Use of speeches

Book 3

Nestor's speech tells what happened at Troy, who got home safely, Agamemnon’s murder, where was Menelaus when Agamemnon got murdered

Book 1/2

Telemachus speech to the Assembly and to the Suitors show how he is growing up and becoming a man

Book 4

Menelaus' speech stirs emotion in Telemachus leading Menelaus to recognise him

Book 7

Odysseus asks Alcinous to give him food and then give him passage home

Odysseus speech gives a short recap of everything that has happened to him since Troy before he goes on about it for most of the rest of the poem

Book 8

Euryalus provokes O to join the games

Athena tricks Odysseus into making an angry speech at the Phaeacians at how great he is at sport and lets slip that hes Odysseus which is apparently a big deal

Book 11

Odysseus asks to go to sleep because he’s tired but Alcinous makes him carry on

Book 13

Odysseus makes a speech thanking Alcinous for his kindness and hospitality

Book 16

Penelope lashes out at the Suitors for plotting to kill her son

Book 17

Melanthius tells the suitors that Eumaeus brought the beggar to the town, shows he is on their side

Book 18

Odysseus warns Amphinomus that blood will be spilt but he returns to the hall anyway

Book 20

Athene tells Odysseus to trust in her

Book 23

Penelope tests Odysseus by saying to move the bed, he tells the story of why the bed can’t be moved

Use of similes

Book 7

Nausicaa is ‘looking like the immortals’

‘These ships of theirs are as swift as a bird or as a thought itself’

‘A kind of radiance, like that of the sun or the moon, played upon the high-roofed halls of the great King’

Book 8

‘You are more like a sipper of a merchant crew, who spends his life on a hulking tramp, worrying about his outward freight, or keeping a sharp eye on the cargo when he comes home with his extortionate profits’ - Laodamas to Odysseus when he says he’s too old to take part in the games

‘There the Graces bathed her and anointed her with the celestial oil that is like a bloom on the limbs of the immortal gods’- Aphrodite after fleeing to her sanctuary

‘He wept as a woman weeps when she throws her arms round the body of her beloved husband, fallen in battle in the defence of his city and his comrades, fighting to save his city and his children from the evil day’- Odysseus after hearing the minstrel sing of Troy

Book 9

**‘**seized a couple and dashed their heads against the floor as though they had been puppies’

Book 12

**‘**My men were flung overboard and round the black hull they floated like sea-gulls on the waves’- Odysseus’ men dying

Book 13

‘Like a team of four stallions on the plain who start as one at the touch of the whip, leaping forward to make short work of the course’- Phaeacian boats

Book 17

**‘**It is just as if a deer had put her two little unweaned fawns to sleep in a mighty lion’s den and gone to range the high ridges and the grassy dales for pasture. Back comes the lion to his lair, and the two fawns meet a grisly fate’- Telemachus tells Penelope what Menelaus has said about Odysseus’ return

Book 19

**‘**your fame has reached broad heaven itself, like that of some illustrious king, ruling a populous and mighty country with the fear of the gods in his heart’- Odysseus to Penelope when he is disguised

‘as the snow that the West Wind has brought melts on the mountain-tops when the East Wind thaws it, and, melting, makes the rivers run in spate’- Penelope crying

‘it gleamed on his body like the skin of a dried onion, it was so smooth, and it shone like the Sun’- Odysseus talking about his own tunic as if he wasn’t Odysseus

Book 20

**‘**His heart growled within him as a bitch growls standing guard over her helpless pups, ready to fight when she sees a stranger’- Odysseus trying not to kill the Suitors’ mistresses

Book 23

**‘**like the moment when the blissful land is seen by struggling sailors, whose fine ship Poseidon has battered with wind and wave and smashed on the high seas’- Odysseus and Penelope reunion

timé and kleos

Book 1

Athene sends Telemachus to Pylos so he may ‘win the praise of men’

If Odysseus had died he would have left ‘a great name for his son to inherit’

Book 2

Penelope is ‘winning a great name for herself’ by waiting for Odysseus, but at the expense of Telemachus

