Characters
The Cyclops
Circe & the Monsters
The Test of the Bow
Vocabulary
100

Odysseus wife, who waits twenty years for his return

Penelope

100

The name of the cyclops that eats Odysseus' men and curses their journey

Polyphemus

100

Where Circe tells Odysseus he must go in order to leave her island

The Land of the Dead, the underworld, Hades
100
The two parts of the archery contest that Penelope proposes

1. Stringing the bow

2. Shooting an arrow through twelve rings

100

A long poem featuring an epic hero who goes on a journey that requires bravery, cunning, and strength

An epic

200

The goddess witch who turns Odysseus men into pigs

Circe

200

The name that Odysseus gives to the cyclops, in place of his actual name

Nobody

200

How Odysseus and his men get past the Sirens

Beeswax in the ears of his men

Odysseus is tied to the mast

200

The reason Penelope has proposed the archery contest

1. She has given up hope that Odysseus will return

2. The suitors are getting tired of waiting

200

"At this he stretched his hands out in his darkness toward the sky of stars, and prayed Poseidon: 'O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands... grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home...'" 

Epithet

300

The blind prophet that Odysseus speaks to in the underworld

Tiresias

300

The way that Odyssey and his men escape the cyclops

Stabbing his eye

Hiding under sheep

300

How Odysseus and his men defeat Scylla and the Sirens

They don't. They sail through as quickly as they can.

300

Name 3 of the 5 allies that help Odysseus take back his home.

Telemachus, Athena, Zeus, Eumaeus, Philoetius

300

Odysseus

Epic Hero

400

The god that the cyclops, Polyphemus, prays to in order to curse Odysseus and his men

Poseidon

400

Why Odysseus and his men are cursed by the cyclops when they leave

Odysseus taunts him

Odysseus does not accept his apology

400
The person whose cattle Odysseus' men eat, who then becomes very angry with them, requiring intervention from Zeus

Helios

400

Why Penelope tells the servants to move Odysseus bed into the hallway outside her bedchamber

1. She thinks he is an imposter

2. She is testing him to see if he knows the secret of their bed

400

Define an epic simile

A comparison developed over several lines

500

The god who gives Odysseus moly, a plant that will protect Odysseus from Circe's magic

Hermes


500

Odysseus weakness in this section

Arrogance, Refusal to listen to his men, Pride

500

The two people who warned Odysseus against messing with the sun god's cattle

Circe and Tiresias

500

The first suitor that Odysseus kills in "Death in the Great Hall" & the way that he kills him

Odysseus kills Antinous with an arrow to the throat

500
Define allusion

A reference to a famous person, place, thing, or historical event.