THE ODYSSEY – Fill-In-The-Gaps Summary – Books 1 To 24
Athene Visits Telemachus
Book / Event / Lines / Epithet/Formulaic Phrase / Metaphor/Simile1 / q The poem begins with Homer calling on a ______for inspiration – he asks the Muse to tell him the story of ‘that ______man”
q Homer briefly outlines the story so far – Odysseus is kept from home by ______and the god ______. Poseidon however has gone to ______to accept a ______. meanwhile Zeus has called a ______of the gods.
q Zeus says “what a lamentable thing ______” – he gives the story of ______as an example. Zeus sent Hermes himself to warn Aegisthus that it was not his destiny to ______and ______, and that if he did so Agamemnon’s son Orestes would avenge his father by killing Aegisthus. However, Aegisthus ignored this warning.
q Athene says that Aegisthus deserved this fate and then says how unfair it is that ______is trapped on an island with ‘the daughter of Atlas” (Who is this? ______). Zeus explains why Poseidon is so angry at Odysseus – Odysseus ______his son ______, whose mother was the Nymph ______. Ever since this happened Poseidon has kept Odysseus in ______.
q Athene suggests that Zeus send ______to the island of ______to tell Calypso that Odysseus must ______. Meanwhile Athene herself will go to ______to encourage ______to call an assembly and speak his mind to the ______. After that she will send him to ______and ______to seek news of ______. Who lived in these two places? ______.
q Athene travels to Ithaca and disguises herself as Mentes, the ______chief. She finds the Suitors sitting around playing games. Telemachus rushes to greet her as soon as he sees her, ashamed that a visitor should be kept ______. He leads her into the hall, to a carved armchair away from the Suitors.
q A maid came with water for them to ______, then a housekeeper set out ______and a choice of ______, and stewards served them ______and ______.
q The Suitors come in and servants put food out for them. A bard called ______plays the lyre for them. Telemachus whispers to Athene about how the Suitors live off his father’s wealth. Telemachus asks Athene a long string of questions. Athene replies that she will tell him everything honestly – is she honest? ______She claims to be ______, and says she is looking for ______. She makes a prophecy that ______. Athene comments on the resemblance between Odysseus and Telemachus. Telemachus says that his father is the most ______.
q Athene asks about the banquet. She says the banqueters (the Suitors) are ______and ______, and that any decent man ______. Telemachus says that it would have been better if Odysseus had died at Troy, since then the whole ______(Greek) nation would have mourned him, but ‘there was to be no famous end for him’. He also tells how the Suitors are consuming all his inheritance, and that although his mother hates the idea of remarrying, she cannot bring herself to ______.
q Athene wishes for Odysseus’ return so that he can ______the Suitors. She advises him to call an ______and tell the Suitors to ______. Athene also says that he should take a ship and go to see first ______and then ______to seek news of his father. Athene points out what fame Orestes achieved by killing ______and avenging his ______. Telemachus must be as brave as Orestes so that ______.
q Telemachus asks Athene to stay and offers a gift. She claims that she will collect her gift on her way back. Then she vanishes and Telemachus realises that ______.
q Telemachus rejoins the Suitors and finds them listening to the bard sing about ______. Penelope hears and comes downstairs. She bursts into tears and tells the bard to choose another subject to sing about. Telemachus however tells her to go back to her quarters and attend to her own work, the ______and the ______, since making decisions “______.” Penelope goes upstairs to weep about Odysseus.
q Telemachus announces that he intends to call an assembly. He tells the Suitors he will demand that they leave. The Suitors are shocked but then Antinous blames his ‘bold and haughty’ way of speaking on the ______. Eurymachus enquires about his guest (Athene). Telemachus says that his guest was ______but in fact he knows it was ______.
q The Suitors party away and then go home to sleep. Telemachus goes to his room escorted by his elderly nurse ______, who had been purchased by his grandfather ______. / 1-11
12-32
32-44
45-79
80-95
96-136
137-144
145-220
221-252
253-306
306-324
325-359
360-420
421-444 / E ______Aegisthus
F Hermes ______
F The goddess ______F Father ______
F the ______
F Poseidon, ______
E ______Odysseus
E ______Athene
F Calypso ______
E ______Odysseus
E ______Achaeans
E ______Suitors
F Telemachus ______
F – Formulaic scene of serving food
F They ______
F – Formulaic scene – asking questions of a guest
F “I will ______” E ______sea
E ______Nestor
E ______Menelaus
F Penelope, the ______
F Formulaic scene – When
she ______
F there she ______
F “But if ______
E ______Ithaca / M with ______
M The gods have ______
M (F) they are ______
M Such matters ______
S ______
S ______
The Debate in Ithaca
Book / Event / Lines / Epithets/Formulaic phrase / Metaphors/Similes2 / q Telemachus gets up and calls for an ______. When he arrives at it Athene makes him ______.
