III.

Homer’s Odyssey

The Odyssey narrates the return of the Greek hero Odysseus from the Trojan War. The opening scenes depict the disorder that has arisen in Odysseus’s household during his long absence: A band of suitors is living off of his wealth as they woo his wife, Penelope. The epic then tells of Odysseus’s ten years of traveling, during which he has to face such dangers as a giant, man-eating Cyclops (Polyphemus) and such subtler threats as the goddess Calypso, who offers Odysseus the choice of immortality if he will abandon his quest for home and become her husband. The second half of the poem begins with Odysseus’s arrival at his home island of Ithaca (see Itháki). Here, exercising infinite patience and self-control, Odysseus tests the loyalty of his servants, plots and carries out a bloody revenge on Penelope’s suitors, and is reunited with his son, his wife, and his aged father.