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The Odyssey

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17 views14 pages

The Odyssey

Uploaded by

antheiakeene
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The

Odyssey
The ten year journey of
Odysseus
Ten years have passed since the fall of Troy, and the
Greek hero Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom
in Ithaca. A large and rowdy mob of suitors who have
overrun Odysseus’s palace and pillaged his land continue
to court his wife, Penelope. She has remained faithful to
Odysseus.
Prince Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, wants desperately to
throw them out but does not have the confidence or
experience to fight them.

One of the
suitors,
Antonius,
plans to
assassinate the young prince, eliminating the only
opposition to their dominion over the palace.
Unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive. The
beautiful nymph Calypso, possessed by love for him, has
imprisoned him on her island, Ogygia. He longs to return
to his wife and son, but he has no ship or crew to help
him escape

While the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus debate


Odysseus’s future, Athena, Odysseus’s strongest
supporter among the gods, resolves to help Telemachus.
Disguised as a friend of the prince’s grandfather, Laertes,
she convinces the prince to call a meeting of the
assembly at which he reproaches the suitors. Athena also
prepares him for a great journey to Pylos and Sparta,
where the kings Nestor and Menelaus, Odysseus’s
companions during the war, inform him that Odysseus is
alive and trapped on Calypso’s island.
Telemachus makes plans to return home, while, back in
Ithaca, Antonius and the other suitors prepare an ambush
to kill him when he reaches port.
On Mount Olympus, Zeus sends Hermes to rescue
Odysseus from Calypso. Hermes persuades Calypso to let
Odysseus build a ship and leave. The homesick hero sets
sail, but when Poseidon, god of the sea, finds him sailing
home, he sends a storm to wreck Odysseus’s ship.
Poseidon has harbored a bitter grudge against Odysseus
since the hero blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus,
earlier in his travel.

Athena intervenes to save Odysseus from Poseidon’s


wrath, and the beleaguered king lands at Scheria, home
of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa, the Phaeacian princess,
shows him to the royal palace, and Odysseus receives a
warm welcome from the king and queen. When he
identifies himself as Odysseus, his hosts, who have heard
of his exploits at Troy, are stunned. They promise to give
him safe passage to Ithaca, but first they beg to hear the
story of his adventures.

Odysseus spends the night describing the fantastic chain


of events leading up to his arrival on Calypso’s island.

He recounts his trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, his


battle with Polyphemus the Cyclops, his love affair with
the witch-goddess Circe, his temptation by the deadly
Sirens, his journey into Hades to consult the prophet
Tiresias, and his fight with the sea monster Scylla.
the Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca, where he
seeks out the hut of his faithful swineherd, Eumaeus.
Though Athena has disguised Odysseus as a beggar,
Eumaeus warmly receives and nourishes him in the hut.
He soon encounters Telemachus, who has returned from
Pylos and Sparta despite the suitors’ ambush, and reveals
to him his true identity.

Odysseus and Telemachus devise a plan to massacre the


suitors and regain control of Ithaca.

When Odysseus arrives at the palace the next day, still


disguised as a beggar, he endures abuse and insults from
the suitors. The only person who recognizes him is his old
nurse, Eurycleia, but she swears not to disclose his
secret.

Penelope takes an interest in this strange beggar,


suspecting that he might be her long-lost husband. Quite
crafty herself, Penelope organizes an archery contest the
following day and promises to marry any man who can
string Odysseus’s great bow and fire an arrow through a
row of twelve axes—a feat that only Odysseus has ever
been able to accomplish. At the contest, each suitor tries
to string the bow and fails.
Odysseus steps up to the bow and, with little effort, fires
an arrow through all twelve axes. He then turns the bow
on the suitors. He and Telemachus, assisted by a few
faithful servants, kill every last suitor.
Odysseus reveals himself to the entire palace and
reunites with his loving Penelope.

He travels to the
outskirts of Ithaca
to see his aging
father, Laertes.
They come under
attack from the vengeful family members of the dead
suitors, but Laertes, reinvigorated by his son’s return,
successfully kills Antonius’s father and puts a stop to the
attack.

Zeus dispatches Athena to restore peace. With his power


secure and his family reunited, Odysseus’s long ordeal
comes to an end.
end

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