Odyssey, Book 11 Notes

The visit to the dead

Major concepts:

• The importance of treating the dead with respect (Elpenor)
• The ritual Odysseus performs in order to meet those in the Underworld.
• The prophecy of Teiresias and the importance of prophecy (this seems to underscore the inevitability of fate).
• The parade of women followed by a break in the narration for some Phaeacian reaction before Odysseus nreturns to his story.
• Agamemnon's rage at his wife's betrayal.
• How Ajax reacts to Odysseus; the cause of this reaction.
• What Achilles tells Odysseus about the misery of the dead.

Study Guide Questions:

1. What does Odysseus do to call the souls of the dead to him?
2. Who is Teiresias and what does Odysseus want from him?
3. What does Odysseus learn about his journey from Teiresias?
4. What should Odysseus do to the suitors at his house?
5. What does Teiresias say Odysseus should do after dealing with the suitors?
6. What favor does Elpenor ask of Odysseus?
7. What is the name of Odysseus's mother and how did she die?
8. Why can't Odysseus hug his dead mother?
9. What does Agamemnon tell Odysseus about how men should feel about women? Is it significant that earlier in the book we hear about celebrated women?
10. What is the reason for Ajax's anger at Odysseus?

Page 115.
Vocabulary: aft, feckless

• Land of the Dead -- stop # 8
• "...weeping and in great distress of mind...."
• "I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way...." --> Odysseus follows the instructions given to him by Circe in book 10; cubit was a rough measurement from the knuckles to the elbow
• "...Teiresias should have a black sheep..." --> black animals were sacrificed to the gods of the underworld

Page 116.
Vocabulary: feckless

• "...not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias..." --> again, he follows Circe's instructions here
• "...my comrade Elpenor..." --> how is Elpenor able to speak to Odysseus before he partakes of the blood? perhaps because his body is left unburied at Circe's palace?
• "...how did you come down here..." --> interesting that he asks this when he already knows how Elpenor ended up there
• "...and by Telemachus who is the only hope of your house..." --> at this time, Telemachus would have been only 13 years old
• "Do not go thence leaving me unmourned..." --> Elpenor asks for Odysseus to give him a proper burial -- the only hope of a person in the Land of the Dead would be remembrance
• "Then came the ghost of my dead mother Anticlea..." --> he will allow her to drink after he hears from Teiresias on the next page
• "Stand back from the trench and withdraw your sword..." --> Teiresias prepares to speak to Odysseus

Page 117.
Vocabulary: winnowing, ebb

• "...when he had drank of the blood he began his prophecy..." --> this will be important
• "Poseidon, who still nurses his bitter grudge..." --> Poseidon is still angry
• "...Thrinacian island..." --> this disaster will occur in book 12
• "If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home..." --> Teiresias's warning: do not kill or eat the cattle
• "...you will take your revenge on these suitors..." --> Teiresias advises revenge
• Teiresias's other instructions: (1) take an oar to a place where no one knows it is an oar; (2) wait until someone asks about it; (3) bury the oar in the ground; (4) make a sacrifice to Poseidon; (5) return home and make a sacrifice to the other gods --> reason for these instructions? vague. apparently it has something to do with preserving his life until old age
• despite Circe saying that Teiresias will be very informative about the way home, he really isn't; he will actually learn more from Circe when he returns to her after he leaves the land of the dead
• "Any ghost that you let taste of the blood..." --> Teiresias explains how to get Anticlea to speak to Odysseus
• she asks him how he got there and why he's there

Page 118.
Vocabulary: none.

• "But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die?" --> Odysseus wonders at his mother's death since when he left for Troy she was still living; note her response at the end of the next paragraph
• "Tell me again what my wife intends doing..." --> this is the first mention of Penelope since he left Calypso's island; it would have been very difficult for him to return home and rule his kingdom if Penelope has chosen a new husband
• "...I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother's ghost..." --> Odysseus finds he is unable to hug his mother because she has no flesh

Page 119.
Vocabulary: none.

• "...soon Persephone sent up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of all the most famous men...." --> begins the "Catalog of Women" -- perhaps its purpose was to show how great families come into being and eventually how they can be corrupted; does this have a lesson for Odysseus especially in regards to the family he wishes to return to?
• "...first I saw was Tyro..." --> fell in love with a river god -- not the river
• "Next to her I saw Antiope..." --> Zeus disguised himself as her husband
• "Then I saw Alcmena..." --> mother to Heracles; Heracles means "glory of Hera" though Hera hated Heracles because he was the result of an affair Zeus had with Alcmena
• "...fair Epicaste..." --> Oedipus's mother and wife
• "Then I saw Chloris..."

