Characters
The father of gods and men, he agrees to assist Odysseus even though he ends up smiting his men on behalf of another.
Who is Zeus?
This city and kingdom is the home which Odysseus rules. Don't mistake it for the city of the same name in New York state.
What is Ithaca?
Before the suitors' deaths, Athena shows her support for Odysseus in this way, causing them to attempt to run for their lives.
What is show the sign of her shield?
Despite being married already, this goddess promises Helen should she be chosen as the most beautiful.
Who is Aphrodite?
The following simile compares Hermes' flight to this.
“A gull patrolling
Between the wave crests of the desolate sea
Will dip to catch a fish, and douse his wings;
No higher above the whitecaps Hermes flew
Until the distant island lay ahead…”
What is the flight of a gull over the waves?
The messenger of the gods, he often comes to Odysseus on behalf of Athena.
Who is Hermes?
Both the underworld and its ruler are called by this name. Coincidentally, Jesus also uses it as one name of hell.
Before they can shoot an arrow through twelve axe handles, the suitors fail to even do this seemingly simpler task.
What is string Odysseus's bow?
When Odysseus is called away from his wife Penelope, their son is only an infant. By the time he sees his father, he has grown to be this old.
What is twenty?
The following simile compares these two actions.
"In a smithy
one sees a white-hot axehead or an adze
plunged and wrung in a cold tub, screeching steam—
the way they make soft iron hale and hard—
just so that eyeball hissed around the spike."
What are a hot axe hissing in cool water and the spike hissing in the cyclops's eyeball?
This prince of Troy's kidnapping of Helen initiated the Trojan War, thus beginning Odysseus's long journey away from home.
Who is Paris?
Although often called Helen of Troy, the woman whose face launched a thousand ships was originally married to the king of this military-minded Greek city.
What is Sparta?
Although dead, Odysseus keeps the shades at the entrance of the underworld from drinking the lamb's blood by using this weapon?
What is his sword?
Rather than love, the suitors are seeking to marry Penelope primarily to gain this.
What is the kingdom of Ithaca?
Differing from a regular simile in length and detail, an epic simile is also known by this name.
What is a Homeric simile?
This man leads the suitors in overstaying their welcome and is one of the first to be slain by Odysseus.
Who is Antinous?
Although the people who live here are called Phaeacians, the island is also called by this name.
What is Scheria?
Hermes instructs Odysseus to do this so he will be immune to Circe's potion.
What is eat the herb, moly?
Although she lets him go at the behest of the gods, Calypso fails to understand that Odysseus desires to return to his wife when she is inferior to Calypso not just in mortality, but this quality.
What is beauty?
At the end of the Odyssey, the joy of Penelope and Odysseus is compared to that of a man who has done this.
What is survive a shipwreck and reach land?
This blind prophet is dead by the time Odysseus consults him on how to get home.
Who is Tiresias?
Calypso's island, where Odysseus is kept for many years, is called by this name.
What is Ogygia?
In addition to blinding the cyclops, Odysseus conceives of this trick to slip past him as the monster guards the door of his cave.
What is hide under the sheep?
Despite being married to this goddess, the goddess of marriage, women, and family, Zeus chooses a mortal to judge her beauty.
Who is Hera?
The embrace of Telemachus and this loyal character is described in this simile.
"Think of a man whose dear and only son,
born to him in exile, reared with labor,
has lived ten years abroad and now returns:
how would that man embrace his son! Just so
the herdsman clapped his arms around Telemachus
and covered him with kisses—for he knew
the lad had got away from death."
Who is Eumaeus?