q ______is the first to speak. He asks who has called the Assembly.
q Telemachus, taking the speaker’s staff, replies – he complains about the Suitors’ inappropriate behaviour. He refers to ______who is the protector and enforcer of xenia, the guest-host relationship. He ______and flings down the staff.
q Antinous speaks in defence of the Suitors – he blames it all on ______, ‘that incomparable schemer’, for leading them on. He tells the story of how Penelope deceived them. She said she must make a ______for Laertes before marrying again, and the Suitors waited for her to finish it for ______years BUT she was ______at night. However, she was betrayed by her maid. The Suitors caught her unrevealing her work and insisted that she finish it.
q Antinous tells Telemachus to send Penelope away and force her to remarry. He describes her beauty, her skill in handicraft, her ______and her ______, and says that not even the women ‘in story’ (Alcmene, Mycene, etc) could match her for wits.
q Telemachus replies that he can’t throw Penelope out of her home since ______would require a large payment and Penelope would call down the ______on him. Telemachus repeats word for word his threat against the Suitors from Book 1.
q Zeus sends an omen to support Telemachus. Two ______claw at each other’s faces and kecks with their talons as they fly over the town. ______, an old hero with knowledge of prophecy/soothsaying, predicts that Odysseus is ______and will return to ______the Suitors if they don’t leave his house. He repeats his previous prophecy that Odysseus “ would return home in the twentieth year, after much suffering, having lost all his comrades, and that no-one would know him when he came”.
q The Suitor ______dismisses the prediction and is very disrespectful towards the old hero, even threatening him with violence. He repeats the idea that Telemachus must send Penelope to her ______’s house.
q Telemachus requests a ship and crew of ______men to go looking for news of his father. Mentor speaks in condemnation of the Suitors.
q ______says that people can’t be expected to take up arms over a _____ and that if Odysseus returned and tried to fight them he would die. He breaks up the meeting (although Telemachus has not been provided with a ship) and the Suitors head back to Odysseus’ palace.
q Telemachus prays to ______, who appears as Mentor and gives him encouragement. She tells him to ignore the Suitors and promises to collect a ______and crew for him.
q Telemachus sets off home and finds the Suitors slaughtering more of his ______. Antinous asks Telemachus to feast with them and offers to supply him with a ______, but Telemachus rejects this late offer.
q The Suitors make fun of Telemachus, suggesting he may get ______at sea like Odysseus.
q Telemachus goes to the store-room and instructs ______to prepare supplies for him – why does he request so much high-quality wine? Is he developing a drinking habit, or could there be some other reason? ______
q Eurycleia burst into tears, afraid that the Suitors will plot against Telemachus in his absence. Telemachus forces her to swear not to ______.
q Athene, disguised as ______, recruits a crew and prepares the ship, then makes the Suitors sleepy and sends them home to bed. Then taking the form of ______again she calls Telemachus down to the ship.
q Telemachus organises the crew to bring the supplies on board and they set out, with Athene/Mentor as a passenger. / 1-14
15-34
35-84
85-110
111-129
130-145
146-178
178-208
209-242
243-260
261-295
296-322
323-336
337-360
360-380
381-404
405-434 / F (also a metaphor): As soon as ______
E ______Odysseus
Formulaic scene – Penelope’s trick – repeated three times during poem
F Zeus ______
E ______Suitors
F ‘ruled with a father’s loving care’
F (also M) ...poured out ______
E ______crew
E ______sea
E ______ship / M (See F)
M ______
M ______
M ______
M a dark wave hissed loudly around her keel…
Telemachus with Nestor
Book / Event / Lines / Epithets/Formulaic phrase / Metaphors/Similes3 / q Telemachus arrives in ______to find the people making sacrifices to ______. Athene/Mentor encourages him to go up and question Nestor, but Telemachus is reluctant because “it is embarrassing for ______”.
q Telemachus is welcomed by Nestor’s son, ______. He and Athene/Mentor are invited to take part in the sacrifice.
q Now that they have eaten, Nestor asks Telemachus and Mentor who they are. Telemachus says that he is looking for news of his father, Odysseus.
q Nestor describes evenmts at Troy. He describes a dispute between ______and ______over whether to leave Troy immediately or to stay and ______. Nestor left with Menelaus. Odysseus sailed off but then turned back to Troy to travel with ______.
q Nestor tells the story of Agamemnon’s death and how his son ______took revenge by killing Agamemnon’s wife and his own mother ______and her lover ______. Telemachus admires how “Orestes’ fame ______”, and wishes that he could have the strength to exact a similar revenge on the Suitors.
