Quiz 5 ( Books 16,17,18,19)

• The Odyssey Main Points Book 16

  • When Eumaeus left the farm, Athena transforms Odysseus back into a younger version of himself, so that Telemachus can finally meet his father, and so they can start planning out what to do with the suitors
  • When Telemachus saw him, he thought that he was a god. Odysseus then reveals himself to Telemachus, saying that he is his father. They then share a warm embrace and weep loudly.
• The Odyssey Book 16 part 2 main points

  • Athena turns Odysseus back into a beggar once again so that only Telemachus will know his true identity.
  • Back at the palace, the suitors discuss their plot to kill Telemachus. Amphinomus tells the others they should be patient and wait for the gods to reveal their plans before they make a move. The other suitors agree to hold off.
• The Odyssey Book 17 Main Points

  • Odysseus sets off for the palace accompanied by Eumaeus, who still does not know Odysseus's true identity. Telemachus goes ahead, accompanied by a prophet who informs Penelope that Odysseus is back in Ithaca, scheming to overthrow the suitors, news that she refuses to believe.
• The Odyssey Book 17 Main Points Part 2

  • Inside the banquet hall, Telemachus and Athena advise Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, to beg at the suitors' table for scraps as a way to find who the worst suitors are. Most of the suitors are kind, but Antinous is cruel, throwing a stool at Odysseus. Odysseus warns Antinous that to be unnecessarily cruel to a man in need will surely be noticed and punished by the gods.
• The Odyssey Book 18 Main Points

  • As the evening wears on, another beggar shows up, and Antinous eggs him on to start a fight with Odysseus. Odysseus demurs at first but eventually agrees to the contest. He does not use his full strength to avoid hurting the other man, but he wins anyway.
  • As the suitors feast and carouse, Odysseus is angry at some of the maidservants for not tending to the Queen. When one talks back, he threatens them and scares them off. The suitors protest noisily until Amphinomus urges them to settle down and let Telemachus tend to the beggars. They agree and depart for home.
• Eurymachus

  One of the leading suitors in the Odyssey, says to the other suitors that the ambush at sea against Telemachus failed. He is the one who denies to Penelope that they don't want to harm Telemachus, which is a lie.
• Antinous

  A suitor that urges that suitors to act fast in their retaliation against Telemachus. He is the one who throws a stool at Odysseus.
• Amphinomus

  A suitor who wants to pray to the gods and see if Zeus will allow them to kill Telemachus instead of retaliating right away. Doesn't necessarily want to kill Telemachus.
• Medon

  The herald that tells Penelope that the suitors are plotting to kill Telemachus.
• Eumaeus

  Insists on telling Laertes that Telemachus is home, but Telemachus wants only Penelope to know. Instead, Telemachus wants Eurycleia to tell Laertes in secret. Eumaeus makes it to the palace, but Penelope already knows that Telemachus is home due to the herald telling all of Ithaca.
• Eurycleia

  Nurse to Odysseus and later to Telemachus. She recognizes Odysseus' scar on his thigh but at his request does not reveal his identity.
• Melanthius

  Odysseus' disloyal goatherd (aligns himself with the suitors while Odysseus is away and insults his master disguised as a beggar)
• Argos

  Odysseus' dog, the only creature to recognize Odysseus on his return to Ithaca and dies almost immediately after
• Irus

  Regular, younger beggar who comes to the palace and yells at Odysseus for sitting on his doorstill
• The Suitors give Penelope presents in order to win her over, whenever they see her beauty ( who Athena gives). Penelope

  outsmarts the suitors into giving her gifts
• Book 18 Detail

  Hoping to make Odysseus even more angry at the suitors, Athena now inspires Eurymachus to insult him. When Odysseus responds with insults of his own, Eurymachus throws a stool at him but misses, hitting a servant instead.
• Acquiesced

  accept something reluctantly but without protest
• Artifice

  Clever or cunning devices, especially as used to trick or deceive others
• The Odyssey Book 19 Main Points

  • After the suitors have retired for the evening, Odysseus and Telemachus take action for the next day by hiding all the weapons in the house.
  • Odysseus meets with Penelope but still refrains from revealing his true identity to her. Odysseus's childhood nurse, Eurycleia, recognizes him first when she notices a scar he received as a child. Odysseus makes her swear not to tell Penelope. She offers to tell him which maids were disloyal to him; he replies that he will watch them and judge for himself.
• The Odyssey Book 19 Main Points P2

  • Penelope tells the disguised Odysseus that she is planning a contest the next day to finally choose a suitor. She will ask them to demonstrate a skill that only Odysseus has proved before (has to shoot the arrow through 12 axes). Odysseus the beggar claims that her husband will be home before the contest can begin. Penelope retires to her room and weeps.
• How did Odysseus get the scar?

  The white-tusked boar had scratched his leg when he and his cousins went hunting on Mount Parnassus
• Penelope's dream (Book 19)

  Penelope describes to Odysseus a dream that she has had in which an eagle swoops down upon her twenty pet geese and kills them all; it then perches on her roof and, in a human voice, says that he is her husband who has just killed the suitors.
• Penelope might know that the beggar is Odysseus. (Book 19)


  She mistakenly refers to the beggar as Eurycleia's "master" but corrects herself quickly. She appears to feel she can speak freely with him in a way that seems unlikely for a woman of her status to use in addressing a beggar. Her mentioning the contest she plans to stage seems like another test, because only Odysseus has ever been able to perform the task she is asking the suitors to prove. Whether she has guessed his identity or not, she shows cleverness again in devising a test the suitors are bound to fail.