The Odyssey
what does the audience learn about Odysseus from his encounter with his shipmates Elpenor and his mother Anticlea in Book 11?
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Odysseus and his crew sail to the region of the Men of Winter and, per Kirke's instructions, make a ritual sacrifice for Teiresias. While waiting for Teiresias, Odysseus cuts down the other phantoms that emerge, including Elpenor, who had fallen from Kirke's roof. Odysseus promises him a proper sailor's burial back on Kirke's island. He also sees his dead mother, Antikleia. Odysseus thought his mother was alive so he is pretty sad and begins to cry.