Study Questions: Odyssey 1-8
Stanley Lombardo Translation (The Essential Homer)
0. On the map of Homeric Geography, find Ithaca, Pylos, and Sparta. Which direction did Telemachus have to sail from Ithaca to Pylos to visit Nestor? What direction did he have to travel in order to go from Pylos to Sparta to visit Menelaus? Describe a likely sea route that Telemachus would have taken to get from Ithaca to Pylos, mentioning what he would have passed on the way.
1. Describe a likely sea route that Odysseus would have taken to get from Troy home to Ithaca, if he had been able to go directly home after the war. Mention some places he would have passed on the way.
ODYSSEY 1
2. What themes do the first ten lines of the epic stress?
3. Why is Zeus upset with mortals? What example does he give?
4. What pun on Odysseus' name does Athena make in her first speech to Zeus (68)?
5. What reason does Athena give for Zeus NOT to be upset with Odysseus, and how does Zeus agree with her?
6. What does Zeus say about Poseidon's anger?
7. How does Athena arm herself for her trip to Ithaca, and how does she travel?
8. In what guise does Athena approach Odysseus' house? Why does she choose this disguise?
9. Why was Telemachus indignant when he saw Athena standing on the threshold of the outer porch?
10. What is symbolic about where Telemachus places Pallas Athena's spear?
11. "Mentes" tells Telemachus that he and Telemachus 'have ties of hospitality, just as our fathers did, from a long way back." (202). What story does he tell Telemachus later about Odysseus and his (Mentes') father to prove this claim? (273 ff)
12. Why does Telemachus say that if Odysseus had died at Troy he would have grieved less for him than he currently does? What does he think has happened to his father?
13. What does Athena mean that Telemachus should build a 'barrow,' and what do you think it will be in it? What is the literal meaning of the English word "cenotaph?"
14. Why does Athena/Mentes remind Telemachus of Orestes?
15. Why does Telemachus offer a gift to Athena/Mentes?
16. What was unusual about Athena's departure from Telemachus, and what effect on Telemachus did her departure have?
17. What song was Phemius singing that bothered Penelope so much? What about the song vexed her so?
18. How does Telemachus respond to his mother's tearful plea to change the subject of the singer's song? What does his response tell us about his character, and about gender roles?
19. What had the suitors done specifically to make Telemachus call them 'arrogant pigs'? (388)
20. Eurycleia was a prized slave in Odysseus' household. What relationship did she have with Odysseus' father Laertes? With Odysseus' sonTelemachus?
ODYSSEY 4
21. To which goddess is Helen compared when she arrives in the hall (125)? Why do you think the poet makes this comparison?
22. Why does Helen have a spindle and yarn in her lap? What does this tell us about epic queens?
23. What leads to the recognition of Telemachus by Menelaus and Helen? Who finally confirms Telemachus' identity?
24. How does Menelaus express his affection for Odysseus? (176ff)
25. Everybody cries when they remember Odysseus (192). What does Helen do to help them get over this sorrow? What was the origin of this special thing?
26. What is Helen's attitude towards how she had caused the Trojan War? (cite a line)
27. What story does Helen tell that proves the cleverness (dolos) of Odysseus? What was her role in the story? How does this story foreshadow what Odysseus will do on Ithaca when he eventually arrives there?
28. What Trojan Horse story does Menelaus tell that proves the excellence of Odysseus? What is Helen's role in that myth?
29. Who was Eidothea, and who was her father? How does she help Menelaus to get home?
30, What myth about Thetis and Peleus is recalled by lines 440-452? (You will want to look in a mythology source book, or see information about Thetis at the Perseus web site, especially this passage, and note 5:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout=&doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022&query=section%3D%23188&loc=3.13.4#fn5
31. What use did Eidothea make of ambrosia to help Menelaus?
32. What mistake did Menelaus make on his departure, according to Proteus, and how can Menelaus rectify it?
33. Why did Poseidon kill Oilean Ajax? (the Locrian, lesser Ajax, not the Ajax of the great shield who killed himself over not getting Achilles' armor)
34. How does Proteus' describe the death of Agamemnon?
35. What does Proteus say is Menelaus' after-death destiny?
36. What act of piety does Menelaus perform before he leaves Egypt for home? Why does he do so?
ODYSSEY 5
37. Why was Dawn reluctant to leave Tithonus (line 1)? What was their relationship? Why is the image of a reluctant Dawn appropriate to the theme of book 5? [Here is another proof Stanley Lombardo's translation genius.]
38. What was Calypso doing when Hermes found her, and what does that tell us about the pastimes of nymphs? How did Calypso recognize Hermes? How was Hermes dressed?
39. How does Calypso offer hospitality to Hermes?
40. What remark does Hermes make that reminds us that he is a greedy god?
41. What is Calypso's attitude towards the other gods -- when she hears why Hermes has come? What mythological exempla does she cite?
42. Why does Odysseus elicit an oath from Calypso? What does this tell us about Odysseus' outlook on life?
43. How does Odysseus' meal (sitting in the chair where Hermes had sat) compare with that of Hermes, and why?
44. What does Odysseus tell Calypso immediately before they go to bed and make love? Why does he tell her this?
45. When Poseidon's storm is overwhelming Odysseus, he wishes he had died in Troy. Why does he express that thought?
46. How did the White Goddess Ino help Odysseus? What pun does she make on Odysseus' name (5.341)? Who had made this same pun
in book 1 (68)? Who makes the same pun at 5.426?
47. What is Odysseus' reaction to Ino's gift of the veil? What does this tell us about Odysseus' outlook on life?
ODYSSEY 6
48. Into what does Athena metamorphose herself, and why?
49. How does Homer describe Mt. Olympus?
50. To which goddess does Homer compare Nausicaa as she plays with her girlfriends? Why is this appropriate?
51. To which goddess does the naked Odysseus compare Nausicaa? To what non-human thing does he compare her? How are these two related? (149ff)
52. What wish does Odysseus make for Nausicaa? How can this be seen as a wish for himself? (183)
53. How does Athena help Odysseus "dress for success," and how successful is she?
54. What does Nausicaa tell Odysseus that he must do in order to win his way back to his homeland? What does this tell us about gender roles in the palace of Scheria?
55. Why does Athena hear, but not appear face-to-face to Odysseus when he prays to her in her sacred grove (329ff)?
ODYSSEY 8
56. What do you think Nausicaa's emotions are when she bids Odysseus farewell? How does Odysseus respond to her words? How do they feel about each other?
57. How is the scene where Demodocus' song makes Odysseus cry (540-578) similar to that one in book 1, which shows Penelope's reaction to Phemius' song (343ff)? What does this tell us about song?
58. How do Odysseus' tears lead to his recognition?
59. What prediction had Nausithous made about the negative consequences of the Phaeacians' generosity to strangers? (600 ff)