IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #1
Genesis (Foundations pp. 1-8)
1. Why is there a seven-day creation period? Since God is all-powerful, why not create everything all at once?
2. What is the reason or principle, if any, governing the sequence of creation? In other words, why do certain things follow others in the seven-day sequence of creation?
3. What picture emerges of the Creator?
4. How would you describe the relation between the creator and his creatures, animals as well as humans? Is the relationship between humans and God different from the relation between animals and God? If so, how? If not, what does that imply?
5. Why are there two versions of the creation of humans beings?
6. Why is there a different chronology or sequence of creation in the two accounts? In the first account, for example, humans are made together on the sixth day after all else is created. In the second account, however, man is created not only before woman, but before plants, trees, and rain on the third day.
7. How would you characterize the relation between man and woman as presented in Genesis?
8. What point or points are made by the account of the "fall"?
9. How does life change for humans after the fall? Does it change for any other form of life? If so, for whom or for what and how?
10. What is the role of human beings in creation both before the fall and after the fall?
11. What is the significance of the charge God gives to humans before the fall? What is the significance of the prohibition he places on them?
12. What is the nature and character of the serpent's temptation?
13. Does God overreact to Adam and Eve's disobedience? Why don't they get a "second chance"?
14. Why does God accept Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's?
15. What are the differences in character between the two brothers?
16. Why does Cain kill Abel?
17. What is the significance of Cain's response to God's question, "Where is Abel your brother?"
18. What is the significance of the particular punishment Cain receives? How is his punishment similar to and different from that received by Adam and Eve for their sin?
19. Does God overreact in the account of the Flood? After all, the flood kills all animal and human life except for those on the ark, and that includes infants and children as well as adults.
20. Why is Noah saved?
21. Is there any special significance to the fact that God uses a great flood to destroy the earth as opposed to fire or some other means?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #2
The Dogon Myth
(Foundations, pp. 88-98)
1. Describe Ogotemmeli's account of the start of the creation process.
2. What kind of god is Amma? What are Amma's powers? What kind of personality does he have?
3. What is the physical appearance of the earth, according to Ogotemmeli?
4. What mistake did Amma make in the creation process?
5. Who are the Nummo spirits? How did they come to be? What are their powers?
6. How does water play a role in this creation account?
7. In what way does language (words) play a role in the Dogon creation account?
8. Describe the creation of the first human beings, according to the Dogon story.
9. Explain the line of descent of the eight Dogon families.
10. What appears to be the most important number or numbers in the Dogon myth?
11. Explain how the symbol of the granary plays a vital role in the Dogon myth.
12. Explain how plants and animals are created in the Dogon account.
13. Does the Dogon account explain things not explained in the other creation stories we have examined this semester? Does it not cover certain things explained in the other stories?
14. What does the Dogon creation account tell us about the values, interests, and life-styles of the Dogon people?
15. How would the Dogon myth help the Dogon people understand something about the nature of evil doing and sin?
16. How would you characterize the relationship of the Dogon people to their gods?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #3
Egyptian Readings (Foundations, pp. 31-39)
1. In the "Memphite Theology of Creation," what kind of god is Ptah? What are his attributes?
2. How are the gods created in the "Memphite Theology"?
3. In what sense and to what extent is Ptah a "Creator"?
4. What happens that leads Re (or Ra) to want to eliminate human beings in the "Deliverance of Mankind from Destruction"?
5. How is it that humans are saved in "Deliverance"?
6. What do the "Memphite Theology" and "Deliverance" reveal about the nature and character of Egyptian gods? What do they reveal about the relation between gods and humans?
7. In the "Legend of Osiris," what is the story of the origin of Osiris? What kind of god is he? What are his attributes and accomplishments?
8. Who is Isis? What is her role in the story of Osiris?
9. How is Osiris killed? How does he arise?
10. What does the "legend of Osiris" reveal about the nature and character of the Egyptian gods? Is this consistent with what is revealed about them in the other two Egyptian readings?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #4
"The Woman Who Fell From the Sky" (Iroquois, Foundations, pp. 117-126)
1. What are the Sky gods like in the Iroquois creation account, "The Woman Who Fell From the Sky"? What does the chief Sky god do that could harm his people? Why does he do this?
2. Who is Sky Woman and what role does she play in the story?
3. Animals figure very prominently in this story. How is the treatment of animals here different from that in the other creation accounts we have read this semester? What does this say about the Iroquois people?
4. How is it that Earth Woman came to be? What is her role in the creation account?
5. How does the Iroquois myth account for the creation of the earth, the sun and moon, and other natural phenomena like the trees, plants, and animals? How are humans created? What status do humans seem to have in the Iroquois account?
6. What's the point of having Evil and Good represented as Twins in the Iroquois account? What is it that makes Good Twin good and Evil Twin evil? Do the Twins remind you of anything else we've read this semester? What do you make of Evil Twin's fate? What might this say about the Iroquois' notion of the afterlife for humans?
7. What similarities and differences do you find in imagery, theme, and symbolism between the Iroquois creation account and the other accounts we have read this semester?
8. What values, morals, and lessons seem to be implicit in the Iroquois account? How do these compare and/or contrast to those in the other creation accounts?
"The Creation Cycle" (Polynesian-Maori, Foundations, pp. 110-116)
1.What are the similiarites and the differences between the Maori creation story and the Iroquois story?
2.Describe how creation of the universe, the earth and sky (Mother Papa and Father Rangi) occurs?
3.Identify each of the following and describe the role each plays in the creation account: Tu, Tane, Tawhiri, Rongo, Tangaroa, Haumia.
4.Explain how jealousy and anger develop within the story.
5.Why and how is it that Tu demonstrates that he is the most powerful of the children of Father Rangi and Mother Papa? What does Tu symbolize? What is his relation to his brothers?
6.How and why are humans created in this story?
