Read the excerpt from the odyssey.

‘out to sea again! ' my men were mutinous,
fools, on stores of wine. sheep after sheep they
butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle,
feasting,—while fugitives went inland, running
to call to arms the main force of cicones.
this was an army, trained to fight on horseback
or, where the ground required, on foot. they came
with dawn over that terrain like the leaves
and blades of spring. so doom appeared to us,
dark word of zeus for us, our evil days.

which central idea should be included in a paraphrase of this excerpt?

a. the forces sent by cicones to fight odysseus and his men arrived during the early morning hours.

b. odysseus and his men feasted on the animals they slaughtered while on the island of cicones.

c. the forces sent by cicones to stop the plundering of odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.

d. odysseus views the forces sent by cicones as punishment from the greek god zeus.

C. The forces sent by Cicones to stop the plundering of Odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.

This paraphrase is the best choice because it includes essential information. The sentence shows that Odysseus and his men were behaving inappropriately on the island of Cicones with the word plundering. It also shows that the forces of Cicones were formidable and most likely succeeded in stopping Odysseus and his men. Option A is not an important detail. Option B could work but it doesn't show that their feasting was wrong.

The answer is C. The forces sent by Cicones to stop the plundering of Odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.

EXPLANATION

This excerpt about Odysseus is originated from an ancient Greek poem that is titled The Odyssey. The Odyssey is a sequel to Iliad. Iliad is the oldest extant work of Western literature, followed by The Odyssey as the second-oldest. The Odyssey is attributed to Homer and seen as the fundamental to the modern Western canon. The Odyssey was believed being composed around the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, around the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.

The Odyssey poem is focusing on Odysseus, a Greek hero, and also the main character of the poem. Odysseus in the Roman myths is also known as Ulysses. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca. It takes Odysseus around 10 years long to finally arrive at Itacha after the Trojan War.  

After his absence, people thought that Odysseus had died. His wife Penelope and his son Telemachus have to deal with unruly suitors such as Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for marrying Penelope.

The Odyssey was translated to a lot of modern language around the world after first being written in Homeric Greek. The Odyssey poem tells about events and choices about women and Alves, Aldo actions of fighting man. The word Odyssey is also known as an epic voyage.

LEARN MORE

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, we recommend you to also take a look at the following questions:

The Odyssey:  

The Call of The Wild:

KEYWORD: Odyssey, lotus plants, excerpt

Subject: English

Class: 10-12

Subchapter: The Odyssey

feel very well should be good