Thursday, February 19

Quiz over books 6 & 7.

Acted out books 6 & 7.

Review from previous days:

odyssey- a long, wandering and eventful trip; quest; adventure

Calypso (in Greek)- to conceal or cover; hide; disguise

Notes:

2 Characteristics (strengths) of Odysseus: 1) His ability to endure  2) His ability to think for himself under pressure

Homeric simile: an extended (long) comparison using like or as; written by Homer (the author)

Heroism: Odysseus thinks it's better to die in battle than to die in the sea.  

Role of women: Up to this point, they have been the ones to help Odysseus (Athena, Nausicaa, Arete, Calypso, Ino)

Poseidon: Angry with Odysseus still, and he's related to the Phaeacians. (warning sign!)

Why doesn't Odysseus reveal himself to King Alcinous and Queen Arete immediately?  He just met them, so he still fears/distrusts them.  Just like we don't share who we are with strangers.  We tell them a little bit, but we don't tell them our whole life story right off the bat.

**Keep reading for setting, characters, and plot.

**Look for vocabulary words.

**Thursday: Night off of reading!

**Over the weekend: Read Book 8.  Quiz on Monday.

Odyssey, Book 9 Notes

Odysseus declares himself and begins his story; the Cicons, Lotophagi, and Cyclopes

Major concepts:

• Odysseus's failure to control his men in the land of the Cicons
• Odysseus rescuing his men in the land of the Lotus Eaters and saving them in the land of the Cyclopes
• Odysseus's adventurous attitude
• Hospitality, and how it changes in other lands
• "Farm" culture of the Cyclops
• Vividness of Odysseus's attack against the Cyclops
• Cleverness of his escape
• Polyphemus's curse
• Odysseus's leadership qualities, adventurous spirit, courage and cleverness; his lapse into hubris / pride

Study Guide Questions:

1. Where do Odysseus and his men go first after they leave Troy?
2. Who are the Cicons / Cicones?
3. Describe the Lotus Eaters.
4. How does Polyphemus prevent Odysseus and his men from leaving the cave?
5. What does Polyphemus's diet consist of?
6. Are the Cyclopes in any way civilized? Explain.
7. Why doesn't Odysseus just kill the Cyclops when he has the chance?
8. What gift does Odysseus give the Cyclops? What gift does the Cyclops give in return?
9. What mistake does Odysseus make at the end of book 9?
10. What benefit does Homer have by allowing Odysseus to tell the story of his adventure after the fact? Why wouldn't Homer just tell the entire story of the Odyssey in chronological order?

Page 91.
Vocabulary: renowned

• “There is nothing more delightful than when a whole people make merry together…” --> ironic since, technically, a “whole people” are “making merry” at his house but are the suitors
• “Now, however, since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows…” --> Odysseus will finally tell his story
• NOTE: Odysseus is a storyteller, not a singer
• “…my name…” --> xenia / hospitality could not be complete without knowing the guest’s name
• “…my fame ascends to heaven…” --> finally, Odysseus feels comfortable enough to exert his authority
• “The goddess Calypso kept me with her in her cave…” --> for one year (we find out in book 10)
• “…for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country…” --> again, emphasizes / appeals to Greeks’ sense of loyalty to one’s home

Page 92.
Vocabulary: invoked

• “…however splendid a home he may have in a foreign country…” --> interesting that Odysseus does not mention a crucial part of his home – his WIFE
• even though it may have been great with Calypso, he still longs for his home
• “…first to Ismarus, which is the city of the Cicons….” --> Odysseus’s first stop after Troy; Cicons (pronounced sick – ko – nees); allies of the Trojans
• “…but my men very foolishly would not obey me….” --> Odysseus tried to get his men to leave but they did not listen to him; what does this suggest about his leadership abilities? How does this relate to his role as a “hero” ?
• “…the Cicons got the better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship…” --> Odysseus had 12 ships and lost 6 from every ship = 6 X 12 = 72 men
  Odysseus would have had around 60 men on each ship
• “thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished by the hands of the Cicons….” --> this would have been necessary for those who could not recover the bodies to provide them with proper burial
• “…we lay two days and two nights…” --> a storm kept them from leaving
• “…driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days…” --> spent a total of ten days on the sea before reaching the land of the Lotus Eaters
• “…I sent two of my company…” --> Odysseus sends two men and a “runner” to return with the news – the Lotus Eaters were not violent people – so what threat did they pose?
• QUESTION: Is apathy worse than violence?

