The Odyssey review

The Odyssey review

The Epic Poem

Multiple Select

Which of the following are elements of an epic poem?

• it is long

• it is short

• it is about a hero

• it is about nobles

• it talks of adventures

Elements Of Homer's The Odyssey

Look at the following text and identify the errors

In the Odyssey, Odysseus tells most of the epic tale in chronological order. His journey back home took 20 years and involved many adventures. The tale was originally an oral tradition story and was passed down by word of mouth through the generations. It was a way for people to share their frustrations with the world.When Homer penned the epic tale he chose to write it in iambic pentameter, and included many similes and epiphanies.

Multiple Select

Which of the Twelve Olympians are most active in Odysseus's journey?

• Calypso

• Athena

• Poseidon

• Circe

• Tiresias

Epithets

• a short phrase

• that renames or identifies a character

• that describes the characteristics of a person, place, or thing

• is a "nickname"

Multiple Choice

Which character from The Odyssey do the epithets refer to?

- great teller of tales /the brilliant battle master

• Odysseus

• Telemachus

• Calypso

• Zeus

Multiple Choice

Which character from The Odyssey do the epithets refer to?

- wise / matchless queen of cunning

• Athena

• Circe

• Penelope

• Calypso

Multiple Choice

Which character from The Odyssey do the epithets refer to?

- softly-braided / divinely made / cunning

• Athena

• Circe

• Penelope

• Calypso

Multiple Choice

Which character from The Odyssey do the epithets refer to?

- hearty cannibal

• Poseidon

• Polyphemus

• Zeus

• The Sun God Helios

The Hero's Journey

The cycle each epic hero follows to move from their comfort zone(home), to adventure, to overcoming challenges (with helpers), to victory, and then transformation

Open Ended

How does overcoming obstacles help a character obtain the status of Hero?

After reading The Odyssey, a myth and the hero's journey, write a summary of Odysseus's journey.

The Tragic Hero

Odysseus is a tragic hero who possesses a tragic flaw that whilst not killing him, delays his journey home by 20 years.

Multiple Select

What is a tragic flaw?

• a weakness that most people have

• a character trait that leads to their downfall

• a might struggle that harms the character in some way

• the ability to lie and deceive people

Hubris, Odysseus's tragic flaw

Odysseus is arrogant. However, Odysseus’s tragic flaw is even bigger than that. He shows hubris. Hubris is excessive pride or self-confidence. It is arrogance times 10.

In Greek myths, hubris is when you show so much pride that you defy the gods. The gods do not like it when you think you are stronger or better than they are. If you show hubris toward them, they will quickly do something to punish you.

Multiple Select

Which of the following events demonstrate Odysseus's hubris?

• claiming that even Poseidon could not mend Polyphemus's eye

• telling Polyphemus his real name

• not trying to escape from Calypso's island

• taking pride in his Trojan victory at Troy

• rescuing his men from the Lotus Eaters and tying them to the ship

Open Ended

What other examples of hubris can you think of in the epic?

Vocabulary

Using the context clues listed choose the correct synonym or antonym in the following quiz questions

1. Direct Definition: The word is defined in the sentence.

2. Synonym: A word with a similar meaning is located in the same or a nearby sentence.

3. Antonym: A word with the opposite meaning is located in the same or a nearby sentence.

4. Examples: Details give hints about what the word means.

5. Appositive: The meaning of the word is set off by commas.

Multiple Choice

Have you ever seen a movie where police officers _________ a criminal suspect?

• interrogate

• addle

• cringe

• perish

Multiple Choice

Were many of them _______, argumentative, impulsive, jealous, and vengeful?

• cunning

• dilligent

• petulant

• irresistable

Multiple Choice

In the hero's journey, they must face a supreme _________ before they can be transformed, atoned, and can return home.

• mentor

• ordeal

• revelation

• rebirth

Multiple Choice

What is a synonym of hospitality?

• im Media Res

• Hubris

• kind

• Xenia

Multiple Choice

Someone who is too __________ might overwork and have no time left for family or self care.

• cunning

• diligent

• addled

• cringed

Multiple Choice

What is a synonym of cunning in the following question?

