ODYSSEY with her maids to wash clothes.

He of famous women and famous men;

appeals to her for help. She encourages
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.24.xxiv.h notably he encountered the spirit of
tml him to seek the hospitality of her parents, Agamemnon, of whose murder he now
Arete and Alcinous. Odysseus is welcomed learned, who also warned him about the
Telemachus, Odysseus's son, is only a and is not at first asked for his name. He dangers of women (for Odysseus'
month old when Odysseus sets out for remains for several days, takes part in a encounter with the dead, see also
Troy to fight a ten year war[dubious – pentathlon, and hears the blind singer Nekuia).
discuss] he doesn't want any part of.[4] At Demodocus perform two narrative poems.
the point where the Odyssey begins, ten The first is an otherwise obscure incident Returning to Circe’s island, they were
years after the end of the ten-year Trojan of the Trojan War, the "Quarrel of advised by her on the remaining stages of
War, Telemachus is twenty and is sharing Odysseus and Achilles"; the second is the the journey. They skirted the land of the
his absent father’s house on the island of amusing tale of a love affair between two Sirens, passed between the six-headed
Ithaca with his mother Penelope and a Olympian gods, Ares and Aphrodite. monster Scylla and the whirlpool
crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Finally, Odysseus asks Demodocus to Charybdis, and landed on the island of
suitors", whose aim is to persuade return to the Trojan War theme and tell of Thrinacia. There, Odysseus’ men ignored
Penelope that her husband is dead and the Trojan Horse, a stratagem in which the warnings of Tiresias and Circe, and
that she should marry one of them. Odysseus had played a leading role. hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun
Unable to hide his emotion as he relives god Helios. This sacrilege was punished
Odysseus’s protectress, the goddess this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his by a shipwreck in which all but Odysseus
Athena, discusses his fate with Zeus, king identity. He then begins to tell the drowned. He was washed ashore on the
of the gods, at a moment when amazing story of his return from Troy. island of Calypso, where she compelled
Odysseus's enemy, the god of the sea Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' him to remain as her lover for seven years
Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus. Song, by Francesco Hayez, 1813-15 before he escaped.
Then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain
named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to After a piratical raid on Ismaros in the Having listened with rapt attention to his
urge him to search for news of his father. land of the Cicones, he and his twelve story, the Phaeacians, who are skilled
He offers her hospitality; they observe the ships were driven off course by storms. mariners, agree to help Odysseus get
suitors dining rowdily, and the bard They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters home. They deliver him at night, while he
Phemius performing a narrative poem for and were captured by the Cyclops is fast asleep, to a hidden harbor on
them. Penelope objects to Phemius's Polyphemus, only escaping by blinding Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one
theme, the "Return from Troy"[5] because him with a wooden stake. While they were of his own former slaves, the swineherd
it reminds her of her missing husband, but escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly Eumaeus. Athena disguises Odysseus as a
Telemachus rebuts her objections. told Polyphemus his identity, and wandering beggar in order to learn how
Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon, who things stand in his household. After
That night, Athena disguised as had blinded him. They stayed with Aeolus, dinner, he tells the farm laborers a
Telemachus finds a ship and crew for the the master of the winds; he gave fictitious tale of himself: he was born in
true Telemachus. The next morning, Odysseus a leather bag containing all the Crete, had led a party of Cretans to fight
Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens winds, except the west wind, a gift that alongside other Greeks in the Trojan War,
of Ithaca to discuss what should be done should have ensured a safe return home. and had then spent seven years at the
to the suitors. Accompanied by Athena However, the sailors foolishly opened the court of the king of Egypt; finally he had
(now disguised as his friend Mentor), he bag while Odysseus slept, thinking that it been shipwrecked in Thesprotia and
departs for the Greek mainland and the contained gold. All of the winds flew out crossed from there to Ithaca.
household of Nestor, most venerable of and the resulting storm drove the ships
the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home back the way they had come, just as Meanwhile, Telemachus sails home from
in Pylos. From there, Telemachus rides Ithaca came into sight. Sparta, evading an ambush set by the
overland, accompanied by Nestor's son, to suitors. He disembarks on the coast of
Sparta, where he finds Menelaus and After pleading in vain with Aeolus to help Ithaca and makes for Eumaeus’s hut.
Helen, now reconciled. He is told that they them again, they re-embarked and Father and son meet; Odysseus identifies
returned to Sparta after a long voyage by encountered the cannibal Laestrygones. himself to Telemachus (but still not to
way of Egypt; there, on the island of Odysseus’s ship was the only one to Eumaeus) and they determine that the
Pharos, Menelaus encountered Eidothea, escape. He sailed on and visited the suitors must be killed. Telemachus gets
