Readinglist Originals The Odyssey

The Odyssey study questions, book by book

For students, teachers and homeschool parents working through Homer’s The Odyssey. The background, the cast, the journey in order, and questions for Books 1 to 4 are free on this page. The printable pack covers all 24 books with an answer key.

Organised by the poem's 24 books, so it works with any translation: Fagles, Fitzgerald, Lattimore, Wilson, Lombardo, or the free public-domain Butler translation.

Full pack · Grades 8-12

$3.99instant PDF download · 33 pages · answer key included

The full pack is written; checkout opens soon. Until then, everything below is free to use.

Secure checkout by Stripe. The download page opens right after payment. Print it for your own class or family. Refund within 30 days if it is not what you needed.

Before you read

Who was Homer?

Ancient Greeks credited the Iliad and the Odyssey to a poet called Homer. Nobody knows who he was, or whether one person composed both poems. They grew out of a long tradition of oral poetry, sung by bards like Phemius and Demodocus in the poem itself, and were written down around the 8th or 7th century BC.

Before the poem starts

The Greeks besieged Troy for ten years to win back Helen, wife of Menelaus. Odysseus, king of the small island of Ithaca, ended the war with the trick of the wooden horse. The Odyssey covers the last weeks of his ten-year journey home, plus the stories he tells about the years before.

Three Greek ideas you need

Xenia: the sacred duty of hospitality between host and guest, protected by Zeus. Nostos: the homecoming, the journey back. Kleos: glory, the fame that lives on after a hero dies. Almost every episode tests one of the three.

How the story is told

The poem starts in medias res, in the middle of things. Books 1 to 4 follow Telemachus, the son. Books 5 to 8 bring Odysseus to the Phaeacians. In Books 9 to 12 Odysseus tells his own adventures in flashback. Books 13 to 24 are the return to Ithaca and the revenge.

Who’s who in The Odyssey

Odysseus
King of Ithaca, hero of the Trojan War, known for cunning. Epithets: 'man of many turns', 'great teller of tales'.
Penelope
His wife, who keeps the suitors waiting for years with tricks of her own.
Telemachus
Their son, a baby when Odysseus left, now about twenty.
Laertes
Odysseus's old father, living in grief on his farm.
Anticleia
Odysseus's mother, who died of longing for him.
Eurycleia
The old nurse who raised Odysseus and Telemachus.
Eumaeus
The loyal swineherd.
Philoetius
The loyal cowherd.
Antinous
The most arrogant of the suitors.
Eurymachus
A smooth-talking, deceitful suitor.
Amphinomus
The most decent of the suitors.
Melanthius / Melantho
A goatherd and a maid who betray the household.
Athena
Goddess of wisdom and Odysseus's protector, often in disguise (Mentes, Mentor).
Zeus
King of the gods, protector of guests and strangers.
Poseidon
God of the sea, Odysseus's enemy after the blinding of his son.
Hermes
Messenger god, sent to Calypso and to help Odysseus against Circe.
Calypso
A goddess who holds Odysseus on her island for seven years.
Circe
A goddess and enchantress who turns men into pigs.
Polyphemus
The Cyclops, a one-eyed giant and son of Poseidon.
Alcinous, Arete, Nausicaa
King, queen and princess of the Phaeacians, who carry Odysseus home.
Tiresias
The blind prophet Odysseus consults in the land of the dead.
Nestor, Menelaus, Helen
Veterans of Troy whom Telemachus visits for news.

Where does Odysseus go? The journey in order

Most of the voyage is told as a flashback in Books 9 to 12, so the order in which things happen is not the order you read them.

  1. Ismarus (the Ciconians) (Book 9)A raid that goes wrong when the men linger.
  2. The Lotus-eaters (Book 9)A food that makes men forget home.
  3. The Cyclops's island (Book 9)Polyphemus, 'Nobody', and Poseidon's curse.
  4. Aeolia (Book 10)The bag of winds.
  5. The Laestrygonians (Book 10)Giants who destroy eleven of twelve ships.
  6. Aeaea (Circe) (Book 10)Men turned to pigs; a year's stay.
  7. The land of the dead (Book 11)Tiresias, Anticleia, Achilles.
  8. The Sirens (Book 12)The song no sailor survives.
  9. Scylla and Charybdis (Book 12)Six men lost between monster and whirlpool.
  10. Thrinacia (Book 12)The cattle of the Sun; the last crew lost.
  11. Ogygia (Calypso) (Books 5 and 12)Seven years.
  12. Scheria (the Phaeacians) (Books 6 to 13)Where he tells his story.
  13. Ithaca (Books 13 to 24)Home.

