Quiz 8 Flashcards
(8 cards)
Not to be outdone by her husband, Penelope is equally as clever as Odysseus. Name the first
ruse that she employs to keep the suitors from pressing more urgently for her to make a
choice of a husband from among their members.
She promises to remarry after she is done weaving a loom dedicated to her father Icarius. However, she would unweave her daily progress every night for almost four years so that she could continue to wait for Odysseus to return
In Odyssey 6, Odysseus meets the young and charming Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous
and Queen Arete. Odysseus is compared (in a simile) to what when he approaches her? She
is compared to whom by Odysseus? What important concept does he tell her at this point in
the poem about what is the best thing in life?
Odysseus is compared to a montain lion about to stalk its prey of the heard of women. Odysseus compares her to Artemis because she is known as a youthful virgin.
Homophrosyne: same minds, line-minded
How does Calypso come to have Odysseus with her on Ogygia? How long does he stay with
her? What does her name mean? Why does he decide to turn down her offer of immortality?
Odysseus drifted for nine days in the open sea after losing his ship and army to the mosters of Italy when coming back home from Troy. Calypso welcomed him to the island.
Seven years, going on 8
“to conceal”
He decides that the concept of kleos is more important to him that immortality. It goes against the warrior tradition in that his kleos wouldn’t be widely known if he were to be held in obscurity for eternity.
Polyphemus, the Cyclops, is tricked by Odysseus in two ways. Name these two forms of
trickery. The wine that Odysseus uses to blind Polyphemus is a guest gift. Why is this
appropriate?
He tells the cyclops that his name is Nobody so that when he yells for his friends, it sounds like everything is ok. He devices a plan to get him drunk, blind him and escape on the bellies of the sheep as they leave. Wine is a guest gift: punish breakers of xenia with gifts given from good xenia
Name three other couples in the poem that are compared to Odysseus and Penelope. How
do they fall short of this couple’s unity? And what is this unity called?
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra: she murdered him!
Helen and Menelaus: bad model for homophrosyne
Arete and Alcinous: Arete has all the power
homophrosyne
What is the point of the play on words in the Cyclopeia when Polyphemus is crying out to
his companions for help [Outis (Nobody) , Me tis (Nobody), and Metis (Cunning)]?
It is a play on how Odysseus is cunning (metis) while he says his name is Me tis (Nobody)
Name three people with whom Odysseus converses in Hades? What is one way in which he
will have a better claim to fame than Agamemnon? How about than Achilles? What is the
point of his encounter with Heracles?
Agamemnon, Hercules, Achilles
His deep bond with Penelope
He will join his father and son to defeat the suitors’ parents in battle
We see how similar they are
List three episodes from Odysseus’ tale of his journeys to the Phaeacians. Be sure to
describe, very succinctly, what each of these episodes mean to/represent for Odysseus
and/or his men?
Nausicaa: gives him advice to approach Arete not her father Alcinous
Alcinous provides Odysseus safe passage back to Ithaca
Odysseus tells them of his story, especially blinding Polyphemus which raises him to heroic status in their eyes
