the odyssey book 4

Question 1

where do we arrive at the beginning of book 4?

Answer 1

menelaus’ palace

Question 2

what is menelaus celebrating?

Answer 2

the upcoming marriage of his son and daughter

Question 3

what does Menelaus say to his aide Eteneus?

Answer 3

to invite the strangers to feast with them; that way, he says, he can honour the hospitality he received from strangers during his travels.

Question 4

how does Menelaus show xenia?

Answer 4

he invites Telemachus and nestor’s son to feast with them and they are are bathed by the maids, rubbed with oil and dressed in thick cloaks and are sat on both sides of menelaus, and are offered food, wine and water.

Question 5

what does Telemachus say to pisistratus?

Answer 5

that menelaus’ palace/mansion resembles that of the court on mount olympus. However, menalaus hears him and claims that no mortal can compete with zeus and describes how it took him seven years to gain the wealth that he has now, and the places he travelled to

Question 6

how does menelaus show that he is humble?

Answer 6

he says that He would rather have stayed home with only a fraction of this wealth, he says, if it could reverse the deaths of the soldiers in Troy and his brother, agamemmnons death

Question 7

who does menelaus grieve most for?

Answer 7

he grieves for Odysseus the most, because he worked the hardest but suffered the most, and it it unjust for such a clever and hardworking man to have such a harsh punishment from the gods

Question 8

what does Telemachus do when he hears Menelaus speak so fondly of his father?

Answer 8

He bursts into tears

Question 9

who comes down from upstairs?

Answer 9

menelaus’ wife, Helen

Question 10

what does Helen say about telemachus?

Answer 10

claims that she has never seen anyone have such a resemblance before, and immediately guesses that Telemachus is Odysseus’ son, menelaus agrees to this and they both display cunning in the ability to recognise odysseus’ son. Pisistratus then confirms their identities.

Question 11

what does Menelaus give a speech about after guessing the identity of Telemachus?

Answer 11

about odysseus, and how he would have repaid him and they would have lived together in the same country, and at the end of the speech, menelaus, telemachus, helen and pisistratus broke down into tears.

Question 12

what happens at the end of Menelaus speech?

Answer 12

everyone bursts into tears

Question 13

what does Pisistratus speech about?

Answer 13

speaks about his brother, antilochus who died at war and menelaus claims that pisistratus speaks and acts like a much older man, and that he is the true son of nestor.

Question 14

how does menelaus end the crying?

Answer 14

Menelaus claims that they should stop crying and turn to their supper once again, and that in the morning menelaus and telemachus have important matters to discuss.

Question 15

what does Helen do to make everyone stop crying?

Answer 15

she slips a drug into the men’s wine which makes the men forget their sorrows, and asks menelaus sit in the dinner hall and for everyone to enjoy themselves whilst listening to each others stories

Question 16

what does Helen say about Odysseus?

Answer 16

tells the guests about Odysseus’s conquest of Troy: he stole into the city disguised as a beggar, killed many Trojans, and returned to his army with useful information about the enemy. Only helen recognised his identity, but didn’t give away his secret. Menelaus praises her storytelling and recounts how Helen tried to lure Odysseus’s comrades from the wooden horse in which they had attacked Troy by imitating the voices of the soldiers’ wives. When one man wanted to reply, odysseus placed his hand over his mouth and saved the whole army by holding them back.

Question 17

in the morning, what is the first thing that Menelaus asks Telemachus?

Answer 17

whether he has come to discuss a public or a private problem, Telemachus describes the suitors’ disgraceful behaviour and begs Menelaus to tell him all he knows about Odysseus.

Question 18

what does Menelaus say happened to him on his return from Troy?

Answer 18

he gods trapped him in still waters by the island Pharos as punishment for an inadequate sacrifice. When the crew’s provisions had run out, Menelaus encountered Eidothea, Proteus’s (the old man of the sea) daughter, who decided to help him. She advised him to catch Proteus by disguising himself and three other men as seals by hiding in the skin of seals and hiding in the cave in which Proteus slept and ambushing him when he lay down to rest. Proteus will take many different shapes, she told him, but if they hold on to him until he speaks he will tell them how to cross the sea and return home. At dawn, Eidothea led Menelaus and three other men to Proteus’s resting place and covered them with sealskins. Proteus soon appeared, the men ambushed him, and Proteus then took the shape of a lion, a serpent, a panther, a boar, a stream of water, and a tree. Yet the men held on to him until he began to speak.

Question 19

what did Menelaus ask Proterus?

Answer 19

Menelaus asked how he could escape Pharos and return home.

Question 20

what did proterus advise?

Answer 20

Proteus advised that Menelaus return to Egypt and offer grand sacrifices to the gods.

Question 21

what else did proterus reveal?

Answer 21

Proteus also told him that Ajax died at the hands of Poseidon, and Agamemnon at the hands of Aegisthus. Odysseus, Proteus said, was trapped on Calypso’s island.

Question 22

what forms did proterus take?

Answer 22

lion, serpent, a panther, a boar, a stream of water and a tree

Question 23

what is proterus?

Answer 23

a shapeshifter

Question 24

where was Odysseus trapped?

Answer 24

on the Island of Pharos

Question 25

what happened the next day after Proterus told menelaus to go to Egypt?

Answer 25

Menelaus and his men set out for Egypt, where they made glorious sacrifices to the gods. The gods then allowed them to return home safely.

Question 26

how many days does Menelaus ask telemachus to stay after telling him the story of Proterus?

Answer 26

12 days- but Telemachus declines

Question 27

how do Antinous and Eurymachus find out Telemachus has gone to find information about his father?

Answer 27

they find out from a citizen

Question 28

how do the suitors feel when they find out Telemachus has gone to find his father?

Answer 28

The suitors are outraged and plot to murder the prince on his way back home.

Question 29

what does the herald medon do?

Answer 29

overhears their plans and describes them to Penelope

Question 30

how does Penelope react when she finds out about the suitors plans?

Answer 30

. The queen is grieved to learn of Telemachus’s absence; and asks if there is another woman in the world that zeus has treated worse than her
She asks someone to summon her old servant, Dolius and for him to go straight to laertes and tell him the whole story, and maybe laertes can appeal to the people

Question 31

what does Eurycleia reveal?

Answer 31

admits she knew that telemachus was leaving the palace to seek information about his father, and that he told her not to say anything to penelope.

Question 32

Who does Penelope pray to?

Answer 32

Athena

Question 33

when penelope falls asleep what happens?

Answer 33

Athena sends a phantom in the shape of Penelope’s sister to reassure her that her son is under Athena’s protection. Penelope questions the phantom about Odysseus, but the phantom refuses to speak.

Question 34

where do the suitors sail and what do they plan to do?

Answer 34

the sail to Asteris and wait to catch the prince on his way home.