Synopsis of Homer’s Odyssey: Books 1-11 1
Book 1
The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not
returned home. Odysseus' son Telemachus is approaching manhood and shares his absent
father’s house on the island of Ithaca (off the west coast of Greece) with his mother Penelope
and a crowd of about 100 boisterous young men. The aim of these “Suitors” is to persuade
Penelope to marry one of them, as they take advantage of the hospitality of Odysseus' household
and devour his wealth/cattle. Odysseus’ protectress, the goddess Athena, discusses the fate of
Odysseus with Zeus, king of the gods, at a moment when Odysseus' enemy, the god of the sea
Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus (and dining with the Ethiopians). Then, disguised as a
man named Mentes, she visits Telemachus and urges him to search for news of his father. That
night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true Telemachus.
Book 2
The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be
done with the Suitors. One of the Suitors points out that Penelope has delayed remarriage
through trickery and has also kept the Suitors around by sending some of them promising
messages. Telemachus reveals his frustration with the Suitors and inability to handle them.
Then, as encouraged again by Athena now disguised as Mentor, Telemachus launches on a
journey that will function in part as a rite of passage, a kind-of road trip during which
Telemachus will become a man so that he can help his father kill the Suitors later in the Odyssey.
Book 3
Telemachus is hospitably received at the seaport of Pylos by Nestor who compares Telemachus
with Orestes. Nestor knows almost nothing about the travels of Odysseus.
Book 4
Looking for more information about his father, Telemachus sets out overland to Sparta, where he
visits Menelaus and Helen. They are celebrating the marriages of two of their children, but this
celebration becomes more like a funeral banquet, as they talk about the friends they have lost.
To relieve everyone’s grief, Helen distributes a drug with sinister overtones. In this way and in
others, Helen reveals qualities of a female type known as the femme fatale. Telemachus hears
stories from Menelaus and Helen that underscore the ingenuity of his father, but in very different
ways, some of which remind the audience of Helen’s adultery and treachery. Incidentally,
Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon (axed to death by his wife on the
night of his return from Troy), and is again compared with Orestes.
Book 5
For the first time, we now see Odysseus on the island of the nymph Calypso, where he has spent
the last seven years as her Boy Toy, but is now dissatisfied and weeping on the beach out of
1
Adapted from Charlotte Higgins, It’s All Greek to Me, Reinhold Meyer, Essentials of Greek and Roman Classics, and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey.
desire to return home. Calypso is ordered to release Odysseus by the messenger and
psychopomp (escort of souls to the Underworld) Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in response
to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food and drink by Calypso. The
raft is wrecked by Poseidon, but Odysseus avoids drowning by removing the heavy clothes of
Calypso, and with the help of another, beneficent sea nymph. He eventually swims ashore on the
island of Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians, where, naked and exhausted, he falls asleep under
an olive tree.
Book 6
The next morning, awakened by the laughter of girls, Odysseus emerges from under the olive
tree in his birthday suit. He encounters the young Nausicaa, princess of the Phaeacians, who has
gone to the seashore with her maids to wash her wedding clothes, after being inspired to do so by
Athena who appeared to her in a dream. Odysseus appeals to her for help, after deftly rejecting
her hints at marriage. Nausicaa encourages him to seek the hospitality of her parents, Arete and
Alcinous.
Book 7
Odysseus is hospitably received in the court of the Phaeacians, and (again) turns down the offer
of Nausicaa’s hand in marriage.
Book 8
The court singer, Demodocus, tells a story concerning the Trojan War that causes Odysseus to
weep. To distract Odysseus from his sorrow, King Alcinous suggests athletic games. At first
Odysseus refuses, but then, after being goaded by a young Phaeacian, and being called a mere
“businessman,” Odysseus defeats the Phaeacians in athletic competition. Having returned to the
palace, they all listen to another tale sung by Demodocus, this time about the adultery of
Aphrodite with Ares, and how the two gods were caught in flagrante delicto by her husband,
Hephaestus. Finally, Odysseus asks Demodocus to return to the theme of the Trojan War and the
Trojan Horse, the brainchild of Odysseus that enabled the Greeks to sack Troy.
Books 9-12: The Adventures of Odysseus
Book 9
Unable to hide his emotions as he relives the episode of the Trojan Horse, Odysseus at last
reveals his identity. He then proceeds to tell the story of his return from Troy. After a piratical
raid and the loss of numerous crew members on the land of the Cicones, Odysseus and his
twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters who
gave two of his men their mind-erasing fruit. After compelling these men--now Lotus-junkies-to leave the island with them, Odysseus and his crew arrived at the island of the Cyclops,
Polyphemus. After Polyphemus devoured several of Odysseus’ crew, they got him drunk,
blinded his one eye, and escaped the next morning, by clinging to the bellies of Polyphemus’
sheep, as he let them out of the cave to graze. As Odysseus and his men were sailing away,
however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his name, and Polyphemus told his father,
Poseidon.
Book 10
Odysseus and his men stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds. He gave Odysseus a leather
bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return
home. However, the crew of Odysseus foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking
that it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the
way they had come, just as Ithaca had come into sight. After pleading in vain with Aeolus to
help them again, they re-embarked and encountered the cannibalistic Laestrygonians.
Approximately 500 hundred of Odysseus’ men were devoured, and Odysseus’s ship was the only
one to escape. He sailed on and visited the witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into
swine after feeding them cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave
Odysseus a drug called molê, an antidote to Circe’s magic. Circe, attracted by Odysseus'
cunning, fell in love with him and released his men. Odysseus and his crew remained with her on
the island for one year, while they feasted and drank and Odyssey and Circe had constant sex.
Finally, Odysseus' men convinced Odysseus that it was time to leave for Ithaca, after a drunken
fool named Antenor fell from Circe’s roof and broke his neck.
Book 11: Nekuia (Book of the Dead)
Guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at
the western edge of the world, at the entrance to the Underworld, where Odysseus sacrificed to
the dead and summoned the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias to advise him on his journey home.
Among other things, Tiresias warned Odysseus and his crew not to eat the cattle of the Helios.
Next, Odysseus met the spirit of his own mother, who had died of grief during his long absence.
From her, he learned for the first time news of his own household, and about the Suitors’
consumption of his estate and attempt to seduce Penelope. Others whom Odysseus met included
Agamemnon and Achilles. The former tells Odysseus about his murder at the hands of his own
wife Clytemnestra, and warns Odysseus about the treachery of women. Achilles expresses his
regret at having chosen a short, heroic life over a long ignominious one.