Telemachus goes to Pylos to see if the rumours sent by Zeus are true

Book 4

Menelaus has a gift from Alcandre- two silver baths, a pair of cauldrons and ten talents of gold

Gives Telemachus a mixing bowl instead of keeping him there for 12 days because he says that a good host does not keep their guest on for too long

book 7

the interior of Alcinous’ palace is a ' glorious gift the gods had bestowed’

Book 8

Alcinous tells all the minstrels and dancers to show Odysseus how great they are at dancing so he can go home and tell his mates

They give O lots of presents- cloaks, tunics and talents of sterling gold

Book 9

Odysseus the humble king he is says that his fame has reached the heavens

Book 10

Aeolus gives O a bag of wind to help him get home, but his men betray him by opening it and sending them back to Aeolia because they think O is hiding gold from them

Book 11

Heracles somehow recognises Odysseus from one look and is like hey ‘Odysseus, master of stratagems’- I think this bit makes it clear that Odysseus is making it all up

Book 13

The Phaeacians hide Odysseus’ gifts so that they aren’t stolen, he immediately thinks that they’ve stolen them

Book 15

Menelaus gives Telemachus gifts- two handled cup, silver mixing bowl , a wedding dress for when he gets married (which is ironic bc he ends up marrying Circe)

Book 17

Telemachus tells Peiraeus to keep the gifts from Menelaus in case he gets assassinated so they can be kept out of the hands of the Suitors

Book 18

Penelope extorts gifts from the Suitors

Book 21

The suitors don’t want Odysseus to try to string the bow in case they get a bad reputation

Life and society in Ithaka, Sparta and Pylos

Ithaca

Book 2- Assembly, elders,

Pylos

Book 3- sacrificing bulls to Poseidon

Book 3- Pissystratus gives them wine and takes them to their seats, tells her to pray to Poseidon, gives Athene the wine first because she is older

Book 15- Pissystratus says that his dad will be angry if Telemachus goes without staying for dinner and stuff so he tells him just to go and that he’ll deal with it

Sparta

Book 4- they are having a banquet

They have 30 housemaids

Book 15- Menelaus says it is rude to keep a guest on too long and gives Telemachus gifts

The housekeeper brings them fresh bread

Life and society in fantastical lands

Ogygia

O spends his time crying on the beach

Phaeacia

Nausicaa urges O to walk behind the chariot in case the Phaeacians gossip that she will marry him

In book 7 the city is described as having Harper's with trim ships and long and lofty walls, ' a wonderful sight '

Book 7- description of the palace with ' golden doors hung on posts of silver '

In the past the gods have shown themselves without disguise to the Phaeacians

Flying boats

Cyclopes

The Cyclopes are fierce, lawless people- no assemblies, don’t plough their fields, no laws, ‘each man is a lawgiver to his own children and women, and nobody has the slightest interest in what his neighbours decide

Wild goats (vs Odysseus’ elaborate pig farm set up B14)

Aeolia (b10)

Around the island there is an unbroken wall of bronze and below it the cliffs ' rise sheer from the sea '

The King's sons have married his daughters for some reason

He entertains O and his men for a month

Laestrygonians

The site of Antiphates’ wife ' appalled ' them

Antiphates tries to eat O’s men, and then they are chased off the island with rocks

The suitors

Book 1

They are shocked when Telemachus tells them to go home

Book 2

They blame Penny in the Assembly for leading them on with her weaving trick and her secret messages

Eurymachus tries to convince Telly to send Penny away

Antinous tells Telly that he will never actually leave, Tell says yes he will, the suitors shout at him and say hes going to try to kill them

book 4

the suitors conspire to kill Telemachus when he returns from Pylos because they worry that he will kill them

Book 14

Odysseus is very rich but the suitors are stealing all his stuff

Book 15

Eumaeus says that the suitors are so violent that Odysseus will die if he tries to go to the town to beg

Book 16

The suitors are angry that Telemachus didn’t die and for some reason call him arrogant for not being murdered

Amphinomus says he will not be a part of the murder plot unless a sign from the gods says he should

