LECTURE I: BOOKS I-II, BOOK V

Book I

1. The opening lines of the Odyssey are called the “invocation,” because here Homer “invokes” or calls upon his Muse. Why do you think poets in Homer’s time began their poems this way? How do you think the ancient Greeks understand the poetic process?

2. Who is “the man of many ways”? (I.1) How do you understand this phrase?

3. Books I-IV of the Odyssey are often called the “Telemachy” because they tell the story of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. Why do you think the Odyssey begins here, rather than with Odysseus himself?

4. What is the situation in the household of Odysseus in Book I? Who are the suitors? Who is Penelope?

5. What social rules are being broken by the suitors? What is Telemachus’ reaction to this?

Book II

1. Book II begins with an “assembly” of the important men of Ithaka. Who is represented, and why? What seems to be Telemachos’ status in this assembly? How would you characterize the degree of formality and legality of this meeting? How is it like or unlike the convening of Congress, for example?

2. Who is Athena, and what is her role in this episode?

3. What has Telemachos resolved to do by the end of Book II, and who helps him?

In Books III-IV, Telemachos visits the friends of his father who had already returned from the Trojan War. In Book III, he visits the house of Nestor, and in Book IV he visits the house of Menelaos, brother of Agamemnon. In both cases Telemachosreceives excellent hospitality – showing up the poor manners of the suitors in Ithaca and demonstrating the socially regulative function of hospitality in a pre-legal world.

Book V

1. In Book V, we finally meet Odysseus himself. Where is he? How long has he been here? Who is his hostess? Is she a “good hostess” or a “bad hostess”? In what ways?

2. What leads Odysseus to leave the island? How does he depart from it, and what is his journey like?

LECTURE II: BOOKS VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII

Book VI

1. Books VI-VIII recount Odysseus’ visit among the Phaiakians, a quasi-utopian kingdom where Odysseus rests and recovers in preparation for his return to Ithaka and his battle with the suitors. Why do you think Homer spends so much time depicting Odysseus’s sojourn among the Phaiakians?

2. As you read Books VI-VIII, list as many types of ritualized or customary social behavior as you can. What types of interaction, and among which individuals or groups, is each form of behavior designed to organize or regulate?

3. Who is Nausikaa? How is she like and unlike other female characters in the book? Why do you think we first meet her washing her clothes?

4. What is the role of story-telling in Book VIII? What stories are told and by whom? Where does story-telling fall in the social ritual of hospitality?

Book IX

Books IX-XII recount the wanderings of Odysseus. Odysseus is the teller of his own tale in these books. These fantastic voyages make up some of the most famous portions of the Odyssey, and they may be the parts that are most familiar to you. You are responsible only for IX and XII, but are encouraged to read Books X-XI as well!

1. What is the role of hospitality in the episode of the Lotus Eaters? Are these good or bad hosts?

2. Who are the Cyclops? How does Odysseus characterize their social world in relation to his own? (IX.109-130) Circle as many words or details that indicate civilization as you can. Circle as many words and details that mean the opposite of civilization as you can.

3. What is the role of hospitality in the Cyclops episode? Is Polyphemos a good host? Is Odysseus a good guest? Explain.

4. Is Odysseus fully accurate in his depiction of Polyphemos as uncivilized? What are some signs of domestic or social order in the cave of Polyphemos? To what extent is this cave an oikos or household, with its own economy?

Book XII

1. In Book XII, the enchantress Circe finally sends Odysseus off with advice about the bad-hostess Sirens, Skylla, and Charybdis. What choices does he make? Why then are all his companions lost?

LECTURE THREE: BOOKS XIII, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV

Books XIII through XXIV, which make up the entire second half of the Odyssey, tell the story of Odysseus’ return to Ithaka disguised as a beggar and his fight to regain his own household after twenty years of absence. Much of the pace here is leisurely, as Odysseus gradually moves from the edge of his property, where he is hosted by the noble swineherd Eumaios, to the very center of his oikos, where he will fight the suitors. This sequence is structured as a series of formal “recognitions,” in which one character after another (Telemachos, Eurykleia the nursemaid, the suitors, Penelope, and Odysseus’ father Laertes) grasps the identity of the stranger before him or her.

Book XIII

1. Under what conditions does Odysseus arrive in Ithaka? How does Ithaka appear to him when he first wakes up? (XIII.200-202) How is he disguised, and by whom, at the end of the scene?

Book XXI

1. What social ritual does Penelope use to resolve the problem of the suitors? Why do you think shechoses this particular test?

2. What epic simile (= extended poetic comparison) does Homer use to describe Odysseus’ stringing of the bow? (XXI.404-09) Why do you think hechoses this comparison?

Book XXII

1. Who is the first suitor to die? Do you think this is meant to be an honorable or dishonorable death? What is the social significance of the way he dies?

2. Who is spared? Why? (XXII.330-360)

3. What is the fate of the maidservants? (XXII.420-72) Who is responsible for their execution? Is this act depicted by the poet as one of order or disorder? Circle key words in the text in support of your answer.

Book XXIII

1. The central action of Book XXIII is Penelope’s recognition of her husband and their reunion as man and wife. How does Telemachos behave in relation to his mother? Why does Odysseus send Telemachos away?

2. When and why does Penelope finally recognize the stranger as her husband?

3. Look carefully at Odysseus’ depiction of their marriage bed (XXIII.183-204). How is it a symbol of social order and regulation? Circle key words and phrases in the text that indicate this ordering function.

Book XXIV

In Book XXIV, Odysseus once more leaves the center of his oikos (a center marked by the tree that anchors his bed) for the outskirts of his holdings, where his father Laertes lives in retirement. His recognition by his father constitutes the last of the series ofrecognitions that effectively reintegrate Odysseus into Ithaka. Yet, the poem does not end with the embrace of father and son, but continues with one further episode.

1. What happens after the father recognizes his son? What “loose ends” remain from Odysseus’ battle with the suitors?

2. How is the conflict resolved? By whom? Do you think anything has changed in Ithaka as a result of this resolution?

3. Are you satisfied by the conclusion of the book? Why or why not?