The Odyssey
The Odyssey
The story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca,
Penelope is his wife, queen of Ithaca
Odysseus wanders for 10 years trying to get home after the Trojan War
the poem covers only the final six weeks
Odysseus
The Odyssey begins with life in Ithaca, after the Trojan war has ended.
Odysseus has not returned home from Troy, they assume he is dead.
Penelope has 108 suitors hoping to marry her & take Odysseus’ property.
Telemachus, their son, was told by Athena that Odysseus is alive and will return.
Calypso & Odysseus
Menelaus says that Odysseus is held captive by goddess Calypso for 7 years.
Calypso will grant Odysseus immortality if he will marry her.
Odysseus refuses, weeps everyday, longing for home. At night sleeps w/Calypso.
Calypso
Athena asks Zeus to allow Odysseus to return home.
Zeus sends Hermes to Calypso to tell Calypso to free Odysseus.
Calypso agrees, She gives Odysseus a raft & food for the journey.
Odysseus thinks it is a trick.
Odysseus goes on the water, Poseidon sees him, churns the seas, he sinks.
He lands on another island naked, & meets a woman who is washing clothes
Odysseus
Odysseus meets Nausicaa on the island & meets her father Alcinous.
Odysseus recounts his story when he left Troy.
→ The first stop was the land of the Cicones. Odysseus and his men sacked the city, stayed living off the wine and huge herds for food. Other Cicones on the island gathered forces and fought the Greeks, killing 6 from every ship.
Land of the Lotus Eaters
On this island there were lotus, a flowery fruit.
Whoever ate the fruit became euphoric & only wanted more lotus.
They also forgot everything else.
Odysseus’ scouts & several crewmembers ate the lotus
Odysseus had to drag them back to the ships and tie them down.
The Cyclopes
Polyphemus, one eyed cyclops, son of Poseidon
Odysseus and his men enter the cave of Polyphemus.
Polyphemus returns home with his sheep and traps them in the cave.
Polyphemus grabs two men & dashes their heads against the cave wall.
He tears them limb from limb and eats them
Polyphemus
Polyphemus asks Odysseus his name to which he replies: “Nobody.”
Polyphemus drinks wine & eats more of the men promising to eat “Nobody” last.
There is a rock blocking the entrance which is too heavy for the men to move.
Polyphemus passes out, Odysseus & the men carry a stake & stab his eye.
Polyphemus calls out the other cyclopes, saying “Nobody” blinded him.
They laugh thinking Polyphemus has gone mad.
Nobody
Odysseus & his men tie themselves underneath the sheep.
At daylight, the blinded cyclops pets each sheep as it exits the cave.
Outside the men run to the ship. Odysseus taunts the cyclops from the ship, barely escaping the island as Polyphemus throws stones. Polyphemus curses Odysseus.
Aeolus
Aeolus was the king of the winds.
He liked Odysseus & gave him a bag of winds to aid Odysseus on his journey.
While Odysseus slept the men opened the bag thinking it was gold.
All the winds escaped blowing the ships back to Aeolus.
Aeolus felt they were cursed by the gods and refused any additional aid.
The Laestrygonians
Odysseus still has several other ships with men.
They approach the island of the Laestrygonian giants.
There is a partially enclosed harbor. Odysseus anchors outside the harbor.
The rest of the ships enter and send out a landing party.
The party is escorted to the giant king who promptly eats one of the men.
The rest run but find themselves surrounded by other giants.
The giants throw boulders and sink all the ships except for Odysseus.
The men are then speared and the giants eat them like shish-kabobs
Odysseus escapes on his last ship.
Circe
Circe is a witch on the island of Aeaea.
The island is so dense with mist that one cannot see where the sun rises or sets.
On the island Aeaea, Odysseus splits his crew in two.
The first group marched inland and met Circe.
When they eat her food they turn into pigs.
One does not eat and escapes to tell Odysseus
Hermes meets Odysseus and gives him moly, an antidote to Circe’s food.
Circe touches Odysseus with a wand but nothing happens to him.
She was warned of Odysseus in a prophecy.
Wants Odysseus to lay with her so she can castrate him.
Odysseus refuses unless Circe swears that she will cause him no harm.
Circe makes the men human again and they live happily on the island for a year.
Circe and Odysseus have a son Telegonus.
When they leave Circe gives Odysseus advice on how to return home.
Entrance to the Underworld
Odysseus must travel to the underworld.
He stops at the entrance but does not enter.
Many ghosts of the dead appear.
Tiresias appears & tells Odysseus of his journey but that he will make it home.
Achilles says he would rather be a slave above earth than a king of the dead
Odysseus tells Achilles about the exploits of his son Neoptolemus
Odysseus calls to Ajax but he refuses, still angry about Achilles’ armor
Sirens
Odysseus then had to sail past the sirens.
The sirens had beautiful voices that lured men to their deaths.
Circe warns Odysseus & his men to stuff wax in their ears to block out their songs.
Odysseus had himself tied to the mast of the ship and listened to their voices.
Scylla
Scylla wore a girdle of six dog’s heads and she had twelve feet.
She snatched sailors from passing ships and ate them.
Odysseus had to pass Scylla and she ate six men from Odysseus’ ship.
After passing Scylla, Odysseus reached another island with a small crew left
Cattle and sheep, owned by the god Helios, grazed on this island
Cattle of Helios (Sun)
Circe also warned Odysseus not to eat the cattle that belong to Helios, the sun.
By the time Odysseus & his crew landed, they were worn, ragged and hungry.
Odysseus warned the men not to eat or harm the cattle.
While Odysseus slept the men killed and ate some of the cattle.
Helios complained to Zeus about the killing of his sacred cattle.
As they sailed away Zeus threw a thunderbolt at the ship, sinking it & killing everyone except Odysseus.
Odysseus floated to the island where Calypso lived.
Ithaca at last
Told Nausicaa & her family, a ship was arranged to carry Odysseus to Ithaca.
Odysseus fell asleep on the journey.
he woke & was on land, Poseidon was furious and turned the sailors to stone.
Odysseus disguised himself as a beggar and headed home.
Penelope
Suitors are tired of waiting so they force Penelope to choose one of them to marry.
Penelope says she will marry whoever can string Odysseus’ bow & shoot an arrow through twelve ax heads.
Coincidently this occurs when Odysseus arrives.
Disguised as a beggar Odysseus shows himself to a servant & his son Telemachus.
Odysseus Revealed
The suitors & some servants in the hall insult the beggar.
Each tries to string Odysseus’ bow but none succeed.
Odysseus tries & easily strings the bow & shoots the arrow through the ax heads.
With the help of his son and a few servants, they kill all the suitors.
servant women who insulted him had to clean the bloody hall, then were hung.
Penelope was unreceptive at first and tested Odysseus to verify it was really him
The End of the Odyssey
Odysseus then visited his father, Laertes.
While there, the suitors’ families arrived to kill Odysseus.
Odysseus kills several, Athena descends telling them to stop fighting.
Zeus throws a lightning bolt to ensure everyone listens to Athena.
So ends the Odyssey.
Death of Odysseus
From other stories and poems, we learn of Odysseus’ death.
Odysseus plants an oar, creating a shrine to Poseidon.
Poseidon says Odysseus will live a long life and die a gentle death from the sea.
Years later, Telegonus, son of Odysseus and Circe, arrives in Ithaca.
Unknowingly he fights Odysseus & spears him w/a stingray’s poisonous tail.
Hence, Odysseus dies a gentle death from the sea.