Check-in activity: Short writing assignment on Book 13, to be posted on Canvas.
For class: Read (and listen) to the last part of Hamilton’s Mythology handout, an overview of the Greek pantheon of gods.
HW: Read and annotate book 14 for class tomorrow. Why must Odysseus go first to the forest and to the swineherd's hut rather than to his own palace? Why does Odysseus conceal his identity? Is there symbolic significance to this situation? Are the false stories Odysseus tells in Ithaca somewhat revealing about the reality of his own life?

Check-in activity: Download and read the “Odyssey Overview” pdf on Canvas.
For class: Access the google sheet from either your google drive app (shared with me) or via your school email account. Today you are adding 2-3 quotes from the last three books we’ve read, 12-14.
HW: Reading book 15 tonight for homework. Notice the close proximity of Odysseus and Telemachus 's return home. Can the perils and lessons that Telemachus 's learns about be somehow compared to that Odysseus's faced on his travels, and will face here at home? What is the significance of the help that Telemachus gives to the fugitive prophet Theoclymenos?

Class check-in: Download “Odysseus at Ithaca” and begin working on key plot/thematic points for Odysseus’s return home.
For class: read an annotate book 16. What do you think about the fact that Odysseus reveals his identity to his son? What of their plot to kill the suitors? Is it justified? Does it accord well with the principles of justice set forth in the Odyssey ? What do you think of Athena's eagerness to see the suitors killed? Is that proper in a divinity? Is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, wise?

HW: For homework: add notes from books 14 and 15 to the “Odysseus at Ithaca” worksheet.

Class check-in: Written response to assignment question about identity.
For class: Finish adding quotes to your order/xenia google-sheet. You should have finished adding five quotes by 3 pm today.

HW: Read and annotate book 17. Why does Odysseus wish to go to his own palace disguised as a beggar? What does the beggar disguise symbolize? Why is it important for him to show patience and self-restraint, even when hit and insulted? What is the meaning of the death of Argos, Odysseus's old hunting dog? Consider the advice of Athena to Odysseus (lines 470-473). Is that a consistent statement? Does it reveal an internal contradiction?

Class check-in: Written evaluation of the online, remote-learning experience so far. Please limit your observations to our course, not other courses you might be taking.
Read and annotate book 18. What is the symbolic meaning of Odysseus's confrontation with the beggar Iros? Why does Odysseus warn Amphinomos about the danger of his return and vengeance (lines 157-187)?