Museum Curators: Odyssey Reading 3

Carson Mafrice, Scout Rieder, Dan Pituch

Chapter 10

1. Achaeans sail from land of Cyclopes to home of Aeolus (ruler of the winds)2. Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag of winds3. Odysseus and crew open bag when they are in sight of Ithaca4. Storm brings them back to Aeolia and Aeolus refuses to help Odysseus again because he thinks the gods hate Odysseus

5. Achaeans row to the land of the Laestrygonians (giants)6. King (Antiphates) and his queen eat all of Odysseus’ scouts7. Rest of Achaeans run to their ships8. Giants pelt the boats as they try to leave9. Only Odysseus’ ship escapes

10. Odysseus travels to Aeaea (home of the witch-goddess Circe)11. Circe turns Odysseus’ men into pigs12. Hermes instructs Odysseus in how to over power Circe and force her to change his men back13. Circe falls in love with Odysseus

14. Odysseus and his men live on Aeaea for a year15. Men convince him to leave for Ithaca16. Circe advises them to sail to Hades and speak to Tiresias17. Before they leave Aeaea, Elpenor fell from the roof and died18. Odysseus explains to his men the journey ahead of them

Chapter 11-Odysseus travels to the land of the CimmeriansFollows Circe's instructions for summoning the deadElpenor is the first to speak to OdysseusElpenor wants a proper burial back on Circe's islandTiresias appears to give a prophecy to Odysseus

7. Tiresias tells Odysseus that Poseidon is angry at Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus8. Also tells Odysseus that he will return to Ithaca, retake his home and wife, and sail to appease Poseidon9. Also warns Odysseus not to touch the flock of the sun10. The next person to appear is his mother, Anticleia

11. His mother tells him how she waited in grief for his return12. Odysseus then speaks to Agamemnon and he tells Odysseus how he died13. He then talks to Achilles, who asks about his son Neoptolemus14. He attempts to summon Ajax, but he still holds the grudge of losing a contest to Odysseus15. He sees many other famous figures in the underworld

16. Also sees Sisyphus's and Tantalus's punishments17. Gets harrassed by many other souls asking how their families are18. Frightened, Odysseus runs back to his ship and leaves

Chapter 12

1. Odysseus and crew return to Circe's home to bury Elpenor's body, and Circe asked the men to stay with her for awhile.2. Circe explains how the Sirens sing to lure men into the ocean. The way to beat the Sirens is all the men fill their ears with wax, and Odysseus will be tied to a pole.3. Circe explains the two possible routes.

4. One route is the Moving Rocks where no ship can sail through.5. The other route is passing Scylla, the monster who eats six people at once, and Charybdis, the monster who swallows ships whole.6. Next Circe explains the crew will visit the island Thrinacia. Herds of cattle and sheep belong to Helios. The crew may not eat any of the herds.

7. The crew leaves Circe's island, and Odysseus explains Circe's instructions without telling of how some men will die.8. The crew passes by the Sirens and Scylla and reach the island of Helios.9. The crew eats no herds because Circe gave them all food, but when the food runs out, the crew eats a herd of sheep.

10. Helios tells the gods to punish the crew.11. The gods only spare Odysseus because he did not eat the cattle.12. Odysseus reaches Calypso's island.

SummaryIn Chapters 10-12, Odysseus' travels continue on his way home to Ithaca.

He continues to run into problems and altercations with gods and peoples. Odysseus' ship is in sight of Ithaca but then he opened the bag of winds from Aeolus, which he was told not too at that time. Odysseus' ship back tracks back to Aeolia. He ends up, after leaving the land of giants, going to Circe's Island and being stuck there for a year. Odysseus then visits the underworld because that is what Circe said he must do next. He visits family, friends, and heroes that have passed. He returns to Circe's home and properly buries Elpenor. Circe explains to them how to avoid the Sirens and Scylla on their journey. Once the Sirens and Scylla were passed, Circe told them to go to the island of Helios. Odysseus' men were told not to eat his cattle, but when food ran out they did. Odysseus was the only one who did not, and he was the only one spared. Lastly, Odysseus reaches Calypso's island.

Odysseus luckily made it out of his perilous journey alive as the only one from his fleet. In these chapters we really see Odysseus' drive to make it home to Ithaca and see his family. Odysseus makes some mistakes when it comes to interactions with the Gods, but they see the good intentions in him and he was allowed to continue his travels. He did suffer, though, with the loss of his men.