7. What role does the underworld play in the story?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #5
Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days (Foundations, pp. 57-63)
1. What is the significance of the first three paragraphs of the Theogony? If the point of the book is to explain the generation of the gods, why start with passages dealing the Muses, words, and song? Who were the Muses anyway?
2. In general terms, how is Hesiod's account different from the other creations accounts we've read this semester?
3. What do you make of the fact that the first god to appear in Hesiod's account is Chaos?
4. What kinds of characteristics and powers are possessed by the first generation of gods out of Chaos?
5. Why does Hesiod number Eros (primal love) as one of the immediate offspring of Chaos?
6. What kind of god is the Heaven (also called Uranus or Ouranos)? Why does he do what he does?
7. What kind of god is the Heaven's son, Cronos? What makes him tick?
8. What kind of goddess is Mother Earth (Ge or Gaia)?
9. What kind of god is Zeus? How does he differ from his ancestors?
10. What pattern of development do you detect in the character and behavior of the different generations of gods running from the first through the very latest (Zeus and his brothers, sisters, and their children)?
11. In Works and Days, Hesiod provides an account of the creation of humans. What is this account? Is it similar in any way to the other accounts we've examined this semester?
12. What pattern of development emerges in Hesiod's account of the five "ages" of humans? Does this relate in any way to the pattern followed in the development of the generations of gods in the Theogony?
IGS 200
STUDY QUESTIONS
SET #6: Enuma Elish
The Enuma Elish was composed during the first Babylonian Dynasty (2057-1758 B.C.), most probably during or after the reign of Hammurabi (c. 1800 B.C.). Although the poem is Babylonian and designed to promote the primacy of the Babylonian deity Marduk, its ultimate sources are Sumerian (c. 3000 B.C.). Many of the gods named in the poem such as Apsu, Anu, and Enlil are, in fact, the old Sumerian gods of Uruk, Ur, and other cities in the Tigris-Euphrates region.
The poem takes its title from the first line "Enuma elish la nabu shamanu," which can be translated as "When on high the heaven had not been named. . . ." It opens with reference to the three primeval gods: the male Apsu, the female, Tiamat, and their son, Mummu. All three are associated with water. Other gods (Lakhmu, Lakhamu, etc.) are created later. One point that may not be clear from the Pritchard translation is that of the fate of Apsu. Apsu is killed by Ea, another god, prior to the battle of Marduk and Tiamat.
1. Identify the names on the following list. Describe in as much detail as possible who the particular deity is, what his or her powers are, what fate befalls that deity, etc. Base your answer not simply upon the first reference to that deity, but to the treatment the deity receives in the whole of the poem.
a. Apsu f. the Anunaki (plural)
b. Tiamat g. Ea
c. Mummu h. Anshar
d. Anu i. Marduk
e. Kingu
2. How do Apsu and Tiamat feel about the other gods in the first part of the poem?
3. What actions do Apsu and Tiamat plan to take with regard to the other gods?
4. What weapons does Tiamat prepare to use in her battle against the other gods? What significance does there seem to be about her choice of weapons?
5. Compare and contrast the Enuma Elish to both the Theogony and Genesis in terms of the characters of the various deities, their priorities, their personalities, their values, and their behaviors.
6. Compare and contrast the Enuma Elish to both the Theogony and Genesis in terms of their respective treatments of creation, of the status of human beings, and of the relation of humans to their deities.
7. Compare and contrast Kingu and Marduk.
8. Compare Marduk's weapons with those prepared by Tiamat. What significance can you see in the similarities and differences between the two sets of weapons?
9. Describe the battle which takes place between Marduk and Tiamat. How does it proceed? Who is victorious? How is victory achieved?
10. What is the fate of Kingu? of Tiamat?
11. What is the point of the lengthy passage in Tablet V regarding Marduk's construction of "stations" for the gods?
12. Besides constructing stations for the gods, what else does Marduk do in the aftermath of his victory over Tiamat and her band of gods? What is the significance of all of this?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #7: The Epic of Gilgamesh
1. What picture of the hero Gilgamesh is painted in the "Prologue"?
2. What kind of king does Gilgamesh make when he first comes to the city of Uruk?
3. Who is Enkidu? How and why is he created?
4. Who is the Trapper? What role does he play?
5. What takes place at the first meeting of Gilgamesh and Enkidu? How does this change Gilgamesh as a person and a king?
6. What role do dreams play in the story?
7. What role does Ninsun play in the story?
8. Why does Gilgamesh want to journey to the Land of the Cedars?
9. What role does Humbaba play in the story?
10. What role does Shamash play in the story?
11. What arms do Gilgamesh and Enkidu take with them on their journey?
12. Describe the encounter of Gilgamesh and Enkidu with Humbaba. What is the significance of the victory of Gilgamesh and
Enkidu?
13. What is it about Gilgamesh that makes him heroic?
14. Is Enkidu a hero? Is he a hero in the same sense as Gilgamesh?
15. How important a role, in general, do the gods play in the story?
16. Would Gilgamesh be a "good" human being based on the value system of the Dogon people?
17. What role does Ishtar play in the story?
18. What response does Gilgamesh make to Ishtar? Why does he do this?
19. What is the Bull of Heaven? Why does Ishtar arrange for her father, Anu, to send the Bull?
20. What are the consequences for Enkidu after the Bull is killed?
21. Describe the dream Enkidu has about the afterlife for human beings.
22. How does Gilgamesh react to the death of his friend?
23. Why does Gilgamesh journey to see Utnapishtim?
24. Who is Utnapishtim?
25. What is symbolized by Gilgamesh's twelve day journey through the mountain of darkness?
26. Who is Siduri? What is her role in the poem?
27. What advice does Siduri give to Gilgamesh after he explains why he has journeyed so far?
28. Who is Urshanabi? What is his role in the poem?
29. How does Utnapishtim respond at first when Gilgamesh explains why he has traveled so far to see him?
30. Describe the story of the flood as told to Gilgamesh by Utnapishtim.
31. What is the significance of the story of the flood in the overall context of the Epic of Gilgamesh?
32. What is the point of Gilgamesh not being able to stay awake when Utnapishtim puts him to the test (which, if he passed,
would presumably give him the secret of eternal life)?
