The Odyssey
By Homer
I. The narrator invokes Calliope, muse of epic poetry.
Odysseus is the only Greek hero that has not returned home after the Trojan War.
He is trapped on the Island of Ogygia by the sea nymph Calypso, who has fallen in love
with him and refused to let him leave.
Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, suitors are trying to court Penelope.
Telemachus then finds Penelope weeping over a song about Greek sufferings during the
return form Tory.
Telemachus rebukes Penelope, reminding her that other did not return either.
Telemachus tells the suitors that tomorrow he will dismiss them from the estate.
Antinous and Eurymachus rebuke Telemachus.
II. The assembly begins with Aegyptius praising Telemachus for taking Odysseus’ office.
Telemachus publicly rebukes the suitors for consuming Odysseus’ estate while courting
Penelope, instead of just asking Penelope’s father, Icarius.
Antinous blames Penelope for seducing all of but not marrying any of the suitors.
Antinous reminds the crowd of Penelope’s ploy to avoid remarriage: She refused to marry
until she had finished Laertes’ burial shroud, but every night she would undo what
she had done during the day.
An omen appears: a pair of eagles fighting.
Halitherses, the soothsayer, interprets this to mean Odysseus will return, but the suitors do
not accept this.
Athena, disguised as Telemachus, recruits a crew for the voyage to Pylos and Sparta.
Telemachus tells no one of his trip, except the wise nurse Eurycleia.
III. Telemachus and Athena (disguised as Mentor) arrive at Pylos and witness a mass sacrifice of
bulls to Poseidon.
Athena aids Telemachus in speaking to King Nestor.
Nestor tells Telemachus that after Troy fell, Agamemnon and Menelaus had a falling out.
Nestor went home with Menelaus, but Odysseus left a day later with Agamemnon.
Thus, Nestor cannot offer any news.
Nestor tells Telemachus about Orestes, the son of Agamemnon that killed Aegisthus, a
coward that seduced Clytemnestra and killed Agamemnon.
Nestor sends his son, Pisistratus, along with Telemachus to Sparta.
Athena changes form Nestor to an eagle and stays behind to guard Telemachus’ ship.
IV. Telemachus and Pisistratus travel to Sparta on foot, and greet Menelaus and Helen.
Helen tells how Odysseus infiltrated Tory disguised as a beggar.
Menelaus tells of the Trojan Horse, which was Odysseus’ idea.
The next day, Menelaus recounts his journey home.
When he was stranded in Egypt, Menelaus had to capture Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea,
to learn the way back to Sparta.
Proteus told Menelaus about Agamemnon, Ajax, and Odysseus.
Full of hope, Telemachus returns to Pylos to sail for Ithaca.
The suitors, however, plan an ambush for Telemachus on his return; Medon informs
Penelope.
Penelope is distraught, but Athena sends a phantasm of Penelope’s sister, Iphthime, to
reassure her.
V. Athena, during a council of the gods, convinces Zeus to send Hermes to tell Calypso to free
Odysseus.
Calypso complains that male gods are allowed mortal lovers, but female gods are not.
Nonetheless, she helps Odysseus build and stock a ship; Odysseus leaves for Scheria.
Poseidon, returning from a trip, spots Odysseus and almost kills him with a storm.
The goddess Ino gives Odysseus a veil to protect him in the water after the shipwreck;
Athena also helps Odysseus survive the strong waves and rocks.
Odysseus finally gets to land and returns the veil to the water.
VI. Athena appears to Nausicaa in a dream, and tells her to go to the river to wash her cloths.
A naked Odysseus stumbles upon her and her companions, who are also naked.
After a bath, Athena makes Odysseus look especially handsome to Nausicaa.
Nausicaa tells Odysseus how to get to the palace of the Phaeacians and how to approach
Queen Arete.
VII. On his way to the Phaeacian palace, Odysseus meets Athena disguised as a young girl
She covers him in a mist that protects him from the Phaeacians, who are not used to
foreigners. She also tells him to direct his plea to Queen Arete.
Odysseus admires the festival in honor of Poseidon and the richness of the palace.
He throws himself at the Queen’s feet, but does not reveal who he is.
The King and Queen offer to give him a Phaeacian ship.
Later, Arete recognizes his cloths as Nausicaa’s, and Odysseus reveals the incident.
Alcinous offers Nausicaa’s hand in marriage.
VIII. Alcinous and the council of his advisors approve giving Odysseus a ship.
Alcinous holds a feat in Odysseus’ honor, but when Demodocus sings of the Trojan War,
Odysseus weeps and the feast is ended and games begun.
