The Odyssey
Study Guide
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The Odyssey Study Guide: Guided Reading Questions
PART 2: THE WANDERINGS
Book 5: Calypso, the Sweet Nymph
1. What does Calypso promise Odysseus? (in 3rd paragraph of italicized section)
2. What is Calypso doing? (lines 51-52).
3. What does Hermes , the messenger god, tell Calypso? (italics pp. 892)
4. What does Calypso promise Odysseus? (italics at bottom of p. 892)
5. Why does Calypso tell Odysseus he would likely want to stay on the island with her? (lines 104-107).
6. What questions does Calypso ask Odysseus? (lines 109-111).
7. Who makes sailing difficult for him? (italics p. 893)
8. What happens to Odysseus’s raft? (italics p. 893)
9. Where does Odysseus land and what does he do? (italics p.893)
Book 9: The Cyclops
1. What is the Cyclops’s name with whom Odysseus has a conflict? (italics p.899)
2. Who is the father of this Cyclops? (italics)
3. What does the Cyclops ask the men who are closed in the cave with him? (lines 269-270).
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The Odyssey Study Guide: Guided Reading Questions
4. What does Odysseus tell the Cyclops happened to their ship? (lines 271-276).
5. What does the Cyclops do next to 2 of his men? (lines 277-283).
6. What does Odysseus make out of a wooden club? What does he plan to do with it? (316-320)
7. What name does Odysseus say is his name? (lines 360-361).
8. What do Odysseus and the four other men do with the spike? (846-59).
9. What did Odysseus do to his men so they could escape the cave? (423-432).
10. What request does the Cyclops make to his father? (529-532).
Book 10: The Witch Circe
1. Who leads the party of 23 men to explore the island? (italics)
2. What creatures surround Circe? (541)
3. What was the goddess Circe doing when the men found her? (551-553)
4. Which man does not go inside Circe’s home? Why? (563-564)
5. What did Circe add to the men’s drinks? (567-569)
6. What does Hermes give Odysseus? (italics p. 913)
7. What does Circe persuade Odysseus to do? (italics p. 913)
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The Odyssey Study Guide: Guided Reading Questions
8. For how long does Odysseus stay with Circe? (italics p. 913)
9. Where do Odysseus and the men have to go before heading home? (italics p. 913)
10. Who will share a prophecy with Odysseus? (italics p. 913)
Book 12: The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis
1. What is the first danger about which Circe warns Odysseus? (659-669)
2. What does Circe tell Odysseus to do to the men’s ears? (670-671)
3. If Odysseus wants to listen to the sirens, what can he do? (673-678)
4. What is the second danger? (679-681)
5. Describe Scylla. (682-687)
6. What is the third danger? (697-698).
7. What does Charybdis do three times? (700-703)
PART THREE: THE RETURN OF THE HERO
Cattle of the Sun God
1. What does Odysseus ask his men to do? (italics p.922)
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The Odyssey Study Guide: Guided Reading Questions
2. After being stranded and having eaten all of their food, what does Eurylochus say when Odysseus is
sleeping? (878-894)
3. What happens? (italics p 924)
Book 21: The Test of the Great Bow
1. Explain the test the suitors must pass in order to win the contest. (1116-1119)
2. What happens? (italics p. 924)
3. What does Odysseus show the men to prove his identity?
4. After Eumaeus gives Odysseus the bow, what does he tell Penelope, the nurse, and the maids to do?
(italics p 938)
5. What did Odysseus tell Telemachus to do with the suitor’s weapons?
Book 22: Death at the Palace
1. How many suitors must Odysseus kill? (italics p. 941)
2. Who is Antinous? Why doesn’t Odysseus like him? (italics)
3. What are the reasons Odysseus provides for killing the suitors? (1253-1258)
4. What goddess shows up to help? (1288)
Book 23: Odysseus and Penelope
1. Why does Penelope feel the need to test her husband?(italics p. 944)
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The Odyssey Study Guide: Guided Reading Questions
2. How does Penelope say she’ll recognize Odysseus? (1327-1328)
3. How does Odysseus appear after his bath? (1335-1342)
4. Where does Penelope tell Eurycleia to put the marriage bed? (1361-1362)
5. Why does Odysseus become upset when Penelope makes her request? (1369-1374)
6. What is the situation in Ithaca by the end of the epic? (1416-1418)
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