The Odyssey. Book I: Invocation to the Muse The narrator is asking the muses for inspiration in...

The Odyssey

Book I: Invocation to the Muse The narrator is asking the muses for inspiration in

telling this epic tale. 10 years after the finale of the Trojan War. All soldiers except Odysseus have returned

home, or have died trying to do so. Odysseus is currently on the island of Ogygia,

with the goddess Calypso. Calypso has fallen in love with Odysseus and

refuses to let him leave.

Book II

Telemachus calls for an assembly to discuss the intrusion of the suitors. This is the first time such an assembly has been called since the departure of Odysseus some 20 years before.

Telemachus leaves the assembly and sets sail for Pylos in hopes of answers for his father’s prolonged absence.

Book III Telemachus and Athena (disguised as

Mentor) speak with the king of Pylos (King Nestor) about Odysseus.

King Nestor can’t provide much information about Odysseus as he hasn’t seen him since the ending of the Trojan War.

King Nestor suggests Odysseus travels to Sparta to speak with King Menelaus.

Book IV

Menelaus reveals that Odysseus is alive and is being held captive by Calypso.

Back home, the suitors have heard of Telemachus’s absence and plan to ambush his ship upon his return.

Book V

Athena gathers with Zeus and the other gods on Mount Olympus to plead for Odysseus’s release from Calypso.

Zeus finally agrees and sends his messenger, Hermes, to Ogygia to demand Odysseus’s release.

Athena is to provide safe travel home for Telemachus.

However, Poseidon has other plans and rages up a storm that ship wrecks Odysseus near the island of the Phaecians.

Book VI

Odysseus goes to meet the Queen of Phaecia at the castle of Alcinous and seek assistance.

Book VII-VIII

Athena disguises herself as a young lady and offers Odysseus assistance as he looks for the castle. She also covers him with a “protective” mist to keep him safe as he talks to the king.

Odysseus is to be provided with a Phaecian ship for travel home, but not before….

Odysseus begins to tell the tale of his travels to the king and queen.

Book IX-Odysseus’s story begins

After leaving Troy, strong winds take Odysseus and his men to Ismarus, city of Cicones.

There, he and his men sack the city, kill the men, and enslave the women. Odysseus pleads with his men to leave immediately, but they refuse.

He loses 6 men per ship at the hands of the reinforced Cicone soldiers.

Book IX continued….. After their escape, Zeus and the winds carry

Odysseus and his men to the land of the Lotus-Eaters.

His men eat the seductive lotus fruit with causes all loss of motivation. Odysseus is forced to trick and lock his men on the ship in order to leave.

After leaving the Lotus-Eaters, the men land on the island of the Cyclops.

Book IX continued….. After Odysseus and his men eat several of

Polythemus’s (Cyclops and son of Poseidon) sheep, they encounter the one-eyed giant.

Polythemus turns violent and begins to kill Odysseus’s men.

The Cyclops places a huge boulder across the entrance of the cave, locking all of the men in the cave.

Book IX continued….. While he sleeps the men jab a giant wooden spear in his eye

blinding him. Then Odysseus and his men cleverly attach themselves to

the underbelly of the sheep and wait for the Cyclops to move the rock.

Once Polythemus has done so, the men are able to leave the cave without him knowing so because Polythemus only touches the top of the sheep as they exit.

Odysseus, like the prideful fool he is, reveals his name upon his exit.

This angers Polythemus’s father, Poseidon, the God of the Sea!

Book X Odysseus and his men almost get home,

but his men fearing that Odysseus is keeping treasure from them, rip open the bag of “wind” which sends the ship in the wrong direction.

Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Laestrygonians—There the powerful giants kill many of Odysseus’s men and destroy all but one of his ships.

Book X continued…. From there, he and his remaining men end up on

the island of Aeaea, the home of the beautiful witch goddess Circe.

