Odyssey Final Review Flashcards
Zeus
King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is occasionally depicted as weighing men’s fates in his scales. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.
Athena
Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. Athena assists Odysseus and Telemachus with divine powers throughout the epic, and she speaks up for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus. She often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.
Nausicaa
The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa discovers Odysseus on the beach at Scheria and, out of budding affection for him, ensures his warm reception at her parents’ palace.
Penelope
Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Penelope spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband.
Telemachus
Odysseus’s son. An infant when Odysseus left for Troy, Telemachus is about twenty at the beginning of the story. He is a natural obstacle to the suitors desperately courting his mother, but despite his courage and good heart, he initially lacks the poise and confidence to oppose them. His maturation, especially during his trip to Pylos and Sparta in Books 3 and 4, provides a subplot to the epic. Athena often assists him.
Arete
Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Arete is intelligent and influential. Nausicaa tells Odysseus to make his appeal for assistance to Arete.
Alcinous
King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. Alcinous hears the story of Odysseus’s wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca.
Eurymachus
A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus’s charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors.
Elpenor
Elpenor became drunk and climbed onto the roof of Circe’s palace to sleep. Forgot he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck. First shade to meet Odysseus, and pleaded with him to return to Aeaea and give him a proper cremation and burial.
Eurycleia
The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. Eurycleia is well informed about palace intrigues and serves as confidante to her masters. She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope, and she later keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognizes a scar on his leg.
Melanthios
The Ithacan goatherd. Unlike many of the other, loyal servants we meet, Melanthios sides with the suitors and insults beggar Odysseus. On the one hand, he arms the suitors during the slaughter, but on the other hand he gets tortured before he dies.
Circe
The sorceress of the island Aiaia. She turns Odysseus’s men into sheep, seduces him, and then finally sends them on their way with directions to the Underworld.
Calypso
The goddess who holds Odysseus hostage for purposes of sex.
Eumaios
Eumaios is Ithacan swineherd who takes Odysseus in when he returns home in the guise of a beggar, and he shows us that it’s not just kings who can be hospitable—even swineherds know how to treat a guest right.
Penelope`s Suitors
Under the pretext of courting Penelope, the suitors proceed to spend their days at Odysseus’ house, feasting on the livestock. Killed by Odysseus and Telemachus
Epic Hero Traits
Physical strength, intelligence, loyal, respects gods, displays hubris, has hamartia
Themes in the Odyssey
Hospitality (xenia), loyalty (country, family, gods), oral tradition, temptation, love for home/family
Penelope and Unraveling Shroud
Penelope promises her suitors that she will select one of them when she finally finishes her funeral shroud for Odysseus. She unravels the shroud a little every night so that she will never finish, and therefore never have to pick a suitor.
Epithets
Descriptive words that provide information about the qualities of a character.
Significance of Agamemnon`s Story in Book 1
Foreshadows the events that will become of Odysseus
How does Eurycleia (Odysseus`s nurse) recognize Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca?
Recognizes Odysseus`s birthmark/token/scar/recognition wound.
Why was Odysseus released after 5 years with Calypso?
Athena wants to help Odysseus reach Ithaca, so she asks Zeus to order Calypso to release Odysseus.
Hanging of Maidens?
Odysseus does this as they slept with Penelope`s suitors and they are going against the Greek ideals for women.
Death of Melanthios
Arms suitors against Odysseus and is tortured and killed by Telemachus and Eumaeus
Evidence of Odysseus`s Physical Strength
- Drags his men back to the ship after encounter with Lotus-Eaters
- Able to use his spear to injure the eye of the cyclops Polyphemus
- Managed to loosen his tightly-tied bonds during encounter with the Sirens
- Has strength to grab onto a tree/branch and not drown in Charybdis.
Where does Odysseus`s claim as his origins when he returns to Ithaca disguised as a vagabond?
The island of Crete
How does Penelope test Odysseus?
She asks him to string Odysseus`s bow and shoot and arrow through 12 axe heads, and then she asks him to move the bed. The bed is made of an olive tree and only Odysseus would know that the bed can’t be moved.
What happens after Odysseus kills the suitors?
The suitors’ parents and relatives come and try to kill Odysseus in cycles. Instead of letting this violence kill many people, Athene “persuades” everyone to stop fighting and accept Odysseus as king. Peace is restored.
