The Odyssey Study Guide Book I

The Odyssey Study Guide

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book I

  1. Where is Odysseus in this book?

 

 

  1. How is Athena disguised?

 

 

  1. Why do Penelope and Telemachus need Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. Why does Penelope have suitors?

 

 

 

  1. What advice does Athena give to Telemachus?

 

Lesson 40: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book II

  1. What trick does Penelope play on her suitors?

 

 

 

  1. How does Athena help Telemachus?

 

Lesson 41: The Odyssey Study Guide   Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book III

  1. How does Nestor feel about Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. How does Nestor react when he realizes Athena is Telemachus’ companion?

 

Lesson 42: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions while you read.

 

Book IV

  1. How do Helen and Menelaus realize Telemachus is Odysseus’ son?

 

 

 

  1. How does Menelaus feel about Odysseus?

 

 

 

 

  1. How does Antinous plan to destroy Telemachus?

 

 

Lesson 43: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions while you read.

 

Book V

  1. Who does Zeus send to Calypso?

 

 

 

  1. What is Hermes sent to do?

 

 

 

  1. What can Hermes do with his wand?

 

 

 

  1. How does Calypso feel about Hermes’ message?

 

 

 

  1. What happens when Odysseus leaves?

 

 

 

  1. What happens at the end of this book?

 

 

 

Lesson 44: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book VI

  1. What does Athena influence Nausicaa to do while she sleeps?

 

 

 

  1. What wakes Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. Why doesn’t Nausicaa run away from Odysseus like the other girls?

 

 

 

  1. What does Athena do for Odysseus after he bathes?

 

 

 

  1. Why does Nausicaa make Odysseus follow behind the wagon?

 

 

 

  1. What does Nausicaa tell Odysseus to do if he wants her father’s help?

 

 

Lesson 45: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book VII

  1. What are the Phaeacians best known for?

 

 

 

  1. How do they treat Odysseus?

 

 

 

Lesson 46: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book VIII

  1. What activities does King Alcinous use to entertain Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. Who is Demodocus?

 

 

 

  1. How does King Alcinous help Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. How does Odysseus react when Demodocus sings about the Trojan War?

 

 

 

Lesson 47: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book IX

  1. What happened to someone who ate of the lotus?

 

 

 

  1. How heavy was the door of the Cyclops’ cave?

 

 

 

  1. What does the Cyclops do instead of answering Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. Why doesn’t Odysseus kill the Cyclops?

 

 

 

  1. What gift does Odysseus give the Cyclops?

 

 

 

  1. What “present” does the Cyclops offer in return?

 

 

 

  1. How do the men sneak out of the cave?

 

 

 

(continued on next page)

 

Lesson 47: The Odyssey Study Guide (cont.) Lit & Comp II LA

 

  1. What does Odysseus do after he escapes and returns to his ship?

 

 

 

  1. How does the Cyclops respond?

 

 

 

  1. What did a prophet once prophesy about the Cyclops?

 

 

 

 

  1. What does the Cyclops ask of his father Poseidon?

 

 

Lesson 48: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book X

  1. Who is the god of wind?

 

 

 

  1. What favor does he do for Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. What do some of the men do that undoes what Aeolus had done for them?

 

 

 

  1. What did the Laestrygonians do?

 

 

 

  1. What did Circe do to some of the men?

 

 

 

  1. Where does Circe send Odysseus?

 

 

Lesson 49: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XI

  1. How does Odysseus call the souls of the dead to himself?

 

 

 

  1. Who is Teiresias?

 

 

 

  1. What does Odysseus want from Teiresias?

 

 

 

  1. What does Teiresias tell Odysseus about his fate?

 

 

 

  1. What should Odysseus do to the suitors?

 

 

 

  1. With whom does Teiresias say Odysseus should make peace?

 

 

 

  1. How did Odysseus’s mother die?

 

 

 

 

Lesson 50: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read. 