Book 17

Antinous hits Odysseus with a stool

Book 18

Amphinomus has been marked by Athene to die by Telemachus’ spear despite Odysseus’ warning

Eurymachus taunts beggar-Odysseus

Telemachus tells them all to go home, and they are all shocked that he would dare to say that to them, but Amphinomus convinces them to go along with it

Book 20

Whilst the Suitors are scheming an eagle flies overhead with a dove in its talons, Amphinomus says this is a sign they shouldn’t commit murder

Telemachus tells them not to hurt Odysseus and they begrudgingly agree

Ctessipus throws a hoof at Odysseus, but misses, Telly shouts at him

Book 21

The suitors cannot string the bow- Eurymachus says he doesn’t really care about the marriage

Book 22

Eurymachus tries to blame Antinous

Agelaus takes command of the battle

Leodes tries to plead with Odysseus but gets murdered anyway

Odysseus’ servants

Eurycleia

B1- helps Telly get ready for bed, she had nursed him as a child

B2- Telly asks Eurycleia to not tell Penny that he’s leaving

B4- Eurycleia calms Penelope down after she gets a bit #hysterical over the fact that her son is about to be slayed

B19- Telemachus tells her to not allow the women to leave his mother’s apartments until he and Odysseus have stowed away the weapons

Recognises Odysseus by a scar on his feet and he threatens to kill her if she tells Penelope

Offers to go through all the maids and pick out the disloyal ones

B22- cries out in joy when she sees all the dead suitors, Odysseus tells her to restrain herself

Odysseus tells her to light a fire instead of going to wake Penelope

B23- Tells Penelope that her husband is home, she doesn’t believe her, she tells her to go down to the hall and see

Eumaeus

B14- Athena tells Odysseus to go to him because he had shown himself to be the most faithful

He lives in a hut in the middle of Odysseus’ pig palace

Good xenia

‘And you, Eumaeus the Swineherd’- is Eumaeus the guy in italics at the start????

He sleeps in the huts with the pigs to make sure they aren’t stolen or something

B15- he tells Odysseus about how he was kidnapped by his nurse as a child, who was seduced by a Phoenician sailor, but she was killed and he was bought by Laertes as a slave, but was raised as an equal to Odysseus sister

B16- father figure to Telemachus, greets him like a father greeting his son after 9 years abroad, goes into town to tell Penelope that his son has returned

B17- Penelope tells Eumaeus to go and get Odysseus to see if he has any news of Odysseus

B21- Eumaeus gives the bow to Odysseus even after the suitors say no

Medon

Book 17- he is their favourite herald and always attends to their meals

B22- spared in the battle

Melanthius

B17- shouts at Beggar-Odysseus and Eumaeus, tries to kick Odysseus but he doesn’t fall over bc he never skips leg day

B20- shouts at Odysseus again

B22- gets weapons for the suitors

Eurynome

B18- tells Penelope she is right to go and show herself to her suitors

B19- gets a rug for Odysseus

Melantho

B18- is rude to beggar-Odysseus and tells him he should leave

B19- asks beggar-Odysseus why he is still there and insults him

Maidservants

B22- Odysseus makes them clear up the hall and says he’ll spare them, Telemachus hangs them

Book 20- Odysseus speaks to Eumaeus and Philoetius, telling them that O will be back soon

Book 21- Odysseus tells Eumaeus and Philoetius that he is home after they say they would be happy for him to be home, they hug and cry and weep, he tells them to go and lock up the women and the courtyard gates

Book 22- Eumaeus and Philoetius torture Melanthius

Odysseus

Book 1

Zeus calls him ‘the wisest man alive’

Athena calls him ‘endlessly resourceful’

book 5

O says that even though Penelope is not as beautiful as calypso because she is mortal he wants to see his home and return to her

Book 6

He does not approach Nausicaa when hes only got a skirt made of twigs on because she’s a child and he’s a grown man so it would be weird

Book 7

Odysseus goes on and on and on about what happened to him since Troy

He protects Nausicaa by saying that it was his idea for him not to travel with her to the palace

