❖ Troy -​ Troy was a city that was
besieged for 10 years during the
Trojan War. Thanks to Odysseus
and his Trojan Horse, it was
eventually conquered by a Greek
army led by King Agamemnon.
Odysseus and his men then began the
trip home to Ithaca.
❖ Ismarus - ​ Ismarus was a city-port
in Thrace, inhabited by the Cicones, a
Thracian tribe. Odysseus plundered
the island until the reinforced ranks
of the Cicones turned on them and attacked.
❖ Isle of the Lotus Eaters​ - A storm
sent by Zeus swept them along for
nine days before bringing them to
the land of the Lotus-eaters, where the
natives gave some of Odysseus's men
the intoxicating fruit of the lotus. As
soon as they ate the fruit, they lost all
thoughts of home and longed for nothing
more than to stay there.
❖ The Cyclops​ - Odysseus and his men
met the Cyclops next; they sheltered in
his cave, where he trapped them.
They escaped by blinding the
Cyclops and hiding under his sheep.
As they left the Cyclops cursed Odysseus
with a long and hard voyage home.
❖ Aeloia -​ He next arrived on the floating
lands of Aeolia, where the king “Aeolus”
gave Odysseus favourable wind and a
bag in which the unfavourable winds
were confined. Odysseus' companions
opened the bag; the winds escaped and
drove them back to the island.
❖ Laestrygones -​ When Odysseus and
his men landed on the island native to
the Laestrygones, the giant’s pelted
Odysseus's ships with boulders, sinking
all but Odysseus's ship.
❖ Circe -​ Odysseus and his remaining men
then stayed at Aeaea, home of the enchantress
Circe. Circe had magic powers, which she
used to turn some of Odysseus's men into
pigs. They stayed for one year before leaving.
❖ Land of the Dead - ​Odysseus asked Circe
for the way back to Ithaca. She told him
he must sail to Hades, the realm of the dead,
to speak with the spirit of Tiresias, a blind
prophet who will tell him how to get home.
Tiresias tells Odysseus that he will return
to reclaim his palace and wife from
contemptible suitors.
❖ The Sirens -​ They next approached the
island of the Sirens, and Odysseus,
as instructed by Circe, plugged his men’s
ears with beeswax and had them bind him
to the mast of the ship. He alone heard
their song flowing forth from the island,
promising to reveal the future. The
song was so seductive that Odysseus begged
to be released, but his
faithful men only bound him tighter.
❖ Scylla and Charybdis -​ After the Sirens, Odysseus and
his men navigated the straits between
Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla was a
six-headed monster who, when the ship passed,
swallowed one sailor for each head. Charybdis
was an enormous whirlpool that threatened
to swallow the entire ship.
❖ Helios​ - They next reached the island of the Sun.
Eurylochus convinced the men to eat the Cattle
of the Sun: it's better to die at sea from the wrath
of the gods, he said, than to die of hunger. The
sun-god Helios angrily asked Zeus and the other
gods to punish Odysseus's crew for killing his
cattle and Zeus complied with terrible storms.
❖ Calypso - ​After Zeus’s curse, Odysseus alone
washed up on Calypso’s island. ​ ​Calypso
was an immortal goddess who held
Odysseus prisoner for seven years and forced him to
be her lover. With the help of Athena and
Hermes, he eventually left on a raft.
❖ Scheria​ - ​Odysseus sailed from Calypso's island to
Phaeacia on his raft. He washed up on the shores
of Phaeacia and was clothed and fed. The next day,
the king and queen implored him of his travels,
and he told them of his hardships.
❖ Ithaca - Odysseus lived in Ithaca and was its rightful ruler. Homer described it as being
"low-lying" and farthest to the west. Throughout “The Odyssey” Odysseus is journeying
to return to Ithaca.