Preparing for Class: October 13

1. What did Odysseus do to the city of the Cicones?
2. On p. 127, how are the Cyclopes described? How is this description related to some of the book's ongoing concerns?
3. When Odysseus sets off to see the Cyclopes, what does he tell his men he wishes to find out?
4. What do Odysseus and his men first do when they reach the Cyclops' cave?
5. On p. 131, what does the Cyclops ask Odysseus when he first sees him? What is Odysseus' reply? What does the Cyclops then tell him?
6. What does the Cyclops do to Odysseus' men?
7. What trick does Odysseus play on the Cyclopes?
8. What does Odysseus do to the Cyclopes? How is this described in the text?
9. How does Odysseus leave the Cyclopes? What are the Cyclopes' parting words? What do they have to do with the rest of the story?
10. What does Aeolus tell Odysseus when he shows up on his island for the second time?
11. What happens to Odysseus' party when they meet Circe? What kind of hospitality is this?
12. How does Odysseus avoid the disaster that befell his men? Who helps him?
13. How long does Odysseus remain with Circe?



14. What does Circe tell Odysseus he must do before he can return home?
15. What kind of mythological figure do you think Circe represents?
16. Look very carefully at the description of Odysseus' arrival in the land of the dead. Who are the Cimmerians? How does their country oppose the land of the Laestrygonians?
17. Where, geographically or physically, does the visit to the dead take place?
18. Why does Odysseus need to fill the trench with the blood of the sheep?
19. The souls of what groups of people come up from Erebus (darkness)?
20. Why does Elpenor not have to drink from the blood?
21. Teiresias makes a prophecy about Odysseus' return home, but it is marked by conditions. What are those conditions and what is the key to his success? Teiresias also makes a prophecy about the future and death of Odysseus. What do you think this indicates?
22. What sorts of things do Odysseus and his mother Antikleia discuss?
23. What do many of the famous women have in common?
24. On p. 169, after the catalogue of women, there is an abrupt change to the present in the narrative, an intermission. The hosts discuss what their guest has said so far. What is their conclusion, and what do they want to know about what Odysseus say in the halls of Hades?
25. On pp. 170-73, Agamemnon tells Odysseus the story of his death. What is Agamemnon's reaction to it, and what is his advice to Odysseus?



26. On pp. 173-75, Odysseus encounters Achilles, who gives his comments on death. What are his conclusions and what do they tell us about the Homeric Greek religion?
27. What do both Agamemnon and Achilles want from Odysseus?
28. How does Ajax respond to Odysseus?
29. What other figures does Odysseus see?
30. Why does Odysseus need to make this journey to the land of the dead?
31. What is the song of the Sirens and how does Odysseus hear it?
32. How does Odysseus maneuver between Scylla and Charybdis?
33. How does Eurylochos convince Odysseus' men to eat the cattle of the Sun?
34. What signs let Odysseus' men know that they have made the wrong kind of sacrifice with the cattle?
35. Do you think Odysseus' men are responsible for what happens to them?
36. Would you be willing to sign on as a crew member for Odysseus' next voyage?

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