Lacedaimon
Major concepts:
- Greek hospitality
- Helen and her stories of Troy
- Menelaus's return from Troy
- Menelaus's news of Odysseus
- Menelaus's reaction to Helen's stories
- Proteus
- Plot to kill Telemachus
Study Guide Questions:
- How do Menelaus and Helen compare to Nestor as hosts?
- What clues cue Menelaus and Helen that Telemachus is Odysseus's son?
- How does Menelaus represent himself as responding to his wanderings on the way home to Sparta?
- What is Menelaus's opinion of Odysseus?
- Why does Menelaus still value and accept Helen, even though her elopement to Paris led to the Trojan War?
- What is impressive about the palace of Menelaus and Helen?
- How does Menelaus's story of Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, serve as an instructional tool for Telemachus in his quest to find his father?
- Why is information withheld so frequently?
- What does Penelope learn in this book?
- Describe Antinous's plan to kill Telemachus.