Zeus

• book 1,5,12,13,21
• role is much greater than his interventions in the plot
• he is the first speaker in the poem
• the point he makes underpins the Odyssey
• men blame the gods for their troubles
• they are themselves responsible for what happens
• he considers as an example, Aegisthus, who, despite warnings, murdered his cousin, Agamemnon, and then married Clytemnestra, his wife
• much of the Odyssey revolves around the treatment of suppliants and guests
• Nausicaa tells Ody that all strangers and beggars and under the protection of Zeus
• the final slaughter of the Suitors is not presented as punishment for having lusted after P, but for having disregarded the laws of Zeus
• Ody tells Eurycleia as much when she wants to cry out in triumph at what she sees as Ody's victory