All of Odysseus’s men are turned into swine. Before Odysseus himself speaks to Circe, he is

told by Hermes (who is in disguise) to ingest a plant that will make him immune to Circe’s drugs.

Odysseus seduces Circe and becomes her lover for the next year.

Book X continued….

After continuing the voyage, Circe informs Odysseus will need to travel to Hades and speak to the blind prophet, Teiresias (remember that dude from Antigone?).

Book XI Teiresias:He foretells Odysseus's fate—that he

will return home, reclaim his wife and palace from the wretched suitors, and then make another trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. He warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the Sun when he reaches the land of Thrinacia; otherwise, he won't return home without suffering much more hardship and losing all of his crew. When Tiresias departs, Odysseus calls other spirits toward him. He speaks with his mother, Anticleia, who updates him on the affairs of Ithaca and relates how she died of grief waiting for his return.

Book XII Odysseus returns to Circe: She describes the

obstacles that he will face on his voyage home and tells him how to negotiate them.

As they sail, Odysseus is instructed to tie himself to the ship mast, and demand his men not release him no matter what. His men plug their ears with beeswax.

They soon pass by the island of the sirens: The Sirens' song is so seductive that Odysseus begs to be released from his fetters, but his faithful men only bind him tighter.

Book XII continued Once they have passed the Sirens' island,

Odysseus and his men must navigate the straits between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is a six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow the entire ship. As instructed by Circe, Odysseus holds his course tight against the cliffs of Scylla's lair. As he and his men stare at Charybdis on the other side of the strait, the heads of Scylla swoop down and gobble up six of the sailors.

Book XII

Odysseus next comes to Thrinacia, the island of the Sun. He wants to avoid it entirely, but the outspoken Eurylochus persuades him to let his beleaguered crew rest there

While there, the men run out of food and foolishly kill the cattle of the sun (the exact thing Circe warned them not to)

Book XII continued….

when the Sun finds out, he asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. Shortly after the Achaeans set sail from Thrinacia, Zeus kicks up another storm, which destroys the ship and sends the entire crew to its death beneath the waves. As had been predicted, only Odysseus survives, and he just barely.

Book XIII

Now we are brought up-to-date, and Odysseus is planning his departure with a Phaecian ship.

Odysseus makes it, but the Phaecians ship is turned to stone and sunken by Poseidon for their helping of a wayward traveller.

Book XIII continued Back in Ithaca, Odysseus wakes to find a country that he

doesn't recognize, for Athena has shrouded it in mist to conceal its true form while she plans his next move. At first, he curses the Phaeacians, whom he thinks have duped him and left him in some unknown land. But Athena, disguised as a shepherd, meets him and tells him that he is indeed in Ithaca. With characteristic cunning, Odysseus acts to conceal his identity from her until she reveals hers. Delighted by Odysseus's tricks, Athena announces that it is time for Odysseus to use his wits to punish the suitors.

ITHACA

Book XIV Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar in

fear of the suitors murdering the true king if they were to find out he was here.

Odysseus speaks, in disguise, to Eumaeus, who reveals the happenings of the suitors and Penelope’s plans.

Book XV Athena quickly travels to Sparta to tell

Telemachus to come home and warns him of the ambush that they have set and explains how to avoid it. Finally, she instructs him to head first for the home of the swineherd Eumaeus, who will convey the news of his safe return to Penelope.

Book XVI When Telemachus reaches Eumaeus's hut, he

finds the swineherd talking with a stranger (Odysseus in disguise). Eumaeus recounts Odysseus's story and suggests that the stranger stay with Telemachus at the palace. But Telemachus is afraid of what the suitors might do to them. Eumaeus thus goes to the palace alone to tell Penelope that her son has returned.

Athena changes Odysseus back revealing his true identity to his son Telemachus.

Odysseus and Telemachus start to plot their plan.

