The Odyssey Chapters 1-5

Question 0

epic poem

Answer 0

A long poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds.

Question 1

in media res

Answer 1

Latin for “in the midst of thing”

Question 2

hubris

Answer 2

excessive pride or self-confidence

Question 3

kleos

Answer 3

It’s the implied meaning of “what others hear about you”. A Greek hero earns kleos through accomplishing great deeds, often through his own death.

Question 4

Epithet

Answer 4

Descriptive term (word or phrase), accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It can be described as a glorified nickname. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature.

Question 5

epic simile

Answer 5

Homeric simile, also called an epic simile is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length.

Question 6

Achaeans

Answer 6

The inhabitants of Achaea in Greece.

Question 7

aegisthus

Answer 7

The son of Thyestes.

Question 8

agamemnon

Answer 8

was the son of king Atreus and queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra and the father of Iphigenia, Electra or Laodike (Λαοδίκη), Orestes and Chrysothemis.[2] Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon commanded the united Greek armed forces in the ensuing Trojan War.

Question 9

antinous

Answer 9

Antinous (also Antinoüs or Antinoös; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίνοος; 27 November, c. 111 – before 30 October 130[1]) was a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite, or lover, of the Roman emperor Hadrian.[2] He was deified after his death, being worshiped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (theos) and sometimes merely as a divinized mortal (heros).

Question 10

athena

Answer 10

the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.

Question 11

atreus

Answer 11

In Greek mythology, Atreus (/ˈeɪtriəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀτρεύς) was a king of Mycenae, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae.

Atreus and his twin brother Thyestes were exiled by their father for murdering their half-brother Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge in Mycenae, where they ascended to the throne in the absence of King Eurystheus, who was fighting the Heracleidae. Eurystheus had meant for their stewardship to be temporary, but it became permanent after his death in battle.

Question 12

calypso

Answer 12

was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the island of Ogygia, where she detained Odysseus for several years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas

Question 13

clytemnestra

Answer 13

in ancient Greek legend, was the wife of Agamemnon, ruler of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale, who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband

Question 14

eidothea

Answer 14

was a prophetic sea-nymph, a daughter of the shape-shifting sea god Proteus. When Menelaus was becalmed on the island of Pharos near Egypt, Eidothea told him how he might capture her father to reveal prophecies that would ensure his escape.

Question 15

eurycleia

Answer 15

is the daughter of Ops and granddaughter of Peisenor, as well as the wet-nurse of Odysseus. As a girl she was bought by Laertes, Odysseus’ father. He treated her as his wife, but she was never his consummated lover so as not to dishonor his real wife, Anticleia. She nursed Odysseus and Telemachus, Odysseus’ son.

Question 16

helen

Answer 16

also known as Helen of Sparta, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was a sister of Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In Greek myths she was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War.

Question 17

ithaca

Answer 17

whose delayed return to the island is one of the elements of the Odyssey’s plot.

Question 18

lacedaemon

Answer 18

was mythical king of Laconia and son of the chief god Zeus and the Pleaid Taygete. He was a father of King Amyclas of Sparta and Queen Eurydice of Argos, by Princess Sparta, the daughter of King Eurotas. Also married his niece.

Question 19

menelaus

Answer 19

was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War.

Question 20

mentor

Answer 20

friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus’ foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus’ palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.

Question 21

orestes

Answer 21

was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones.

Question 22

penelope

Answer 22

the faithful wife of Odysseus

Question 23

proteus

Answer 23

an early sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the “Old Man of the Sea”

Question 24

telemachus

Answer 24

the son of Odysseus and Penelope

Question 25

odysseus

Answer 25

was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and a hero of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey.

Question 26

eurymachus

Answer 26

A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus’s charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors.

Question 27

nestor

Answer 27

King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus’s whereabouts.

Question 28

athene(a)

Answer 28

A shrewd companion of heroes and is the goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.