Odyssey Book Summaries

Book 1

1. How does the book start?

2. Where are the gods?

3. What does Zeus order?

4. What does Athene do?

5. What causes an argument between Penelope and Telemachus?

6. How does the book end?

• A muse is asked to start telling Odysseus's story from any point, tells of his resourcefulness and crew's ill fate

• All the gods (except for Poseidon taking offerings in Ethiopia) deliberate on Mount Olympus to discuss Odysseus's release -- on Calypso's island, Ogygia, for 7 years

• Zeus orders Hermes to go to Calypso after being convinced by Athene

• Athene goes to Ithaca disguised as Mentes (Cheftain of Taphians) to meet Telemachus

• Telemachus is to go to Sparta and Pylos to see Menelaus and Nestor respectively to ask if Odysseus is dead. Athene encourages him by comparing him to Orestes

• Phemius the bard sings about Troy, causing Penelope to start crying and tells Phemius to sing about something else → Telemachus and Penelope argue

• Telemachus gets new bravery to make a speech to the suitors

• Antinous and Eurymachus challenge him

• Eurycleia helps Telemachus to bed

Book 5

1. How is Odysseus allowed to go home?

2. Who goes to Ogygia? How are they treated?

3. Who does Calypso speak wtih? What does she bring up?

4. How do Odysseus and Calypso converse?

5. How does the day end?

The next day:

1. How does Odysseus leave Ogygia?

2. What troubles does he face upon leaving Ogygia? How does he survive them?

3. How does the book end?

Book 5

• The gods (bar Poseidon) meet at Mt. Olympus. Athene asks Zeus to let Odysseus go home.

• Zeus sends Hermes to Ogygia to tell Calypso

  • Emphasis on the wide expanse of sea over which Hermes travels on the way to Ogygia to highlight its isolation

  • Island is very luscious and full of greenery and life

• Calypso breaks Xenia by asking Hermes questions first before being hospitable

  • Upon being told to let Odysseus go, she argues with Hermes about the gods' hypocrisy, citing the stories of Dawn and Orion and Demeter and Iasion

• First time seeing Odysseus he is weeping by the coast longing for home

• Calypso goes to tell Odysseus the news and makes him the offer that he could be immortal if he stays with her.

• Odysseus in turn flatters Calypso by admitting no mortal, even his wife, could compare to her beauty but he still wants to go home to Penelope

• They go to bed together with Odysseus weeping

The next day:

• Calypso gives Odysseus the tools to make a raft in 3 days out of 20 trees.

• Odysseus sails away with provisions that Calypso also gave him

• He sails for 17 days and on the 18th sees the island of the Phaeacians.

• Poseidon notices Odysseus upon his return from Ethiopia and sends a big storm

• Goddess Ino notices and gives Odysseus a protective veil to survive, telling him to abandon his raft

• Odysseus is initially cautious but eventually lets the raft go

• Athene calms the storm

• Odysseus is in the sea for 2 nights and 2 days before finding an island

• He prays to a river god that lets him onto the island

• Odysseus makes a shelter and Athene helps him to sleep.

Book 6

1. Who does Odysseus meet? How?

2. How does the stranger help Odysseus?

3. Where/who does the stranger lead Odysseus to?

Book 6

• Athene, disguised as a friend of Nausicaa, laments the condition of Nausicaa's clothes and encourages her to go wash them

• While they wait for their cothes to dry, Nausicaa and her friends play with a ball which wakes Odysseus up (by Athene's design)

• Odysseus wakes up and walks out of the bushes naked

• Simile comparing him to a lion as he advances to Nausicaa (the rest of the girls ran away while Athene put courage in her heart to stay)

• Odysseus pleads and flatters Nausicaa and begs for help

• Nausicaa orders the servants to bathe, oil, and clothe Odysseus

• Athene makes him more handsome

• Nausicaa leads Odysseus to the city but with some distance between them to avoid Phaeacians gossiping

