The Odyssey Exam Study Guide Answers PDF

The Odyssey Exam Study Guide The Basics 1. Who is the author of The Odyssey? Homer 2. When was it written? 750-650 BC 3. What is the genre? and point of view? Historical Fiction: Epic Poem Third Person Omniscient 4. Who is telling the story? Odysseus 5....

The Odyssey Exam Study Guide The Basics 1. Who is the author of The Odyssey? Homer 2. When was it written? 750-650 BC 3. What is the genre? and point of view? Historical Fiction: Epic Poem Third Person Omniscient 4. Who is telling the story? Odysseus 5. To whom is he telling the story? Alcinous 6. How many years after leaving Troy is he telling the story? 10 years 7. Who is the protagonist? Odysseus 8. Who is the antagonist? Poseidon  9. What are the 6 characteristics of an epic hero? Bravery, Strength, Nobility, Leadership, Fame, Fighter 10. Who is the epic hero? Odysseus 11. How many years did Odysseus and his men fight in the Trojan War? 10 years Sailing from Troy 12. Who are the Achaeans? Odysseus’ Men 13. Who does Odysseus and his men attack? The Cicones Army The Lotus-Eaters 14. How many men does Odysseus send out to search the island? 3 men: 2 runners, and one to bring word back 15. Why do these men not return? They ate the lotus and lost all hope of returning home. The Cyclops 16. How many men does Odysseus bring with him when he goes to explore the cave of the cyclops? 12 plus himself 17. What else does Odysseus bring with him? wine 18. How does the cyclops see Odysseus and his men? He sees them in the glare of the fire. He thinks they are intruders. 19. Why doesn’t Odysseus kill the cyclops while he is sleeping? He needs the cyclops to open the stone door. 20. Odysseus tells the cyclops several lies. What are they? - His name - Where his ship is located - How he arrived on the island 21. What is the cyclops’s actual name? Polyphemus 22. How do the men get out the cave? They blind the cyclops and hid under the livestock. 23. What is the name of the wizard that warned the cyclops about Odysseus? Telemus 24. Who does the cyclops ask to curse Odysseus? Poseidon 25. What is the cyclops’s connection to Poseidon? Father/Son The Land of the Dead 26. What happens to Odysseus in between the cyclops adventure and going to the land of the dead? Aeolia- They give him the bag of the favorable west wind and they are blown off course.  Land of the Laestrygonians- They are cannibals. Circe- She turns his men into pigs. 27. What three spirits does Odysseus recognize/know in the land of the dead? - Elpenor: fell off Circe’s roof - Anticlea: his mother - Tiresias: Prophet 28. How did Elpenor die? Fell off the roof 29. Who is Anticlea? Odysseus’s mother The Sirens 30. What instructions does Odysseus give his men as they prepare to face the sirens? Put beeswax in their ears and tie Odysseus to the mast of the ship. 31. What does Odysseus do for the crew to keep them from hearing the sirens? Puts beeswax in their ears. 32. Which two of Odysseus’s men help him? Perinemes and Eurolychus Scylla and Charybdis 33. What is Scylla? 6 headed sea monster (Hydra) 34. What is Charybdis? A giant whirlpool Cattle of the Sun God 35. Why are Odysseus’s men tempted by the cattle? They are starving to death. 36. To whom do the cattle “belong”? Helio (sun god) 37. Who starts the plan to slaughter and eat the cattle? How does he plan on justifying it? Eurylochus. He said he would rather die fighting in the sea than starve to death. 38. Who does Odysseus blame? Himself and the gods 39. How does Odysseus lose the rest of his men? They are struck down by lightning.