Book 10 summary Flashcards
How does this book start?
Odysseus continues his story to the Phaeacians
Where was Odysseus’ first stop described in this book?
The Aeolian island, home to the god of the winds
What happened on the Aeolian island?
- They stayed with Aeolus for a month
- His parting gift to Odysseus was a sack holding the winds
- Aeolus freed the West Wind to blow Odysseus’ ship towards home
What happened on Odysseus’ journey from the Aeolian island?
- They sailed for nine days, and on the tenth, they caught sight of Ithaca’s shores
- Odysseus fell asleep from exhaustion
What happened when Odysseus fell asleep from exhaustion?
- His crew became suspiocus that the tied up bag Odysseus had gotten from Aeolus contained a great treasure he wasn’t sharing
- They untied it to see what was inside, and in doing so freed the winds
- Odysseus woke up and watched in despair as the winds blew them back out to sea, and then to Aeolus’ island
What happened when Odysseus returned to the Aeolian island?
- Odysseus begged Aeolus for help
- Aeolus turned him away as he believed that Odysseus’ misfortune proved that he was hated by the gods
What happened when Odysseus left the Aeolian island for a second time?
- There was no wind, so the men had to row
- After seven days, they reached an island
What was the second place Odysseus and his men reached in this book?
The island of the Laestrygonians
What did Odysseus do at the island of the Laestrygonians?
- Odysseus sent a few men to investigate and see if the inhabitants were civilised people or monsters
What did Odysseus’ men find at the Laestrygonian’s island?
- They met a princess at a well, and she sent them inside her father’s palace.
- They saw an enormous queen, who called over her husband Antiphates, he walked in and ate one of Odysseus’ men, but the other two fled.
- The Laestrygonians ate most of Odysseus’ crew, but one ship escaped.
What happened to the one ship that escaped the Laestrygonian’s island
- They sailed to Circe’s island
What did Odysseus and his men first do at Circe’s island?
- They rested for two days, then Odysseus went out and killed a deer to feed his men.
- They feasted and slept
- The next morning, Odysseus told the men that he saw smoke rising somewhere in the middle of the island, and then men cried out in fear of he inhabitants of the island
What does Odysseus order on Circe’s island?
- He told them that crying did them no good, and sent half his men to investigate.
What happened when Odysseus’ men went to investigate Circe’s island?
- They came to Circe’s palace, they heard her singing as she weaved
- They called out to her and walked in, except Eurylochus
- She welcomed them to her table, but mixed a potion into their food that erased their memories of home and turned them into pigs
Who stayed outside Circe’s palace?
Eurylochus
What did Eurylochus do when the men didn’t return?
- He ran back to the ship and told Odysseus that the men had vanished
What did Odysseus do when he heard that the men hadn’t returned, and what happened to him?
- Odysseus set off for the palace, but before he could reach it, he met Hermes, who was disguised as a young man
What did Hermes do?
- He gave Odysseus a drug called moly that would make him immune to Circe’s potion
- He advised Odysseus, that when Circe touched him with her wand, to run at her with your sword until she backs away in fear and invites you to her bed
- He told Odysseus to accept the goddesses’ offer, but only after she swore a binding oath not to hurt him.
What happened when Odysseus walked into Circe’s palace?
- Everything happened just as Hermes predicted
- Circe guessed that he bust me Odysseus
- When they retired to bed, Circe’s maids prepared a bath and a feast
- Odysseus was too troubled to eat, so Circe transformed his crew into men again
What did Odysseus do after his men were transformed back?
- he returned to his ship to hide his cargo in caves, and to call the rest of his crew back to the palace
How did Eurylochus respond to being told to go back to Circe’s palace?
- He urged the men to depart right then, instead of rushing into a situation that might be a trap
- He reminded them of the men that died in Polyphemus’ cave because of Odysseus’ poor judgement
- However, the men followed Odysseus, Eurylochus included
What happened once all the men had gone to Circe’s palace?
- They stayed on the island for a year, living in luxury
- However, the crew grew increasingly restless and finally convinced Odysseus that it was time to leave
What did Circe tell Odysseus when he declared his intention to leave?
- She advised him to go down to the land of the dead to speak to the ghost of Tiresias, a blind prophet
What spot did Circe tell Odysseus to go to?
The spot where the River of Fire and the River of Tears meet
What did Circe tell Odysseus to do at the spot where the River of Fire and Tears meet?
- To dig a trench there
- Pour milk and honey, wine, and water for the dead and sprinke barley in the trench
- Finally, he had to promise the dead to kill a heifer when he returned to Ithaca and to slaughter a black ram for Tiresias.
- Afterwards, Odysseus must slaughter a ram and a ewe with his head turned away, then the shades will emerge
What did Circe instruct Odysseus to do when the shades emerge?
- Odysseus’ crew must burn the corpses of the sacrificed animals, whilst Odysseus keeps the shades away from the blood
- Then, Tiresias will appear and advise him how to complete his journey home.
What did Odysseus and his men discover in the morning they were leaving?
- Elpenor, the youngest member of the crew, had gotten drunk the night before, slept on the roof, and fell off and broke his neck
