Odyssey Facts & Worksheets

BACKGROUND OF THE ODYSSEY

• Many suggestions have been made about when the Iliad and the Odyssey were written, but no one has agreed on a single date. Robert Lamberton, a classical scholar, asserts that the epics “straddled the beginnings of widespread literacy” in the mid-fifth century BCE, although the linguistic characteristics of the poems can be traced to an earlier era. The Greeks started changing the Phoenician alphabet in the eighth century BCE to make their own writing system. If the Homeric poems are among the first things written down, they were probably written in the second half of that century.
• Scholarly consensus posits that the Homeric epics developed within an oral tradition spanning several centuries.
• In the early twentieth century, Milman Parry and Albert Lord showed that these works have important characteristics of oral poetry.
• This means that even an illiterate poet could make up long stories on the spot while performing. Nevertheless, there persists contention regarding the exact process by which the poems originated from this tradition, and whether oral transmission solely explains their composition.
• In the 1800s, debates about who wrote what became known as the Homeric Question.
• Ancient sources provided mythologised narratives to elucidate the figure of Homer, yet scholarly discourse persists concerning matters such as the compositional relationship among the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the predominantly lost poems of the Epic Cycle; the historical existence and chronology of Homer; and the degree to which the epics mirror historical, geographical, or cultural realities.
• People usually think that Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, but some people also think he wrote other works, like the Homeric Hymns.
• Textual reconstruction shows that the poems were written in different ways. Since audience feedback was an important part of live performance, the content probably changed from one performance to the next. This performative context is essential for interpretation; John Miles Foley, a scholar of comparative oral tradition, emphasises that performance constitutes a fundamental aspect of their meaning.
• The epics themselves talk about these kinds of performances, like when the Odyssey shows professional singers like Phemius and Demodocus. These internal representations imply that the poems were likely performed in elite domestic venues, such as banquets, during the second and early first millennia BCE, with audiences possibly engaging in or impacting the performance. It is likely that these recitations were performed without music.
• The Odyssey, like the Iliad, has twenty-four books.[d] Earlier scholars thought that these divisions were based on the letters of the Greek alphabet, but this idea is now seen as out of date.
• The segmentation probably happened after the poem was written, but it is now accepted as part of its standard structure. There are many theories about where they came from. Some say they came from oral tradition, while others say they came from Alexandrian scholarship.
• Pseudo-Plutarch attributed the divisions to Aristarchus of Samothrace, although this attribution is still debated. Some scholars associate the divisions with performative practices, potentially introduced by rhapsodes.
• Both epics assume that the audience is somewhat familiar with previous mythological stories, especially the Trojan War. This shows that they are part of an established tradition.
• The Trojan War is important to both works, but the Odyssey doesn't directly talk about events in the Iliad, and most people think that the two poems were written on their own. Scholars still can't agree on which one was written first.
• Scholars have found that Near Eastern mythology and literature had a big impact on the Odyssey. Martin West, a British philologist, notes significant similarities between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey.
• Odysseus and Gilgamesh both go on long journeys to the ends of the earth and then to the land of the dead. Circe, who lives at the edge of the world and is linked to solar imagery, tells Odysseus how to get to the underworld. Similarly, the goddess Siduri helps Gilgamesh. She lives in a similar liminal space by the sea and is also connected to solar symbolism. West says that these similarities show how the Gilgamesh tradition affected the Odyssey.
• Graham Anderson finds more similarities, such as meeting powerful women, killing divine cattle, and seeing a seductive figure in an otherworldly paradise after going to the underworld. There is still disagreement about whether some characters came from the epics or were passed down from earlier traditions. Adrienne Mayor criticises Othenio Abel for suggesting an unsubstantiated connection between the Cyclops and prehistoric elephant skulls through Empedocles.
• The origins of the Polyphemus narrative are still debated, but there is some agreement that it came before the epic. William Bedell Stanford also points out that there isn't enough proof to say for sure that Odysseus lived without Homer.
• Scholarly opinion is divided on whether the locations visited by Odysseus correspond to real places. The main story of the Odyssey takes place in places like the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands. However, it is hard to map out Odysseus's journey because of the many mythical elements, especially in Books 9–11.