Page 93.
Vocabulary: smote

• QUESTION: What is Odysseus’s main goal?
• “…who ate of it left off caring about home…” --> men who ate the lotus forgot about home / were unable to return home – compare this with other stories / myths where getting home involved eating / not eating certain foods
• “…till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes….” --> if Odysseus knows the Phaeacians’ connection to the Cyclopes, why does he talk bad about them?
• Lawless people were considered “bad” or “monstrous” in 8th century Greece
• “Now off their harbor…” --> compare this description with that of Calypso’s island – is this Nature over-run?
• “…the Cyclops have no ships…” --> Cyclops are completely isolated, but the lands are rich enough that they have no need to trade / travel to other lands
  compare the Utopian description of the Cyclops to that of the Phaeacians – shortsightedness (Cyclops) verses intelligence (Phaeacians)

Page 94.
Vocabulary: smote

• “…twelve ships with me…” --> 12 ships, 60 men per ship = 720 men
• “Stay here, my brave fellows…” --> Odysseus takes his main ship to the Cyclops’s and leaves the other 11 ships on the neighboring island
• it’s Odysseus’s curiosity that drives him to investigate the Cyclop’s home
• “…we saw a great cave… --> Cyclop’s home
• “…resembling rather some crag…” --> metaphor
• “…but the twelve best among them…” --> Odysseus choses 12 men out of the 60 to help; only 6 will return
• “…a goatskin of sweet black wine…” --> wine plays a major role in the success of his escape from this island
• “…with twelve jars of sweet wine, unblended…” ; “…he mixed twenty parts of water to one of wine…” --> most wine would have been 1 part wine to 3 parts water or 2 parts wine to 3 parts water
• “…for my mind warned me that I might have to deal with some savage…” --> if he knew there would be danger, why did he go?

Page 95.
Vocabulary: hoggets, renown

• “When they saw all this, my men begged me to let them first steal some cheeses…” --> leadership issues?
• “…for I wanted to see the owner himself…” --> pride / hubris ; Odysseus wants to increase his own wealth
• “…to light the fire for his supper…” --> but his meal isn’t cooked, so he uses the fire for light and warmth and Odysseus will need the fire for his escape plan
• “flung with such a noise…” --> doesn’t describe Cyclops’s physical appearance though his actions should make us afraid
• Note the care the Cyclops takes with milking his sheep / caring for them
• “Strangers, who are you?” --> Cyclops thinks Odysseus’s men are pirates – how does his hospitality compare with the Phaeacians?
• Odysseus reminds the Cyclops to be hospitable – note the Cyclops’s response in the next paragraph

Page 96.
Vocabulary: entrails

• “And now tell me where you made your ship fast…” --> should Odysseus tell the Cyclops where he parked his ships? Why/why not?
• “Poseidon…sent my ships on to the rocks…” --> interesting that Odysseus chooses this god – why might that be ironic?
• “He gobbled them up like a lion…” --> note that Odysseus was also compared to a lion when he first met Nausicaa
• Cyclops eats two men and goes to sleep; Odysseus realizes he shouldn’t kill the Cyclops in his sleep – why?
• Note that the Cyclops is NOT a wine drinker – that much easier to get drunk
• “…he clutched up two more of my men…” --> eats 2 more men then leaves and returns the stone to the doorway
• “…so I was left to scheme some way…” --> Odysseus is concerned with his pride / or “covering himself with glory”

Page 97.
Vocabulary: ramping, gobbets

• “..end in the fire to make it harder…” --> prepares the stake for the Cyclops’s eye
• “…the lot fell upon the very four…” --> these four must be saved / others can be sacrificed
  note: two more men die, not among the four he chose
• “…ivy-wood bowl of black wine…” --> Odysseus gives the Cyclops unmixed wine; Cyclops drinks several bowls of it and pukes and passes out, face-up (important for Odysseus’s plan to work)
• “…tell me your name at once; I want to make you a present…” --> Cyclops DOES know the rules of hospitality but chooses to ignore them; makes him barbaric
• “…my name is Noman…” --> this clever trick foreshadows his own return to Ithaca – he must return anonymously
• Note what the Cyclops’s gift to Odysseus is now that he knows his name
• “…thrust the beam of wood far into the embers…” --> as a ‘green wood’ it probably wouldn’t glow; it would catch fire before it would glow

Page 98.
Vocabulary: besmirched, esconced

• “…bearing upon it with all my weight…” --> Homeric simile
• “As a blacksmith plunges an ax…” --> Homeric simile
• “…asked what was the matter with him…” --> note how the Cyclops responds to the others
• “…I bound them noiselessly…” --> how does Odysseus plan to use the sheep / rams to assist his escape?

