book 11 summary Flashcards
How does this story start?
Odysseus continues telling his tale to Alcinous and the Phaeacians
What did Odysseus do when he and his men reached the entrance to the world of the dead?
- They did exactly as Circe said
- They dug a trench, offered libations, and sacrificed a ewe and a ram
What happened when Odysseus had fulfilled Circe’s instructions?
Thousands of ghosts appeared when the blood started flowing
Who was the first ghost that appeared?
Elpenor
What did Elpenor say to Odysseus?
- He asked Odysseus to bury him and grieve for him properly when the crew returned to Aeaea, which Odysseus agreed to
Who was the second ghost to appear?
Anticleia, Odysseus’ mother
- Odysseus did not let approach the blood
What happened when Tiresias appeared?
- Once he drank the blood of the slaughtered animals, he spoke to Odysseus
- He told Odysseus that his journey home would be full of trouble, and that Odysseus had angered Poseidon by blinding his son, Polyphemus
What did Tiresias warn Odysseus about?
- He said the men will reach home, if they leave the Cattle of the Sun unharmed
- If they kill the cattle, Odysseus will come home alone
- However, before settling down in peace, he will have to make one more voyage to a land far away from any sea and make sacrifices to appease Poseidon. Only then will his long travels come to an end.
What was Odysseus’ final question to Tiresias?
He asked how to speak to the ghost of his mother
- Tiresias explained that a ghost would only speak if it drank the animals’ blood
What happened when Odysseus let his mother drink the blood?
- She recognised her son
- She told him that Penelope still grieved and waited for him, that his estate was still in Telemachus’ hands, and that his father lived in poverty and solitude
- She says that she had died of fried and longing for Odysseus
- Odysseus tried to hug Anticleia, but each time she dissolved at his touch
What does Odysseus say after he describes his meeting with Anticleia’s ghost?
- He concludes his tale
- It is late, and he asks the court again for passage home
- The King and Queen promise him many fine gifts if he stays on a little longer, and they ask him to describe the soldiers and heroes he met in the land of the dead
How does Odysseus continue his story after stopping?
- He describes the conversation he had with Agamemnon
What did Odysseus discuss with Agamemnon?
- Agamemnon described his wife’s infidelity, and said that her lover Aegisthus murdered him and his comrades at the dinner table
- He claims that Clytemnestra’s behaviour stained all women everywhere, and advised Odysseus to keep some things hidden from his wife, and to arrive home in secret
Who was the final person Odysseus spoke to in the land of the dead?
Achilles
What did Achilles say to Odysseus?
- That he would rather be a slave on earth than a king in the land of the dead
- Odysseus told Achilles that his son acted very bravely and killed many men, which pleased Achilles.
How does the book, and Odysseus’ time in the land of the dead end?
- The shades swarmed violently around Odysseus, wanting to talk to him
- He ran back in fear to his ship, and they set sail.