33. What is the story of the secret plant that Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about?
34. What is the significance of what eventually happens to the plant? What does this symbolize?
35. What is the point of having Gilgamesh show Urshanabi the walls of Uruk?
36. Is there any significance to Uruk being one-third city, one-third garden, and one-third field?
37. What numbers are significant in the story? What might they symbolize?
38. Why does the last paragraph on page 117 repeat the opening of the story? What effect is achieved by the repetition?
39. Gilgamesh's death is the subject of Part 7. How is his death portrayed? What is significant about the way in which
Gilgamesh is honored after his death?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
SET #8
Exodus, Code of Hammurabi, The Negative Confession
Exodus
1. What is the source of authority for the law in the three works?
2. Why does God give the law to Moses on a mountaintop?
3. Why doesn't God give the law directly to all of his people?
4. Categorize the different kinds of laws contained in the Ten Commandments.
5. What do these laws tell us about the nature of Hebraic society and life?
6. What is a covenant?
7. What is the Lord's side of the covenant in Exodus? What is the people's side?
8. Are covenants used in other works we have read this semester?
9. How would life under a God who made a covenant with his people differ from life under gods who had not made such a covenant? Base your answer on other works we have read this semester.
10. How do the people prepare for the visitation of the Lord in Exodus? Why must they prepare in this way?
11. How does the Lord want to be worshipped, according to Exodus?
Code of Hammurabi
1. Categorize the laws of Hammurabi.
2. What do these laws tell us about the nature of Babylonian society and life?
3. Which law seemed to you to make the most sense? Why? Which made the least sense? Why?
4. Which law seemed to you to be the most just? Why? Which seemed the least just? Why?
5. Identify the legal and/or moral principles underlying the Code.
6. Based on the Code, what can you say about the legal procedures and processes used by the Babylonians?
7. Based on the Code, what inferences can be made about the issues, problems, and concerns of Babylonian society?
8. In Hammurabi's Code, some crimes are punishable by death, others by dismemberment, and others by fines. What is the legal, moral, or philosophical basis, if any, for the relationship of crime and punishment in the Code?
9. What do Hammurabi's laws have to say about: A. Business dealings; B. Treatment of women; C. Relations of parents and children; and D. Building codes.
10. How are "acts of God" treated in the Code?
The Negative Confession
1. Identify the different "laws" embodied in the "Negative Confession." Categorize these laws and identify the moral or religious principles underlying the different categories.
2. Which of the laws seem to be the most just? Why? Which the least just? Why?
3. What do the laws embodied in the "Negative Confession" tell us about Egyptian life and society?
4. How do the laws of the "Negative Confession" compare to the laws of Hammurabi and the Ten Commandments?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #9
Odyssey, Books 1-4
1. The first four books of The Odyssey are not about Odysseus directly. They focus on his son Telemakhos and the situation he and his mother Penelope (Odysseus' wife) are in. Why would a poem about Odysseus begin in this way?
2. What picture of Odysseus emerges from the opening of the poem (Bk. 1, lines 1-25)?
3. Odysseus has been away from home for almost 20 years. The war he fought in ended after 10 years, and he has been trying to get home for about 10 years. Who or what has hindered his return and why?
4. What is Zeus' attitude about Odysseus' situation? What is Athena's attitude?
5. What plan does Athena develop to help Odysseus return home?
6. What picture emerges of Telemakhos when we first see him?
7. What other aspects of Telemakhos' character become apparent in his greeting and his treatment of his mysterious guest?
8. What bothers Telemakhos?
9. What advice does Athena (who is disguised as Mentes) offer to Telemakhos?
10. What is Penelope, Telemakhos' mother and Odysseus' wife like?
11. Why does Penelope react as she does around lines 345-355, Book 1 when Telemakhos argues the poet/minstrel should be allowed to continue singing?
12. What is revealed about the characters of Telemakhos and the suitors in the interchange between them running from around line 365 to line 410, Book 1?
