymachus- another suitor
Antinious- the leader of the suitors-
Odysseus disguises himself as a swineherd and goes to the city. Telemachus is ahead of him. He lies to
Penelope, saying that he didn’t hear what happened to Odysseus. She seems to realize this.
The suitors react exactly as Odysseus thought they would (treat him poorly and insult him).
Penelope wants to meet Odysseus (still disguised; she doesn’t know it is him). He says he knows
Odysseus well and will tell Penelope the truth later.
Books 18-20 we read in the summary version
21- Main conflict is that Odysseus has to get home.
He doesn’t kill a suitor and he doesn’t kill the herald.
Book 22- Odysseus says that he doesn’t want to cheer for the suitor’s deaths because we need to
respect the dead.
Odysseus still needs to reconcile with Penelope, go on a trip to atone to Poseidon, and deal with the
families of the suitors.
Book 23- Odysseus and Penelope Reunite
Circe and Calypso were both supernatural beauties who wanted Odysseus but he turned them down to
go home.
1. Circe- could have stayed with her, but he left.
2. Calypso- offered to make him immortal, but he left
3. Alcinous- Nausicaa
Penelope tricks the suitors to buy herself time and then waits 20 years for him without giving up hope.
Counterexamples:
Helen-in some versions, she starts a war because she is unfaithful
Clytemnestra-cheated on her husband (Agamemnon), and then kills him with her new boyfriend.
Penelope tests Odysseus by saying that she will move the bed out in her room for him to sleep on until
they realize if Odysseus is telling the truth. This is the test. He says the bed can’t be moved (it can’t,
because it is rooted into the ground).
Major Conflicts:
Odysseus needs to get home.
His men need to get home.
The suitors need to be dealt with.
Penelope is still waiting for Odysseus.
Telemachus needs to find his father.
Odysseus needs to reunite with his family.
Odysseus needs to make amends with Poseidon.