What cunning plan does Odysseus develop to help the men escape?

• unintelligent

• stupid

• flawless

• clever and devious

Multiple Choice

What is the synonym for the highlighted word in the following sentence?

The men cringed with fear and hiding the background.

• trembled

• happy

• stood

• addled

Multiple Choice

What is the synonym of the highlighted word in the following sentence?

Then, when his wits (common sense) were addled, I answered him.

• ready

• confused

• clear

• confident

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct synonym of the highlighted word:

The last of them perish - some at the hands of monsters and some by the wrath of a god who is pretty possessive of his cattle.

• rejoice

• sleep

• survive

• die

Multiple Choice

My name is Hades, / Inhabitant of the Underworld. (choose the correct antonym)

• citizen

• occupant

• dweller

• foreigner

Multiple Choice

I will reign over the dead from my ebony throne for eternity. (Choose the correct synonym)

• black

• white

• pink

• orange

Multiple Choice

The men perished through their own unwise folly in eating the cattle of the Sun God Helios.

• foolishness

  .

• wisdom

• mistake

• journey

Multiple Choice

Telemachus took this speech as a good prophecy and rose at once at this omen, for he was bursting with what he had to say.

• good

• rose

• bursting

• prophecy

Multiple Choice

Odysseus shows great hubris, which means excessive pride, toward the god Poseidon.

• anger

• favor

• conceit

• humility

Multiple Choice

Eating Helios’s cattle, defying the gods, walking into a cyclops’ cave, and neglecting to show hospitality are all serious transgressions.

• offenses

• confusions

• actions

• tragic flaws

Multiple Choice

We sailed toward our next island, trusting in providence, the gods’ good fortune.

• hubris

• divine direction

• pathway

• long journey

Symbolism in The Odyssey

• Food

• The Sea

• The Wedding bed

• Odysseus's bow

• Ithaca

Multiple Select

Although throwing a feast for a guest is a common part of hospitality, hunger and the consumption of food often have negative associations in The Odyssey.

What do the following events from the epic poem symbolise?

Odysseus tarring in the cave of the Cyclops,

his men slaughtering the Sun’s flocks,

the men eating the fruit of the lotus.

• lack of discipline

• submission to temptation

• hospitality

• hunger

Multiple Select

What do the following attitudes to eating from The Odyssey symbolise?

The suitors constantly eating and slaughtering the palace’s livestock,

Scylla devouring six men,

Polyphemus eating Odysseus's men and not his sheep.

• lack of self-control

• absence of humanity and civility

• excessive power

• divine justice

Multiple Select

Penelope and Odysseus's wedding bed symbolizes?

• A place where they sleep

• Using trickery to succeed

• The constancy of their marriage.

• Distrust of strangers

Multiple Select

The shroud that Penelope weaves for her father-in-law, Laertes's eventual funeral symbolizes?

• her devotion

• her physical strength

• her bitterness

• her cunning

Multiple Select

Odysseus' bow symbolizes?

• the ineptitude and lack of skill of the king

• the maturity and character of the king

• the patience and good judgement of the king

• the physical superiority of the king

Multiple Select

The sea itself is a recurring symbol throughout the epic. It represents?

• the power of Poseidon

• victory and heartbreak

• man's journey through life

• problems at home

Multiple Select

The island of Ithaca symbolizes?

• invasion of the enemy

• home

• the beauty of Greece

• the end of a journey

Multiple Select

What might Calypso and her island symbolize about life?

• Beauty andfemininity

• Desire

• A sanctuary and haven

• Control

• A prison

The Journey

20 years trying to get home

Multiple Choice

What mood is evoked in the episode: The Lotus Eaters?

• scary and dangerous

• sexy and tempting

• dark and deathly

• blissful and forgetful

Multiple Choice

What does the island of the Lotus Eaters symbolize?

• distraction (being pulled from responsibility to mindlessness)

• awareneess (the need to be constantly awake to things around you)

• deceit (that what seems true at first, is actually a lie)

• pleasure (the loys of giving in and leaving behind your old life)

Multiple Choice

Polyphemus is a cyclop and Poseidon's son. He is living peaceful as a shepherd on his island before Odysseus turned up.