The games include boxing, wrestling, racing, and the discus.
Broadsea insults Odysseus for not playing, and this angers Odysseus enough to join the
discuss throw and win.
Odysseus then offers to win any other form of competition, and this almost causes a fight.
Alcinous stops this by holding another feast, where Demodocus sings a story in which
Aphrodite has an affair with Ares but is caught by her husband, Hephaestus
Afterwards, all the Phaeacian men give gifts to Odysseus.
At dinner that night, Odysseus asks Demodocus to sing of the Trojan Horse.
When Odysseus weeps again, Alcinous asks to know his identity.
IX. Odysseus relates his story:
After Troy, Odysseus and his crew are swept to Ismarus, land of the Cicones.
They plunder the land, but are then driven away by the Cicones.
A storm sent by Zeus fills their sails for some time, and they eventually land at the land of
the Lotus-eaters.
The natives give members of Odysseus’s crew lotus fruit, which makes them forget all
desire to anything but stay and eat more of the lotus.
Odysseus drags the men back and sets sail again and land at the land of the Cyclopes.
They find milk and cheese in a cave, and, despite warnings from his men, Odysseus decides
to stay in the cave.
Polyphemus, inhabitant of the cave, returns, eats two men, and captures Odysseus.
The next night, Odysseus gets Polyphemus drunk and claims his name is “Nobody.”
Odysseus and his men drive a hot stick into Polyphemus’ eye, but when Polyphemus cries
for help, he yells, “Nobody’s killing me!”
Since only Polyphemus is strong enough to move the rock blocking the entrance to the cave,
Odysseus and his men sneak out by clinging to Polyphemus’ sheep.
The men make it to the ship, along with the sheep, and Odysseus shouts his name back.
Polyphemus prays to his father, Poseidon, to punish Odysseus.
X. The next stop is the land of Aeolus, god of the winds, who gives Odysseus a bad containing the
winds.
The crew comes within sight of Ithaca, but the crew, thinking gold is in the bag, tear it open.
This releases a storm that brings the whole crew back to the land of Aeolus.
Aeolus refuses to help them again, thinking that Odysseus is hated by the gods.
The Achaeans row to the land of the giant Laestrygonians.
The giants eat Odysseus’ scouts, and throw boulders to sink every ship except Odysseus’.
Next, the crew travels to Aeaea, land of the witch Circe.
Circe uses a magical drug to change a group of Odysseus’ men into pigs.
Hermes tells Odysseus to eat a herb called moly to protect himself form the drug.
Odysseus does so, defeats Circe, and has the men changed back.
Odysseus becomes Circe’s lover and he and his men live with her for a year before leaving.
Circe tells Odysseus he must go see Tiresias in Hades to learn the way back home.
XI. Odysseus and his men travel to the land of the Cimmerians and pour out libations, like Circe
had told them, to attract the spirits of the dead.
Elpenor appears first and asks them to return to Aeaea and give his body a proper burial.
Next, the Theban prophet Tiresias tells Odysseus that Poseidon harbors a grudge for the
blinding of Polyphemus.
Tiresias revels that Odysseus will make it back home and later appease Poseidon.
Tiresias warns that if Odysseus touches the flocks of the sun, his whole crew will die.
Odysseus speaks to his mother Anticleia, who died of grief waiting for his return.
Odysseus tries to end his story there, but Alcinous and Arete ask if he met any of the heroes
that fell in the Trojan War.
Odysseus had met Agamemnon, who told of his sad death, Achilles, who asked about his
son, Neoptolemus, and Ajax, who refused to speak because he had killed himself
after losing a contest to Odysseus over Achilles’ gear.
Odysseus also witnesses the punishments of Sisyphus and Tantalus.
XII. The crew returns to Aeaea to burry Elpenor, and Odysseus has one last night with Circe.
When passing the island of the Sirens, Odysseus plugs his men’s ears and has them tie him
to the mast of the ship so that he can hear their song safely.
They try to avoid Scylla, but fail, and the monster eats six men, one for each of its heads.
After passing Charybdis, Eurylochus convinces Odysseus to stop at the sun god’s island.
A storm keeps them on the island for a month, and when provisions run out, Eurylochus
persuades the men to kill the sun god’s livestock against Odysseus’ orders.
The sun gods asks Zeus to punish the crew, so Zeus sends a storm that kills all but Odysseus
Odysseus floats to Calypso’s island on the broken wreckage of his ship.
XIII. Odysseus sleeps during the whole journey to Ithaca, and the Phaeacian crew carries him and
his gifts ashore.
Poseidon gets angry with the Phaeacians and gets Zeus’s permission to punish them.