Book 8

Gives meat to the bard because he respects them

Says he’s too old to compete in the games

Book 9

Made sure his crew got a fair share of the plunder from the Cicones

Odysseus is cunning and gets Polyphemus drunk so he can stab him and run away

Tells him his name is nobody but reveals himself at the end

Book 10

Odysseus nearly chops Eurylochus’ head off because for some reason he doesn’t want to go back to the house of the women who just turned all his mates into pigs, but instead he just threatens to leave him there so Eurylochus ends up coming with anyways

Book 12

Tells his men to tie him up and plug their ears so he can be the first to hear the Siren’s song and live

Odysseus tries to fight Scylla even tho Circe told him he couldn’t, and then most his men are murdered, their last words are his name

Book 13

He immediately thinks that the Phaeacians have stolen his treasure and that he is in danger as soon as he wakes on Ithaca

He tries to lie to Athene disguised as a shepherd and tells her a whole story about how he was exiled from Crete that is vaguely based on the truth

Book 14

Eumaeus says that Odysseus is a kind master

Book 16

Beggar-Odysseus says that if he was Odysseus (which he is) he would go to the town and kill all the suitors

Book 18

Odysseus makes sure the suitors don’t take Irus’ side by making them swear an oath

Book 19

Odysseus’ lie is so convincing that Penelope cries, he tells her the clothes he was wearing when he left

He asks that only Eurycleia wash his feet- does he want to be recognised

Book 20

He stops himself from killing the Suitors’ mistresses- moderation

Book 22

Odysseus shoots Antinous and most of the suitors whilst Telemachus is getting weapons

Spares the bard and Medon

Book 23

Odysseus tells the minstrel to play a lively tune so that people outside think there is a wedding

Penelope

Book 1

She weeps for Odysseus during Phemius’ song

book 4

Medon the herald tells Penelope that the suitors are planning to kill Telemachus she goes to the suitors and tells them not to

Book 16

Telemachus says his mother is in two minds, whether to stay and look after Odysseus’ house or to go and receive the gifts that would come with marriage

She berates the suitors for plotting to kill Telemachus, asking Antinous if he forgot that Odysseus helped his father escape the Threspotians

Book 18

She says that the gods robbed her of her beauty the day Odysseus left for Troy

Odysseus is pleased that she tricks the Suitors into giving her lots of gifts

Book 19

Speaks to beggar-Odysseus for news of actual Odysseus’ return, shouts at Melantho after she insults beggar-Odysseus

Weaving trick- cunning

Compares herself to Pandereus’ daughter who accidentally killed her son, wishes to die

Book 23

Doesn’t believe Eurycleia that Odysseus is alive, goes down to the hall to see her son and ‘the man who killed [the suitors]’ (not her husband)

Athene

Book 1

She begs Zeus to free Odysseus- ‘why are you at odds with Odysseus’

Helps Telemachus and tells him to go to Pylos

Clever and sneaky like O- disguised

Book 2

Gives Telly supernatural grace when he goes to Assembly

Helps Telly get his ship and crew together

Book 3

Tells Telly to ask Nestor where his father is honestly

Telly has the support of a god so he will know what to say

Book 4

Comes to Penelope disguised as her sister in a dream and tells her not to worry

Book 6

Athene takes the form of one of Nausicaa’s closest friends and tells her to go and clean clothes in the morning by the river say that she will meet O

Book 8

Athene disguised as a young girl leads Odysseus through Phaeacia and puts a mist over him so he can’t be seen

Book 9

Athene disguised as a Phaeacian supports Odysseus in the crowd

Book 13

Puts a mist over Odysseus so he does not recognise Ithaca

Somehow she has a wand? Since when did she have a wand?