How many of Odysseus's men did he kill?

• 5

• 6

• 7

• 8

Multiple Choice

Why can't Odysseus kill the Cyclops?

• He is too big and there is not a weapon big enough to kill him

• Because it would anger the God Poseidon. It is a sin the anger the Gods.

• Because only Polyphemus is strong enough to move the giant stone blocking the door.

• Because it would leave the sheep without someone to care for them.

Multiple Choice

How many sheep did Odysseus tie together to enable the men to escape the Polyphemus's cave?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Multiple Choice

What does Odysseus do with all of the sheep and cheese that he stole from the Cyclopes' cave?

• He splits them up evenly amonst all the men, then they have a feast.

• He stores them for the journey.

• He sacrifices them to the Gods to appease their anger for harming Poseidon's son.

• He takes the majority and gives one each to the rest of his men.

Multiple Choice

Is the Cyclops in anyway civilized?

• yes

• no

• yes and no

Open Ended

Do you think that Polyphemus had a right to eat or hurt Odysseus' men? Why or why not?

King Aeolus: Make a note of the mistakes in the text.

The Achaeans sail from the land of the Cyclopes to the home of Aeolus, ruler of the rain. Aeolus presents Odysseus with a bag containing all of the rain, and he stirs up a beautiful day to guide Odysseus and his crew home.

Within ten days, they are in sight of Ithaca, but Odysseus’s shipmates, who think that Aeolus has secretly given Odysseus a fortune in gold and silver, tear the bag open. The rain escapes and stirs up a storm that brings Odysseus and his men back to Aeolia. This time, however, Aeolus refuses to help them, certain that the gods hate Odysseus and wish to do him harm.

The land of the Laestrygonians

With no favoring wind at all, the Greeks must row, and they come upon the land of the Laestrygonians, cannibalistic giants who suddenly attack and devour the seamen, hurling boulders at the ships and spearing the men like so many fish. Only Odysseus' vessel escapes.

Circe's Island

The Beautiful Witch goddess

Multiple Choice

Circe drugs a band of Odysseus’s men and turns them into pigs. When Odysseus goes to rescue them who helps him?

• Athena

• Hermes

• Zeus

• Elpenor

Multiple Choice

How does Odysseus to to protect himself from Circe’s drug?

• drinks water from an island stream

• with skill and cunning

• by not consuming anything she gives him

• eats an herb called moly

Multiple Choice

After Odysseus overpowers Circe and forces her to change his men back to their human forms. What happens?

• He becomes her lover for a year

• She tells him to go to the Underworld

• She details how he can get back home

• He lives with her for 6 months

Multiple Choice

Who persuades Odysseus to continue the voyage home?

• Circe

• his men

• Athena

• Tiresias

Multiple Select

When Odysseus asks Circe for the way back to Ithaca. She tells him to?

• sail to Hades

• sail to the underworld

• speak with Tiresias the blind phrophet

• go to Calypso's island

The Underworld

Tiresias the blind prophet

Multiple Select

The journey to the Land of the Dead — where the dead ("souls") receive reciprocity ("Justice") — is not so much a test for Odysseus as it is an epiphany. His mortality is put in context as he watches the shadows of warrior comrades, legendary figures, and even his own mother.

Following instructions, he must speak with Tiresias, the blind seer from Thebes, what advice does he give him?

• to not eat the Sun God's cattle

• to speak to his mother

• to take revenge on the suitors

• to bury Elpenor

Multiple Choice

Before his mother can approach, she needs to do to speak only truth?

• ask forgiveness

• read the book of myths

• drink of the blood

• dance

Multiple Select

What does his mother reveal to him?

• his father Laertes has died

• she died from grief and missing him

• that his palace is in great distress

• Penelope has accepted the hand of a suitor

Multiple Choice

On Circe's island, Elpenor, one of Odysseus's men, had gotten drunk the previous night, slept on the roof, and, when he heard the men shouting and marching in the morning, fell from the roof and broke his neck.

What did he ask Odysseus to do when his spirit spoke to him in the Underworld?