Page 99.
Vocabulary: smote

• “My good ram…” --> how is Polyphemus’s questions to the ram ironic?
• “Then, when I had got as far as my voice would reach…” --> Odysseus’s pride gets the best of him
• “…Now Zeus and the other gods have punished you…” --> Odysseus will also punish the suitors in the same way
• “…flung it just in front of my ship…a little of hitting the end of the rudder…” --> impossible; Homer words this wrong
• “Do not be mad enough to provoke the savage beast further…” --> Odysseus’s men beg him not to continue – what keeps driving him?

Page 100.
Vocabulary: none.

• QUESTION: What is Odysseus’s main weakness?
• Odysseus calling out to the Cyclops is stupid for 2 reasons: (1) gives the Cyclops another chance to lob a boulder and (2) it gives the Cyclops Odysseus’s real name (prayers to the gods / revenge couldn’t take place without someone’s real name)
• Omen: “There was a prophet here, at one time…” --> interesting that the Cyclops is also a victim of hubris – he only thought a certain kind of man could defeat him / rob him of his sight

Page 101.
Vocabulary: livelong

• Cyclops’s prayer: do not let Odysseus get home alive, or if he must…

1. Takes a long time
2. Trouble on the way
3. Lose all of his men
4. Arrive in someone else’s ship
5. Trouble at home

Additional notes about book 9:

• Odysseus's adventureland is very different from the Phaeacians's world.
• Note how Athena is completely kept out of Odysseus's adventures.
• Odysseus is a hero of courage and versatility -- but also (obviously) with his problems as well (leadership, pride / hubris)
• Odysseus is known for his 'metis' or resourcefulness / cunning --> his intelligence and not brute force is inevitably what saves him (recall the Demodocus's song about Achilles and Odysseus arguing in book 8 -- the question asked was will cunning or force win Troy? -- INFER: if a hero like Achilles would have encountered the Cyclops, what would have been the end result?

Problems for books 9-12

• (1) the source / origin of the stories stems from Jason and the Argonauts
• both stories / myths share the stories of Circe, Sirens, Sun God, etc.
• the stories / adventures were adapted to fit with the story of the Odyssey
• the stories are "told" by Odysseus -- but are they completely true? how can we trust Odysseus as a narrator?
• (2) stories were told to the Phaeacians
• were the stories adapted by Odysseus to fit / appeal to their audience?

Bibliography

Odyssey, Book 5 Notes

Odysseus's Departure from Calypso


Major concepts:

• Odysseus weeping for his home
• Council of the gods
• Calypso and her island
• Hermes's tact with Calypso and admiration of the beauty of her home
• Calypso's reaction to Zeus's decree
• Calypso's involvement in Odysseus's departure
• Odysseus and Calypso's relationship
• The raft
• Poseidon's wrath
• Ino's gift / Odysseus's reaction
• Athena's aid / Odysseus's survival skills
• Odysseus's prayer to the river god
• Odysseus's precautionary measures for survival on land

Study Guide Questions:

1. Who is Hermes, and what is his mission?
2. What can Hermes do with his wand?
3. Who is holding Odysseus captive? For how long?
4. What sort of character is Calypso?
5. What is the source of her power over Odysseus?
6. What is Calypso's reaction to having to release Odysseus?
7. What is the main problem Odysseus faces by sea?
8. Why does Zeus, despite his liking of Odysseus, allow Poseidon to make this journey such an ordeal?
9. Why does Odysseus return Ino's veil to the sea?
10. What happens to Odysseus at the end of this book?

