THE ODYSSEY ANNOTATIONS BOOKS 1-12

Javier Perez

Book 1
Questions:
(p. 1 ,line 1) Q: Which muse are they talking about? A: The muse is Calliope.

2. (p. 12, line 395) Q: Who or what are Hellas? A: Greek name for Greece.

3. (p. 12, line 402) Q: Who or what are the Danaans? A. Ancient Greeks who worshiped Athena. 4. (p13, line 444) Q: Who is Antinous? A: The leader and worst of all the suitors. 5. (p. 13, line 450) Q: Who is Eurymachus and how high up is he on the suitors food chain? A: Second suitor, always speaks after Antinous or in his place. 6. (p. 14, line 471-473) Q: How does Telemachus know that the visitor is immortal? A. He felt in his heart that the visitor had been immortal.

Vocabulary: 7. (p. 10, line 342) guile (n) : great intelligence

Personal Comments:

8. (p. 1, lines 14-15) Such idiots, feasting on the cattle of the Sun God.

9. (p. 2, line 32-34) It's not just that Poseidon doesn't pity Odysseus, he actually hates him.

10. (p. 2, line 62) Aigisthos was so arrogant.

11. (p. 3, line 66) Athena is a virgin goddess, she can't have her heart broken because she has never felt love.

12. (p. 3, line 68) Odysseus was a mastermind of war, just like Athena.

13. (p. 3, line 74) Wow, Atlas' job really sucks.

14. (p. 9, line 315) Foreshadowing to Book 22.

15. (p. 15, line 354) Telemakhos- in original Greek

16. (p. 11, line 363) Grey-eyed goddess Athena – an epithet

17. (p. 13, lines 420-430) In other words, “I can't wait to see you dead”.

18. (p. 13, line 433) Antinoos – ha ha again in original Greek

Book 2

Questions:

19. (p. 26, line 254) Q: How high up is Leokritos on the suitor food chain? A. He is their spokesman.

20. (p. 26, line 264) Q: Who is Halitherses? A: The best prophet of the present group.

Personal Comments:

21. (p. 22, line 112) Penelope is very cunning.

22. (p. 23, lines 159- 161) Owned by eagles.

23. (p. 23, line 160) A deathly omen, really, who would have thunk it? 24. (p. 25, line 218) Clear-headed Telemachus, there's another epithet. 25. ( p. 25, line 219) “ Eurymachus, and noble suitors all, “ Telemachus' voice must have been riddled with sarcasm, mine would have been.

26. (p. 25, line 225) Sparta- my favorite city-state.

27. (p. 26, line 281) Telemachus really hates the suitors.

28. (p. 27, line 283) Athena, shape-shifting like a boss.

29. (p. 28, line 344) “ Telemachus has a mind to murder us.” Oh, Telemachus will.

30. (p. 29, line 355) “We keep his house as dowry for his mother – his mother and the man who marries her.” Dowries, now illegal in many countries including India.

31. (p. 31, line 458) “ They pushed the fir mast high and stepped it firm a mid ship in the box, made fast the forestays then hoisted up the white sail on its halyards until the wind caught, booming in the sails;” Wow, they had to lift the mast.

Book 3

Questions:

32. (p. 40, line 188) Q: Where is Euboia? A: The second largest island in Greece.

33. (p. 46, line 428) Q; What is a libation? A: A ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit.

34. (p. 48, line 491) Q: Who is Klymenos? A: The father of the wife of the aged Greek hero Nestor, Eurydice

Personal Comments:

35 (p. 36, line 48) “Friend, I must ask you to invoke Poseidon:” Athena would have a problem with this because she does not like Poseidon.

36. (p.36, line 56) I wonder if Athena will tell them that she is a goddess.

37. (p. 37, lines 60-66) “Earth shaker, listen and be well disposed. Grant your petitioners everything they ask: above all, honor to Nestor and his sons; second, to every man of Pylos town a fair gift in exchange for this hekatomb; may