Odyssey- Book 1

Question 1

who is odysseus?

Answer 1

King of Ithaca

Question 1

who is calypso?

Answer 1

a goddess and sea nymph that keeps Odysseus hostage, attempting to make him fall in love with her

Question 2

who is poseidon?

Answer 2

god of the sea and earthquakes

Question 3

who is athene?

Answer 3

goddess of wisdom, war and craft

Question 4

who is telemachus?

Answer 4

The son of Odysseus

Question 5

who is Phemius?

Answer 5

an Ithacan prophet who is forced to sing songs for the entertainment of the suitors of penelope

Question 6

who is penelope?

Answer 6

Odysseus’ wife

Question 7

who are antinous and eurymachus?

Answer 7

two of the main suitors of penelope

Question 8

who is Eurycleia?

Answer 8

a maid in the palace of Odysseus who nursed telemachus as a child

Question 9

how does the beginning of book 1 start and what does it mean?

Answer 9

“tell me muse”- the Odyssey begins with a prayer to the muse, the poem is a vessel for the goddesses’ song

Question 10

what island is Odysseus trapped on?

Answer 10

Ogygia

Question 11

why does poseidon prevent Odysseus from returning home?

Answer 11

Odysseus blinded his son, the cyclops Polyphemus , and therefore tortures him by preventing him from returning home

Question 12

what can the gods not control?

Answer 12

the gods cannot control destiny or fate- someone can push against/stop their fate but in consequence will suffer.

Question 13

how is Odysseus described by zeus and why does zeus want to protect Odysseus?

Answer 13

“the wisest man alive’- Zeus protects Odysseus as he has prayed and worshipped to the gods multiple times

Question 14

what does Athene suggest?

Answer 14

That hermes should be sent to the nymph calypso and try and convince her to let Odysseus go, while she will personally go to Ithaca and install courage in Odysseus’ son Telemachus to seek information about his father in Sparta and then Pylos.

Question 15

when Athene visits Telemachus, who does the take the form of?

Answer 15

A family friend, Mentes

Question 16

when Athene arrives at Odysseus palace what are the suitors doing?

Answer 16

Feasting on Odysseus’ oxen and playing games as the maids look after them- they are disobeying the rules of xenia and draining Odysseus’ resources while he struggles to return home.

Question 17

how does Telemachus show good xenia?

Answer 17

He offers Athene (in the form of mentes) food and drink along with a bath before they speak, and when athene goes to leave Telemachus offers her a present, which she refuses

Question 18

who is Laertes?

Answer 18

Odysseus’ father

Question 19

Telemachus believes that his father is what?

Answer 19

dead, he has no hope that his father will return from war, and instead day dreams about the possibility of his father returning home and banishing the suitors.

Question 20

what advice does Athene give Telemachus?

Answer 20

she tells him that the next day he should call together an assembly and call upon the gods to witness it, and that he should ask the suitors to leave the palace, before sailing to Pylos and Sparta to find out anything he can about his father’s return from the trojan war. She installs faith in him that his father is still alive and that he is no longer a child.

Question 21

who should telemachus speak to at Pylos?

Answer 21

Nestor

Question 22

who should telemachus speak to in Sparta and why?

Answer 22

Menelaus- since he was the last of the Achaeans to return home

Question 23

what causes penelope to cry?

Answer 23

a song that the suitors were listening to about the Achaeans return from troy- this causes penelope to cry as her husband, Odysseus is the last of the Achaeans who hasn’t returned home.

Question 24

how does telemachus reply to his mother?

Answer 24

He tells her that she shouldn’t blame men for something that is the will of the gods and reminds her that Odysseus was not the only one not to return from troy- many wives lost their husbands at war. he tells her that if the music makes her upset, that she should retire to her room. He claims “I am the master in this house”

Question 25

What does Telemachus say to the suitors?

Answer 25

he tells the suitors that he will call together an assembly the next morning asking them to leave Odysseus’ palace, and that if they don’t they will be punished by Zeus for disobeying the rules of Xenia.

Question 26

how does antinous mock telemachus?

Answer 26

he claims that the gods have taught telemachus a ‘haughty’ way of speaking

Question 27

when the suitors ask telemachus who the visitor was, what does he reply with?

Answer 27

despite the fact he knows he was in the presence of a god, he claims that the visitor was only mentes, an old family friend of Odysseus.

Question 28

what does telemachus do at the end of Book 1?

Answer 28

He returns to his chambers, and lay in bed thinking about the journey that athene had suggested to him.

Question 29

how do we see the theme of Xenia in this book?

Answer 29

In exposition we see the ‘swagger’ behaviour of the suitors, exemplifying bad xenia as we can see the damage that they are causing to Telemachus’ household. In contrast, Telemachus displays perfect xenia by the fact that he offers them good quality food and drink as well as entertainment (in the form of the bard singing poetry)

Question 30

How do we see the role of the gods in book 1?

Answer 30

the gods are there to wreak havoc upon the mortals and to pick their favourites to aid their path to success- e.g Poseidon despises Odysseus and is trying to prevent him from returning home after he blinds his son, polyphemus. However, Athene works against Poseidon to help bring Odysseus home. This shows how much the mortal’s fates are in the hands of the gods.

Question 31

what does Hauser say in their lecture?

Answer 31

That you must treat someone well who comes into your house, yet you need to protect your oikos (household) in order to be a agathos (a good man), but to protect your house, how can you always follow xenia? the two often contradict each other and people’s morals.

Question 32

What does Hall say in their lecture?

Answer 32

That Xenia is an unofficial system used by the Greeks to protect hosts and guests who are visiting their home from harm by the other with the promise that the gods would punish those who did not abide by the Xenia and reward those who did.

Question 33

What does Graziosi say in their lecture?

Answer 33

That the gods and mortals have an uneven dynamic- the mortals are only safe if the gods allow them to be, this shows that the role of the gods is responsibility of their power. However, they time and time again abuse their powers and this often ends in devastation.

Question 34

what does clark think about whether telemachus was rude to his mother within book 1?

Answer 34

Clark claims that given the social norms of the homeric society, the words of Telemachus to his mother may not be so rude- he may not be telling his mother to refrain from speech in general, but only from public performance of authoritative speech