13. Is Telemakhos at the end of Book 1 different from Telemakhos in the first part of Book 1?
14. How does Telemakhos handle himself in the assembly at the start of Book 2?
15. How do the suitors handle Telemakhos in the assembly scene?
16. What are the two chief suitors, Antinoos and Eurymakhos, like?
17. How does Athena in the guise of Mentor help Telemakhos in Book 2?
18. What kind of person is the nurse Eurykleia?
19. How does Telemakhos act when his boat lands at Pylos, Nestor's home?
20. What kind of person and king does Nestor appear to be?
21. What kinds of welcoming rituals are followed in Book 3?
22. What information does Nestor supply about the fate of the Greeks after the fall of Troy and about Odysseus?
23. How does Nestor view the situation at Ithaka, Odysseus' and Telemakhos' home?
24. How does the story of Agamemnon and his wife and son resemble the situation Odysseus and his family are in?
25. Who is Peisistratos and what role does he play in the story?
26. What is the reason for the feast that is underway at Sparta (Menelaos' home) when Telemakhos arrives?
27. What does Telemakhos' behavior when he first sees Menelaos' palace reveal of Telemakhos' character?
28. How are Telamakhos and Peisistratos greeted? What greeting rituals take place?
29. How do Telemakhos' and Peisistratos' behaviors differ at Sparta?
30. What sort of person and ruler does Menelaos seem to be?
31. Who is Helen? What is she like?
32. What information do Menelaos and Helen provide about the Greeks and about Odysseus?
33. What do Menelaos and Helen think about Odysseus and the sort of man he is?
34. How does Telemakhos conduct himself when he finally does speak around line 290 and following?
35. What does Menelaos think of the situation at Ithaka?
36. What attitude does Menelaos have towards the gods?
37. How are the gods viewed in general in Books 1 - 4?
38. What details of the story of Agamemnon and his family are told in Book 4?
39. Who is Kalypso and how does she figure into the Odysseus story?
40. What parting ritual is followed in Book 4?
41. What does Telemakhos' behavior during the parting ritual in Book 4 reveal about him?
42. Why does the story shift at around line 625 back to the suitors at Ithaka?
43. What are the suitors' thoughts about Telemakhos?
44. What does Penelope think about all that she knows of what is happening?
45. How does Eurykleia, the nurse, react to all that is happening?
46. How does Athena aid Penelope in Book 4?
IGS 200 Study Questions
Set #10
Odyssey, Books 5-8
1. In what ways does Book 5 represent a "restarting" of the poem?
2. What kind of personality does Hermes seem to have?
3. Why does Hermes speak in rhymes?
4. How do Hermes and Kalypso act when they meet each other?
5. Describe Kalypso's personality.
6. At last, after hearing him discussed by family members, suitors, the suitors' parents, other heroes, the gods, and the goddesses, we finally see Odysseus. What is he doing and what does this say about him?
7. What do the first words Odysseus speaks reveal of his character?
8. What sorts of things are taking place in the conversation of Odysseus and Kalypso in Book 5?
9. How good or bad is Odysseus as a speaker?
10. What role does Poseidon play at this stage of the poem?
11. What does the episode with Odysseus and Ino, the water sprite, reveal of Odysseus' character?
12. After Odysseus drifts for two days and two nights (after his raft has been shattered), he spots land. However, the shore is filled with sharp rocks that he could be dashed against if he makes directly for land. How does he handle this situation and what does this reveal of his character?
13. Compare and contrast the situation in which Odysseus finds himself at the end of Book 5 and the situation in which Telemakhos finds himself at the end of Book 4.
14. Who are the Phaiakians?
15. What kind of girl if Nausikaa? How old is she? What is her personality like?
16. What kind of relationship does Nausikaa have with her father, King Alkinoos?
17. What does the meeting of Nausikaa and Odysseus reveal about the character of both people?
18. What sort of speech does Odysseus make when Nausikaa discovers him? What is Odysseus trying to do in this speech and how does he go about trying to do it?
19. How does Nausikaa react to Odysseus after his speech to her?
20. What plan does Nausikaa hatch to help win her father's favor for Odysseus?
21. How is Nausikaa's plan consistent with the particular character she has? What does the nature of her plan have to say about her?
22. Compare and contrast Odysseus' thought and behavior as he prepares to enter a strange palace with those of his son as he prepares to enter the palaces of Nestor and Menelaos.
23. How does Athena help Odysseus at the start of Book 7?
24. Describe the palace of the Phaiakian king. How does this palace compare to those we have seen earlier (in Ithaka, Pylos, and Sparta)?
25. How does Odysseus go about winning Alkinoos' sympathy and help?
26. Does Odysseus follow Nausikaa's plan exactly?
27. Earlier, Telemakhos has revealed his identity rather early on in his meetings with first Nestor and then Menelaos. Odysseus, in Book 7 and elsewhere, likes to play a kind of "name game" in which he withholds his identity (see, for example, the Cyclops episode later). Why does Odysseus do this and what does this quirk say about him?
28. Discuss the nature of the speech Odysseus makes to Alkinoos. How effective a speech is it?
29. What do you make of the "tall tale" Odysseus tells Alkinoos from around line 240 to around line 290 of Book 7?
30. How does Alkinoos respond to Odysseus and his appeals?
31. How hospitable are the Phaiakians? Do they follow the same hospitality rituals as we've seen followed earlier?
32. What role does the bard, or minstrel, play in Book 8?
33. The Greeks liked to engage in athletic competition. What kind of games do the Phaiakians play in Book 8? How does Odysseus figure in these games? What does this reveal of Odysseus' character?
34. What other entertainment do the Phaiakians have, besides the games?
35. Is there any significance to the contents of the song that harper Demodokos sings about Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus?
36. How does Odysseus handle himself during the evening's various entertainments? What does this reveal of his character?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #11
The Odyssey, Books 9 - 12
1. What effects are achieved by having Odysseus reveal his name in the manner in which he does?
2. What justification does Odysseus offer for his faithlessness to Penelope?
3. What happened to Odysseus and his men in the land of the Kikones?
4. What happened to Odysseus and his men in the land of the Lotus Eaters?
5. How does Homer condition the reader (or her hearer), even before he shows us the Kyklopes, to expect that they are brutish, uncivilized creatures?
6. Compare and contrast the Kyklopes' greeting and hospitality rituals with those portrayed earlier.
7. Who is responsible for the fact that Odysseus and his men are trapped by the Kyklopes Polyphemus? What does this say about him?
8. What kind of relationship does Odysseus have with his men?
9. How is it that Odysseus is able to defeat Polyphemus? What does this reveal about his character?
10. Why doesn't Odysseus simply sail his ship away quietly when he and his surviving men make their escape from the Kyklopes?
11. In what ways do Odysseus' men show they have better sense than their leader in the Kyklopes episode?
12. What happens to Odysseus and his men on Aiolia Island?
13. What weaknesses of Odysseus' men does the Aiolos episode show?
14. Who are the Laistygonians?
15. Who is Kirke? What threat does she pose for Odysseus and his men?
16. How is Odysseus able to "defeat" Kirke?
17. What weakness is revealed in Odysseus' character in the Kirke episode?
18. How does the Kirke episode represent a comment on greeting and hospitality rituals?
19. What advice does Kirke give Odysseus about how he might go about getting home?
20. What happens to Elpenor?
21. What kind of life do the dead have in Homer?
22. How does Odysseus' handling of himself in the first part of the "gathering of shades" episode reveal great strength of character?
23. Who is Teiresias? What does he say to Odysseus?
24. What information does Odysseus glean from his mother's ghost?
25. What is the point of having Odysseus see the ghosts of Tyro, Alkmene, and the other women?
26. Why is Odysseus' tale of his adventure in the land of the dead interrupted around line 337? What is the point of this interruption?