• Nausicaa tells Odysseus how to approach Alcinous's castle and clasp Queen Arete's knees

• Odysseus prays to Athene that the Phaeacians (good sailors, favoured by the gods) welcome him with kindness and compassion

Book 7

1. Who does Odysseus meet? How does he approach them?

2. What happens at the palace?

Book 7

• Odysseus walks through Alcinous's palace shrouded in Athene's mist because the Phaeacians have "little affection for strangers"

• Athene (disguised as a little girl) guides Odysseus to the palace and tells him to be bold when talking to Arete

• Odysseus pleads with Arete before Echeneus (banquet guest) chastises Alcinous's poor Xenia (island is so isolated they're not used to strangers)

• Alcinous sits Odysseus beside him as they feast

• Alcinous asks Odysseus if he's a god in disguise which Odysseus denies, going into a speech about his grief and hunger

• Arete asks Odysseus with suspicion about him wearing the clothes from Nausicaa

• Alcinous wishes Odysseus could stay and marry his daughter but reaffirms that the Phaeacians will help Odysseus return home

• Odysseus falls asleep alone while Alcinous falls asleep with his wife beside him in bed -- purposeful contrast

Book 8

1. How does Alcinous help Odysseus?

2. Why does Odysseus start crying?

3. What events are held?

4. What prompts Odysseus to participate? How does the event end?

5. What happens after the games?

Book 8

• Alcinous sends a group to find a fleet of 52 men for Odysseus's return home

• The blind divine bard Demodocus sings about the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy which causes Odysseus to cry and hide his tears

• Alcinous notices and tells everyone to begin the games

• foot race, wrestling, jump, discus, boxing

• Laodamas invites Odysseus to join but he declines (being too weary)

• Euryalus taunts and insults him

• Odysseus is angered enough to retort and partcipate

• He decimates the competition in discus throwing and Athene (disguised as part of the crowd) goads him on

• Demodocus sings the tale of Aphrodite cheating on Hephaestus with Ares

• Odysseus receives parting gifts for his journey home

• Euryalus: apology sword

• Arete: trunk of fine clothes

• Demodocus sings of Odysseus's bravery with the Trojan Horse and Odysseus starts crying

• Alcinous notices and finally asks Odysseus his name, homeland, destination

Book 9

1. What 2 adventures does Odysseus and his crew go on before the cyclopes?

2. Why/how do Odysseus and his men go in Polyphemus’s cave?

3. What does Polyphemus do to his men?

4. How does Odysseus plan to get his men out? Why don’t the other cyclopes help Polyphemus?

5. What happens once Odysseus and his men have escaped the cave?

1. Cicones on Ismarus island: Odysseus and his men ransack. He tells them to leave bu they refuse Cicones get help from neighbours. Six from each ship killed. 3 salutes + ritual for each fallen comrade before sailing off

2. Lotus Eaters: 10th day of sailing lands on island of Djerba. Odysseus sends 3 men to check. They eat the lotus and forget about coming home. Have to be forced back onto the ship by Odysseus

Polyphemus:

• Cyclopes' land is fertile but they do not farm; uncivilised, lawless, isolated

• Odysseus and 12 of his best men go into Polyphemus's cave and find good cheese and lamb

• Polyphemus dismisses Zeus; Odysseus lies about his origins

• Polyphemus cracks men's skulls open and eats them

• Next day: Polyphemus eats more men and meticulously takes care of his ewes

• Odysseus gets staff of olive wood, sharpens it

• Odysseus gets Polyphemus drunk on 3 bowls of undiluted wine

• 'Nobody trick'

• Odysseus heats up the spike. His men stab it in Polyphemus's eye, Odysseus twists it in

• Other cyclops ignore Polyphemus's pain from the Nobody trickPolyphemus releases his lambs with Odysseus and his men strapped to the underside

• Polyphemus laments his woes to the biggest ram (holding Odysseus) because it came out last (normally first)

