Reading Guide for The Odyssey
Book 1 (pages 1-2; lines 1-34)
In which line is the main character first referred to by name?
Which god is angry with Odysseus?
Where is Odysseus being held captive?
Zeus calls a divine council on MountOlympus. Athena mentions that Odysseus is stranded on Calypso’s island. She asks Zeus to send him home.
Athena then visits Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, on their home island of Ithaca. When she arrives, she finds Odysseus’s house overrun by a horde of petty princes and young noblemen who are supposedly courting Odysseus’s wife Penelope. At the same time, they are wasting Odysseus’s property in constant banquets and feasting.
Athena disguises herself as Mentes, an old friend of Odysseus, and recommends that Telemachus give the suitors notice to leave his household. She also suggests that Telemachus go out in search of news of his father and, if he learns that his father is dead, to allow his mother to remarry.
Books 2-4
Telemachus informs the suitors of his plans to search for news of his father. The suitors argue against it, but with the help of Athena, Telemachus leaves in secret. He first visits King Nesor of Pylos. Next, he travels to the home of Menelaus and Helen in Sparta. The two tell tales of Odysseus at Troy, and inform Telemachus that Odysseus is currently trapped by the goddess Calypso. Meanwhile, the suitors learn of Telemachus’s trip and plot to murder him upon his return.
Book 5 (pages 87-88; lines 212-291)
Athena, once again, asks the gods at assembly to help Odysseus. Zeus sends Hermes to deliver the message that after seven years Calypso must now release Odysseus.
What does Calypso offer Odysseus if he will stay?
How does Calypso help Odysseus?
Poseidon, noticicing Odysseus’s departure from Calypso’s island, becomes angry and sends a storm to capsize his raft. Athena guides Odysseus as he floats through the ocean, and eventually he washes ashore on the island of Scheria (home of Phaeacians) where he immediately falls asleep.
Books 6-8
The Phaeacian King and Queen extend to Odysseus their hospitality. They provide assistance to help him on his journey home. While at a banquet, stories of Troy are told which bring great sadness to Odysseus.
Book 9 (pages 145-162; entire book)
Who is telling the tale of Odysseus’s journeys?
What boast does Odysseus make on page 145?
Where is Odysseus’s home?
Where does Odysseus first sail after leaving Troy?
What happens to his men there?
Describe the lotus-eaters:
How many ships does Odysseus take to explore the next land they come across?
What does Odysseus know “in his bones”?
How did the Cyclops react when Odysseus asked for help?
Explain the plan Odysseus devises for escaping the Cyclops’s cave:
When the Cyclops asks Odysseus what his name is, what does Odysseus tell him?
What is the Cyclops’s name?
To whom does the Cyclops pray asking that Odysseus be punished? Why?
How does Odysseus show hubris (boastfulness) as he and his crew sail away from the Cyclops’s cave?
Book 10 (pages 180-182; lines 533-635)
The island of Aeolus, king of the winds, is the next place Odysseus lands. In order to assist him on his journey, Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag containing all the bad winds which could blow his ship off course. Odysseus’s crew become jealous because they think the bag contains treasure. Ithaca is within sight when the men rip open the bag, letting all the winds escape. The resulting explosion of wind blows them far away.
Lacking wind, they row to the land of the Laestrygonians, a race of powerful giants whose king, Antiphates, and unnamed queen turn Odysseus’s scouts into dinner. Odysseus and his remaining men flee toward their ships, but the Laestrygonians pelt the ships with boulders and sink them as they sit in the harbor. Only Odysseus’s ship escapes.
After several days at sea, Odysseus lands his one remaining ship on the island of Aeaea, home of the goddess Circe. When Circe encounters some of Odysseus’s men, she turns them into pigs. Assisted by Hermes, who tells him how to avoid Circe’s spells, Odysseus sets out to rescue his men. However, Circe falls in love with Odysseus, and he is forced to stay with her for one year.
Where does Circe tell Odysseus he must travel before he can return home?
Who does he need to see there? Why?
Which of Odysseus’s men dies before they leave Circe’s island? How?
Book 11
Odysseus sails to the edge of the earth where he performs animal sacrifices. Dead souls, attracted by the smell of fresh blood, begin to rise out of Hades. Odysseus sees his mother, Antikleia, who he learns has died of a broken heart. When Tiresias arrives, he warns Odysseus of the future dangers that await him. He tells Odysseus he will reach home, but his troubled journeys will not end until he earns Poseidon’s forgiveness.
Book 12 (pages 216-225; lines 255-580)
In order to return home, Odysseus and his men must pass the island of the Sirens. The Sirens lure susceptible men to their deaths with their irresistible song. Odysseus protects his men by filling their ears with wax. He wants to hear the song, so he has his men tie him to the mast. In this manner they pass by the Sirens safely.
Describe Charybdis:
What happened to Odysseus’s crew as they attempted to get by Charybdis?
To what does Odysseus compare the dying men?
How does Eurylokhos react when Odysseus tells them not to land on Helios’s island?
What promise does Odysseus demand the men make before they land?
What does Eurylokhos do as soon as Odysseus leaves to give offerings to the gods?
