The Odyssey Flashcards
Telemachus
Odysseus’ son
Asks for the god’s help against the suitors trying to steal the throne
Goes to Nestor and Menelaus seeking news of his father
Calypso
Odysseus is marooned for 7 years on Ogygia by Calypso a nymph
Phaeacians
After leaving Calypso’s island, he lands on the island of the Phaeacians who he tells the story of his journey home.
Lotus eaters
Whoever eats the fruit forgets everything and only wants to stay there and eat more lotus fruit. Odysseus had to get his men away and they sail for the land of the Cyclopes
Polyphemus
A Cyclopes, son of Poseidon and herdsman. Odysseus and 12 companions enter his cave and are trapped there
How does Odysseus get away from Polyphemus
Odysseus gets Polyphemus drunk, then they blind him. They tie themselves to the underside of his sheep and sneak out when he opens the cave
What does Odysseus tell Polyphemus his name is
Nobody
What does Polyphemus do when Odysseus is sailing away?
He asks Poseidon to curse him, so that he won’t return home for many years, all of his companions die and he loses all of his ships and returns home alone on a strangers ship. He also will find trouble in his house when he returns home
King Aeolus
Keeper of the winds, gives Odysseus a bag of winds to help him get home
What happens just before Odysseus gets home to Ithaca after using the bag of winds?
His men get curious and open the bag, thinking its full of gold, they release the winds and he ships are blown back to Aeolus Island. Aeolus won’t help him again, because he thinks Odysseus is cursed by the gods.
Laestrygonians
Destroy all but one ship and eat the crews, leaving only Odysseus and on ship and crew
Circe
A witch who lives on Aeaea
Turns half of Odysseus’s men into pigs.
Who helps Odysseus defeat Circe?
Hermes. He tells Odysseus how to counter her charms and gives him an antidote so he won’t turn into a pig when he eats Circe’s food. He then forces her to turn his men back
What happens with Circe after Odysseus rescues his men?
They sleep together and Circe bears a son, Telegonus. Odysseus stays for a year. Circe tells him he must visit the underworld to talk to the prophet Tiresias
What does the ghost of Achilles tell Odysseus?
He tells him he would rather be the slave of a poor man on earth, than king of all of the souls of the dead
What does the ghost of Tiresias tell Odysseus
He foretells the fate of Odysseus
Sirens
Odysseus sails past them unharmed by putting wax in the ears of this men. He wants to hear their songs, so he has himself tied to the mast so he can’t be tempted by them
Planctae
Wandering rocks, to avoid them Odysseus has to sail close to the cliffs, on either side is Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla
Once a lover of Poseidon changed into a monster by Poseidon’s jealous wife Amphitrite. She snatched 6 men form the ship as it passes her
Cattle of Helius
Circe warns Odysseus not to touch any of Helius’s animals when he lands on Thrinacia. While Odysseus is sleeping his men kill a cow for food. Zeus punishes them by sending a storm and sinking their ship. Everyone dies, but Odysseus
After Zeus destroys the last ship, what happens to Odysseus?
He washes up on calypso’s island
How does Athena help Odysseus when he returns to Ithaca?
She disguises Odysseus as a beggar
How does Penelope put of choosing a suitor?
She tells them she will choose when she finishes weaving a burial robe for Odysseus father Laertes. She weaves by day and at night she undoes her work. She manages to fool them for three years.
How does Odysseus’ nurse recognize him
A scar on his thigh
What test does Penelope force the suitors to do?
They must string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through a line of axe heads
Penelope
Odysseus’ wife
During his absence she is besieged by suitors but she remains faithful to Odysseus
How does Penelope test Odysseus to prove his identity?
She orders their marriage bed brought out of the room, when Odysseus protests, saying it’s impossible to move because it’s made from a live tree, Penelope knows it’s really him
