Odyssey, Book 10 Notes

Aeolus; The Laestrygones; Circe

Major concepts:

• King Aeolus's gift to Odysseus
• Odysseus letting his "guard down"
• Aeolus's belief that Odysseus is not favored by the gods
• Aeolus's attitude toward second chances
• Odysseus's caution when he reaches the land of the Laestrygonians
• Odysseus's caution when he reaches Aeaea
• Circe's initial reception of Odysseus's men and her witchcraft
• the role of Hermes
• Odysseus as seducer and seduced
• the importance of Circe's promise
• the luxury of the palace
• Circe's ultimate support and hospitality
• the need to visit Hades and hear from Teiresias

Study Guide Questions:

1. What favor does Aeolus do for Odysseus and his men?
2. What stupid mistake do some of the men make on the ship? Was it preventable? Explain.
3. How does Odysseus lose 11 of his 12 ships and a very large portion of his men?
4. What sort of character is Circe? Why (aside from her magic) is she able to turn Odysseus's men into pigs? What have they done to offend her or what weakness do they show?
5. What does Hermes give to Odysseus? What is it supposed to do?
6. What makes Odysseus succumb for a time to Circe's enticements? What is his mistake here?
7. How does Odysseus get Circe to release his men?
8. How long does Odysseus stay with Circe in her palace?
9. Why does Odysseus need to visit the Land of the Dead and consult with Teiresias?
10. How is Circe like Calypso? How is she different?

• the formatting of book 10 mimics that of book 9: two shorter incidents followed by a longer, more complex one
• themes started in book 9 will continue to develop in book 10: tension between Odysseus and his men; Odysseus's vulnerability to accusations of cowardice and obstinancy (Odyssey seems more set to stay with Circe than his men)

Page 103.
Vocabulary: savor, flayed

• Aeolian island: stop # 5
• Aeolus --> name means "changeful" -- appropriate (1) ruler of the winds; (2) lives on a floating island; and (3) treats Odysseus different two times
• Hippotas --> name means "horseman" -- connections to Poseidon (god of horses)
• "...so he made the sons marry the daughters..." --> a practice of the gods, not humans
• "All day long the atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savor of roasting meats till it groans again, yard and all." --> personification
• "Aeolus entertained me for a whole month" --> verbal cue
• "...he flayed me a prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds, which he shut up in the hide as in a sack..." --> Aelous bags up all the winds except for the West wind "which was fair for us did he alone let blow as it chose"
• "...for we were lost through our own folly..." --> foreshadowing / will pride play a role in this?
• "Nine days and nine nights did we sail..." --> they can see Ithaca by the tenth day

Page 104.
Vocabulary: prevailed, lamented

• "...for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands..." --> because he didn't trust them?
• "...the men fell to talking among themselves..." --> what do the men decide to do here? what is their motivation? how does this reflect on Odysseus as a leader?
• distrust is mutual between Odysseus and his men
• "They loosed the sack...raised a storm that carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country." --> what happens when they open the sack?
• "...knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on..." --> Odysseus contemplates suicide
• "We took pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca, or wherever it was that you wanted to go...." --> INFER: how will Aeolus react when Odysseus asks him for help again?
• "My men have undone me; they, and cruel sleep, have ruined me." --> Odysseus blames his men mostly for what happened. Who do you believe is at fault?
• "Vilest of mankind, get you gone....Be off, for you come here as one abhorred of heaven." --> Odysseus has not said or done anything to indicate the gods hate him (he fell asleep -- not by any god or goddess's commands; his men unleashed the winds, again, of their own free will) so why would Aeolus assume he is hated by the gods?
• "Six days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day, we reached the rocky stronghold of Lamus -- Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians...." --> stop # 6

