Odysseus is forced to confront his memories of the people he has lost, as well as his own sense of mortality. Character list cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. Book 11 odysseus travels to the underworld and makes the offerings according to circes instructions. Consider a representative example, from when odysseus praises alcinous bard. There he pours libations and performs sacrifices as circe earlier instructs him to do to attract the souls of the dead. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the odyssey. Book i athena inspires the prince sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of troy. It covers odysseus journey to the land of the dead, the sirens, scylla, charybdis and the island of the sun. Upon arriving at the land of the dead in the beginning of book 11 in homers the odyssey, odysseus and his men follow kirkes instructions and dig a trench. The students first reflect on what key themes are shown in book xi and then examine how they are developed by. Summary and analysis book 11 the visit to the dead cliff notes. Epic quest journey the land of the dead is one of the many places that odysseus has to travel to, to return to his home and family after the trojan war 3. This video provides an in depth summary and analysis of the plot, characters and themes of book 11. Lacking wind, the achaeans row to the land of the laestrygonians, a race of powerful giants whose king.
Round the pit from every side the crowd thronged, with strange cries. Book eleven begins with odysseus making sacrifices before he enters the land of the dead. Odysseus and his men go down to hades to talk to the spirit of tiresias, on recommendation of circe. There he pours libations and performs sacrifices as circe earlier instructs him to do to attract the souls of the. Summary and analysis book 11 the visit to the dead. Humility through respecting the rules and rituals of the. Aeolus a master of winds, he gives odysseus a magical pouch full of seafaring winds to help him on his journey. Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled. Just as odysseus taunts the blinded polyphemus in book 9 by boasting about his defeat of the cyclops, the members of his crew prove unable to resist looking into aeoluss bag, and their greed ends up complicating their nostos, or homeward voyage. Homer lets us know right away that odysseus is being held as a. Odysseus and his crew travel to the read the poem aloud, as it was originally conveyed. Tiresias the blind seer of thebes, he meets odysseus in the land of the dead, warns him of impending dangers, offers advice, and foretells a later quest and a long life. Like menelaus, he has come to value glory less and less. He shows odysseus how to get back to ithaca and allows odysseus to communicate with the other souls in hades.
The students first reflect on what key themes are shown in book xi and then. Then the ghosts of the dead swarmed out of erebus brides, and young men yet unwed, old men worn out with toil, girls once vibrant and still new to grief, and ranks of warriors slain in battle, showing their wounds from bronzetipped spears, their armour stained with blood. Epic quest journey the land of the dead is one of the many places that odysseus has to travel to. But, now dead, he would throw away all that glory just to be alive. Theres nothing better than when deep joy holds sway throughout the realm and banqueters up and down the palace sit in ranks, enthralled to hear the bard, and before them all, the tables heaped with bread and meats, and drawing wine. Odysseus followed circes instructions and reached the land of the dead. Odysseus was present in the iliad but not with the same focus as this poem. Odysseus goes to the river of ocean and makes sacrifices, as circe told him to do, so as to attract the attention of the souls. Chapter summary for homers the odyssey, book 11 summary. For graduates of daulaires book of greek myths, these installments of the tales from the odyssey series deftly distill episodes from homers epic. The odyssey by homer book 11 summary and analysis duration.
Odysseuss story continues, as he tells alkinoos about traveling to the land of the dead. The land of the dead is near the homes of the cimmerians, who live shrouded in mist and cloud 11. Choose from 500 different sets of odyssey book 11 characters flashcards on quizlet. In book 11 of homers the odyssey, odysseus continues to share the story of his difficult journey with alkinoos and the phaiakians. This is a short answer quiz focused on chapters 11 and 12 of the odyssey. Agamemnon king of mycenae and commander of the greek expedition to troy, he was assassinated by his wife and her lover upon his return home. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19 book 20 book 21 book 22 book 23 book 24 themes all themes fate, the gods, and free will piety, customs, and justice cunning, disguise, and selfrestraint memory and grief glory and honor. Book 11 by god, id rather slave on earth for another man. I love that the book also includes a map of odysseus journey and pictures of the gods and goddesses. Usually, when mythic heroes undertake the dangerous voyage to the underworld, its for the.
In book 11 of the odyssey, odysseus displays humility in the land of the dead that he does not show in his dealings with the cyclops. King of pylos and a former warrior in the trojan war. Circe, calypso, the sirens, scylla and charybdis are pure fantasy made up on. Literature network homer the odyssey book xi book xi then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her. Jul 18, 2017 the odyssey book summary in under five minutes. Each chapter in the book has an assigned theme, technique, and correspondences between its characters and those of homers odyssey. After a long time they reached the river of oceanos, which was the boundary of the world. What did the men have to sacrifice, once they reached the land of the dead. He is still pleased to hear of his sons glory in battle, though. The most famous archaic description of the underworld is found in book 11 of homers odyssey, a chapter which the ancients knew as the nekyia or book of the dead.