the daughter of the old sea-god Proteus, witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his home first. Accompanied by Eumaeus,
who told him that Odysseus was a captive men into swine after feeding them cheese Odysseus now returns to his own house,
of the nymph Calypso. Incidentally, and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about still pretending to be a beggar. He
Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus’ Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called experiences the suitors’ rowdy behavior
brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and moly, a resistance to Circe’s magic. Circe, and plans their death. He meets Penelope
leader of the Greeks at Troy, murdered on being attracted to Odysseus' resistance, and tests her intentions with an invented
his return home by his wife Clytemnestra fell in love with him and released his men. story of his birth in Crete, where, he says,
and her lover Aegisthus. Odysseus and his crew remained with her he once met Odysseus. Closely
Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä on the island for one year, while they questioned, he adds that he had recently
feasted and drank. Finally, Odysseus' men been in Thesprotia and had learned
Then the story of Odysseus is told. He has convinced Odysseus that it was time to something there of Odysseus’s recent
spent seven years in captivity on leave for Ithaca. Guided by Circe's wanderings.
Calypso's island. She is persuaded to instructions, Odysseus and his crew
release him by the messenger god crossed the ocean and reached a harbor Odysseus’s identity is discovered by the
Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in at the western edge of the world, where housekeeper, Eurycleia, as she is washing
response to Athena's plea. Odysseus Odysseus sacrificed to the dead and his feet and discovers an old scar
builds a raft and is given clothing, food summoned the spirit of the old prophet Odysseus received during a boar hunt. He
and drink by Calypso. The raft is wrecked Tiresias to advise him. Next Odysseus met received the scar when he was hunting
by Poseidon, but Odysseus swims ashore the spirit of his own mother, who had died with the sons of Autolycus. They had been
on the island of Scherie, where, naked and of grief during his long absence; from her, told to go boar hunting so that they could
exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and he learned for the first time news of his prepare a meal with the meat. The three
falls asleep. The next morning, awakened own household, threatened by the greed climbed Mount Parnassus and eventually
by the laughter of girls, he sees the young of the suitors. Here, too, he met the spirits came across a boar in a large and deep
Nausicaa, who has gone to the seashore
meadow. Because of the meadow's depth,
the three hunters were ambushed by the
seemingly invisible boar and when
Odysseus first saw the animal, he rushed
at it but the animal was too fast and
slashed him in the right thigh. Despite
being gored by the boar, Odysseus still hit
his mark and stabbed the boar through
the shoulder. Odysseus' bleeding was
staunched by a spell that was chanted by
the sons of Autolycus and he received
great glory and treasure for his
bravery[6]. Having seen this scar,
Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about
Odysseus' true identity, but Athena makes
sure that Penelope cannot hear Eurykleia.
Meanwhile Odysseus swears her to
secrecy, threatening to kill her if she tells
anyone. The next day, at Athena’s
prompting, Penelope maneuvers the
suitors into competing for her hand with
an archery competition using Odysseus'
bow. The man who can string the bow and
shoot it through a dozen axe heads would
win. Odysseus takes part in the
competition himself; he alone is strong
enough to string the bow and shoot it
through the dozen axe heads, making him
the winner. He turns his arrows on the
suitors and with the help of Athena,
Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoteus the
cowherd, all the suitors are killed.
Odysseus and Telemachus hang twelve of
their household maids, who betrayed
Penelope and/or had sex with the suitors;
they mutilate and kill the goatherd
Melanthius, who had mocked and abused
Odysseus. Now at last, Odysseus identifies
himself to Penelope. She is hesitant, but
accepts him when he mentions that their
bed was made from an olive tree still
rooted to the ground. Many modern and
ancient scholars take this to be the
original ending of the Odyssey, and the
rest is an interpolation.
The next day he and Telemachus visit the
country farm of his old father Laertes, who
likewise accepts his identity only when
Odysseus correctly describes the orchard
that Laertes once gave him.
The citizens of Ithaca have followed
Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge
the killing of the suitors, their sons. Their
leader points out that Odysseus has now
caused the deaths of two generations of
the men of Ithaca—his sailors, not one of
whom survived, and the suitors, whom he
has now executed. The goddess Athena
intervenes and persuades both sides to
give up the vendetta. After this, Ithaca is
at peace once more, concluding the
Odyssey. Yet Odysseus' journey is not
complete, as he is still fated to wander.
The gods have decreed that Odysseus
cannot rest until he wanders so far inland
that he meets a people who have never
heard of an oar or of the sea. He then
must build a shrine and sacrifice before he
can return home for good.
BOOK I
Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero
who travelled far and wide after he had
sacked the famous town of Troy. Many
cities did he visit, and many were the
nations with whose manners and customs
he was acquainted; moreover he suffered