Page 105.
Vocabulary: reconnoitre, forthwith

• "...we found it land-locked under steep cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands..." --> does this place sound dangerous? why/why not?
• "I kept my own ship outside..." --> important that Odysseus's ship is isolated from the others
• the Laestrygonians have "a level road" for firewood transport (industrialized) and a "place of assembly" (law and order) --> so are they "civilized"?
• "...so she directed them to her father's house...they found his wife to be a giantess as huge as a mountain...." --> the guide leads them straight to danger -- are the laws of hospitality broken here?
• "He snatched up one of them, and began to make his dinner off him then and there..." --> cannibals, like the Cyclops
• "...they threw vast rocks at us from the cliffs as through they had been mere stones..." --> the ships in the harbor are destroyed before they have the opportunity to leave
• "While they were thus killing my men within the harbor I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own ship, and told my men to row with all their might..." --> is Odysseus acting like a coward here? how does this reflect on his leadership? is he doing the right thing?
• "As for the others there was not one of them left...." --> Odysseus loses 11 of his 12 ships at the land of the Laestrygonians
• "...glad to have escaped death, though we had lost our comrades..." --> repetition, page 101
• "...came to the Aeaean island, where Circe lives..." --> stop # 7

Page 106.
Vocabulary: fathom

• "...send some of them instead of going myself..." --> Odysseus sends his men to investigate instead of himself; how does this reflect on his leadership?
• "...sent a fine stag..." --> Odysseus kills a large deer and tries to rally his crew
• "...they uncovered their heads..." --> they had been mourning the loss of the other crewmembers
• "...the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn..." --> epithet
• "...so I divided them into two companies...I gave one company to Eurylochus, while I took command of the other myself...." --> 22 men + 1 leader X 2 groups = 46 men; they lost 6 with the Cicones and 6 at the Cyclops's home = around 60 men total per ship

Page 107.
Vocabulary: fawned

• "...mountain wolves and lions..." --> compare and contrast this image with other descriptions of Nature so far (Calypso's island; Cyclops's island)
• similarities with Calypso: (1) both live alone; (2) both are unmarried goddesses; (3) both live on islands; (4) both have strange powers; (5) both are untrustworthy; (6) both sing and weave; (7) both compel Odysseus to stay with them for a time [Calypso = 7 years; Circe = 1 year]
• "As hounds crowd round their master..." --> Homeric simile
• "...all except Eurylochus, who suspected mischief and stayed outside..." --> INFER: does he have something to fear?
• "...she drugged it with wicked poisons to make them forget their homes...she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand..." --> Circe turns them into pigs
• Eurylochus returns to tell Odysseus what happened with the other men

Page 108.
Vocabulary: lairs

• "...let us rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with the few that are left..." --> Eurylochus doesn't want Odysseus to go back -- does he perhaps remember what happened in the past when Odysseus couldn't control his adventurous spirit?
• "...for I am most urgently bound to do so...." --> what is Odysseus's motivation here? does he feel guilty about abandoning the other men or will this rescue bring further glory to him?
• "Hermes with his golden wand, disguised as a young man..." --> PROBLEM: if Odysseus is the one telling the story and Hermes never reveals that he is, in fact, Hermes, then how does Odysseus know this?
• "I will protect you and get you out of your difficulty..." and "...the gods call it Moly, and mortal men cannot uproot it..." --> Hermes offers Odysseus a root to protect him against Circe's powers
• Note the detail of Hermes's instructions to Odysseus about how to defeat / overcome Circe in the fourth paragraph: (1) Circe will mix a potion for him to drink; (2) she will strike him with the wand in an attempt to change him, like the others; (3) Odysseus should draw his sword and act as if he's going to kill her; (4) she will ask him to bed; (5) he must not refuse her but first make her promise not to hurt him

Page 109.
Vocabulary: lair, arrayed, dumb

• "Who and whence are you...?" --> Circe is frightened; Odysseus is able to overcome Circe's powers by way of the Moly from Hermes
• Odysseus makes Circe promise not to hurt him and then goes to bed with her
• Note the hospitality in the fifth paragraph
• Circe notices Odysseus sad in the last paragraph on this page

Page 110.
Vocabulary: halloa-ballooing

• "If you want me to eat and drink, you must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with my own eyes..." --> Odysseus makes Circe release his men
• "...hide all your ship's gear and property in some cave, and come back here with your men...." --> Circe tells Odysseus to return to the others and bring them back to her palace; he agrees
• "Eurylochus tried to hold them back and said, 'Alas, poor wretches that we are, what will become of us...It was all through his sheer folly that those men lost their lives.' " --> finally someone stands up to Odysseus and makes clear his poor leadership in the past; what does Odysseus consider doing in the next paragraph?