27. What does Odysseus learn from Agamemnon?
28. What does Achilles think about being dead?
29. What other significant people does Odysseus see among the dead? What does he learn from them?
30. What is the significance of Odysseus' concern for the burial of Elpenor's body after he returns from Hades?
31. What advice does Kirke give to Odysseus upon his return from Hades?
32. What does Odysseus' handling of the Sirens episode reveal of his character?
33. What does Odysseus' handling of the Scylla and Charybdis problem reveal of his character?
34. What does the Oxen of the Sun episode reveal of the relation of Odysseus and his men?
35. Where does Odysseus wind up after his last ship was destroyed by Zeus' thunderbolt?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #12
The Odyssey, Books 13 - 16
1. What leave taking rituals are performed for Odysseus as he prepares to leave the Phaiakians?
2. What is ironic about Odysseus' homecoming?
3. What happens to the Phaiakian ship that carries Odysseus home when Poseidon finds out what has gone on?
4. Examine the meeting of Odysseus and Athena, again in disguise, in Book 13. What is ironic and/or humorous about this meeting?
5. Why does Athena admire Odysseus?
6. What advice does Athena give Odysseus and how does he take that advice?
7. What help does Athena give Odysseus?
8. According to the goddess herself, why has she sent Telemakhos off on his trip instead of simply telling him where his father is?
9. What sort of person is the swineherd?
10. What role does the swineherd have in society? What does he think of Odysseus, Penelope, Telelmakhos, and the suitors?
11. How does the swineherd treat Odysseus?
12. What story does Odysseus make up for the swineherd to account for who he is and how he comes to be on Ithaka?
13. Does Odysseus' story have any grains of truth in it?
14. How does the swineherd, Eumaios, react to Odysseus' story?
15. Is Odysseus able to convince the swineherd that help is on the way?
16. What kind of dinner does the swineherd offer Odysseus that evening?
17. Odysseus "tests" nearly everyone and everything before he places his trust in them. How does he test the swineherd?
18. What story does Odysseus tell the swineherd after supper? What specific point is Odysseus trying to make? Does the swineherd get the point?
19. What is Odysseus' overall opinion of the swineherd?
20. What advice does Athena give to Telemakhos to guide his actions when he returns to Ithaka?
21. How does Telemakhos demonstrate increased maturity of judgment and strength of character in his leavetaking of Menelaos and of Peisistratos?
22. What gifts does Telemakhos take away from Menelaos and Helen? What is the specific significance of Helen's gift?
23. What does the episode of the "strange man" (Theoklymenos) who has committed murder and who asks Telemakhos if he can travel to Ithaka with him reveal of Telemakhos' character? Does it show "maturity of judgment" to give a ride home to a self-confessed murderer?
24. What advice does Eumaios give to the disguised Odysseus about mingling with the suitors?
25. What is the story of Eumaios' past?
26. Telemakhos has a problem. He cannot very well bring Theoklymenos home with him with the suitors present in his father's hall. Yet, hospitality codes require that he make provision for his "guest." How does he handle this problem?
27. How is Telemakhos greeted by the swineherd?
28. What questions does Telemakhos ask the swineherd? What do these questions reveal about his character?
29. What does Odysseus seem to think of his son at this first meeting in nearly 20 years?
30. What is ironic about the meeting of Telemakhos and Odysseus?
31. How does Odysseus "test" his son?
32. What finally convinces Odysseus to trust the loyalty of his son?
33. Describe the scene in which Odysseus is revealed to Telemakhos as his father?
34. How does Telemakhos react to the news that his father has come home?
35. Does Odysseus, after he has revealed himself to Telemakhos, tell his son the truth?
36. What plan does Odysseus hatch to deal with the suitors at this point in the story?
37. Why doesn't Odysseus want to tell Penelope yet that he is home?
38. How does Telemakhos prove that he can think for himself and that he does have something to contribute to his father's plan to defeat the suitors?
39. Before the suitors and Odysseus' crew finally fight, Odysseus, Telemakhos, and Penelope win several "symbolic victories" over the suitors. How does Telemakhos win a symbolic victory over them in Book 16?
40. How do the suitors plan to deal with Telemakhos now that he has returned home?
Set #13
The Odyssey, Books 17-20
1. Odysseus' homecoming is filled with irony of various kinds. What things seem particularly ironic about Odysseus' return to his own palace?
2. When Telemakhos first sees his mother after returning home, does there seem to be anything different about the way he treats her and she treats him? If so, what?
3. Penelope asks Telemakhos what he has learned of Odysseus on his trip. What does his answer say about the way in which his character is developing?
4. Why doesn't Penelope believe Theoklymenos when he tells her the truth, namely that Odysseus is already home?
5. How does the goatherder's character differ from that of the swineherd, a difference that is apparent when we first see the goatherder?
6. The suitors are sitting down to eat supper when the beggar (who is Odysseus in disguise) enters. How does their feast compare with other feasts we've already witnessed (in the land of the Phaiakians, in Menelaos' palace, in the Cyclops' cave, etc.)?
7. How do the suitors treat the disguised Odysseus?
8. In what way do the experiences Odysseus has had in his travels help him as he first encounters the suitors?
9. Who is Argos? What role does he play?
10. What picture emerges of the suitors in Book 17?
11. How does Telemakhos behave with respect to the suitors in Book 17?
12. What does Odysseus' strategy seem to be in the way he conducts himself among the suitors? What, in other words, is he trying to accomplish?