Page 120.
Vocabulary: none.

• "And I saw Leda..." --> mother of Helen and Clytaimestra
• "After her I saw Iphimedeia..."
• "Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne..." --> Ariadne from the Minotaur / Theseus story
• "I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle..."
• "Here he ended..." --> Odysseus takes a break from the Catalog of Women and returns to his storytelling at Phaeacia with Alcinous and Arete

Page 121.
Vocabulary: august, charlatan

• "Our guest is indeed very anxious to get home..." --> Arete and Alcinous persuade Odysseus to stay another day -- but to what end? again, Homer is vague
• "...there is a style about your language..." --> Alcinous compliments Odysseus's storytelling and asks about the heroes who Odysseus knew from the war
• "I will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their return, through the treachery of a wicked woman...." --> is he referring to Helen or Clytaimestra here? vague.
• "How did you come by your death, King Agamemnon?" --> finally, Agamemnon will be able to tell his side of the story

Page 122.
Vocabulary: none.

• "Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me..." --> Agamemnon puts much emphasis on his wife's role in his death, though it seems as if the action was carried out by Aegisthus
• "...as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house..." --> simile
• "...my comrades were slain like sheep..." --> simile
• "I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytaimestra killed her close beside me...." --> Agamemnon planned to bring Cassandra home and keep her as a mistress along with his own wife; Cassandra was cursed to always tell the truth but to have no one ever believe her
• "...I was going to be welcomed home by my children..." --> note how Homer fails to mention that Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to assure a safe trip on the way to Troy
• "...and not be too friendly even with your own wife...." --> Agamemnon warns against trusting any woman -- he reinforces this several times over the next paragraph
• Agamemnon wants to know about his son, Orestes (recall what Orestes did to avenge his father)

Page 123.
Vocabulary: none.

• "...Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax..." --> Odysseus meets some more war heroes
• "Do not, therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead...." --> Odysseus tries to cheer Achilles up -- does it work?
• "Say not a word...in death's favor...." --> Achilles really doesn't like being dead
• Achilles and Peleus -- strong bond between father and son; note Achilles's response on the next page when he hears about his son Neoptolemus

Page 124.
Vocabulary: asphodel, rankle

• "When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the prowess of his son...."
• "...still angry with me for having won th ecause in our dispute about the armor of Achilles..." --> Ajax is still angry at Odysseus about Achilles's armor -- when Odysseus tries to confront him about it -- how does Ajax respond in the next couple paragraphs?
• "Then I saw Minos son of Zeus..."
• "After him I saw huge Orion..."
• "And I saw Tithys son of Gaia....Two vultures on either side of him..." --> this is the same punishment Prometheus suffered for giving the humans fire
• "I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus..." --> this is where the word "tantalize" comes from

Page 125.
Vocabulary: prodigious

• "And I saw Sisyphus..."
• "After him I saw mighty Heracles..." --> one of the only mortals who was later turned into a god; why is his body elsewhere and his soul here in the underworld?
• "...but I got the hound out of Hades..." --> the hound referred to here is Cerberus
• "...the head of the awful monster Gorgon..." --> by looking at the head, mortals were turned to stone
• Odysseus and his mean leave the Land of the Dead at last

Bibliography

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 Notes, Teresias and the Land of the Dead

Teresias was from Thebes
O must make 2 sacrifices to make the dead talk:
a cow which has not given birth
a lamb
O must dig a trench and let blood run into it
The dead will drink the blood and will be able to talk
Teresias says to O:
Poseidon is still really mad at you
when you get to Thrinakia, don’t kill Helios’ cattle
your men will probably kill the cattle
your men will all die
you’ll be lost for many years
you’ll come home on someone else’s ship
men are at your house, eating your food and trying to marry your wife
Teresias tells O that O will kill all suitors, but this will anger the gods
So, he must:
take an oar and go inland until people don’t know what an oar is
wait until someone asks what the oar is
plant the oar in the ground
make a sacrifice to Poseidon
If O does this, he will die an old man

While there, O also sees mother
His mother died of a broken heart for her lost son
O also sees his soldier, Elpenor, who fell asleep on Circe’s roof, fell, broke his neck, and died
Elpenor wants O to return to Circe’s island to bury him
(proper burials were very important to Greeks)
O agrees to return