Books 1-2 Flashcards
What does Homer do in the first line of Book 1?
Ask the ‘Muse’, the goddess of epic poetry for help telling the story
What are do we learn at the start of Book 1?
Odysseus had been through a lot to save his comrades but they died due to foolishness.
Odysseus is on Ogygia because Calypso wants him as a husband.
All the Gods pity Odysseus except Poseidon.
The epic begins in _________ (the middle of the action)
media res
What is the happens in the council of the gods in book 1?
Athene pleads Zeus to help Odysseus
Who does Athene disguise herself as when she visits Telemachus in Book 1?
Mentes
What does Athene tell Telemachus to do in Book 1?
Go to Pylos and then Sparta to find information about Odysseus.
Kill the suitors who disrespected his father.
How does Telemachus show Athene good xenia in Book 1?
Feeds Athene before asking why she is here
Gives Athene the best chair
“ashamed that a stranger should be kept standing at the gates”
What does Penelope do in Book 1?
Cries over the court bard’s song about the Greeks’ return from Troy.
How does Telemachus respond to Penelope’s tears in book 1?
He tells her that bards do not make the hardship that they sing of, Zeus does.
Odysseus is not the only man who didn’t return from Troy.
He sends her to her bedroom and Penelope obeys.
Who are the most insolent suitors?
Antinous and Eurymachus
What does Antinous reveal about Penelope in the assembly in Book 2?
Penelope told her suitors she will marry one of them when she finishes weaving a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s father.
However, at night she undoes the day’s weaving.
What omen appears in Telemachus’ assembly in Book 2?
2 duelling eagles
Who interprets the eagles as an omen of the suitor’s death?
Halitherses
How does Athene help Telemachus in Book 2?
She gives him confidence in his assembly to the suitors
She disguised herself as Telemachus and gathers a crew and ship
She accompanies him on the ship disguised as Mentor
Who is Telemachus’ nurse and what do they talk about in Book 2?
Eurycleia
She asks Telemachus not to go on the dangerous journey.
Telemachus reassures her that the gods will assist him and asks her not to tell Penelope he has left.
