Study Questions
1. Whom does Odysseus first meet in the Underworld?

2. What advice does Teiresias offer Odysseus concerning his future stay on Thrinacea?

3. Why didn’t Anticlea initially recognize Odysseus?

4. How did Anticlea die?

5. Why did the souls of the deceased queens appear to Odysseus?

6. Whose death does Agamemnon add to the list of Clytem-nestra’s crimes?

7. What comforting news does Odysseus relate to Achilles?

8. Why doesn’t Ajax Telamonius approach Odysseus?

9. What is the curse of Tantalus?

10. Of what does Odysseus’ presence in Hades’ realm remind Heracles?

Answers
1. The first person he meets is Elpenor.

2. He must not slaughter the livestock of Helius.

3. She had not partaken yet of his blood offering.

4. Anticlea died of longing for her son.

5. Persephone, queen of the dead, sent them to him.

6. Agamemnon adds to the list of Clytemnestra’s crimes the death of Cassandra, the prophetess of Apollo.

7. Odysseus tells Achilles about the heroism of Neoptolemus.

8. He is still bitter at Odysseus for winning the armor of Achilles.

9. He is unable to drink the water he is immersed in or eat the fruit growing within his reach.

10. It reminds Heracles of his own journey to Hades’ realm while he was still alive.