The Odyssey
Study Guide
Books 1-24
Characters
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Athena
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Odysseus’ son
Eurylochus
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Odysseus’ right-hand man
Blind prophet in Underworld
Eurycleia
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Witch goddess; turns men into animals
Tiresias
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God of the winds
Circe
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Odysseus’ wife
Telemachus
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King of Ithaca
Penelope
Aeolus
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God of all gods
Odysseus
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Goddess of war & wisdom
Zeus
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Odysseus’ nursemaid
Antinous
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Lead suitor; jerk
Characters
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Nestor
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Saves Odysseus from drowning
Goat herder; doesn’t recognize Odysseus
Argos
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Minstrel/bard in Phaeacia
Melanthius
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Phaeacian king
Demodocus
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Princess of Phaeacia
Alcinous
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Poseidon’s son; one-eyed monster
Leucothea
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Take Odysseus in to recover
Nausicaa
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Nymph goddess
Cyclops/Polyphemus
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Messenger god
Calypso
Phaeacians
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Agamemnon’s son; kills his mother
Hermes
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King of Pylos; 90 years old
Orestes
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Odysseus’ dog
Eumaeus
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Swine herder; welcomes Odysseus
disguised as a beggar
Places
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Ithaca
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Island in Greece; Odysseus’ home
Orion
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Constellation that Calypso tells Odysseus to follow home
Introduction/Background Review
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Believed in many gods
Major gods
They were abandoned
Gives messages from gods in riddles
Chiron
½ man, ½ horse
Book One
1.
2.
Athena; she tells him to go find his dad
She has to get remarried; Odysseus has been gone too long
Book Two
1.
Said she’d choose a husband when she finished her
weaving; she unravels it every night so she never finishes
Book Three
1.
2.
3.
Ajax raped/murdered Cassandra in Athena’s temple
Murdered by his wife
Sparta (go see Menelaus)
Book Four
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Helen
The Greeks are hiding in it
Egypt
Wore seal hides and tricked the old man of the sea
Ajax
Odysseus is still alive
Book Five
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Hermes
Calypso must release Odysseus
7 years
It’s magical (like swearing on the bible)
Poseidon
Book Six
1.
2.
Made her have a dream about the river Odysseus was by
People might think something is going on; she’s already
engaged
Book Seven
1.
They take him in to recover
Book Eight
1.
Sports and dancing
Book Nine
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Odysseus’ men won at first; then they were sneak attacked on the
shore
3 men ate the lotus plant; didn’t want to leave
Nobody
Blind him; stab his eye out
Hid under the sheep
Book Ten
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A bag of wind
They thought it was booty; they were greedy
Crazy, ugly & brutal
They turn into swine (pigs)
He eats an herb Hermes tells him to eat
Book Eleven
1.
Go to the Underworld to visit Tiresias – he’ll tell him how to
get home
Book Twelve
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sing & kills you
Whirlpool sea monster with big teeth
6 headed sea monster
They killed the cattle