Book 16

Appears to Odysseus and returns his appearance so that Telemachus will recognise him

Book 18

Makes it look like Odysseus never skips leg day when he fights Irus

Book 19

Carries a lamp ahead of them whilst Odysseus and Telemachus stow away the weapons

Book 22

Puts determination into Odysseus’ heart during the battle and then watches as a bird from the roof

Makes the suitors miss when they throw spears at Odysseus

Book 23

Makes Odysseus look more godlike so Penelope will recognise him

Minor characters

Calypso

B1- Athene says she tries to ‘banish Ithaca from his memory with soft, persuasive words’

B5- calypso complains that there are double standards the gods can sleep with anyone but she cannot have Odysseus for her husband

Pissystratus

B3- good manners, only unmarried son

B4- Menelaus comments on how wise he is

Nausicaa

book 6- Nausicaa is tall and beautiful as a goddess, Athene takes the form of one of her closest friends and tells her to go and clean clothes in the morning by the river so that she will meet O, Nausicaa is the only one of the girls to stand firm in front of O showing courage

Alcinous and Arete

book 7- Arete has such honour as no other woman receives who keeps house under her husband's eye in the world today,

Laodamas

Book 9- son of Alcinous and Arete, asks O to join in with the games, best boxer and dancer, his chair is given to Odysseus

Circe

Book 10- Circe has lions and wolves prowling around her house, and she is singing whilst she is weaving

Circe drugs all the men except Eurylochus and turns them into pigs

Circe tries to drug Odysseus but he’s already been drugged by Hermes so she ends up sleeping with him instead

Book 12- Back to Circe, she explains how to get past the sirens and Scylla and Charybdis, she also tells Odysseus there’s no point trying to fight Scylla bc he won’t win

She warns them not to eat Helios’ cattle

Theoclymenus

Asks Telemachus for help because he was fleeing after killing a man, his granddad also had to flee from Pylos from King Neleus

B17- tells Penelope that Odysseus is actually in Ithaca and she’s like well if that’s true then we can be best friends

B20- prophecises the Suitor’s downfall and leaves the hall after they start crying blood

Irus

B18- notorious for his greed, large but has no stamina or muscle, insults beggar-Odysseus and tells him to move, they fight

Nostos

Book 1

Telly- ‘if I only I were the son of some lucky man overtaken by old age amongst his belongings’

Book 8

The Phaeacians help Odysseus return home

Book 9

The Lotus-Eaters are bad because they make Odysseus’ men forget their home

Book 10

Odysseus is unhappy because his friendies are still pigs, although in the end he has to be begged by his crew to actually leave because he’s too busy partying to remember about his wife and son

Odysseus and his men cry at the thought of going to the underworld instead of going home

Book 11

They forget to bury Elpenor because they’re in such a rush to get home

Book 13

Odysseus’ ‘heart leapt up’ at the news he had returned to Ithaca, he is so happy to be home that he kisses the soil- bit sad that the rest of his crew never got to return home

Book 17

Argus dies

Book 19

Odysseus’ departure has meant Penelope cannot give good hospitality to suppliants and guests

Disguise and recognition

Book 1

Athena disguises herself as Mentes and tells Telly to go to Sparta and Pylos to find news of his father

Reveals herself as a god by turning into a bird

Book 2

Athena disguises herself as Mentor

Book 3

Disguises herself as Mentor and then reveals herself again by turning herself into a bird

Book 4

Helen tells the story of Odysseus disguising himself to get into Troy

Book 7

Athene puts a mist around O when he travels through Phaeacia

Athene disguises herself as a young girl and leads O through the city

Book 9

Odysseus disguises his identity from Polyphemus but then reveals himself by telling him his name is Odysseus and also his dads name for some reason

Book 13

Athene disguises herself as a shepherd

Athene disguises Odysseus as a beggar

Book 22

Odysseus reveals himself and he and Telemachus fight the suitors

Fantasy and the supernatural

Book 7

There are fruit and blossom in Alcinous’ garden all year round

Book 8

The Phaeacian ships steer themselves

Book 9

Lotus eaters try to steal O’s men and make them forget their home

The Cyclopes are fierce, lawless people- no assemblies, don’t plough their fields, no laws, ‘each man is a lawgiver to his own children and women, and nobody has the slightest interest in what his neighbours decide

Polyphemus doesn’t abide by Zeus’ rule of xenia and eats his guests- he asks for his name immediately