Page 111.
Vocabulary: flit

• "Eurylochus was not left behind after all..." --> Eurylochus had considered staying behind but feared Odysseus if he would not go
• "...so stay here, and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and hearty as you were when you left Ithaca..." --> RECALL: what is Odysseus's main goal?
• "We stayed with Circe for a whole twelvemonth feasting upon an untold quantity of both meat and wine...." --> stayed for 1 year with Circe
• "Sir, it is time you began to think about going home..." --> it is his men who remind him of his goal (interesting change since in the past, it was Odysseus who had to remind his men of this)
• "You must go to the house of Hades and of dread Persephone to consult the ghost of the blind Theban prophet Teiresias..." --> Circe tells Odysseus that he must go to the Land of the Dead

Page 112.
Vocabulary: gossamer

• "...poplars and willows..." --> trees associated with death
• Note Circe's detailed instructions of how to get Teiresias to speak to him starting at the end of paragraph 2: (1) go to where the two rivers run together; (2) dig a trench a cubit deep and a cubit wide; (3) pour a drink offering of honey mixed with milk, then wine, then water; (4) sprinkle barley meal over the whole thing; (5) offer prayers to the dead; (6) promise the dead to sacrifice his very best barren heifer and put many 'good things' on the pyre; (7) promise Teiresias to sacrifice the finest black sheep in all the flocks; (8) offer the dead a ram and a black ewe; (9) have the men skin the two sacrificed sheep; (10) offer them as a burnt sacrifice with prayers to Hades and Persephone; (11) prevent any other dead from coming near the spilt blood until Teiresias has answered the questions
• "...certain youth named Elpenor..." --> Elpenor slept on the roof of Circe's house and heard the noise downstairs

Page 113.
Vocabulary: none.

• "...coming down by the main staircase..." --> after hearing the noise, Elpenor forgot where he was and stumbled off of the roof; he broke his neck and died; interesting that Odysseus and his men leave him without giving him a proper burial first; Odysseus will see Elpenor in the Land of the Dead

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, Laestrygonians & Circe

Land of the Laestrygonians

• Laestrygonians = giant cannibals
• Laestrygonians destroy all ships but O’s

The Island of Aeaea and the Witch Circe

• Eurylochus (a liar) takes 23 men to explore island
• Men find Circe in small stone house
• Wild animals around the house act tame
• She is pretty, singing, and weaving a rug
• All men went inside house but Eurylochus
• Eurylochus thought it was a trick
• Circe turns O’s men into pigs
• Eurylochus goes back to O and tells; no one believes
• O finally decides to investigate
• Hermes stops him on the way; gives him moly
• Moly is special plant which will protect him from Circe’s magic spells
• Moly is poisonous to humans unless a gift from a god
• Hermes tells O:
• act like you will kill her
• She’ll ask you to stay with her; agree to do so
• Tell her to promise: no more tricks
• Tell her: “Release my men”
• O stays with Circe 1 year
• Circe tells O to visit Tereisias

Odyssey Notes, Trojan War

• War started over jealousy
• Greek gods were having a wedding party, but Eris, goddess of strife (displeasure), wasn’t invited
• Eris thought: I’ll show them
• She sends a golden apple rolling into party with a label: “to the fairest”
• Everyone thinks it belongs to them
• Three goddesses fight over the apple: Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite
• They want Zeus to decide who’s the fairest; he won’t
• Zeus sends Hermes to find a human to decide
• The goddesses try to bribe Paris, the man
• Athena offers: success in everything; best in war, best athlete, best artist
• Hera offers: power – the most powerful man on earth
• Aphrodite offers: the most beautiful woman on earth
• Paris chooses Aphrodite
• Problem is: the most beautiful woman is Helen
• Helen is married
• Paris thought: oh well – finds Helen (a Greek), and takes her back to Troy
• Helen’s husband = not happy, wants to start war
• Thus, the Trojan War begins
• Odysseus didn’t want to go to war
• O pretended to be crazy
• His plan didn’t work; had to go fight
• War lasted 10 years
• Troy was heavily armed; had walls around city
• O came up with plan: pretend to surrender
• Built giant horse as “gift” to people of Troy
• Other Greek ships sailed away
• Trojans thought Greeks went home
• Trojans took giant horse into city and celebrated
• Greeks came out of horse at night and sacked the city
• Greeks won the war
• Poseidon was originally on the Greeks’ side, but O made him mad – he had too much pride