1. What are some of the roles women take in the Odyssey?

2. Describe the relationship between Odysseus and Athena (see XIII. 267 on). Can you compare it with other relations between humans and gods we have seen with regard to culture.

3. From the moment he returns to Ithaca, Odysseus tests everyone he meets to see if they are loyal or even just decent human beings. List the incidents and talk about what happens.

4. List and talk about the different incidents where Odysseus is recognized, some intentionally and some not. These incidents raise interesting questions about identity: what consititutes it, how does one establish it, what verifies it? Who is Odysseus when he is not Odysseus?

5. Why is the bow Odysseus' weapon of choice? Consider the strategic advantage and then the symbolic value.

6. Homer illustrates human emotion through the body and its reactions; what are some examples of this, describing both the physical state and the emotion(s) it might represent.

7. In the Greek world the relationship between Host and Guest was of prime importance: who was a guest and who was an enemy? who a host and who prey for a pirate raid? was the guest human or a god in disguise? what constituted being a good host or guest? This theme runs throughout the Odyssey with many such relationships recounted; discuss the nature of some of them.

8. Finally, what sort of hero is Odysseus? Give examples as proof of his kind of heroism.

Comparison of Homer and the Hebrew Bible from "Odysseus Scar" by Eric Auerbach

Homer                                                       The Hebrew Bible
External description                      Parts in high relief, others obscure
Uniform illumination                      Abruptness
Uninterrupted connections            Suggested influence, unexpressed
Free expression                            Layers of writing
Events in forground                       Background assumed, suggested
NO:                                              Many meanings, needs interpretation
Historical development                  Universal historical claims
Psychological ‘sickness’                 Love of the problematic

Questions for Antigone

1. What is the background for the events in this play and how does it fit among the other works of Sophocles?

2. How, in your own words, would you characterize the central conflict of Antigone?

3. Describe Antigone as a person including as many aspects of her self as you can.

4. Give an example of an image that can be followed throughout the play.

5. What do you think about the questions posed here?

Antigone                                       Creon

Oikos                                                  Polis
Religion, the Gods                              The State, City
        Unwritten laws                                    The Law
Clan/gene                                            deme
Blood ties                                            Social contract
Female                                                 Male
Individual, heroic                                Collective, norm
Love of individuals                             political ‘love’

For Aristotle

Restate Aristotle's theory of tragedy in modern terms:

Thus Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in the different parts; the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear [what we call] the catharsis of such emotions. By ‘embellished language’ I mean language having rhythm and melody, and by ‘separately in different parts’ I mean that some parts of a play are carried on solely in metrical speech while others are sung. (From Aristotle's Poetics, On Tragedy)