13. What does Penelope think of the beggar?
14. Who is Iros and what role does he play in Book 18?
15. How does Odysseus' handling of the fight with the real beggar demonstrate his strength of character?
16. Are any of the suitors presented as "good" men? If so, who are they and why are they doing what they do?
17. How is Penelope able to win a "symbolic" victory of her own over the suitors in Book 18?
18. How does Homer make the suitors seem even worse than they usually do near the end of Book 18?
19. How do Odysseus and Telemakhos arrange to "disarm" the suitors?
20. How does imagery of light and fire play a role in this part of the poem?
21. How does Odysseus "test" Penelope, even before he reveals his true identity to her?
22. What is ironic about Odysseus' first meeting with the wife he has not seen for nearly 20 years?
23. What story does Odysseus tell Penelope? Why does he tell her this particular tale?
24. What does Penelope's reaction to this story have to say about her?
25. Besides Argos, who is first to recognize Odysseus? What is ironic about this recognition?
26. What is the point of the long digression beginning around line 393, Book 19, which recounts the story of Odysseus receiving his name and, later, being wounded by the boar?
27. How does Eurykleia, the maid, prove she is loyal to Odysseus?
28. What is the gate of horn and the gate of ivory? How do they figure in the story?
29. What contest does Penelope plan for the suitors?
30. What sort of characters do the young maids and serving girls of Odysseus' household have?
31. What kind of "moment of crisis" does Odysseus experience near the start of Book 20?
32. What does Athena have to say about Odysseus' fear?
33. All the suitors gather at Odysseus' palace on the day following his return in the guise of the beggar. How is it that all of them are able to get out of doing their business activities that day? What is ironic about this fact?
34. What kind of person is the cattle foreman?
35. What do the suitors plan for Telemakhos?
36. How does Homer "dehumanize" the suitors still further in Book 20?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #14
The Odyssey, Books 21-24
1. What is the test of the bow that Penelope puts to the suitors?
2. In what sense does the bow become a "test" of sorts, even before it is used in the test Penelope proposes for the suitors?
3. What type of foreshadowing is prevalent in Book 21?
4. How is it that Telemakhos demonstrates immaturity in the test of the bow? In what way does he demonstrate maturity?
5. How do the suitors respond to the test of the bow?
6. Why are the suitors afraid to let the beggar try the test of the bow?
7. Odysseus tests nearly everyone and everything before he relies on them. How does he "test" his bow?
8. Odysseus has commanded many different troops in battle and in raids. What is ironic about the "troops" he commands in his fight against the suitors?
9. Imagine the fight against the suitors as material for a modern day film. How does Homer's handling of this material differ from the handling you might imagine a modern film director would give the material?
10. What dramatic effects are accomplished by delaying the fight scene for so long in Homer's poem?
11. How do the suitors handle themselves during the fight scene?
12. What role is played by the goatherder in the fight? What is the goatherder's fate?
13. Why doesn't Odysseus simply accept the apology of the suitors?
14. What role does Athena play in the fight scene?
15. Most of the people in the hall are killed by Odysseus, Telemakhos, or one of the men fighting on their side. However, Odysseus and Telemakhos show mercy to a few of these people. Who are these few? Why are they spared?
16. In the midst of the slaughter, there is at least one element of comedy. What is this element and why is it in the slaughter scene?
17. After the suitors are killed, what other punishment does Odysseus mete out? Why does he do this?
18. What other business must Odysseus take care of before he can consider his hall "cleansed" of the suitors' pollution?
19. What role does Eurykleia, the nurse, play in Book 22?
20. What is ironic about the second meeting of Odysseus and Penelope (which is actually the first meeting when she is aware that the person before her is her husband)?
21. How does Penelope "test" Odysseus before she allows herself to believe the man before her is the husband she has not seen for nearly 20 years?
22. What is the symbolism of the bed Odysseus and Penelope share?
23. What will Odysseus' final fate be?
24. How do Odysseus and Penelope spend their first night together in nearly 20 years?
25. How does Athena help out the reunited husband and wife?
26. What major problem still faces Odysseus even after the suitors have been killed?
27. What is symbolic about the way in which old Laertes, Odysseus' father, is spending his last years?
28. What are Agamemnon and Achilles doing when the suitors' souls enter Hades?
29. What is ironic about the scene in which the suitors' souls enter Hades under the watchful eyes of Agamemnon and Achilles?
30. Is the story Amphimedon, one of the suitors, tells Agamemnon and Achilles the whole truth? If not, why not?
31. What does this story reveal of the suitors' characters?
32. How does Agamemnon react to the suitors' story?
33. What is ironic about the meeting of Odysseus and his father?
34. How does Odysseus test his father?
35. How is it that the "name game" plays a role in the meeting of Odysseus and his father?
36. What is ironic about the force Odysseus leads into battle against the families of the suitors?
37. Notice how the end of the poem comes full circle, with Zeus and Athena again intervening in a timely manner in the affairs of humans. What is the nature of this last intervention? What is the significance of this intervention in terms of the story?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #15
Lucretius
NOTE: Lucretius' long poem On the Nature of Things provides an account by a Roman writer (99-55 b.c.) of philosophy of the earlier Greek thinker Epicurus (341-270 b.c.). Epicurus, in turn, borrowed his ideas, at least in part, from the "atomic" theory of Democritus.
1. Why does Lucretius call religion "grim"?
2. How does Lucretius plan to free humans from the grip of "grim" religion?
3. What point is Lucretius making by telling the story of Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter on page 298?
4. What is Lucretius' first major principle? What does it mean?
5. Lucretius, on pp. 298-299, offers support for his first principle. How many different points of support does he offer? Explain each point.
6. What is Lucretius' second principle?
7. How many different points of support does Lucretius give for his second principle? Explain each point.
8. What does Lucretius mean by the term "void"?
9. Why is the concept of the void an essential part of Lucretius' philosophy of nature?
10. What evidence does Lucretius give to support his contention that the void does exist?
11. What are atoms?
12. What evidence does Lucretius give to support his contention that atoms exist?
13. How many worlds like the earth exist, according to Lucretius?
14. How was our world created? How does this differ from other creation accounts in the Bible and in Greek myths?
15. According to Lucretius, what is the mind made of?
16. What does Lucretius say the spirit is made of?
17. How are mind and spirit different?
18. What evidence does Lucretius offer to support his contention that the mind and spirit are made of what he says they are made of?