• They escape the cave; Odysseus gloats to Polyphemus

• Polyphemus throws large rock at their ship which narrowly misses

• Odysseus's men ask why he is provoking Polyphemus

• Odysseus tells Polyphemus his real name, father, and homeland

• Polyphemus realises an old prophecy is coming true and asks his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus's journey home and throws another rock

• They sail away and meet with the other ships waiting for them and divide Polyphemus's flock

• Odysseys sacrifices the big ram to Zeus but gets ignored

• They sleep and set off sailing

Book 10

1. How do Odysseus and his men come close to reaching Ithaca? What stops them?

2. What happens that reduces Odysseus’s fleet to only his ship of men?

3. Where do Odysseus and his men land? How do they investigate it? Who do they meet?

4. How does Odysseus defeat Circe?

5. What does Circe instruct Odysseus to do?

Bag of Winds

• Odysseus and his crew reach Aeolia where king Aeolus gives them Bag of Winds to go home

• Odysseus falls asleep after 9 days and nights of sailing

• Crew opens the bag assuming it was full of gold and silver that Odysseus was hiding from them

• Just as Ithaca was within sight, the get pushed back to Aeolia but Aeolus refuses to help them the second time assuming they were detested by the gods

Laestrygonians

• 7th day of sailing

• Odysseus sends 2 men + a messenger to investigate

• 1 man gets eaten by Antiphates; the other 2 flee

• All ships except Odysseus's get eaten

• Odysseys + crew sail fleeing and find Aeaea

Circe

• Odysseus, fleeing from the Laestrygonians, finds Aeaea

• A god sends him a deer which Odysseus kills and eats with his men

• Splits his men in half: ½ commanded by him, other half by Eurylochus

• Eurylochus returns in tears recounting how Circe gave the men a drugged mixture that made them forget their homeland then turned them into pigs

• Odysseus goes to the palace

• Before entering, Hermes gives him a plant (molly) to make Odysseus immune to Circe's magic

• Hermes tells him to go at her as though to strike her with his sword so that she cowers in fear

• When she invites him to her bed, Odysseus has to accept then make her swear an oath to not pull her tricks again

• Circe guesses that he is Odysseus

• Odysseus is too sad to eat so Circe turns his crew back into men

Circe’s instruction

• Odysseus goes to the other half of his crew telling them to stay on the island which Eurylochus disagrees with, causing an argument and Odysseus getting angry, but eventually everyone follows Odysseus

• They stay on Aeaea for 1 year before his crew gets restless and convince Odysseus to continue the journey home

• Circe tells him to visit Teiresias the blind prophet in the underworld

• She tells him to conduct a ritual to get the spirit to speak to him

• Odysseus and his crew awake the next day to realise Elpenor (youngest) got drunk, fell asleep on the roof, woke up and broke his neck falling down

Book 11

1. Who do Odysseus and his men meet?

• Tiresias: men will survive if they don't touch Hyperion's cattle; Odysseus will live long lige & make it home

• Elpenor: burial rites

• Mother (Anticleia): Penelope still grieves for him; father lives in solitude & poverty; she herself died of grief; he tries to hug her 3x and fails

• Wives of great men (Phaecia, Ariadne)

• Agamemnon: recounts story of getting murdered by Clytemnestra & her lover; advises him to be weary of Penelope

• Achilles: would rather be a slave alive than a king in the underworld; glad to hear his son is renowned fighter

• Ajax: refuses to speak to Odysseus over Achilles's armour competition

• Sinners who committed crimes against the gods (Tantalus, Sisyphus, Tityus)

• Heracles (briefly)

• Theseus and Peirithous: shade starts enveloping him and his crew before they can speak to them (leave the underworld out of fear)

Book 12

1. What does Circe tell Odysseus about the sirens and Scylla & Charybdis? How does Odysseus respond?

2. What does Odysseus do with the sirens?

3. How does Odysseus face Scylla & Charybdis?

4. Why do the rest of his crew die?

• Odysseus and the crew return to Aeaea performing Elpenor's burial rites

• Circe tells Odysseus that if he wants to hear the sirens (and survive) he should tie himself to his ship and put beeswax in his crew's ears