much by sea while trying to save his own
life and bring his men safely home; but do
what he might he could not save his men,
for they perished through their own sheer
folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god
Hyperion; so the god prevented them
from ever reaching home. Tell me, too,
about all these things, O daughter of Jove,
from whatsoever source you may know
them.
So now all who escaped death in battle or
by shipwreck had got safely home except
Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to
return to his wife and country, was
detained by the goddess Calypso, who
had got him into a large cave and wanted
to marry him. But as years went by, there
came a time when the gods settled that
he should go back to Ithaca; even then,
however, when he was among his own
people, his troubles were not yet over;
nevertheless all the gods had now begun
to pity him except Neptune, who still
persecuted him without ceasing and
would not let him get home.
Now Neptune had gone off to the
Ethiopians, who are at the world's end,
and lie in two halves, the one looking
West and the other East. He had gone
there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and
oxen, and was enjoying himself at his
festival; but the other gods met in the
house of Olympian Jove, and the sire of
gods and men spoke first. At that moment
he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had
been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes;
so he said to the other gods:
"See now, how men lay blame upon us
gods for what is after all nothing but their
own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must
needs make love to Agamemnon's wife
unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon,
though he knew it would be the death of
him; for I sent Mercury to warn him not to
do either of these things, inasmuch as
Orestes would be sure to take his revenge
when he grew up and wanted to return
home. Mercury told him this in all good
will but he would not listen, and now he
has paid for everything in full."
BOOK XXIV
Then Minerva said to Jove, "Father, son of Eupeithes' helmet, and the spear went
Saturn, king of kings, answer me this
question- What do you propose to do? Will not, and his armour rang rattling round
you set them fighting still further, or will him as he fell heavily to the ground.
you make peace between them?"
And Jove answered, "My child, why should their swords and spears; indeed, they
you ask me? Was it not by your own
arrangement that Ulysses came home and prevented them from ever getting home
took his revenge upon the suitors? Do
whatever you like, but I will tell you what I aloud, and made every one pause. "Men
think will be most reasonable
arrangement. Now that Ulysses is
revenged, let them swear to a solemn
covenant, in virtue of which he shall
continue to rule, while we cause the
others to forgive and forget the massacre
of their sons and brothers. Let them then
all become friends as heretofore, and let
peace and plenty reign."
This was what Minerva was already eager
to bring about, so down she darted from
off the topmost summits of Olympus.
Now when Laertes and the others had
done dinner, Ulysses began by saying,
"Some of you go out and see if they are
not getting close up to us." So one of
Dolius's sons went as he was bid.
Standing on the threshold he could see
them all quite near, and said to Ulysses,
"Here they are, let us put on our armour
at once."
They put on their armour as fast as they
could- that is to say Ulysses, his three
men, and the six sons of Dolius. Laertes
also and Dolius did the same- warriors by
necessity in spite of their grey hair. When
they had all put on their armour, they
opened the gate and sallied forth, Ulysses
leading the way.
Then Jove's daughter Minerva came up to
them, having assumed the form and voice
of Mentor. Ulysses was glad when he saw
her, and said to his son Telemachus,
"Telemachus, now that are about to fight
in an engagement, which will show every
man's mettle, be sure not to disgrace your
ancestors, who were eminent for their
strength and courage all the world over."
"You say truly, my dear father," answered
Telemachus, "and you shall see, if you
will, that I am in no mind to disgrace your
family."
Laertes was delighted when he heard this.
"Good heavens, he exclaimed, "what a
day I am enjoying: I do indeed rejoice at
it. My son and grandson are vying with
one another in the matter of valour."
On this Minerva came close up to him and
said, "Son of Arceisius- best friend I have
in the world- pray to the blue-eyed
damsel, and to Jove her father; then poise
your spear and hurl it."
As she spoke she infused fresh vigour into
him, and when he had prayed to her he
poised his spear and hurled it. He hit
right through it, for the helmet stayed it
Meantime Ulysses and his son fell the
front line of the foe and smote them with
would have killed every one of them, and
again, only Minerva raised her voice
of Ithaca," she cried, cease this dreadful
war, and settle the matter at once without
further bloodshed."

On this pale fear seized every one; they

were so frightened that their arms
dropped from their hands and fell upon
the ground at the sound of the goddess's
voice, and they fled back to the city for
their lives. But Ulysses gave a great cry,
and gathering himself together swooped
down like a soaring eagle. Then the son of
Saturn sent a thunderbolt of fire that fell
just in front of Minerva, so she said to
Ulysses, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,
stop this warful strife, or Jove will be angry
with you."

Thus spoke Minerva, and Ulysses obeyed

her gladly. Then Minerva assumed the
form and voice of Mentor, and presently
made a covenant of peace between the
two contending parties.