As the ship that carried Odysseus is coming in to harbor, it turns to stone and sinks.
This causes the Phaeacians to decide not to help any more lost travelers.
Athena covers Ithaca in a mist so that Odysseus does not recognize it.
He thinks the Phaeacians have tricked him until Athena comes to him disguised as a
Shepherd and reassures him that it is indeed his homeland.
Odysseus avoids revealing his identity until Athena reveals hers.
This pleases Athena, who tells him to hide with Eumaeus, his old pig herder.
Athena also makes Odysseus look like an old beggar.
XIV. Odysseus goes to the hut of Eumaeus, who gives him a warm meal without recognizing him.
Eumaeus praises Odysseus and speaks badly of the suitors.
Odysseus predicts that Odysseus will return, but Eumaeus says that many vagabonds have
made up news like this to get handouts from Penelope.
Odysseus makes up a story about his origins, saying he is from Crete.
XV. Athena appears to Telemachus, who is currently at Menelaus’ palace, in a dream.
She tells him to hurry home, tells him about the ambush, and tells him to go to Eumaeus’
house first
As Telemachus leaves Sparta, an eagle carrying a goose swoops down next to him; Helen
interprets this to mean that Odysseus will return soon.
Telemachus boards his ship immediately, without seeing Pisistratus home or seeing Nestor
again.
Theoclymenus asks Telemachus because he is fleeing the law; Telemachus agrees.
Meanwhile, Odysseus, still disguised, offers to leave Eumaeus and work for the suitors, but
Eumaeus will not let him and warns that such an act would be suicide.
Eumaeus tells of his origins: He is the son of a king who was stolen by Phoenician pirates
and eventually bought and raised by Laertes.
Telemachus reaches Ithaca and sees a hawk carrying a dove, symbol of the strength of his line.
XVI. Telemachus finds Eumaeus and the disguised Odysseus, but is unwilling to go to the palace.
Eumaeus goes to the palace to tell Penelope of Telemachus’ arrival.
Athena removes Odysseus’ disguise, and father and son are reunited.
Odysseus reveals his plan: He will go to the palace disguised as a beggar. Telemachus will
hide the palace’s weapons. Then, the two will use the weapons to kill the suitors.
A messenger tells Penelope, before Eumaeus can, that Telemachus has returned, thus
revealing that the suitors’ ambush has failed.
Antinous suggest killing Telemachus before he can call an assembly, but Amphinomus
convinces him to wait for a sign form the gods before doing something so grave.
Penelope finds Antinous and gets mad at him for his plot against her son, but Eurymachus
calms her down with lies about his concern for Telemachus.
XVII. Telemachus goes to the palace and greets Penelope and their nurse Eurycleia.
Over a meal, Telemachus reveals what he heard in Sparta, but not that Odysseus is back.
Theoclymenus prophetically declares that Odysseus in on Ithaca at the very moment.
When Odysseus and Eumaeus reach the palace, they are treated scornfully by the suitors.
Antinous insults Odysseus, who retorts, prompting Antinous to hit Odysseus with a stool.
Penelope hears of this and asks to see the beggar.
XVIII. Arnaeus shows up at the palace, challenges Odysseus to a boxing match, and looses.
As a prize, Amphinomus toasts Odysseus and gives hi food.
Odysseus takes pity on Amphinomus and warns him, but Athena keeps him form leaving.
Athena inspires Penelope to appear before the suitors, and the goddess enhances her beauty.
Penelope tells the suitors to bring her gifts instead of using up her estate; They do.
When Odysseus asks the maidservants to go to Penelope, Melantho insults him.
Athena inspires Eurymachus to insult Odysseus and, when Odysseus retorts, to throw a
stool at him.
The stool misses, hits a servant, and would have caused a riot had Telemachus not stepped in.
XIX. Odysseus and Telemachus hide the palace arms, as they had planned.
Penelope comes to question her visitor about Odysseus, who claims that he fought with
Odysseus at Troy and later heard word of Odysseus while in Egypt.
Eurycleia washes Odysseus’ feet and recognizes a scar that he received when hunting boar
with his grandfather, Autolycus. She agrees to keep his secret.
Penelope describes a dream in which an eagle kills her pet geese; Odysseus explains it.
Nevertheless, Penelope says that she will marry the man that can fire an arrow through the
holes of twelve axes.
XX. Odysseus is restless with the fear that he cannot defeat the suitors; Athena reassures him.
Penelope, distraught with the loss of Odysseus and her commitment to marry again, asks
Artemis to kill her.