• Scylla: 6 headed monster

• Charybdis: whirlpool sucks in 3 ships/day

• Circe chastises Odysseus for trying to avoid any loss: he has to sacrifice 6 men

Sirens

• Depart the next day

• Odysseus says he has to hear the Sirens; they tempt with kleos and knowledge

Scylla & Charybdis

• Doesn't tell his crew about Scylla & Charybdis for fear they'll stop rowing out of fear

• Scylla eats 6 men; rest flee quickly

Sun God's Cattle

• Eurylochus beats Odysseus in vote and the crew stops for rest

• Odysseus makes men swear and oath to not eat the cattle

• Storm leaves them stuck for 1 month

• Odysseus went away to pray

• Eurylochus convinces men to eat cattle (more noble to die by gods' hand than starve)

• Zeus sends storm killing all men except Odysseus

• Hangs onto wood over Charybdis → floated on raft to Ogygia → story comes full circle

Book 13

1. How does Odysseus travel back to Ithaca?

2. What happens to the Phaeacians?

3. What do Zeus and Poseidon talk about?

4. Which god does Odysseus see upon landing in Ithaca? How do they interact? What plan do they make?

• Alcinous sends Odysseus away with riches

• Odysseus falls asleep on the journey and Phaeacians drop Odysseus off in Ithaca on a beach with the gifts

• Poseidon turns the Phaeacian ship into stone on their return journey out of anger that they aided Odysseus

• Zeus finds Poseidon's complaint trivial but encourages the punishment to soothe him

• Odysseus wakes in Ithaca (not recognising it because Athene shrouded it in mist) and starts cursing the Phaeacians because he thinks they tricked him

• Athene (disguised as a shepherd) tells Odysseus that he is in Ithaca

• He makes up a lie about being a murderer fugitive from Crete

• Athene reveals herself and tells him he must disguise himself at home

• The two praise each other's qualities, but Odysseus admonishes Athene for seemingly abandoning during his tumults

• Athene disguises Odysseus as a beggar and tells him to visit Eumaeus who has stayed loyal

Book 16

1. Where does Odysseus go?

2. What do Odysseus and Telemachus do?

3. What does Telemachus do upon returning from his travels?

4. What do the suitors plan?

5. How does the book end?

• Telemachus goes to Eumaeus's hut where he finds Odysseus disguised as a beggar

• He tells Eumaeus to tell Penelope of his return from Pylos

• While Eumaeus is gone, Athene reverts Odysseus and him and Telemachus reunite with many tears

• They form a plan to deal with the suitors

• The suitors devise a plan to kill Telemachus

• Amphinomus:

• notices Telemachus's ships returning

• not willing to kill a prince

• only willing to murder if Zeus orders it

• Antinous

• father was saved by Odysseus

• Eurymachus

• two-faced and cunning

• Penelope learns of this plan from Medon the herald and scolds the suitors for their disrespect and lack of mercy

• Eurymachus assuages Penelope's fears by reminding her that him and Telemachus have been friends since infancy

• The book ends on Telemachus, Odysseus, and Eumaeus having a meal and going to sleep in Eumaeus's hut

Book 17

1. What does Telemachus do? Who does he meet?

2. What do Telemachus and Penelope talk about? What happens?

3. What do Eumaeus and Odysseus do?

4. What happens to Odysseus with the suitors?

• Telemachus leaves Odysseus at Eumaeus's hut and heads to the palace, where he receives a tearful welcome from Penelope and Eurycleia.

• He meets Theoclymenus and Piraeus. He tells Piraeus not to bring his gifts from Menelaus to the palace; he fears that the suitors will steal them if he is killed.

• When he sits down to eat with Penelope, Telemachus tells her what little news he received of Odysseus in Pylos and Sparta, but he doesn't reveal that he has seen Odysseus in Eumaeus's hut. Theoclymenus swears that Odysseus is in Ithaca at this very moment.