Page 53.
Vocabulary: harbinger, bliss

• "Zeus the lord of thunder" --> epithet
• "...I hope there may never be such a thing..." --> sound familiar? see Mentor's speech on p. 23
• Athena tries to use guilt to get her way with Zeus -- she guilts him into allowing her to help Odysseus -- a very human-like quality --> lit device: anthropomorphism

Page 54.
Vocabulary: raiment, cormorant, reek

• "He is to be convoyed neither by gods nor men, but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft he is to reach fertile Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, who are near of kin to the gods, and will honor him as though he were one of ourselves...." --> Zeus foreshadows what will happen in book 6 when Odysseus arrives in Scheria and meets Alcinous.
• "Hermes, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus" --> epithet
• "...glittering golden..." --> alliteration
• "...fly like the wind over land and sea..." --> simile
• "...flies fishing..." ; "...weary wave..." --> alliteration
• "There was a large fire burning on the hearth, and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burning cedar and sandal wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom, shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her cave there was a thick wood of alder, poplar, and sweet smelling cypress trees, wherein all kinds of great birds had built nests--owls, hawks, and chattering sea crows that occupy their business in the waters. A vine loaded with grapes was trained and grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave; there were also four running rills of water in channels cut pretty close together, and turned here and there so as to irrigate the beds of violets and luscious herbage over which they flowed...." --> Note the intricate description not only of Calypso but also of her living quarters. Greeks would have appreciated the beauty of her home -- just as Hermes does toward the end of this paragraph. Her home suggests not Nature running wild -- but controlled -- in a balance of trees, vegetation, and animal wildlife. For more information about the contents of this paragraph -- click on the links within.
• "Odysseus was not within...groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow...." --> Greeks placed absolute value on man's loyalty to his own household -- here we see Odysseus -- in the face of such beauty and godliness -- still long for his home and his wife; even though he obviously has had an "affair" (in today's standards) with Calypso -- the fact that she was an unmarried goddess made it acceptible -- just as it would have been if Odysseus had taken a war prize or slave as a lover
• "Calypso gave Hermes a seat and said..." --> again, the importance of hospitality -- even among the gods / goddesses

Page 55.
Vocabulary: transgress, astride, keel

• "Zeus sent me...." --> does this sentence and the following ones suggest that Hermes is not happy to do Zeus's errands?
• "On their way home they sinned against Athena, who raised both wind and waves..." --> it does not go into detail here because as Homer's audience, we're supposed to view Athena as Odysseus's protectress -- not someone he is at odds against; as the Greeks sacked Troy, they took many women as war prizes, including Cassandra, King Priam's daughter; one of the Greek soldiers Ajax supposedly took advantage of Cassandra in one of Athena's temples -- this is the insult which caused Athena's anger at the Greeks source
• "Zeus says that you are to let this man go at once..." --> Hermes delivers Zeus's message
• "You gods...ought to be ashamed of yourselves...." --> Calypso refers to two allusions here of other god/mortal relationships which didn't work out because of jealously. Interestingly enough, both stories end with the death of the mortal. Is Odysseus in danger?
• "Zeus had struck his ship with lightning..." --> Calypso tries to explain herself why she kept Odysseus; yet note she wants to keep Odysseus and make him immortal
• "...for he had got tired of Calypso..." --> Odysseus -- although he had an extra-marital relationship with Calypso -- did so unwillingly
• "I am going to send you away of my own free will..." --> note Calypso's change in wording here; usually when someone receives directives from a god/goddess, rarely is this mentioned when actually completing the task (Instead of "Zeus told Hermes to tell me that I had to let you go" it's "I've decided to let you go")

Page 56.
Vocabulary: none

• "...make yourself a large raft..." --> does Odysseus built a 'raft' or a small 'boat' ? Later description / terminology makes it sound more like a boat. In any rate, the craft he builds shows his skill as he must build the entire thing by himself.
• "Not even a well found ship with a fair wind..." --> Odysseus reveals his distrust -- even of a goddess
• "When she had thus spoken she led the way..." --> Calypso treats Odysseus like a god -- does he really want to leave this place?
• "...so would you start home to your own land at once?" --> this paragraph, Calypso tries to get Odysseus to stay with her; she offers him immortality and compares the beauty of Penelope with herself; note Odysseus's carefully worded response:
• "I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like to tall or so beautiful as yourself...." --> Odysseus compliments Calypso while still showing his loyalty to home

Page 57.
Vocabulary: adze, augers

• "Calypso went home, leaving him to cut them..." --> note that Odysseus does all of the work to prepare for his departure; Calypso even brings him "some linen to make the sails" rather than helping him at all; again, the description (yard arm, rudder, sails) begs the question: is this a simple raft or an actual ship Odysseus builds?
• "Days seven and ten did he sail over the sea..." --> recall from page 54 that Odysseus will sail for 20 days and suffer a "perilous voyage" -- in this paragraph he sees the Phaeacian coast
• "Still, he shall have much hardship yet before he has done with it...." --> Poseidon still refuses to allow Odysseus to return home without problems