Book 11

The little Troy reunion party thing in the underworld

The roles of fate and zeus

Book 1

Zeus says mortals blame the gods for their own suffering, when it is their own actions that are to blame

Book 2

Zeus sends two eagles fighting over the Assembly in support of Telemachus

Book 3

Zeus made it difficult for the Greeks to win at Troy

Book 5

says that Athena put the idea into O’s head to grab on to the rock

Book 6

Nausicaa says that it is Zeus who assigns good fortune to men, good and bad alike, as he wills, and must have sent you your personal misfortune and you must just endure it

Book 7

They make a libation to Zeus after allowing Odysseus to stay in Phaeacia

O ‘must suffer whatever destiny and the relentless fate spun for him with the first thread of life when he came from his mother's womb’

Book 9

Zeus sent a big wind after O left the Cicones, forcing them to land in the Cyclopes country

Nymphs made the goats move so Odysseus and his men could eat them

Book 10

O says a god put the stag in his path because they took pity on him

Book 13

An offering is made to Zeus before Odysseus leaves for Ithaca

Book 14

Eumaeus says that strangers and beggars are protected by Zeus, therefore he can’t turn Odysseus away

Odysseus says that a god tricked him into only wearing a tunic in his little fake story he tells Eumaeus

Book 15

A hawk flies by which leads Telemachus to walk to the swineherd’s instead of back to the palace in his boat

Book 18

Athene put the idea into Penelope’s head to show herself to her suitors

Book 20

Odysseus prays to Zeus, in response he sends thunder, and a slave woman shouts about how it is a sign

Book 21

Athene prompts Penelope to do the bow and axe contests

Zeus sends a thunderclap when Odysseus strings the bow

The roles of the other gods

Book 1

Poseidon trying to stop Odysseus from reaching home cannot go against the rest of the gods

Book 5

Zeus tells Hermes to go and order Calypso to release Odysseus, Athena pleads with Zeus to save Telemachus and he asks her was it not her idea to send Telemachus to Pylos in the first place

Poseidon upon seeing O escape from calypso sends a storm to kill him but Ino, a sea nymph, gives him a special veil which means he won't drown

Book 6

Athene hears Odysseus’ prayer but does not act upon it out of deference to Uncle Poseidon

Book 8

Demodocus’ tale of Aries and Aphrodite

Book 10

Hermes gives Odysseus a drug to save him from Circe’s drug and tells him what to do when Circe tries to turn him into a pig

Relationships between gods and mortals

Book 1

Poseidon is visiting the Ethiopians- pursued Odysseus with ‘relentless malice’

Book 2

Athena puts the Suitors to sleep to allow Telly to escape

Book 3

It is not easy to convince the gods to change their minds- Nestor

Book 4

No mortal can compete with Zeus- Menelaus when Telly says his palace must be like Olympus

The gods never allow one to forget their commandments- Menelaus talking about how the gods delayed him after Troy because he didn’t make the correct offerings

Book 8

Comparison between O and Euryalus and Hephaestus and Aries

Book 10

Aeolus tells O and his men to leave because they have angered the gods, therefore they cannot help them

Book 16

Athene appears only to Odysseus at first

Book 17

The suitors tell Antinous that he was wrong to hit O with a stool because he might be a god in disguise

Book 20

Athene makes the Suitors laugh madly and blood gets spattered everywhere

Justice and revenge

Book 3

Orestes’ revenge will be told for generations, Telemachus wishes to be as brave as him

Book 9

Poseidon wants revenge for Odysseus’ murder of his son

Book 12

Odysseus’ men eat Hyperion’s cattle so they get murdered by Zeus’ lightning on his behalf

Book 13

Poseidon turns the Phaeacian ship into stone as punishment for helping Odysseus escape

Odysseus wants Athena’s help to punish the Suitors for being mean to his household

Book 16

Athene is eager for a fight against the Suitors

Book 17

Odysseus thinks about how he’ll get his revenge when Antinous hits him with a stool

Book 20

‘as for their supper, nothing less palatable could be imagined than the fare which a goddess and a strong man were soon to spread before them; but it was their villainy that had started it all’