She unknowingly wakes Odysseus, who asks Zeus for a favorable omen, which he gets in
the form of a thunder clap followed by the hearing of a maid cursing the suitors.
The next day, the suitors are again plotting Telemachus’ death, but once again, Amphinomus
stops them, sighting the unfavorable omen of an eagle clutching a dove.
Ctesippus insults Odysseus at dinner, and the suitors laugh.
The walls of the room and the suitors appear covered in blood and the faces of the suitors
begin to look ghastly, signs of doom, according to Theoclymenus.
XXI. Penelope offers to marry the suitor that can string Odysseus’ bow and then use it to fire an
arrow through a line of 12 axes.
Odysseus reveals himself to Eumaeus and Philoetius, and asks for their allegiance.
Though the suitors try to stop him, Odysseus strings the bow and shoot thought the axes.
XXII. Odysseus then turns his bow on Antinous and reveals his true identity.
Eurymachus tries to clam Odysseus. When unsuccessful, he charges him, but is shot down.
Telemachus kills Amphinomus with a spear.
Telemachus goes to the storeroom to arm Eumaeus and Philoetius, but does not lock the door.
Melanthius goes to the storeroom to get arms for the suitors.
On his second trip, Eumaeus and Philoetius catch Melanthius and lock him in the room.
Athena appears as Mentor to encourage Odysseus, but wants to see him fight on his own.
After a while, Athena joins and the battle ends swiftly.
Odysseus spares Phemius, the minstrel, and Medon, the herald, but kills the priest Leodes.
The unfaithful servant women are made to clean the corpses, and are then executed by
Telemachus at the order of Odysseus (But instead of killing them by the sword like
Odysseus said, Telemachus has them hung, which is more disgraceful).
Melanthius is tortured and killed.
Odysseus has the house cleaned.
XXIII. Eurycleia fetches the sleeping Penelope, who cannot believe the story.
Odysseus tells the family that they will need to be cautious for a while, since the nobles of
Ithaca will be furious over the slaughter of their sons.
Penelope, to test Odysseus, orders her bridal bed moved. This angers Odysseus, who claims
that the bed is the center of the house.
Penelope now knows Odysseus is real, and they are reunited.
The next day, Odysseus and Telemachus leave to Laertes’ orchard, cloaked in darkness by
Athena so that no one will see them.
XXIV. Hermes leads the souls of the suitors into Hades.
Agamemnon and Achilles are seen arguing over who had the more glorious death.
The two see the entering suitors, and Amphimedon gives an account of what has happened.
Meanwhile, Odysseus is reunited with Laertes, who has aged much with grief.
Odysseus and Laertes have lunch with Dolius, father of Melanthius and Melantho.
The goddess Rumor spreads the account of what happened at the palace throughout the area.
Eupithes, father of Antinous, rouses the nobles to go fight Odysseus.
The army reaches the house of Laertes, and Eupithes is killed by Laertes.
Athena, disguised as Mentor, makes the Ithacans forget what happened, and peace is restored.
Vocabulary of Importance
Nostos – return (as in Odysseus’ return home)
Polytropon – many turning (an epithet used for Odysseus… “the man of many turns”)
Theophany – showing forth of a god
Theomachia – god battle
Psycomachia – internal, mental battle
Thanatobasis – death or underworld journey
Kleos – fame of men
Moria – fate
Kairos – the proper (fated) time
Aidos – shame or the sense of what is right
Outis - nobody
Places
Ithaca – Odysseus’ home.
Ogygia – Calypso’s island.
Scheria – home of the Phaeacians.
Ismarus – land of the Cicones. This is the first place Odysseus is swept to after Troy. Odysseus and his
men plunder the land, but are then driven off by the Cicones.
Aeaea – land of Circe.
Thrinacia – island of the sun and the sun god’s livestock.
Odysseus’ Family
Penelope – Odysseus’ wife.
Telemachus – Odysseus’ son, the prince.
Icarius – Penelope’s father.
Iphthime – sister to Penelope; Athena appears to Penelope disguised as this character to reassure her about
Telemachus’ safety.
Laertes – Odysseus’s father, and Telemachus’ godfather.
Anticleia – Odysseus’ mother.
Autolycus – Odysseus’ grandfather, whit whom Odysseus went boar hunting and received a scar on his foot
(the scar that allowed Eurycleia to identify him in disguise).
Odysseus’ Friends, Helpers, and Servants
Mentor – an old friend of Odysseus; Athena disguises herself as Mentor to convince Telemachus that
Odysseus is not dead and that Telemachus must go to Pylos and Sparta. Athena uses this disguise
several other times throughout the story.
