Homer: 'The Odyssey' | 10 Question Literature Multiple Choice Quiz

Answer: A long journey

In Greek 'Odyssey' actually means 'the story of Odysseus'. However, because his trip was so long and it took so many years for him to finally get home the word has now come to mean a very long and eventful journey.

Answer: Telemachus

Menelaus is a great friend of Odysseus who fought with him in the Trojan war. It was in fact Menelaus' wife, Helen, who was the start of the war in the first place. Laertes is Odysseus' father who has remained faithful to him and never doubted his return. Telemachus, Odysseus' son, matures and progresses to adulthood throughout the poem, finally fighting with his father in the end battle.

Answer: Polyphemus

'Nobody' was the name Odysseus gave to himself to protect his harboured ships from the Cyclops. When he blinds him none of his friends come to his rescue as he shouts "this is nobody's treachery" and they think no-one is harming him. This is but one of Odysseus' cunning ideas.

Answer: Blinds him then ties himself and his men onto the Cyclop's sheep

The myth that Cyclops existed is thought to come from volcanoes. It is thought that men on their travels would have seen these giant mountains overflowing with molten rock and interpreted them as monsters. This would of course been exaggerated and changed through word of mouth, and thus the myth began.

Answer: Penelope

Odysseus is away for 20 years and she remains completely faithful to him throughout, despite constantly being courted by many suitors who wanted to get their hands on Odysseus' house and fortune. She is a complete contrast to women like Clytemnestra (the wife of Agamemnon, who murdered him in his bathtub) and Helen (the wife of Menelaus who eloped to Troy with Paris, thus starting the Trojan war).

Answer: Sirens

He avoided their charms by filling his men's ears with wax so they could not hear, and having them tie him down so he could hear them but not escape.

Answer: Scylla and Charybdis

Odysseus lost several of his men in this encounter, as Scylla grabbed six at once and devoured them within an instant.

Answer: He disguises himself then tells her he saw Odysseus and what he was wearing, and sees if it makes her cry

She is so moved when he tells her that he was wearing garments that she made for him herself that she begins to cry. Odysseus then knows that she still loves him. He tests his son and father in a similar way.

Answer: His bed

His bed has been made out of a tree that is still alive. Odysseus made it himself so he would know that the only way to move it would be to chop down the tree. He is outraged that someone would do this, and that someone other than he has been in his room, so Penelope knows that it is definitely her husband.

Answer: True

Even though the suitors had breached the laws of hospitality and threatened Odysseus' house, their families were still angry and wanted revenge. However, just as the suitors' fathers and Odysseus' men were about to start fighting the gods intervened and peace was restored. Odysseus was still forced to leave Ithaca though, because Zeus ordered him to go on a journey far from the sea to find a 'winnowing fan', a symbol that his days at sea were over and he would die safely with his family.