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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is special about the cattle and flocks of the Sun?

2. How long do Odysseus and his men stay with Circe in Book 10?

3. How did Odysseus anger the god(dess) who seeks to punish him in Book 1?

4. After his battle with Poseidon in Book 5, where does Odysseus find shelter in the land on which he has just arrived?

5. What does Aeolus give Odysseus in Book 10?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Eumaeus think will happen to the old man if he approaches the suitors for work? Why?

2. Why doesn't Odysseus' journey end when he slays the suitors and gets his vengeance in Book 11?

3. How does a naked Odysseus ask for help among Nausicaa and the maids?

4. What kind of hospitality does Telemachus offer the old man in Book 16?

5. Why does Athene reveal her presence to Telemachus and Nestor in Book 3?

6. Recount the most recent part of Odysseus' story of woe, as told in Book 7.

7. In Book 20, why does Athene make the suitors laugh uncontrollably?

8. What relationship do the Phaecians have with the gods?

9. Why does Menelaus mourn so much for Odysseus?

10. Why does Athene want to cause Odysseus suffering and pain when she prods the suitors to abuse him in his own house in Book 18?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Disguise is an important trick Athena uses to aid Odysseus.

1) Discuss the three different types of disguises she uses to hide Odysseus.

2) Discuss the kinds of disguises she uses for herself.

3) What is the significance of disguise to the entire poem?

Essay Topic 2

Sociologists can glean quite a bit of information about a culture from surviving literature. Use The Odyssey to illuminate the values of this society. What ideals are valued? What are some distinguishing characteristic of the Ancient Achaeans?

Essay Topic 3

Vengeance and/or law being exercised fuel much of the action in this epic poem. It is an act of vengeance, which keeps Odysseus so long from his homeland? It is an act of vengeance, which slaughters the suitors? It is vengeance, which moves half the men of Ithaca to attack Odysseus on the farm? Where does the death of Odysseus' crew for the cattle of the Sun fit in? Why does Athena condone the slaughter of the suitors? Select three of these acts. Analyze each act, making sure to include mitigating factors, and determine which are criminal and which are legitimate.

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