• Meanwhile, Eumaeus and Odysseus set out toward town. On the way they meet Melanthius, who heaps scorn on Eumaeus and kicks his beggar companion, Odysseus.

• At the palace, the suitors reluctantly give him food, and Antinous insults him.

• When Odysseus retaliates with an insult, Antinous throws his stool at Odysseus's back; disgusting even the other suitors.

• This cruelty reaches Penelope, who is curious about the beggar and asks to have him brought to her so she can ask him about Odysseus but Odysseus doesn't want the suitors to see him heading toward the queen's room.

• Eumaeus must return to his hut and hog, and leaves Odysseus alone with Telemachus and the suitors.

Book 18

1. What happens between Odysseus and another beggar?

2. What happens between Odysseus and a suitor?

3. What does Penelope do?

4. What happens between Odysseus and a maid servant? Who else gets involved?

5. How does the book end?

• Another beggar, Arnaeus, also called Irus, comes into the palace. He insults Odysseus and challenges him to a boxing match.

• Athena gives Odysseus extra strength and stature. Irus soon regrets challenging the old man and tries to escape, but by now the suitors are egging on the fight for the sake of their own entertainment.

• It ends quickly as Odysseus knocks out Irus with one punch and stops short of killing him.

• The suitors congratulate Odysseus.

• Amphinomus toasts him and gives him food.

• Odysseus pulls the man aside. He predicts to Amphinomus that Odysseus will soon be home and gives him a thinly veiled warning to abandon the palace and return to his own land. But Amphinomus doesn't depart for Athena has bound him to death at the hands of Telemachus.

• Athena now puts it into Penelope's head to make an appearance before her suitors. The goddess gives her extra stature and beauty to capture their hearts.

• When Penelope speaks to the suitors, she leads them on by telling them that Odysseus had instructed her to take a new husband if he should fail to return before Telemachus began growing facial hair.

• She then tricks them into bringing her gifts by claiming that any suitor would try to win her hand by giving things to her instead of taking what's rightfully hers.

• The suitors shower her with presents, and Odysseus instructs the maidservants to go to Penelope.

• The maidservant Melantho, Melanthius's sister, insults him as an inferior and a drunk; Odysseus then scares them off with threats.

• To make Odysseus even more angry at the suitors, Athena inspires Eurymachus to insult him.

• When Odysseus responds with insults of his own, Eurymachus throws a stool at him but misses, hitting a servant instead.

• Telemachus steps in and diffuses the situation just as a riot is about to break out.

Book 19

1. What do Telemachus and Odysseus do while the suitors are asleep?

2. What happens between Odysseus and Penelope?

3. Who recognises Odysseus? How? How does Odysseus prevent the secret being revealed to Penelope?

4. How does the book end?

• When the suitors go to bed, Telemachus and Odysseus remove the weapons as planned with the help of Athene.

• Telemachus tells Eurycleia that they are storing the arms to keep them from being damaged.

• After they have disposed of the arms, Telemachus goes to bed and Odysseus is joined by Penelope, who has come from the women's quarters to question her visitor.

• He has claimed to have met Odysseus, and she tests his honesty by asking him to describe her husband. Odysseus describes himself, capturing each detail so perfectly that it reduces Penelope to tears.

• He tells Penelope that Odysseus had a long ordeal but is alive and freely traveling the seas, and predicts that Odysseus will be back within the month.

• Penelope offers the beggar a bed to sleep in, but he declines.

• He reluctantly allows Eurycleia to wash his feet and she recognises a scar on one of his feet.

• She immediately recognizes it as the scar that Odysseus had received while boar hunting with his maternal grandfather, Autolycus, at Parnassus.

• She throws her arms around Odysseus, but he silences her while Athena keeps Penelope distracted. The faithful Eurycleia promises to keep his secret.

• Penelope describes to Odysseus a dream that she has had in which an eagle swoops down upon her twenty pet geese and kills them all; it then perches on her roof and, in a human voice, says that he is her husband who has just put her lovers to death.