What does Helios threaten to do if Zeus does not punish Odysseus and his crew?
How does Odysseus pass Scylla and Charybdis the second time?
Books 13-15
Odysseus has finished telling his story to King Alcinoos, who then supplies Odysseus with a ship and crew. The crew sails Odysseus to the shores of Ithaca and leaves him on the beach while he is asleep. In a rage over their assistance to Odysseus, Poseidon turns the crew into stone as they sail into their home harbor. At first, Odysseus does not believe that he is home; however, Athena convinces him that it is true and then she disguises him as a beggar to keep him safe from the crazy suitors. She sends him to the home of the swineherd, Eumaios, where he is made welcome and is pleased to see how faithful his servant has been during his absence. Odysseus and Eumaios have a long conversation wherein Odysseus learns that his father, Laertes, is still alive but in a suicidal mood over his missing son.
Book 16 (pages 296-300; lines 263-383)
Returning from his trip to see Menelaus in Sparta, Telemachus, also, goes to Eumaios’s farm. When they are alone together, Odysseus reveals himself to Telemachus.
How many suitors are there?
Explain Odysseus’s plan for getting rid of the suitors:
Book 17 (pages 318-331; lines 339-794)
Odysseus in disguise as a beggar enters his own home.
Who is Argos? How have the suitors treated him?
What happens when Argos recognizes Odysseus?
How does Antinoos react to Odysseus’s begging for food?
What curse does Odysseus put on Antinoos? Why?
Why does Odysseus not go to see Penelope immediately, as she has requested?
Book 18
Odysseus, still in the disguise of a beggar, gets into a fight with another beggar who is used to being the only one at the palace. Odysseus beats him and sends him out of the palace in order to protect him. Penelope tricks the suitors into giving her lots of gifts. She says she will choose a husband based on who gives her the best gift; all she wants to do is add to Odysseus’s treasury. Meanwhile, Odysseus is shamed by the maid Melantho, some of the serving girls, and the suitors.
Book 19 (pages 371-372; lines 643-699)
After everyone has retired for the evening, Odysseus and Telemachus clear all the weapons from the hall and hide them. Penelope comes down to the hall, and she and “the beggar” talk. She tells him how much she has missed her husband, and how many tricks she has implemented in order to put the suitors off. For example, she has told the suitors that she is weaving a shroud, or death cloth. The weaving takes four years because each day she weaves and each night she undoes the days work. Odysseus, deeply affected by her story, reveals he has known her husband. Penelope is deeply touched, and orders one of the maids to wash the old beggar’s feet.
While Eurycleia, an old nurse, washes Odysseus’s feet, she realizes that this is her master. She recognizes it is Odysseus because of an old scar on his leg. Odysseus orders her to keep his identity secret.
Penelope decides to hold a contest to see which suitor will become her husband.
Describe the contest:
Book 20
It is night, and Odysseus is very angry that his maids are going off to sleep with the suitors. He starts to wonder about his success. Odysseus receives a sign from Zeus in the form of thunder, and he overhears a servant praying for the death of the suitors. The next day, Theoclymenos (a prophet) foretells death to the suitors. The suitors, of course, laugh it off.
Book 21 (pages 404-405; lines 460-499)
Penelope informs the suitors of her plans for the contest. The suitors must use Odysseus’s great bow. Whoever can both string the bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axes, will be Penelope’s husband. The suitors accept the challenge. While the suitors are making their preparations, Odysseus take Eumaeus (the swineherd) and Philoetius (the goatherd) aside, and after revealing himself to them as Odysseus, he enlists their aid in his plan.
None of the suitors is able to string the bow.
Describe Odysseus’s attempt, as the beggar, to win the contest:
Book 22 (pages 419-425; lines 347-556)
Odysseus kills Antinous with the next arrow. The suitors think the beggar has gone crazy until Odysseus identifies himself. In horror, Eurymachus tries to blame the dead Antinous for the actions of the suitors. Odysseus answers him by killing him the next arrow.
Which three men assist Odysseus?
To what does Homer compare the mass of dead suitors?
What does Odysseus demand be done before he sees Penelope?
Books 23 and 24 (pages 429-436; lines 1-270)
At first Penelope doesn’t believe that Odysseus is home. How does Odysseus prove to Penelope that he is, in fact, Odysseus?
In Hades, all the dead souls of Odysseus’s former comrades at Troy are surprised when Hermes arrives leading the souls of the dead suitors. They are impressed by Odysseus’s valor and his wife’s loyalty.
Odysseus arrives at his father’s farm, and Laertes is overcome with joy. Meanwhile, the people of Ithaca have learned of Odysseus’s return and the slaughter that took place in his house. At an assembly, the relatives of the slain suitors seek retribution. Arming themselves, they follow Odysseus to Laertes’ farm.
Athena wants to help Odysseus, so she asks Zeus for permission. Zeus, feeling that Odysseus was justified in his actions, agrees to let Athena intervene. When the armed relatives arrive at Laertes’s farm, fighting breaks out. A thunderbolt from Zeus gets everyone’s attention, and Athena orders that peace be restored.