Book XVII Telemachus leaves Odysseus at Eumaeus's hut

and heads to his palace, where he receives a tearful welcome from Penelope and the nurse Eurycleia

The suitors give him food with great reluctance, and Antinous goes out of his way to insult him. When Odysseus answers insult with insult, Antinous gives him a blow with a stool that disgusts even the other suitors. (This goes against the greeks policy of hospitality)

Book XVIII Athena now puts it into Penelope's head to make

an appearance before her suitors. The goddess gives her extra stature and beauty to inflame 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. This is to take place soon!

Book IXX When the suitors retire for the night, Telemachus and Odysseus

remove the arms as planned. Athena lights the room for them so that they can see as they work. Telemachus tells Eurycleia that they are storing the arms to keep them from being damaged.

Before she retires, 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 declares that she has no idea what this dream means. Rising to the challenge, Odysseus explains it to her. But Penelope decides that she is going to choose a new husband nevertheless: she will marry the first man who can shoot an arrow through the holes of twelve axes set in a line.

Book XX Tormented by the loss of her husband and

her commitment to remarry, Penelope wakes and prays for Artemis to kill her. Her distress wakes Odysseus, who asks Zeus for a good omen

Book XXI Penelope gets Odysseus's bow out of the storeroom and

announces 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 his own hand at the bow, but fails in his attempt to string it. The suitors warm and grease the bow to make it supple, but one by one they all try and fail.

 Odysseus follows Eumaeus and Philoetius outside. He assures himself of their loyalty and then reveals his identity to them by means of the scar on his foot. He promises to treat them as Telemachus's brothers if they fight by his side against the suitors.

Book XXI continued… Odysseus easily strings it and sends the

first arrow he grabs whistling through all twelve axes.

Book XXII Odysseus shoots a second arrow through the throat of

Antinous. The suitors are confused and believe this shooting to be an accident. Odysseus finally reveals himself, and the suitors become 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 down, insisting that Antinous was the only bad apple among them, but Odysseus announces that he will spare none of them. Eurymachus then charges Odysseus, but he is cut down by another arrow. Amphinomus is the next to fall, at the spear of Telemachus.

Book XXII continued… full battle now rages in the palace hall. Athena

appears disguised as Mentor and encourages Odysseus but doesn't participate immediately, preferring instead to test Odysseus's strength. Volleys of spears are exchanged, and Odysseus and his men kill several suitors while receiving only superficial wounds themselves. Finally, Athena joins the battle, which then ends swiftly.

Book XXIII Penelope doesn't believe anything that

Eurycleia says, and she remains in disbelief even when she comes downstairs and sees her husband with her own eyes. Telemachus rebukes her for not greeting Odysseus more lovingly after his long absence, but Odysseus has other problems to worry about.

Book XXIII continued…. Penelope remains wary, afraid that a god is

playing a trick on her. She orders Eurycleia to move her bridal bed, and Odysseus suddenly flares up at her that their bed is immovable, explaining how it is built from the trunk of an olive tree around which the house had been constructed. Hearing him recount these details, she knows that this man must be her husband. They get reacquainted and, afterward, Odysseus gives his wife a brief account of his wanderings.

Book XXIV The scene changes abruptly. Hermes leads the

souls of the suitors, crying like bats, into Hades. Agamemnon and Achilles argue over who had the better death. Agamemnon describes Achilles' funeral in detail. They see the suitors coming in and ask how so many noble young men met their end. The suitor Amphimedon, whom Agamemnon knew in life, gives a brief account of their ruin, pinning most of the blame on Penelope and her indecision. Agamemnon contrasts the constancy of Penelope with the treachery of Clytemnestra.

Book XXIV continued…. But when Laertes begins to cry at the memory of

Odysseus, Odysseus throws his arms around Laertes and kisses him. He proves his identity with the scar and with his memories of the fruit trees that Laertes gave him when he was a little boy. He tells Laertes how he has avenged himself upon the suitors.

Athena makes the Ithacans forget the massacre of their children and recognize Odysseus as king. Peace is thus restored.