• Penelope has no idea what this dream means. Odysseus explains it to her, but Penelope decides to finally choose a new husband; she will marry the first man who can shoot an arrow through the holes of twelve axes set in a line.

Book 21

1. What contest does Penelope propose?

2. What does Odysseus do in the meantime?

3. What excuse does a suitor make? Which suitor makes it?

4. How does Odysseus get the bow?

• Penelope gets Odysseus's bow out of the storeroom and says that she will marry the suitor who can string it and then shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes.

• Telemachus sets up the axes and then tries at the bow, but can't string it.

• He tries 3 times and might’ve succeeded on the 4th but Odysseus shakes his head to signal him to stop.

• One by one they all try and fail.

• Meanwhile, Odysseus follows Eumaeus, the swineherd, and Philoetius, the cowherd, outside.

• He establishes their loyalty and then reveals his identity to them by the scar on his foot.

• He promises to treat them as Telemachus's brothers if they fight by his side against the suitors.

• When Odysseus returns, Eurymachus cannot string it.

• Antinous suggests that they stop until the next day, when they can sacrifice to Apollo before trying again.

• Disguised Odysseus asks for the bow. All of the suitors complain, fearing that he will succeed.

• Telemachus takes control and orders Eumaeus to give Odysseus the bow.

• Odysseus easily strings it and sends the first arrow he grabs through all twelve axes.

Book 22

• How does the battle start?

• How are the cowherd and swineherd involved?

• What goes wrong in the battle?

• How are the named suitors killed?

• What happens once the battle ends?

• How is the house cleaned?

• What happens to the other traitors of Odysseus?

• Odysseus shoots a second arrow through the throat of Antinous, who is the first to die, as he is bringing a chalice to his lips.

• The suitors are confused and believe this shooting is an accident.

• Odysseus reveals himself, and the suitors are terrified.

• They have no way out, since Philoetius has locked the front door and Eumaeus has locked the doors to the women's quarters.

• Eurymachus tries to calm Odysseus, but Odysseus announces that he will spare none of them.

• Eurymachus then charges Odysseus, but he is cut down by another arrow to the liver.

• Amphinomus is next, at the spear of Telemachus.

• Telemachus arms Eumaeus and Philoetius, but he forgets to lock the storeroom on his way out.

• Melanthius soon reaches the storeroom and gets out weapons for the suitors. On his second trip to the storeroom, however, Eumaeus and Philoetius find him there, tie him up, and lock him in.

• Athena appears disguised as Mentes and encourages Odysseus but doesn't participate immediately, preferring instead to test Odysseus's strength.

• Odysseus and his men kill several suitors while receiving only slight wounds themselves.

• Athena finally joins the battle, which then swiftly ends.

• Odysseus spares only the minstrel Phemius and the herald Medon at his son’s insistence.

• Odysseus has Eurycleia come out and she openly rejoices to see the suitors dead but Odysseus chastises her.

• She rounds up the disloyal servant women, who are first made to clear the corpses from the hall and wash the blood from the furniture; they are then sent outside and executed.

• Telemachus decides to hang them (a disgraceful death).

• Last of all, the traitor Melanthius has his ears, nose, and groin cut off and then killed.

• After the bloodbath, Odysseus has the house fumigated.

Book 23

1. How does the book start?

2. How do Penelope and Odysseus finally reunite?

3. How does the book end?

• In the morning, Eurycleia goes to Penelope, who slept through the entire battle; she tells her Odysseus has returned home, it was he who was the beggar all along, and that he has killed all the suitors.

• Penelope doesn't believe her and goes to look for herself.

• She recognises Odyssues, but still isn't sure.

• She orders for their Olive wood bridal bed to be removed from their room, and Odysseus flares up in rage.

• He recounts all the details of the process of making the bed, and Penelope bursts into tears; She knows that this is the real Odysseus.

• They get reaquainted and tell eachother stories of what happened during his absense.