19. How much does the spirit weigh, according to Lucretius?
20. According to Lucretius, what two things do people desire above all else? Which of the two is more desirable than the other?
21. Why do humans fear death?
22. What can free humans from the fear of death?
23. Why do people behave the way Lucretius says they do (p. 310)?
24. What is the definition of death, according to Lucretius?
25. What are Lucretius' views on the afterlife?
26. Near the end of the excerpt, Lucretius offers two things in which humans can find consolation--and even happiness--in life. What are these two things?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #16
Sophocles I (Oedipus the King)
1. At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering from the effects of a terrible plague. Oedipus has ruled Thebes, and presumably ruled well, for about 17 years. Given this situation, some truly puzzling things happen and some truly puzzling things are said within the first pages of the play. See if you can identify these odd occurrences. Then see if you can make sense out of them.
2. Who was the Sphinx and what role does she play in the background to Oedipus Rex?
3. Based on what we see and hear of Oedipus in the first few pages of the play, what sort of person does he seem to be?
4. What action has Oedipus taken to address the problem of the plague, even before the action of the play begins?
5. Who is Creon and what is his report from Delphi?
6. How does Oedipus plan to proceed now that he has learned what the oracle has had to say?
7. What is Oedipus' manner after he hears Creon's report from the Oracle at Delphi?
8. How does Oedipus in the opening scene of the play compare to Lysistrata in the opening scene of Lysistrata as a leader? How does his plan of action compare with hers? How does his manner of acting compare with hers?
9. After the opening scene (the Prologue), the chorus enters (the song they sing is called the "parados," or choral entry song). What does the chorus have to say? What do the members of the chorus (which would represent the citizens of Thebes) think of the developments that have taken place in the Prologue?
10. After the chorus finishes their opening song, the first proper scene of the play begins. This first scene consists primarily of an exchange between Oedipus and the blind prophet Teiresias (the same person Odysseus talked to among the land of the dead--the play is set at an earlier point in time when the prophet was still alive). What sort of person does Teiresias seem to be when we first see him? How does Oedipus treat him and how does he treat Oedipus?
11. Describe how the conversation between Oedipus, the great king, and Teiresias, the great prophet, develops. What aspects of both characters are brought out in this conversation?
12. Oedipus tries several verbal "tricks" to get Teiresias to tell him what he knows. These fail to do the job until Oedipus finally hits upon something that works. What "trick" works? Why does it work?
13. After the exchange between the king and the prophet is concluded and Teiresias leaves Oedipus' palace, what is your opinion of both men? Who has "come out better" in the exchange between them?
14. How does the chorus react to the exchange between Oedipus and Teiresias?
15. Creon opens the second scene (after the conclusion of the first choral "ode"). He has heard about the dialogue between Oedipus and Teiresias. What is his reaction to the reports he has had of the exchange? What kind of person does he seem to be at this point in the play?
16. The second scene consists of two parts, the first of which involves the conversation of Oedipus and Jocasta. What takes place in the exchange between Oedipus and Creon? What do both men seem to be like here? How do they behave?
17. What role does Jocasta, the wife of Oedipus, play in the second half of the scene?
18. What worries Oedipus so much? How does Jocasta try to set Oedipus' mind at rest?
19. What is the story of Oedipus' past?
20. What does Jocasta's attempt to set Oedipus' mind to rest actually wind up doing? Why?
21. How does the chorus, in the second choral ode, react to the conversation they overhear between Oedipus and Jocasta? Why do they react this way?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #17
Sophocles II (Oedipus the King)
1. What is Jocasta doing at the start of Scene III (on page 50)?
2. What is so ironic about what she is doing?
3. What news does the messenger from Corinth bring to Jocasta?
4. How does Jocasta take this news?
5. How good a question asker is Oedipus? What kinds of questions does he ask of the messenger from Corinth and Jocasta?
6. How does Oedipus receive the messenger from Corinth's news?
7. How do you understand Jocasta's remarks on page 52 beginning "Fear? What has a man to do with fear? Chance rules our lives . . ."?
8. Why is Jocasta so upset on page 55? Why does Oedipus think she is upset?
9. What is the tone of the third choral ode on page 59?
10. How does Oedipus get the shepherd to talk in the fourth scene? How does this differ from the tactics used to get Teiresias to talk earlier?
11. Why is the fourth scene by far the shortest of the four scenes?
12. What is the tone of the fourth choral ode, following the fourth scene?
13. What effects are achieved by having another messenger report what happened to Jocasta and Oedipus inside the palace after the fourth scene? How would this scene be handled differently by a modern day movie director doing a film version of Oedipus Rex?
14. Both Oedipus and Jocasta were subject to the same fate and had similar prophecies to warn them of their fate. What do you make out of the fact that they react quite differently to their fate?
15. Why doesn't Oedipus kill himself?
16. Why does Jocasta kill herself?
17. Has Oedipus' personality changed in any ways after the climax of the play? Are there ways in which it is still the same?
18. How does Creon treat Oedipus in the Exodos, the last part of the play?
19. What takes place in the final conversation between Creon and Oedipus near the end of the play?
20. Since Oedipus was fated to do what he did in life, in there any sense in which he might be considered to be free?
21. Is Oedipus truly a good ruler? Why or why not?
22. How would Oedipus measure as a ruler in Plato's Republic?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #18
Plato - Republic (Foundations, 163-204)
1. What sort of training should the rulers (Guardians) of the ideal society have?
2. How can the present Guardians identify which particular children would make good Guardians in the future?
3. What is the significance of calling rulers "Guardians" as opposed to "rulers," "kings," etc.?
4. What role does education play in Plato's theory of the ideal society?
5. What is the single most important trait or quality for a Guardian to have?
6. What "tests" would Plato have children put through to identify which of them would make good Guardians?
7. Before a "Guardian" can lead others what must he or she first be in control of?
8. What kind of living conditions would Guardians have?
9. What would Guardians be paid for doing their jobs?
10. What reasons are given for the answers Plato gives for the Guardians being paid as he says they should be?
11. According to Plato, what is the goal in general of the ideal society?
12. What role do women play in Plato's ideal society?
13. What kind of education should women receive?
14. What sort of marriages would the Guardians have? To whom would they be married and what form would the marriage take?
