Classical Myth Study GuideFinal ExamThe OdysseyWritten by HomerThe Telemachy (Adventures of Telemachos)Book 1- Story takes place ten years after the sack of Troy. - Suitors from Ithaka and the Islands that surround began trying to court Odysseus’ wife Penelope. - Penelope refuses to marry any of them.- Suitors remain in the palace as uninvited guests. - Odysseus is stuck on an island called Ogygia.o The goddess Calypso won’t let him leave the island because she has fallen in love with him. - Telemachos, Odysseus son, believes that his father was killed at Troy. - Athena visits Telemachos disguised as an old friend of Odysseus’ named Mentes.- Athena predicts the return of Odysseus to Ithaka and advises Telemachos that he must travel to Pylos and Sparta to find out about his father. o She also advises him to call together a meeting of the suitors and announce their banishment from the palace.o Two defiant suitors (Antinous and Eurymachus) argue with Telemachos. They ask about the identity of the visitor he was speaking with. Book 2- Aegyptius – Ithacan elder that respects Odysseus and praises Telemachos for stepping into his shoes. - At the assembly Telemachos laments the loss of his father to Troy and the loss ofhis kingdom to the suitors. - He rebukes the Suitors for constantly trying to court Penelope. o He claims, any decent man would simply go to Penelope’s father and ask for her hand in marriage. - Antinous blames Penelope saying that she has flirted with each and every one of the suitors without committing herself to any one of them. o Tells of how Penelope would finally choose a suitor to marry after she finished knitting a burial shroud for her father-in-law Laertes. However, late each night Penelope would go and take out the stitching of the shroudso that it was never fully finished. - Antinous says she should be sent back to Icarius if she can’t choose a husband. Telemachos refuses to throw his mother out and calls upon the gods to punish thesuitors. o Eagles appear locked in a struggle overhead. Halitherses – Ithacan soothsayer foretells a massacre of the suitorsif they do not leave. o Suitors don’t believe the soothsayer and don’t leave.- Telemachus prepares for his trip to Pylos and Sparta to go about and ask about what happened to his father Odysseus. - Athena visits Telemachus again and tells him his journey will be fruitful and disguises herself as Telemachus and goes into the city to collect him a crew and aship. - Telemachus only tells Eurycleia (his nurse) about his journey and that he knows he has a god on his side. Book 3- Pyloso Huge sacrifice of bulls to Poseidon in Pylos when Telemachus arrives. o Nestor (King of Pylos) holds Orestes (Agamemnons son) bravery in killing Aegisthus as an example he hopes Telemachus will be able to achieve. o Has no news of Odysseus except that he remained behind at Troy with Agamemnon. Book 4- Spartao Menelaus tells Telemachus of Odysseus’ feats with the Trojan horse, and disguise to get past the city walls. o He tells of how he was forced to steal the divin Old Man of the Sea (Proteus) in order to get back to Sparta. o He tells Menelaus that Odysseus is still alive but imprisoned by Calypso on her island.o Telemachus and Pisistratus return to Pylos to return to Ithaca. - Suitors hear of Telemachus’ return and prepare to ambush and kill him. o Plan put into the minds of the suitors by Athena, while at the same time making sure it will fail. - Penelope is distraught but is reassured but the ghost of her sister, controlled by Athena, that Athena will protect Telemachus. The Homecoming of OdysseusBook 5- The gods decide Odysseus must now return home to Ithaca. - Hermes is sent to tell Calypso she must let Odysseus go. - Odysseus while on his way to the island of Scheria is seen by Poseidon who creates a huge storm that almost drowns Odysseus. o The goddesses Ino and Athena come to rescue Odysseus and protect him as he is whipped back and forth. Ino gives him a protective veil to keep him alive and his prayers are finally answered as he encounters a river, which he swims up into mainland. Book 6- Athena goes the Phaeacian princess and tells her to go to the forest where Odysseus is sleeping the next day. - Nausicaa goes there and finds Odysseus who asks for her help.- Nausicaa begins to fall in love with Odysseus and tells him how to get into the palace and approcoach the queen Arete. Book 7- Phaeacians don’t like anyone else but themselves (Xenophobia).- Athena shrouds Odysseus in a mist that protects him from the phaeacians. - Odysseus reaches the king and queen and tells them his predicament. - They agree to send him off in a phaeacian ship the next day. - In private the king and queen recognize Odysseus’ clothes as those he had borrowed from Nausicaa and ask him about it. Odysseus tells them how he had met her and that he had decided to come to the palace alone. - They offer him their daughter’s hand in marriage. Book 8- King Alcinous of the phaeacians calls an assembly of counselors to discuss Odysseus’ plight. - They agree to send him off on a phaecian ship. - Alcinous holds a feast and games to celebrate his honored guest. - During the feast a bard (Demodocus) sings of the Trojan horse and the fight between Odysseus and Achilles. o Odysseus weeps at the painful memories. - There is a discuss competition where a phaecian athlete Broadsea insults Odysseus after he refuses to take part in the competition. Odysseus is bolstered bythis insult and easily wins the competition.- All the young athletes give him gifts for his voyage.- The King asks Odysseus again who he is and where he’s going. The Great WanderingsBook 9- Odysseus tells the Phaeacians his story and of how he ended on Calypsos island. - From Troy the winds carried Odysseus to Ismarus and the city of Cicones. The men plundered the land and kept plundering it in their greed until the reinforced ranks of Cicones returned and attacked. - Much of Odysseus’ crew was lost but they escaped. - Zeus creates a storm that rages around them for 9 days until they reach the land ofthe lotus-eaters. o They eat the fruit of the lotus and become addicted to it. Odysseus is only able to get his men back on the ship by dragging his men back and lockingthem up. - They then sail until they reach the land of the Cyclopes where they eventually meet Poseidons son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. - Polyphemus – One-eyes Cyclops who is the son of
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