The odyssey by homer book 11 summary and analysis youtube. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the odyssey and what it means. You seek a homecoming sweet as honey, shining odysseus, but a god will make it bitter, for i do not think you will elude the eathershaker. This video provides an indepth summary and analysis of the plot, characters and themes of book 11. Odysseus goes to the land of the dead to meet tiresias, following circes instructions. The basic form of narrative in the odyssey is very strongly oriented towards imagery. Odysseuss mother, she meets him in the land of the dead and informs him of what has happened in his home.
Here odysseus sails across the western reaches of the river okeanos to the shore of haides, where he summons the ghosts of the dead with an offering of blood, drawn a sacrificial. Book xi, the book of the dead, or the nekyia, is one of the more. He sacrifices a ram and a black ewe, and he feeds the blood to the ghosts so they can take form and talk. Start your 48hour free trial to unlock this the odyssey study. Supernatural realms book 11 of the odyssey takes place in the land of the dead, a place where dead spirits are able to talk to the living for a short period of time 2. Because of the urgency of odysseus journey to the land of the dead, elpenor was left unburied, and his spirit requests proper rites when the greeks return to. It is, in part, a sequel to the iliad, the other homeric epic. The questions were designed for students to stretch their higher order thinking skills. The land of the dead, as a place, really didnt figure into the book until the very end. See important quotations explained odysseus travels to the river of ocean in the land of the cimmerians. Book ix of the odyssey is called nekuia, which is an ancient greek rite used to summon and question ghosts.
I was going crazy trying to find book two land of the dead, book three sirens and sea monsters, and book six final battle for reasonable prices. Here eurylochus and another prepared the ram and ewe for sacrifice. Who does odysseus encounter in the land of the dead in homers. Then odysseuss deceased mother anticlea approached him to answer questions about his family. The mortal tendency to succumb to temptation manifests itself throughout book 10.
A warrior friend of odysseus who died in the trojan war, he is visited by odysseus in the land of the dead. Still, this series is a good retelling of the odyssey for elementary school kids. He let the blood and gore of the beasts fall into the. In book 2, odysseus and his crew encounter the giant cannibals and the enchantress circe and journey to the land of the dead. Like odysseus, nestor is known as a clever speaker.
The came to the land of the men of winter and beached the ships. Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea. The shades of the dead shades ghosts gather to drink the blood gross and then talk to odysseus. The shade of tiresias appearing to odysseus during the sacrifice c. There, he meets his dead friend elpenor and finds out his mom is dead.
Summary odysseus departed from aeaea and sailed to the ends of the earth in search of hades realm. Alcinous king of the phaeacians, he encourages odysseus to tell the story of his wanderings and helps the hero return to ithaca. The story focus on his trials at sea and on land and how, once he gets home, he must avenge his familys honor from the suitors who have been. Elpenor cares above all that he receive proper burial rites. Oct 21, 2012 the odyssey book 11 summary when odysseus and his men reached the shore, they set sail. Tiresias meets odysseus when odysseus journeys to the underworld in book 11. The first soul to appear to him is the soul of the crew member who they had lost. Olivia darrow they drifted up to the pit from all sides with an eerie cry, and a pale fear seized me 11. Even ghosts in the land of the dead concern themselves with earthly custom. Odysseus follows circes instructions, digging a trench at the site prescribed and pouring libations of milk, honey, mellow wine, and pure water. In 2010 the publisher, hyperion, combined books now called tales from the odyssey, part one and 46 now called tales from the. Antinous the leader of the suitors, he is the meanest and most antagonistic toward odysseus when the latter appears in ithaca in disguise. He goes there in book 11 because circe tells him he has to go there to talk to the prophet.
Homers epic poem the odyssey tells the story of odysseus, greek hero of the trojan war, and his adventures at sea during his travel home. The land of the dead effingham county school district. Odysseus meets a lot of people in the hades, the land of the dead. The odyssey is fundamental to the modern western canon. Odysseus following circe s instructions travels to the land of the dead, where he is to dig a ditch at the prescribed site, pour milk, water, honey, and wine. What character trait does odysseus display in the land of. Odysseus addressed a prayer to the dead and sacrificed the sheep into a pit that had been dug. The odyssey is a fundamental work in the modern western canon, being the oldest extant piece of western literature, second to the iliad. Homer frequently refers to him, comparing penelope favorably to agamemnons wife, clytemnestra. Odysseus is the main character of the odyssey, a tale which chronicles his homecoming and his journeys since his departure from troy. Kirti patel, tj richardson, donovan avent, kaytwon battle. When they are near home, odysseus men open the sack, letting loose a storm that drives them back to aeolia. Learn odyssey book 11 characters with free interactive flashcards.