What does Telemachos do to try and help his mother?
He challenges Antimous, one of the suitors, to a wrestling match to prove his right to rule.
He gets a ship together so he can go search for information about his father.
He prays to the gods to send an omen--an omen that will prove that the gods support Telemachos and Penelope.
He unravels her weaving at night so she won't have to choose a suitor.
Who held Odysseus for YEARS?
Circe
Calypso
Penelope
Nausicaa
Pandora
All the suitor were nervous when Antinous hit Odysseus who was disguised as a beggar. Why?
Another beggar, Irus, says there's only enough food for one beggar, and the suitors want the two to fight for their entertainment. If Antinous hurts Odysseus, there will be no fight.
Several of the suitors had recognized Odysseus, and while they didn't know what he planned, they knew that he had the protection of Athena who could crush them all like bugs.
The gods sometimes dress up as poor travelers to see how well people treated them. The gods could be quite unforgiving of those who were rude or cruel to travelers.
Antinous has a famous temper, and they are afraid that he will lose his temper and beat the beggar to death in front of them.
Which god/goddess wants to help Odysseus get home?
Poseidon
Hermes
Athena
Zeus
How did Helen try to help the Trojans?
She suspected the wooden horse was a trick and imitated the voices of the men's wives to try and get them to cry out and reveal themselves.
She recognized Odysseus dressed as a beggar, spying on the Trojans. She told the Trojans who he was, and he barely escaped with his life.
She had visions sent by the gods that told her what would happen. She warned the Trojans about everything, but they never believed her.
When Odysseus' ship went down, she gave him a magical veil that kept him from drowning even when Posiedon sent storms to crush Odysseus against the rocks on shore.
What went wrong on Ismarus, the land of the Cicones?
The men believed that Odysseus had been given treasure that he wouldn't share, and they attacked him.
The men ate flowers that made them forget everything, including their duty to Odysseus and their duty to return home to their families.
Against Odysseus' orders, the men fell asleep on the beach while the town gathered surviving warriors for a counter-attack.
The men raped a virgin priestess of Athena on the steps of Athena's temple--which caused the goddess to get just a little cranky
What challenge does Penelope give the suitors in order to win her hand in marriage?
Anyone who can string Odysseus' enormous bow and put an arrow through 12 axe handles lined up in a row can marry her.
Anyone who can move Odysseus' marriage bed into the main hall can marry her.
Anyone who can travel far enough that people don't recognize an oar and think it's a farming tool can marry her.
Anyone who can challenge Irus, who lives at the palace, and win in a wrestling match can marry her.
In what way is Odysseus to blame for his own troubles?
He was stupid enough to open the bag of wind and allow the wind to escape when he was within sight of home.
He was weak enough to allow his men to eat the cattle of Helios, which he knew would lead to their deaths.
He was arrogant enough to brag to Polyphemos that his name was Odysseus, so Poseidon wanted revenge.
He was rude enough to insult Hades by speaking with the souls of the dead when he only had permission to speak with the dead prophet, Tiresias
Why does Calypso refuse to let Odysseus go?
She is a decendant of Poseidon, and even though she knows that a prophesy says that she will be punished for it, she wants to protect him from Poseidon's anger.
Odysseus is a king who rules a modest but prosperous kingdom. By marrying him, she will have access to his palace, his lands, and his many slaves and servants.
She liked him, but even more than that she knew that he could not leave without traveling to the land of the dead. If he did, he would die without finding his way home. Since she liked him, she did not want to risk his life.
She loves him and wants to make him an immortal, but she knows the gods (who often take mortal women as lovers) will never accept a goddess who chooses a mortal man, so she lives with him on her island.
What happened to Agamemnon--one of the Greek heroes?
A storm blew him off course and sent him to Egypt, where he remained trapped until a maiden helped him capture the "Old Man of the Sea"
He started off for home, but turned back in order to make a sacrafice to Athena. That all failed him because he ended up trapped on an island.
He came home to find that his wife, Clytemestra, had fallen in love with another man. Of course, he found this out when the two of them killed him over his homecoming dinner.
He grew jealous that Odysseus was chosen to receive Achilles' armor. So jealous that he went nuts and thought some cows were Trojans and he slaughtered them. Embarrased, he killed himself.
What did Polyphemus do to Odysseus' men?
He turned the men into pigs and penned them up like animals (which they were at the time).
He fed them a drugged flower that made them forget their responsibilities to Odysseus (or anything else for that matter)
He bashed their brains out, tore them limb from limb, and ate them
He grabbed one man in each of his six heads and devoured them whole.