Book 22

The suitors are murdered

Book 23

The fathers of the suitors want revenge for Odysseus killing them until Athene brings peace

Hospitality

Book 1

Telly gives Athena/Mentes food and drinks before asking who she is

The Suitors are sitting around, eating and drinking the contents of Telly’s fridge

Book 3

It is embarrassing for Telemachus to question Nestor because he is so much older than him

Pissystratus gives Athene the wine first because older

Nestor gives Telemachus a bed next to Pissystratus and a chariot to go to Menelaus with him

Book 4

Menelaus tells his son off for suggesting they ignore Telly and Pissystratus

Menelaus asks them who they are after they’ve eaten

book 5

calypso gives Hermes a chair and asks him what brings him there she also gives him ambrosia and he answers her questions

book 7

O kneels before Arete and asks her for help, and Elder tells Alcinous to feed him wine and they make a libation to Zeus

Book 8

Odysseus says only a fool would fight his host

Book 9

Odysseus and his men eat Polyphemus’ food so he gets mad and eats them

Book 10

Circe gives Odysseus and his men food after she’s unpigified them and tells them where to go next, they also party with her for a year

Book 11

That little interlude where Odysseus is like guys im really tired can we go to sleep and Alcinous is like no keep talking Book 13

Odysseus is given gifts upon leaving Phaeacia

Book 14

Eumaeus does good xenia for Odysseus when he arrives

Book 15

Menelaus says it is offensive to keep a guest on too long

Book 16

Odysseus gets up to give his son his seat, as he is technically a guest

Book 19

Odysseus’ departure has meant Penelope cannot give good hospitality to suppliants and guests

Parent-child relationships

Book 1

Telly tells Penny to shut up and go back to her weaving

Book 2

Telly says he can’t cast his mother out

Doesn’t tell her he’s leaving- ‘we don’t want tears to spoil her lovely cheeks’

Book 3

Nestor says that when a man dies it is good to have a son to revenge him

Nestor speaks to his sons and to Telemachus 9

Book 11

The whole Odysseus and Anticleia episode where Odysseus is like crying because he feels guilty that he left his mum all by herself because he was too busy partying and sleeping with goddesses to remember that he has a family at home

Book 16

Telemachus and Odysseus reunite, crying loudly

Odysseus helped Antinous’ father escape the Threspotians, but he does not treat Odysseus’ house with any respect because of this

Book 17

Telemachus returns to his mother who ‘dissolved in tears as she threw her arms around her son’s neck’

Book 22

Telemachus asks his mother why he is being so cold-hearted when she doesn’t greet Odysseus with joy straight away

Relationships between and roles of men and women

Book 2

Suitors blame Penelope for leading them on

Book 3

Clytemnestra at first ignored Aegisthus, but he put her minstrel on an island so suddenly she couldn’t stop

Agamemnon assigned a minstrel to look after his wife

Book 4

Helen drugging Menelaus and Telemachus to make them not sad and make the evening happier

Murder of Aegisthus

Book 7

Arete is the first to question O

Book 11

Odysseus sees the wives and daughters of the great- Tyro, who fell in love with the god of the River Enipeus, Antiope, whose sons founded Thebes, Alcmene, the mother of Heracles, Creon, the wife of Heracles, Epicaste, the mother of Oedipus, and others that I can’t be bothered to list

Book 15

Athene says that women tend to steal their husband’s riches and then forget about them when they die and move on too quick- trying to get Telly to go home

Book 19

Penelope is cunning- weaving trick

Book 21

Penelope gets the bow from the store-room and cries because it is Odysseus’ bow

Book 23

Penelope there are signs that only they know that are proof Odysseus is who he says he is, Odysseus tells Telemachus to leave them

Penelope tests Odysseus by telling Eurycleia to move the bed, but it cannot be moved because its made out of a tree

They weep and hug each other- like a sailor seeing his native land after a long time

Penelope wants Odysseus to tell her everything that has happened

Book 24

Agamemnon says Penelope is trustworthy