SYNOPSIS

• Ten years after the Achaean Greeks won the Trojan War, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, still hasn't come home. While he is away, 108 rowdy suitors chase after his wife, Penelope. She says she cannot get married again until she finishes a woven shroud, which she secretly unravels every night. The goddess Athena first appears to Odysseus’s son Telemachus as Mentes, and then as Mentor. She tells him to find out more about his father. He leaves Ithaca and goes to see Nestor, who tells him that Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces, was killed soon after the war.
• Then Telemachus goes to Sparta, where Menelaus tells him about his meeting with the shape-shifting Old Man of the Sea. He learned from this man that Odysseus is still alive but is being held by the nymph Calypso.
• Athena convinces Zeus to free Odysseus, which makes Hermes step in. Poseidon destroys Odysseus’s raft in a storm as he leaves Calypso's island. Ino, a sea nymph, helps him stay alive, and he gets to Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, where Athena leads Princess Nausicaä to help him.
• Odysseus stands out in athletic competitions at Arete and Alcinous’s court. He is also moved by a bard’s story about the Trojan War. After that, he tells them who he is and what he has done since then.
• After Troy, Odysseus’s crew tried to raid the Cicones but failed. Later, they met the lotus-eaters, whose fruit made them forget things. The Cyclops Polyphemus then caught them. Odysseus tricked him and blinded him before escaping, but he foolishly revealed his identity, which angered Poseidon. 
• The crew accidentally let go of the bag of winds Aeolus gave them, which changed their course. The Laestrygonians destroyed most of the ships, and Circe turned the crew into pigs. Odysseus was able to resist Circe’s spell with the help of the gods.
• After a year with Circe, Odysseus went to the underworld, where Tiresias told him when he would return and where he would go next. He also met the spirits of his mother and old friends.
• Later, the crew sailed past the Sirens, between Scylla and Charybdis, and finally died after killing Helios's sacred cattle. This left Odysseus stuck on Ogygia with Calypso until he was finally freed. Later, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca, where Athena hides him.
• He gets ready for revenge after meeting up with Telemachus again. Odysseus wins an archery contest, kills the suitors, shows himself to Penelope by testing their bed, and finally returns to his home. In the end, Athena steps in to stop the suitors’ families from fighting more.

THEMES OF THE ODYSSEY

• The idea of homecoming is a key theme in the Odyssey. The word can mean both a journey back by sea and stories about those journeys. Agathe Thornton, a classicist, says that nostos is a general term that applies to the victorious Achaeans after the fall of Troy. However, the story focuses on Odysseus and uses the returns of other Greek heroes as examples. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, and Aegisthus, her lover, kill him when he comes back. Later, his son Orestes kills Aegisthus to get revenge, which is similar to how Odysseus punishes the suitors in the end. 
• Athena and Nestor make it clear that Orestes is a good role model for Telemachus, which pushes him to take action. Agamemnon tells Odysseus about his fate in the underworld, which shows how dangerous it is for heroes who come back.
• Athena turns Odysseus into a beggar when he gets to Ithaca to see if Penelope is faithful. Later, Agamemnon praises Penelope's loyalty, comparing her to Clytemnestra and making the point that Odysseus will be able to return home safely because of it.
• Agamemnon’s failed return home leads to death, while Achilles becomes famous but is never able to return. Before Odysseus got to Ithaca, the narrator only tells us about two events: his time with Calypso and his meeting with the Phaeacians. Odysseus tells the rest of his adventures in the past tense.
• These episodes serve as a transitional phase, signifying his progression from concealment to reintegration. The Greek word "to conceal" is where Calypso's name comes from. This is because she kept Odysseus from returning home. In contrast, the Phaeacians help him get home safely, which represents the end of his journey.
• Odysseus meets many beings on his travels that are between the human and divine realms. This makes it seem like he is in a liminal world that keeps him from going home. These include the Phaeacians, who are closely linked to divine lineage, as well as Polyphemus, Circe, and the Laestrygonians.
• The idea of xenia (guest-friendship) comes up a lot in the epic, giving examples of how to act and how not to act. The Phaeacians show what true hospitality is by being generous, protecting others, and making sure their guests are safe. Polyphemus and Calypso, on the other hand, break these rules by being mean and forcing people to do things. Being a king means being generous, as shown by Antinous's refusal to help Odysseus when he was disguised, which showed that he was morally weak.
• Testing is another important theme that comes in two forms: Odysseus tests the loyalty of others, and others check to see if he is who he says he is. When Odysseus comes back, he hides who he is to see how loyal his family is. On the other hand, Penelope tests him by suggesting that they move their bed, which proves who he is. These kinds of events always follow a set pattern of questioning, revealing, emotional response, and making up. 
• Birds are a common way to show omens in stories. Thornton stresses that what makes them important is who they are sent to and how they are sent. Odysseus, on the other hand, gets divine signs like thunder and lightning, which show that he is connected to Zeus and is the rightful king.
• Other characters get omens in different ways. Omen scenes usually include recognition and interpretation, which are often accompanied by wishes that are either clear or hidden. This reinforces narrative expectations and hints at what will happen.