The Odyssey
Part One
The Homecoming
Book 1: A Goddess Intervenes
• Odysseus – King of Ithaca; Hero of the Trojan
War
• Penelope - Odysseus’ wife
• Telemachus - Odysseus’ son
• Penelope and Telemachus await Odysseus’
return on their home island of Ithaca
• While Odysseus has been gone, suitors have
taken over his home and demand that Penelope
choose a new husband from among them.
Book 5: Calypso, the Sweet Nymph
• Calypso is a water goddess who lives in a
cave on a beautiful tropical island
• She keeps Odysseus captive on her island
for seven years.
• Odysseus wants to return home because he
misses his wife and son.
• Zeus sends Hermes with a message to
Calypso to release Odysseus and help him
build a raft.
Book 9: New Coasts and
Poseidon’s Son
• Odysseus and his men land on the island of the
Lotus eaters.
• The Lotus is a honey plant and those who eat it
lose all longing for home.
• Odysseus encounters the Cyclops, Polyphemus.
• Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son.
• He captures Odysseus and his men, but
Odysseus escapes by getting him drunk and
blinding him.
Book 9: New Coasts and
Poseidon’s Son continued
• Odysseus shows great cunning by tying
himself and his men to the sheep and
sneaking out of the Cyclops’ cave.
• However, Odysseus shows pride and
arrogance by shouting his name back to
Polyphemus as they escape..
The Curse of Poseidon
• As a result, Polyphemus calls upon his
father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus.
• He asks that Odysseus never return
home…or if he does, that he loses his entire
crew and returns to bad events at home.
Book 10: Circe, the Grace
of the Witch
• When Odysseus’ men land on the Circe’s Island,
they drink her enchanted wine and turn into pigs.
• Hermes shows up to help Odysseus and gives him
a plant to make him immune to Circe’s magic.
• His men are turned back, but they all linger too
long.
• When he finally leaves, Circe sends Odysseus to
the Land of the Dead to hear the prophecy of
Tiresias.
Book 11: The Land of the Dead
• Odysseus and his men travel to the Land of
the Dead (the Underworld) to hear the
prophecy.
• Tiresias warns Odysseus that if his crew
raids the cattle of Helios (the Sun God), he
will lose his ship and his men and be lost at
sea for many years.
Book 12: The Sirens, Scylla
and Charybdis
Circe warns Odysseus of three dangers:
•
Sirens
–
•
Scylla
–
•
Creatures whose songs lure sailors to their death
Six-headed sea monster who devours sailors
Charybdis
–
A dangerous personified whirlpool that sucks in ships
The Sirens
• Men who hear the Siren’s song will lose their
minds and crash onto the rocks to their
death.
• Odysseus puts beeswax in his men’s ears to
protect them.
• Odysseus does not put beeswax in his ears
because he wants to hear the song.
• Instead, he has his men tie him to the stern.
Scylla & Charybdis
• Circe advises Odysseus to steer toward
Scylla and sacrifice six men because they
will not survive Charybdis.
• Odysseus did not warn his men because he
knew they would only panic.
• Homer uses an epic simile to compare
Scylla to a fisherman and Odysseus’ men to
the fish hanging from the hook.