Page 58.
Vocabulary: trident, dismay, reeled

• "Odysseus' heart began to fail him...." --> is fear still heroic?
• "Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of the sons of Atreus...." --> here and in the sentences that follow, Odysseus wishes he had died an honorable death (as did the Greek soldiers who fell at Troy) rather than an unhonorable one (like one at sea); this idea of a 'hero's welcome' is an idea which will develop even more as Odysseus gets closer to home and arrives at home -- he cannot expect a 'hero's welcome' because he must continually hide who he is to protect himself and his family; he will receive honor due to him by being a hero at home -- and not a 'war hero'
• "Ino daughter of Cadmus...." --> Ino used to be a mortal woman, but because of Hera's intense jealousy toward Ino and Athamas, in one myth Hera afflicted them both with madness and the two destroyed not only themselves, but their children as well. Ino drowned herself and one of her children in the sea; her plight as a mortal and her struggle with the sea make it likely that she would pity Odysseus and therefore help him source 1 source 2
• "And here, take my veil..." --> Ino offers Odysseus a magical veil to protect him against Poseidon's wrath; note that again, Odysseus is distrustful of a goddess

Page 59.
Vocabulary: dismay; astride

• "I know what I will do..." --> Odysseus can't decide whether to trust Ino or not; he will stay on the raft/boat until it breaks apart; only then (when he has no other options) will he trust the veil to protect him
• "There now, swim up and down as best you can..." --> here, Poseidon finally relents and leaves Odysseus alone
• "But Athena resolved to help Odysseus..." --> Athena steps in and stops the wind from blowing -- except what might help him reach land
• "Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days..." --> completing the twenty days Zeus said Odysseus would spend before he reached land
• "Then, as children rejoice when their dear father begins to get better after having for a long time borne sore affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but the gods deliver him from evil, so was Odysseus thankful when he again saw land and trees, and swam on with all his strength that he might once more set foot upon dry ground...." --> lit device: Homeric simile; still a comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as' but much longer than a normal simile

Page 60.
Vocabulary: bounteous, dismay

• "He caught hold of the rock with both hands..." --> Odysseus still struggles in the sea
• "...tearing his hands as the suckers of a polypus are torn when someone plucks it from its bed, and the stones come up along with it--even so did the rocks tear fthe skin from his strong hands, and then the wave drew him deep down under the water...." --> another Homeric simile; what does it compare?
• "Hear me, O King..." --> Odysseus prays to the river god for protection
• "Odysseus' knees and strong hands failed him, for the sea had completely broken him..." --> what kind of person wouldn't be exhausted after this? This line is not meant to show Odysseus's but again, his ability to endure
• "...he took the scarf that Ino had given him and threw it back into the salt stream..." --> Odysseus remembers to return the scarf as Ino requested

Page 61.
Vocabulary: deemed, squally

• "Odysseus crept under these and began to make himself a bed..." --> Odysseus must hide himself in order to protect himself; the hero cannot boldly announce his presence
• "Then, as one who lives alone in the country, far from any neighbor, hides a brand as fire-seed in the ashes to save himself from having to get a light elsewhere, even so did Odysseus cover himself up with leaves...." --> Homeric simile

Bibliography

Odyssey, Book 1 Notes

Two main questions addressed in the Odyssey:

Will Odysseus return home? Will he again be master of his own kingdom?

Major concepts:

• Invocation
• Story of Orestes, Aegisthus, Agamemnon, and Clytaimestra
• Gods / goddesses' discussion of Odysseus
• Odysseus's problem: where is he / why?
• Athena's disguise
• Telemachus's youth and power / lack of power
• Greek code of hospitality / violation of hospitality
• Penelope's situation

Study Guide Questions:

1. What does the invocation say the poem as a whole will emphasize?
2. What first impression does this book give us of the gods/ How much of a role do they play in human affairs? What seems to motivate their actions?
3. How does the tragic homecoming of Agamemnon relate to Odysseus's story?
4. Where is Odysseus?
5. What or whom is Athena disguised as?
6. Why do Telemachus and Penelope need Odysseus home?
7. What is our first introduction to various characters? The suitors, for example, are they a homogeneous group or are there differences among them? What qualities does Telemachus possess at the outset?
8. Why does Odysseus's wife have suitors?
9. What does Athena advise Telemachus to do?
10. Who is Phemius?

