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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 95 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Homer
| Who was the son of Nestor and close friend of Achilleus? | Homer's Iliad
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| Whose death by the hand of Hektor spurred Achilleus to join the battle? | Homer's Iliad
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| Who killed the Lykian monster known as the Chimaira? | Homer's Iliad
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| Who was referred to as 'Most righteous of the Centaurs' and was friend and teacher of Asklepios, Achilleus, and Peleus? | Homer's Iliad
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| Where did the ships of the Greeks assemble for the expedition to Troy? | Homer's Iliad
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| Who was the son of the leader of the Myrmidons, the people of Phthia? | Homer's Iliad
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Neoptolemos. Neoptolemos the son of Achilleus.
| Who took counsel to wreck the Achaian wall after the fall of Priam? | Homer's Iliad
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Diomedes. Not without the aid of the goddess Athene did Diomedes, breaker of horses, accomplish this feat.
| What immortal was sent to rescue Achilleus from the powerful Xanthos? | Homer's Iliad II
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| How many glorious children of the Trojans did Achilles behead before the burning pyre of Patroklas? | Homer's Iliad II
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| Who was the king of the Thracians killed in his sleep by Diomedes? | Homer's Iliad II
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| What two things was Hektor referring to when he said, 'Could we capture these two things, I might hope the Achaians might embark this very night on their fast-running vessels'? | Homer's Iliad II
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Nestor's shield and Diomedes' corselet.
| How many leaders of the sentinels took positions in the space between the ditch and rampart of the Achaian stronghold? | Homer's Iliad II
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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.
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.
| Odysseus and his men meet a Cyclops while trying to find their way home. What was his name? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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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.
| The Cyclops places a huge stone in the entrance of his cave to stop the men from getting out. How does Odysseus escape? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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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.
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).
| Odysseus encounters some beautiful singing women who tempt sailors onto the rocks. What are they called? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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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.
| They also encounter two other deadly monsters, a six headed monster and a personified whirlpool. What are they called? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus lost several of his men in this encounter, as Scylla grabbed six at once and devoured them within an instant.
| Odysseus is good at testing people. How does he test his wife to make sure she has been faithful? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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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.
| Odysseus' wife is equally cunning at testing people. She makes sure that Odysseus is who he says he is by pretending she has moved his what? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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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.
| Having killed all the suitors (almost all the young men of the town!) Odysseus can still not remain happily at home. He must first go on another journey before he can be at peace. True or false? | Homer: 'The Odyssey'
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t. 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.
a muse. At the start of the first book, the aid of a Muse is asked.
Mentes. Athene did disguise herself into many different people, but Mentes, the captain of the Taphians, was the very first.
the god of wind. Aeolis was the god who gave Odysseus the bag of wind to help him get back to Ithika.
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