II.

The Action

The Odyssey opens in the tenth year after the fall of Troy, 20 years after Odysseus left Ithaca. Odysseus, owing to the wrath of the sea-god Poseidon, has not been allowed to return home; Odysseus had blinded Poseidon’s son Polyphemus, a Cyclops. At the moment Odysseus is living with the sea-nymph Calypso on her violet-fragrant island in the Ionian Sea. But at last Athena, his constant friend among the gods, persuades Zeus, the king of the gods, to allow him to escape.

A.

Telemachus Seeks News

Athena goes in disguise to Ithaca, where Penelope and her son Telemachus are being harassed by a horde of 108 suitors who want to compel the queen to marry one of them. The suitors presume that Odysseus is dead, though Penelope still has hope that he will return. Athena emboldens the young Telemachus and persuades him to set out on a journey to seek news of his father. He sails for Pylos, capital of the kingdom of Nestor, in the western Peloponnesus.

Nestor welcomes Telemachus, tells him about the experiences of some of the Greek leaders after their departure from Troy, and entertains him for the night. Next day Telemachus goes to Sparta, the kingdom of Menelaus and Helen. (The Trojan War started with the capture of Helen by Paris, a Trojan prince.) They receive him sumptuously and recount some further adventures of the Greek princes, including the exploit of the wooden horse (Odysseus’s invention by which Troy was captured) and the encounter of Menelaus with the shape-shifting Proteus in Egypt. They have, however, no news of Odysseus, except for his captivity by Calypso.

B.

The Gods Intervene

The scene changes to Ithaca. Penelope is grieved to hear about her son’s departure; the suitors plan to ambush and kill him on the way home. A second council of the gods assembles on Olympus. Athena reopens the question of Odysseus’s deliverance, and Zeus sends Hermes, the herald of the gods, to tell Calypso to let Odysseus go home. Reluctantly, Calypso submits. Odysseus builds a makeshift boat and sails eastward towards Ithaca. Poseidon, still angry with Odysseus, sends a violent storm and wrecks the boat. Odysseus, with the help of Athena, reaches land after a fearful struggle.

Next morning Odysseus is awakened by the voices of young girls. They are Nausicaä, princess of Scheria, land of the Phaeacians, and her handmaidens. Odysseus appeals to them for help. Nausicaä receives him courteously, provides him with food and clothing, and tells him about herself and her royal parents. She confesses to her handmaidens that he is the kind of man that she would like to marry. She leads him to the capital, where Odysseus, left to himself, admires the splendid palace and gardens of the Phaeacian king. He enters the main hall, supplicates Queen Arete and King Alcinoüs, and is hospitably entertained.

The next day Odysseus witnesses a display of athletic skill, in which he has an opportunity of showing his own prowess. A banquet and a recital of heroic songs by the Phaeacian bard Demodocus follow. Because he weeps when he hears Demodocus sing of the Trojan War, Odysseus is asked to tell his name and recount his adventures.

C.

Odysseus Recounts His Adventures

Beginning at his departure from Troy, Odysseus gives an enthralling description of his encounters with many strange peoples and monsters: the vengeful Cicones; the Lotus-eaters with their memory-erasing food; the gigantic, one-eyed Cyclops who ate members of Odysseus’s crew; Aeolus, king of the winds, on his floating island surrounded by a wall of bronze; the cannibal Laestrygones; the enchantress Circe who can turn men into animals by her magic potion and with whom Odysseus stays for a year; the ghosts in the underworld; the Sirens with their spellbinding song (which Odysseus resisted by having himself bound to the mast of his ship as he sailed past, having filled the ears of his companions with wax); the impossible passage between Scylla and Charybdis, the ravenous sea monster and the voracious whirlpool; the sacred cattle of the Sun that prove fatal to his crew; and finally, when Odysseus had lost all his ships and companions, the kindly Calypso on her lonely island.

Odysseus’s narrative delights the listening Phaeacians far into the night. They give him generous gifts and send him homeward on a swift ship. After a deep sleep Odysseus finds himself in Ithaca, after almost 20 years of absence.

D.

The Return of Odysseus

Athena meets him and warns him of the dangerous situation in his palace: The suitors, now insolent and impatient, will probably kill him if he returns openly. She disguises Odysseus as an old beggar and sets off to bring Telemachus home from the mainland. Odysseus goes to the farm of the gentle swineherd Eumaeus, who, without penetrating his disguise, treats him kindly. Odysseus’s dog, though old and too weak to rise, recognizes his master’s voice.

Telemachus arrives and eventually with Athena’s help recognizes his father. They make plans for the destruction of the suitors. Telemachus goes to the palace; Odysseus follows later still in disguise. He is roughly treated by some of the servants and suitors and has to fight with the beggar Irus.

Odysseus then converses with Penelope and deceives her with a fictitious story. The nurse Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus by a scar on his leg, but he prevents her from informing anyone else. Penelope tells Odysseus, whom she still does not recognize, about a strange dream she has had about the death of the suitors, and announces that she will hold a competition to decide which of the suitors is to marry her.

E.

Odysseus Revealed

The next day Penelope orders Telemachus to introduce the trial of strength and skill: Whoever is able to string Odysseus’s mighty bow and shoot an arrow through the handle-holes of a row of axe heads shall marry her. Many suitors try and fail; Odysseus succeeds. He throws off his disguise, leaps on the threshold of the hall and, joined by Telemachus and two loyal servants, slaughters the suitors. Later Penelope, after determining that this man is her long-lost husband (she cleverly devises her own test of his identity), accepts him with joy.

The next day Odysseus goes to see his aged father, Laertes. But the relatives of the suitors pursue him, and Odysseus, aided by his father and son and some loyal servants, resists. Athena, with the approval of Zeus, intervenes to establish peace and prosperity in Ithaca again.