Page 11.

Vocabulary: suitors, acquainted, sheer (adj), persecuted

• "Tell me, O Muse..." --> 9 Muses; daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory)
• "...hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy...." --> reminds readers of Odysseus's greatest trick so far, the Trojan Horse
• "...he suffered much by sea..." --> points out one of Odysseus's strengths: endurance
• "...for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Apollo..." --> direct result of the men's hubris
• "...all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely home..." --> refers to Nestor (returned home early from battle); Menalaus (returned home late from battle); Agamemnon (returned home to be murdered on his return)
• "...was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him...." --> Calypso held him captive for 7 years; Athena finally convinced the gods to command Calypso to release him
• "...except Poseidon, who still persecuted him without ceasing..." --> Poseidon hated Odysseus for blinded his Cyclops son, Polyphemus

Page 12.
Vocabulary: hecatomb, sea-girt, asunder, propitiate, nymph, torments, pacified, suitors

• "...though he knew it woudl be the death of him..." --> again, consequence of hubris; this example of Aegisthus and Orestes serves two purposes: (1) an example to Telemachus to avenge his father by slaughtering the suitors who waste away his wealth; (2) begs the question: will Odysseus's wife Penelope be ever-faithful (even after 20 years) or will she be like her cousin, Clytaimestra, who was unfaithful to her husband Agamemnon?
• "...Hermes told him this in all good will but he would not listen..." --> Hermes will often deliver messages throughout the Odyssey
• "...keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget his home..." --> other creatures / experiences along the way sought to make Odysseus forget, i.e., Lotus Eaters, Sirens
• "...we should first send Hermes to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up our minds and that he is to return..." ; "...call the Achaeans in assembly..." ; "conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos..." --> Athena's plan is three-fold: (1) send Hermes to Calypso and order him released; (2) tell Telemachus to call and assembly and warn the suitors to leave; (3) urge Telemachus to take a ship with a crew of 20 men to travel to Sparta and Pylos to learn news of his father

Page 13.
Vocabulary: redoubtable, quells, suitors, partaken, bearing-post, insolence, ewer, embellishments

• "...for this will make people speak well of him..." --> in this portion of the epic, Odysseus's son Telemachus struggles with his own position of power; he is still considered a boy, though people may also consider him the head of the household in the absence of his father; going on this journey will gain him both respect and power in the eyes of the elders and suitors
• "...disguised as a visitor, Mentes, cheif of the Taphians..." --> Athena and the other gods and goddesses often don disguises to mingle among the mortals in Greek myths
• "Welcome...to our house, and when you have partaken of food you shall tell us what you have come for...." --> the Greek code of hospitality plays a vital role in the Odyssey; Telemachus first notices Athena, the guest, and offers hospitality while the suitors blatantly ignore her; Greek hospitality says to treat the guest kindly first, then ask questions later.

Page 14.
Vocabulary: lyre, tongue, sea-girt

• "...but he, alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do sometimes say that he is coming, we no longer heed them..." --> Telemachus believes his father is dead
• "They told me your father was at home again, and that was why I came..." --> Athena foreshadows Odysseus's homecoming
• "My mother...tells me I am son to Odysseus, but it is a wise child that knows his own father." --> Telemachus struggles with his father's absence for two reasons: he neither has memory of his father (Odysseus left when Telemachus was an infant) nor has he been able to hold a memorial, unsure of his father's death

Page 15.
Vocabulary: atrociously, renown, pretext, havoc, suitors, short shrift

• "And the guests--how atrociously they are behaving; what riot they make over the whole house..." --> brings attention to the gross manners of the suitors, abusing the code of hospitality of the Greeks
• "...all the principal men of Ithaca itself, are eatin gup my house under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who will neither explicitly say that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end..." --> Telemachus's suituation grows dire for two reasons: (1) the suitors will eventually cause him to lose all of his wealth he may have inherited from his father's estate; (2) his mother will not choose a new husband, causing the suitors to stay until she does
• "...and if he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house, drinking and making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally suitors..." --> again, Athena foreshadows the return of Odysseus and his revenge on the suitors
• "...call the Achaean heroes in assembly tomorrow mroning..." --> this passage begins Athena's advice to Telemachus: (1) call an assembly; (2) urge the suitors to leave; (3) tell Penelope to get a dowry from her father for a new husband if she desires to remarry

