Brief Summary of
Homer’s Odyssey
Dr. Alan J. M. Haffa
Beginning in Ithaka
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10 years after the other Greeks have come
home from Troy and 20 years after leaving for
the war, Odysseus and the men of Ithaka have
yet to return
The nobles of Ithaka and surrounding area are
wooing his Queen, Penelope, eating his food,
drinking his wine, and abusing his servants and
son
Telemachus is visited by Athena in disguise and
the question of his succession and the future
kingship of Ithaka is raised
Telemachus’ Journey
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The boy outfits a ship and sails to Pylos to seek
out news of his father and is entertained by
Nestor
He goes by chariot to Sparta and is entertained
by Menelaos and the reunited Helen
He learns of the homecoming of the other
Greeks; Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and
Orestes; Aias dead in an earthquake from
Poseidon; Odysseus is still alive, but a
castaway on the island of Calypso
The suitors plan an ambush on the sea for
Telemachus’ return
Odysseus with Calypso
(year 9)
He has spent 7 years, shipwrecked on the
island of Calypso after Poseidon sunk his
ship
 Counsel of the God’s decides O.’s
homecoming—on a raft for 20 days he is
to land on the island of the Phaeacians
and they are to bear him home with gifts
 Hermes tells Calypso she must help O.
and she agrees but is not happy
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Phaeacians
After another storm, O. washes up on the
island of the Phaeacians—a semi-divine
people
 Supplication of Nausikaa; Queen Arete
and King Alcinoos.
 Hospitality: Games and feasting
 Storytelling: First by the aiodos
Demodokos, then Odysseus tells his own
story
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Odysseus’ story (books 912)
Kikones’ battle
 Cyclops—Polyphemus; capture in cave
and then escape; Angered Poseidon,
father of Cyclopes; Zeus rejects the
offerings made to him from the sheep of
Polyphemus; plans for the destruction of
the ships
 Aeolus, the Wind God treats them
hospitably; good winds blow them, but the
men open the bag and the bad winds
blow them back
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Kirke the Witch, Two years
there
Men turned to Swine
 Odysseus with the help of Hermes saves
the men
 They are treated hospitably
 Finally them men beseech him to go
home; he supplicates Kirke to give him
advice
 He must sail to the land of the dead and
get advice from the dead Prophet,
Teiresias
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The Dead and Prophecy
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Sacrifice to the dead, which enlivens them to
speak
Dead companion—Elpenor, begs for burial
Agamemnon and Achilles speak to him
His mother and other famous women
The Prophet tells him that P. plans punishment:
Self Denial and Restrain of his shipmates is the
only way to get home; he must avoid the oxen
of the sun god, Helios, or he alone will come
home; At home he must kill the suitors and then
journey inland to where men do not know an oar
and plant it
Return Journey Failed
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Return to Kirce; burial of Elpenor; She warns
him of the Sirens and Scylla and Charybdis
The Sirens tempt but they escape; they sail
through the narrows and Scylla eats some of his
men
They land in Africa and starving, with no wind,
the men eat the Oxen of Helios
Helios appeals to Zeus; He sends a lightening
bolt to Shipwreck and only Odysseus survives
on the island of Calypso
Homecoming
The Phaeacians return O. to Ithaka in
disguise as a beggar;
 Poseidon goes to Zeus to complain about
O’s homecoming; in punishment the ship
of the Phaeacians is turned to stone by
Poseidon just outside the harbor, hiding
the city from the ocean; in future they will
not receive guests or give them transport
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The Beggar
Odysseus receives hospitality from his
Swine Herd, Eumaios
 He meets Telemachus there
 He reveals himself and they plan his
return in disguise
 The suitors treat him badly
 He fights another beggar
 He speaks to Penelope about “Odysseus”
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The King Revealed
Penelope proposes a competition with
O’s bow
 No one can string it
 Telemachus strings it but doesn’t shoot it
 Odysseus shoots the arrow through the
rings and the battle begins
 He, Telemachus, and his two servants kill
some 50 suitors in the Hall
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Justice?
He refuses the supplications of most
and kills them all
 Except the Singer and the Herald
 Telemachus vouches for both
 The slave girls who slept with the
suitors and disrespected Penelope
are hung
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Husband and Wife
Penelope refuses to believe it is
Odysseus—she has been fooled too
many times
 She orders his bed to be moved and set
outside the chamber
 He gets angry—the bed could not be
moved unless some other man has been
there and uprooted it—carved from a
single tree
 They embrace in love and tell each other
their stories
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Final Battle
The family of the suitors organize and
attack
 Odysseus, father Laertes, son
Telemachus, and his loyal servants
and people fight them off
 They would have killed all the rebels if
Athena had not stopped it; Peace is
made with Athena’s help
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