Medon – the Ithacan herald that overhears to ambush plans and informs Penelope. He is unwillingly
involved with the suitors, and Odysseus spares him in the end.
Eumaeus – Odysseus’ pig herder that becomes one of Odysseus’ most faithful allies in Ithaca.
Philoetius – a herdsman that has not yet given up on the possibility of Odysseus’ return.
Eurycleia – Odysseus’ nurse and the only person in Ithaca to recognize Odysseus in disguise.
Melantho – a maidservant at the palace that insults the disguised Odysseus; She is an example of servants
that have come to like the suitors.
Phemius – a minstrel that is unwillingly involved with the suitors. Odysseus spares him.
Ino – a goddess that gives Odysseus a veil that protects him from Poseidon’s storm.
Aeolus – god of the winds who gives Odysseus a bag containing the winds.
Tiresias – a blind Theban prophet that tells Odysseus of Poseidon’s grudge, reveals Odysseus’ fate, and
warns Odysseus not to touch the Sun god’s flocks.
Eurylochus – a member of the crew that reproaches Odysseus. He later convinces Odysseus to stay on the
sun god’s island and convinces the men to eat the sun god’s herds.
Elpenor – a young companion of Odysseus that falls from a roof while in a drunken sleep and breaks his
neck the night before the crew’s departure form Aeaea.
Suitors
Antinous – one of Penelope’s suitors that plans to assassinate Telemachus
Eurymachus – another suitor that takes Antinous’ side.
Amphinomus – one of the nicer suitors that persuades Antinous to wait for a sign from the gods before
killing Telemachus.
Ctesippus – a wealthy suitor that throws a cow hoof at Odysseus during dinner.
Amphimedon – one of the suitors that knew Agamemnon and who relates the battle with Odysseus to
Agamemnon and Achilles when the souls enter Hades.
Dolius – the father of Melanthius and Melantho who has Lunch with Odysseus and Laertes.
Eupithes – father of Antinous who is killed by Laertes.
Phaeacians
Nausicaa – Princess of the Phaeacians.
Alcinous – King of the Phaeacians.
Arete – Queen of the Phaeacians.
Odysseus’ Obstacles
Cicones – the men of Ismarus.
Circe – a witch goddess.
Calypso – a sea nymph that falls in love with Odysseus and imprisons him on her island.
Polyphemus – a son of Poseidon, this Cyclops is the inhabitant of the cave that Odysseus and his men find in
the land of the Cyclopes.
Laestrygonians – the giants that destroy Odysseus’ fleet.
Antiphates – king of the Laestrygonians.
Sirens – creatures that live on an island sing a beautiful song promising to reveal the future.
Scylla – a six-headed monster that eats six men from each passing ship.
Charybdis – a huge whirlpool.
Broadsea – a Phaeacian athlete that insults Odysseus but subsequently gets owned in a discuss throw.
Arnaeus – another beggar who shows up at the palace, challenges Odysseus to a boxing match, and looses.
Friends of Telemachus
Nestor – King of Pylos and companion of Odysseus during the Trojan War.
Pisistratus – Nestor’s son who accompanies Telemachus to Sparta.
Menelaus – King of Sparta and companion of Odysseus during the Trojan War.
Aegyptius – an Ithacan elder that praises Telemachus before Telemachus’ public address.
Theoclymenus – a descendant of a prophet, this character approaches Telemachus and asks to come with him
to Ithaca because he is fleeing the law (he committed manslaughter).
Piraeus – a loyal sailor to whom Telemachus entrusts Theoclymenus.
Other Characters
Halitherses – an Ithacan soothsayer that interprets the fighting eagles to mean Odysseus will return.
Aegisthus – a coward that stayed behind during the Trojan War, seduced Agamemnon’s wife, and later kills
Agamemnon.
Clytemnestra – Agamemnon’s wife; She gives approval to Aegisthus to kill Agamemnon.
Orestes – the son of Agamemnon that kills Aegisthus.
Proteus – the Old Man of the Sea that Menelaus must capture to find his way back to Sparta; This seer also
gives Menelaus news of Agamemnon, Ajax, and Odysseus.
Neoptolemus – the son of Achilles, about whom the spirit of Achilles asks when speaking to Odysseus.
Sisyphus – a man cursed to push a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down every time.
Tantalus – a man hungry and thirsty cursed to live in a pool of water surrounded by grape branches that
shrink out of his grasp every time he tries to eat or drink.
Leodes – a priest that is involved with the suitors. Odysseus does not spare him.
Halitherses – a prophet that tells the council of noblemen that their sons got what they deserved.