q Nestor tells Telemachus to go visit ______in Lacedaemon (Sparta). He offers them a bed for the night. Athene says that Telemachus should stay with ______and then travel to Sparta. Then she transforms into a ______and flies off.
q Nestor recognises Athene and promises her a sacrifice.
q Nestor sacrifices a ______to Athene.
q Polycaste, Nestor’s youngest daughter, ______Telemachus. They feast and then Nestor sends Peisistratus off with Telemachus to see Menelaus. / 1-28
29-69
70-100
101-192
193-313
314-373
374-383
384-464 / F Poseidon, ______
E ______Athene
F Poseidon, ______
E ______Odysseus
E ______Menelaus
E ______Telemachus
Formulaic scene – wrapping bones in fat and burning for the gods, tasting the inner parts, etc / S ______
M Death that stretches all men out ______
M The gods who never die have already ______
Menelaus and Helen
Book / Event / Lines / Epithets/Formulaic phrase / Metaphors/Similes4 / q Telemachus arrives at the palace of ______, who is celebrating the wedding of his son ______and his daughter ______(to different people).
q Menelaus’ squire ______sees Telemachus and Peisistratus, and informs Menelaus, and asks him whether to bring them in or send them on their way. Menelaus says he is talking nonsense when he suggests sending them away, and instructs him to welcome the travellers
q Telemachus and Peisistratus bathe and dress and are served ______, ______and ______. Telemachus admires Menelaus’ wealth. Menelaus speaks of his grief for all ______. He mourns most for ______.
q Telemachus weeps and Menelaus realises who he is, but is debating whether to say so when ______appears, with her equipment for spinning/weaving. She says she recognises Telemachus due to his resemblance to Odysseus.
q Peisistratus introduces Telemachus and explains that he has come seeking advice.
q Menelaus describes his plans for when Odysseus returned, which makes them all break down and ______.
q They return to feasting and Helen gives them drugged wine to take away their ______. She tells the story of how Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, sneaked into ______. Why would Homer choose to have her tells this story? ______
q Menelaus describes Odysseus’ restraint/self-discipline when they were hiding in the ______.
q Telemachus requests sleep. They go to sleep, get up again. What sort of an impression does the listener have of Odysseus’ character after these stories? ______
q Telemachus asks for ______. He tells of the Suitors’ behaviour. Menelaus says the Suitors will meet a grisly fate at Odysseus’ hands
q Menelaus tells the story of the ______of the ______. Proteus’ daughter ______came to his aid when he was stuck on an island near the mouth of the ______River. (NOTE: his men are fishing, which is a sign of desperation/starvation – heroes in the Odyssey generally only eat ______. ) She told him to lie in wait and capture ______.
q Menelaus went with three men to capture ______. He hid with his men under ______skins which Eidothee provided to them. When Proteas lay down to sleep among his ‘flock’ of seals Menelaus and his men jumped on him. Proteus changed shape into ______When Proteus became tired, Menelaus questioned him and was told of the fates of the various heroes returning from Troy. Proteus told him how Odysseus was being held captive by ______.
q Menelaus returned to his ship, made the appropriate sacrifices, and went home.
q Menelaus offers gifts to Telemachus. Telemachus asks him to change his gifts for something more practical, so e instead offers a bowl made by ______himself.
q Change of scene – back to the Suitors. The Suitors find out that Telemachus has gone. They are angry and plan to ______. Penelope finds out about Telemachus’ absence and the Suitors’ plot and weeps.
q Penelope mourns her fate and is angry at the servants for not telling her what Telemachus was planning. Eurycleia confesses that she knew, and tells Penelope to go upstairs and pray to ______.
q Penelope obeys. The Suitors go off to carry out their plan. Penelope falls asleep while worrying about Telemachus.
q Athene sends a phantom to the sleeping Penelope in the shape of her ______, who comforts her and tells her that Telemachus will be okay.
q The Suitors prepare their ambush. / 1-18
19-45
46-112
114-154
155-167
168-187
188-264
265-289
290-314
215-345
346-424
425-569
570-586
587-624
625-720
721-757
758-794
795-842
843-849 / E ______Telemachus
E ______Menelaus
F Formulaic scene – Maid brings water to wash hands, housekeeper brings out food, steward/carver serves meat and wine
F When they ______
E ______Menelaus
E ______Odysseus
E ______Telemachus
F Menelaus ______rose..
Formulaic scene of dressing – He slung a sharp sword ______- repeated from Book ___
F Tell me also ______
E ______Eurymachus
E ______Medon / S ______
S ______
M ______
S ______
M ______
M ______
S ______S ______
M a ______man
M from ______
S ______
M ______
Calypso