15. How would the children of the Guardians be raised?
16. According to Plato, how might it be possible to bring his "ideal" state actually into existence?
CAVE ALLEGORY and FOUR STAGES OF COGNITION: The Line
1. What state of affairs seems to be symbolized by the situation in the cave at the outset of Plato's "parable" or "allegory"?
2. If everyone is a prisoner in the cave, as Plato seems to suggest at the beginning of the allegory, how is it possible for anyone to become free of their chains and see the light in the first place?
3. What do the prisoners' chains symbolize?
4. Why do the prisoners react the way they do when they are first shown the light of the fire?
5. What do the firelight and the objects held in front of the firelight symbolize?
6. What does the sun symbolize?
7. Would someone who had seen the sun want to return to the cave? Why?
8. Why would the prisoners in the cave react the way Plato says they would when the enlightened person does return to them?
9. What distinction is made in "Four Stages of Cognition: The Line" between the visible and the intelligible world? What is the purpose of this distinction?
10. What sorts of things (or objects) are associated with the different levels of cognition? What are the different mental processes (or "states of mind") that enable us to access the different "objects" of knowledge?
11. In what way does the "Four Stages of Cognition: The Line" reading help illuminate the points Plato makes in the Cave Allegory regarding education and enlightenment?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #19
Thucydides (Foundations, pp. 272-291; 298-305)
1. Describe the funeral honors the Athenians extend to their war dead.
2. What points does Pericles make in the preface to his speech?
3. Why does Pericles begin his speech proper with reference to "our forefathers"?
4. What are the positive aspects of the Athenian form of government as identified by Pericles?
5. What does Pericles have to say about Athens and the Athenians with respect to their handling of affairs of war, manner of living, and acts of beneficence?
6. What special messages does Pericles' oration have for the parents, sons and brothers, and the wives and daughters of the slain soldiers?
7. Why does Pericles devote so little attention in his oration to the slain men themselves?
8. What is the real subject of Pericles' funeral oration?
9. Summarize the argument the Athenians make to the Melians in order to get the Melians to surrender to Athenian wishes?
10. Summarize the counter arguments made by the Melians.
11. Which set of arguments, the Athenian or the Melian, are the more convincing?
12. Which set of arguments, the Athenian or the Melian, has justice on its side?
13. What is the Melian's final response to the Athenians? Why do they respond in this way?
14. What do the Athenians do to the Melians? Is there a reason why they do this?
15. Summarize the argument Cleon makes to the Athenian assembly to destroy the Mitylenians.
16. Summarize the argument Diodotus makes to the Athenian assembly to save the Mitylenians.
17. Whose arguments carry the issue, those of Cleon or those of Diodotus?
18. Why do the Athenians vote the way they do?
19. Does Thucydides think history is driven primarily by rational or irrational forces? What is the nature of the forces driving history, as Thucydides seems to understand historical process?
20. Does Thucydides' work seem to be history as you understand the subject? Why or why not?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #20
Aristophanes' Lysistrata
1. How does Lysistrata try to convince the other women that her plan for "saving" Greece will work?
2. There are two parts to Lysistrata's plan. What are they?
3. Describe the "ritual" the women go through to seal their commitment to follow Lysistrata's plan. What is ironic about the ritual?
4. What are the Choruses of Old Men and Old Women like? What are their interests and concerns? What kinds of "personalities" do they have? What conflict do they have? What or whom do the Choruses symbolically represent?
5. Who is the magistrate and what role does he play?
6. What problems does Lysistrata have in getting the women to follow her plan? What is symbolic about this?
7. Who is Cinesias and what role does he play in Lysistrata?
8. How does Lysistrata arrange to convince the Spartans and Athenians to make peace near the end of the play?
IGS 200 STUDY QUESTIONS
Set #21
Epictetus The Enchiridion (The Manual), Foundations, pp. 312-329
1. For what purpose does Epictetus draw a distinction between things that are in our power and things that are not at the beginning of his work?
2. What sorts of things does he say are in our power? What things are not in our power?
3. What are the consequences for us of desiring things not in our power? What are the consequences of focusing only on those things that are in our power?
4. What distinction does Epictetus make in Section V between "things which happen" and opinions about those things? Why does he make this distinction?
5. What is the meaning of the symbol of the ship and the voyage in Section VII?
6. What is Epictetus' recipe for achieving a tranquil life?
7. How should a person respond to an accident which has befallen them, according to Epictetus?
8. How does Epictetus advise people to react when something is stolen from them?
9. What is his opinion of external things like money, power, and fame?
10. In what way, according to Epictetus is life like a banquet? Does this differ from the use of the banquet analogy in Lucretius?
11. In what way can a person be invincible, according to Epictetus?
12. How should a person regard death, according to Epictetus?
13. What does Epictetus think about philosophers and the philosophic life?
14. How should we respond when others slight us, according to Epictetus?
15. What does Epictetus mean by "In every act observe the things which come first, and those which follow it; and so proceed to the act." What guideline is he offering for how we should make decisions in our lives?
16. What are Epictetus' thoughts on religion and the gods?
17. What specific guidelines for living does Epictetus propose in Section XXX?
18. How excited would Epictetus like people to get when they receive an award?
19. What are the "two handles" Epictetus refers to in Section XLIII?
20. What are the "three reasonings" which do not "cohere" in Section XLIV?
21. How should the philosopher live his or her life, according to Epictetus?