The Odyssey

Question 1

Who is Hermes?

Answer 1

He is the messenger god -winged shoes

Question 2

Where is Calypso when Hermes arrives on Ogygia?

Answer 2

Weaving on her loom

Question 3

Where is Odysseus when Hermes arrives on Ogygia? What is he doing?

Answer 3

He is sitting on the beach crying and missing home

Question 4

Calypso tempts Odysseus by promising _________ if he stays with her.

Answer 4

Immortality

Question 5

Who destroyed Odysseus’ raft after he sailed from Ogygia?

Answer 5

Poseidon, Zeus

Question 6

Odysseus next arrives at the land of the _______.

Answer 6

Phaeacians

Question 7

Odysseus requests the minstrel to sing a song about what?

Answer 7

A song about himself

Question 8

How did Odysseus respond to the song?

Answer 8

He weeps

Question 9

How many of Odysseus’ men ate the Lotus? What effect did the Lotus have on them?

Answer 9

3, it made them forget about their mission to get home

Question 10

How did Odysseus get his men back to the ship?

Answer 10

He drove them back to the ship and tied them to their rowing benches

Question 11

Why is Odysseus the deverest of the Greek heroes?

Answer 11

Athena is his protective goddess

Question 12

Why was Odysseus at the Cyclops’s cave?

Answer 12

Curious

Question 13

Based on the Cyclops’ evening chores, what seems to be his “occupation”?

Answer 13

Shepherd

Question 14

What request does Odysseus make of the Cyclops?

Answer 14

Help, gifts - as is the Greek customs

Question 15

How does the monster answer his request?

Answer 15

He and the other Cyclops don’t care for their gods or customs

Question 16

How did Odysseus answer the question about his ship?

Answer 16

He says Poseidon broke his ship on the rocks

Question 17

Why didn’t Odysseus stab the Cyclops in the liver.

Answer 17

If he died they would be trapped

Question 18

Describe Odysseus’ preparations to “hurt him worst”?

Answer 18

The men sharpened a club/staff to a sharp point

Question 19

What caused the Cyclops to become flustered?

Answer 19

Drinking “ambrosia” (concentrated wine)

Question 20

Odysseus told the Cyclops his name was _______?

Answer 20

Nobody

Question 21

What was the Cyclops’ gift to Odysseus?

Answer 21

That he would eat him last

Question 22

What actions did Odysseus and his man take to hurt the Cyclops?

Answer 22

Heat up the sharp club/staff and stab him in the eye

Question 23

Why did Polyphemus receive no help from the other Cyclops who gathered outside his cave?

Answer 23

He yells “Nobody hurt me”

Question 24

How did Odysseus get his men and himself out of the Cyclops cave?

Answer 24

Escape under the bellies of sheep

Question 25

Once Odysseus was out and on his ship, what did he do?

Answer 25

He taunted the Cyclops “how do you like that beating”

Question 26

How did the Cyclops respond?

Answer 26

He threw a piece of the hilltop

Question 27

What information did Odysseus want the Cyclops to know?

Answer 27

His name and that he is Laertes son

Question 28

Was this information a surprise to the Cyclops?

Answer 28

Yes, because the Cyclops thought he was “nobody”

Question 29

Who did Polyphemus pray to?

Answer 29

Poseidon (god of the sea)

Question 30

What did the Cyclops curse?

Answer 30

“Odysseus, raider of cities, may never see his home”

Question 31

How does Odysseus’s crew interfere with the help he receives from Aeolus?

Answer 31

They are curious and open the bag of wind, blowing them off course