Study questions for Books 1 to 4 (free)

Books 1 to 4 follow Telemachus, Odysseus’s son. Use these to check understanding after each book. Model answers are in the full pack.

Book 1

Athena Visits Telemachus

The poem opens in the middle of things: ten years after Troy, Odysseus is held on Calypso's island while suitors eat their way through his house.

  1. Why is Poseidon absent from the council of the gods, and why does that matter?
  2. What story does Zeus use to argue that mortals cause their own suffering?
  3. In what disguise does Athena visit Telemachus, and what does she urge him to do?
  4. How does Telemachus respond when Penelope asks the bard Phemius to stop singing about the Greeks' return?

Think and discuss: Telemachus has grown up without a father. What does this book suggest about how a young person becomes an adult?

Book 2

The Assembly at Ithaca

Telemachus calls the first assembly since his father left, the suitors refuse to go, and he secretly sets sail.

  1. What complaint does Telemachus make to the assembly?
  2. How does Antinous blame Penelope, and what trick does he describe?
  3. What omen appears during the assembly, and how is it interpreted?
  4. Who helps Telemachus get a ship and crew, and who knows he is leaving?

Think and discuss: The suitors break the rules of hospitality in public and nobody in the assembly stops them. Why might ordinary citizens stay silent?

Book 3

Nestor at Pylos

At Pylos the old king Nestor welcomes Telemachus and tells how the Greek leaders came home, or failed to.

  1. What are the people of Pylos doing when Telemachus arrives?
  2. What news of Odysseus can Nestor give?
  3. Which story of a homecoming does Nestor tell at length, and why is it a lesson for Telemachus?
  4. How does Athena leave, and what does Nestor conclude from it?

Think and discuss: Nestor is generous but talks at length. What does a good host owe a guest, and what does a guest owe a host?

Book 4

Menelaus and Helen in Sparta

In Sparta, Menelaus and Helen tell stories of Troy, and Menelaus reveals that Odysseus is alive. At home, the suitors plan an ambush.

  1. How is Telemachus recognised in Sparta before he says who he is?
  2. What does Helen put in the wine, and why?
  3. How did Menelaus learn that Odysseus is alive?
  4. What do the suitors plan when they learn Telemachus has left, and how does Penelope find out?

Think and discuss: Helen and Menelaus each tell a story about Odysseus at Troy. What do the two stories show about his character, and what might they reveal about the storytellers?

What the full pack adds

  • Questions for all 24 books, 96 in total, with write-in lines
  • A discussion question for every book (24)
  • Full answer key for every comprehension question
  • 6 essay prompts and 5 classroom activities
  • Who's who, the journey table, a themes tracker and a 15-term glossary
  • 33 pages on US Letter, 32 on A4, in one download
Cover of the The Odyssey Study Pack
A question page from the The Odyssey Study Pack
The answer key page from the The Odyssey Study Pack

Actual pages from the file.

Full pack · Grades 8-12

$3.99instant PDF download · 33 pages · answer key included

The full pack is written; checkout opens soon. Until then, everything below is free to use.

Secure checkout by Stripe. The download page opens right after payment. Print it for your own class or family. Refund within 30 days if it is not what you needed.

Questions about the pack

Which translation does it use?
Organised by the poem's 24 books, so it works with any translation: Fagles, Fitzgerald, Lattimore, Wilson, Lombardo, or the free public-domain Butler translation.
What grade is it for?
Grades 8-12. The questions start with what happens and move to why it matters, so they work for a first reading in middle school and for high-school English.
Can I print it for my class?
Yes, for your own class or family, as often as you need. Please do not resell it or post the file online.
Is there a refund?
Yes. Contact us within 30 days and we refund it.

Need the book itself? Editions, reading level and the schools that assign it are on the The Odyssey book page.

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