 

Book XII

  1. What happens to those who hear the song of the Sirens?

 

 

 

  1. What does Circe instruct Odysseus to do to avoid hearing the Sirens?

 

 

 

  1. How does Circe describe Scylla?

 

 

 

  1. Why does Odysseus need to avoid Charybdis?

 

 

 

  1. What did Odysseus not tell his men, for fear they would quit rowing?

 

 

 

  1. What happened to Odysseus’s men at the end of Book XII?

 

 

Lesson 51: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read. 

 

Book XIII

  1. How was Odysseus’s journey home from Scheria?

 

 

 

 

  1. What does Poseidon want to do to the Phaeacian ship?

 

 

  1. What does Alcinous decide because of Poseidon’s wrath?

 

 

 

  1. Why does Athena want to disguise Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. What does Athena tell Odysseus to do now that he has returned to Ithaca?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson 52: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read. 

 

Book XIV

  1. What is the swineherd’s name?

 

 

  1. What does the disguised Odysseus tell the swineherd about himself?

 

 

 

 

  1. How is Odysseus disguised?

 

 

 

Lesson 53: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XV

  1. How has Eumaeus proven his faithfulness in this and previous books?

 

 

 

  1. Who do you think will be the first person to know Odysseus for whom he really is?

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson 54: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XVI

  1. What does Telemachus call Eumaeus?

 

 

 

  1. What does Athena do for Odysseus’s appearance?

 

 

 

  1. What does Telemachus think when Odysseus comes back in and his disguise is removed?

 

 

 

  1. What do Odysseus and Telemachus plan to do?

 

 

Lesson 55: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XVII

  1. What does Telemachus tell Penelope to do when she sees that he has returned?

 

 

 

 

  1. What does Theoclymenus prophesy to Penelope?

 

 

 

 

  1. Who recognizes Odysseus immediately?

 

 

 

 

  1. Who angers Odysseus?

 

 

  1. Why doesn’t Odysseus tell his servants and wife who he is right away?

 

 

Lesson 56: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XVIII

  1. Why does Odysseus fight Irus?

 

 

 

  1. What does Penelope trick the suitors into giving her?

 

 

 

  1. Other than Irus at the beginning, what other two characters anger Odysseus in this book?

 

 

 

Lesson 57: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XIX

  1. Disguised as the beggar, what does Odysseus tell Penelope about her husband?

 

 

  1. How does Euryclea recognize Odysseus?

 

 

  1. What happened to Odysseus that left him with a scar on his leg?

 

 

  1. What is the tournament of axes?

Lesson 58: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XX

  1. Which two characters in this book treat Odysseus poorly because he is a beggar?

 

 

  1. Who, in contrast, is kind to Odysseus the beggar?

 

 

 

  1. What do you think Odysseus is going to do to the suitors?

 

Lesson 59: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XXI

  1. To whom does Odysseus reveal himself to get help in defeating the suitors?

 

 

 

  1. Why do the suitors become very angry when Odysseus asks for a turn to try to string the bow?

 

 

 

  1. How is the beggar finally revealed to be Odysseus?

Lesson 60: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XXII

  1. Whom does Odysseus kill first? Why do you think he chose him?

 

 

 

  1. What does Eurymachus claim once he realizes who Odysseus really is?

 

  1. Who is caught taking weapons from the storeroom? What happens to him?

 

 

  1. Which servant begs to be spared? What second servant does Telemachus say should also be spared?

 

 

 

 

  1. How does Odysseus figure out which of the maids have misconducted themselves?

 

 

 

  1. What does Odysseus do to the unfaithful maids?

 

 

 

 

  1. What happens to Melanthius?

Lesson 61: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XXIII

  1. How does Penelope test Odysseus to make sure it’s him?

 

 

 

  1. Why does Penelope test Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. What is the last task that Teiresias told Odysseus to complete? What will be his reward?

 

 

 

 

  1. What does Odysseus leave to do? What does he tell Penelope to do?

 

 

Lesson 62: The Odyssey Study Guide Lit & Comp II LA

 

Answer these questions as you read.

 

Book XXIV

  1. How does Odysseus prove his identity to Laertes?

 

 

 

 

  1. What is Laertes afraid will happen?

 

  1. Who comes to get revenge on Odysseus?

 

 

 

  1. Whom does Laertes kill?
  2. Who stops the battle?