Page 16.
Vocabulary: barrow, mettle, suitors, bearing posts, staid

• "...go in quest of your father who has so long been missing..." --> Athena's advice continues: (1) get a crew of men and a ship; (2) visit Nestor in Pylos; (3) visit Menelaus in Sparta; if Telemachus hears his father is still alive, put up with the suitors for another year
• "...it has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son..." --> it is clear from this passage that Telemachus yearns for a father-figure in his life
• "...stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself..." --> again, evidence of the Greek code of hospitality
• "she flew away like a bird into the air..." --> Athena reveals herself as a goddess to Telemachus

Page 17.
Vocabulary: bard, weal, clamorous, suitors, spunging

• "...for it is I who am master here...." --> Telemachus takes a stern tone with his mother, showing how Athena's words gave him courage
• "...meet me in full assembly that I may give you formal notice to depart..." --> Telemachus calls the assembly and again foreshadows the suitors' untimely deaths at the hand of his father ("...Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my father's house there shall be no man to avenge you.")
• Antinous --> one of the main suitors, symbolizes hostility and agression
• Eurymachus --> another one of the main suitors, symbolizes hypocrisy and trickery

Page 18.
Vocabulary: soothsayer, hied, fleece, counsel

• Euryclea --> nurse to both Odysseus and Telemachus; 20 oxen would have been very pricey for that time period (most women slaves cost around 4 oxen); and Laertes's behavior with her is worth noting because it was not common for the time period

Why start in the middle of things (in media res)?

1. illustrates the desperation of the situation with the suitors
2. sets the scene in Ithaca
3. makes it possible for Odysseus to tell his own story, in autobiographical form
4. creates tension with Telemachus becoming an adult
5. shows that the maturation of Telemachus must occur outside of Ithaca

Bibliography

Odyssey Notes, Circe, Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Lord Helios, Calypso, Phaecia

Circe

• Circe warns: “The Sirens are in your path
• The Sirens will sing your mind away
• There are bones around them on the rocks
• Plug your men’s ears with beeswax, but
• If you want to hear the Sirens’ singing, have your men tie you to the mast”
• Circe also warns about Scylla – 12 legs, 6 heads, 3 rows of teeth in each head – a serpent-like monster
• She’ll take one man for each mouth
• Charybdis is next, a giant whirlpool
• Circe says: go closer to Scylla – less risk
• Circe also warns of Helio’s cattle: don’t kill and eat them (the cattle are immortal) and it’ll upset Helios
• Circe says: your men will probably kill the cattle
• O doesn’t tell men about what Circe said

Sirens

• Sirens are ½ bird, ½ woman
• O stuffed his men’s ears with beeswax
• The men tied O to the mast
• When O hears the sirens, he asks to be released but his men do not release him

Scylla and Charybdis

• Scylla stole 6 of O’s men; Charybdis tried to eat the ship, but the ship wasn’t close enough

Land of the Sun God

• O wants to pass by this island, but men want to stop
• O says: “don’t eat the cattle”
• It stormed for a month; they ran out of food
• O leaves men alone to pray to gods
• Eurylochus urges men: “let’s kill cattle”
• “starvation is the worst way to die”
• So, the men kill the cattle
• O returns and is upset at his men
• Helios prayed to Zeus for help: “they killed my cattle”
• Zeus punishes O’s men with a thunderbolt striking the ship
• Only O survives
• He washes up on Calpyso’s shore
  

Calypso

• O spent 7 years as Calypso’s prisoner
• Athena begs Zeus to let O go home
• Calypso is bad b/c she keeps O from his home
• Hermes arrives and likes Calypso’s house
• Hermes tells Zeus’s decree: “release him”
• Calypso tells O: “I thought it over. I’ll let you go.”
• Calypso wants to know why O still wants his wife when she’s not as pretty as Calypso is
• Calypso also offers O immortality if he stays
• O still says he wants to go home
• Calypso helps O build a raft
• Poseidon is still angry; crashes O’s raft

Phaecia, King Alcinous

• O washes up on the Phaecian shore
• O is found by King Alcinous’s daughter
• O is taken to King’s palace; treated very well
• He tells the whole story to the kingdom
• King Alcinous gives O a ship to go home

Please make your comment something meaningful or add something you noted in Book 12 as you read. First or last names only.