• tell his parents what had happened to him

• pray for his soul to find peace

• go back to Circe's island to give him a proper burial

• seek vengeance for his death

Multiple Choice

What does Elpenor's request reveal about Greek culture?

He describes a death rite that involves burning his body, building a monument of heaping stones, and putting a personal artifact - his oar - among the stones.

• the way soldiers were honoured

• honoring the gods

• allowing the spirit to find peace

• honoring the family

The Sirens, Scylla and Charybidis, Helios

True to his word, Odysseus returns to Aeaea for Elpenor's funeral rites. Circe is helpful once more, providing supplies and warnings about the journey to begin the next dawn.

Open Ended

How does Odysseus avoid the Siren's call?

Multiple Select

Which of the following are modern allusions to the Sirens (beautiful dangerous creatures whose song were too lovely to resist. Any man who passed by them turned his boat toward their rocky shores and crashed to his death)?

• an irresistable and dangerous woman

• an alarm call

• Hollywood Star so gorgeous talented and dangerously cruel

• Siren call (the temptation to do things without reason)

Multiple Choice

Second Odysseus then must confront either Scylla or Charybdis.

What are they?

• a six-headed monster / a monster whirlpool

• two six headed half women and half bird creatures

• dangerous rocks

• giants with six heads

Multiple Choice

Odysseus chooses to avoid the whirlpool. How many men does he lose to Scylla?

• 5

• 6

• 7

• 8

Multiple Choice

Odysseus next comes to Thrinacia, the island of the Sun. He wants to avoid it entirely due to Circe and Tiresias's warnings.

Who persuades him to land?

• the outspoken Eurylochus

• the crew

• Circe

• Athena

Multiple Choice

What keeps them on the island for a month?

• Helios

• Eurylochus wants to rest

• the crew

• A storm

Multiple Choice

When provisions in the ship run out, Eurylochus persuades the other crew members to disobey Odysseus and slaughter the cattle of the Sun. They do so one afternoon as Odysseus sleeps.

What happens when the Sun God finds out?

• he threatens to destroy their ship

• he threatens Zeus

• he asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men, or he will got to the Underworld and shine his light there.

• he starts to shine his light to burn the men

Multiple Choice

Shortly after the Achaeans set sail from Thrinacia, Zeus kicks up another storm, which destroys the ship and sends the entire crew to its death beneath the waves. As had been predicted, only Odysseus survives, and he just barely.

The storm sweeps him all the way back to Charybdis, which he narrowly escapes for the second time. Afloat on the broken timbers of his ship, he eventually reaches which place?

• Scheria

• Ithaca

• Ogygia, Calypso’s island.

• Phaeacia

Xenia

The Greek idea of hospitality — showing generosity and respect to guests by providing a welcome, a fresh change of clothes, a big meal, and a warm place to rest. Often, there was an exchange of gifts, too.

This was part of the culture and part of religion. Greeks never knew if the traveler at their door was a god in disguise, so it was in their best interest to practice xenia.

Multiple Choice

Who was the god/goddess of Xenia, and why was it important to respect Xenia so?

• Zeus. It was important to appease him because he was the most powerful god of all

• Dionysus. It was important to appease him because as the nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation he would provide a good harvest.

• Aphrodite. It was important to appease her because she would bestoy love and happiness on your home.

Multiple Choice

What are the three basic steps of Xenia?

• Offer a bath, food, drink and rest.

• Question the quest about news from the outside world.

• Send them to a doctor for treatment and medicine.

• An exchange of gifts takes place.

Multiple Select

Which of the following are characters that show Xenia?

• Calypso to Hermes

• Polyphemus in his cave

• King Nestor to Telemachus

• The Suitors in Penelope's house

Helpers

In the Hero's Journey the hero receives the help of many along the way

Multiple Select

Click the helpers that assisted Odysseus directly in his journey home.

• Hermes

• Calypso

• Circe

• Athena

• Tiresias

Multiple Select

Which mortals help him?

• Eumaeus

• Telemachus

• King Nestor

• Princess Nausikka

• the King and Queen of Phaeacia