Odyssey

I INTRODUCTION

Odyssey, ancient Greek epic poem in 24 books attributed to the poet Homer. It was probably
composed in the 8th century BC. The Odyssey relates in 12,110 lines the perilous adventures of
Odysseus (called Ulysses in Latin), a Greek hero and king of Ithaca in western Greece. After the fall of
Troy at the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus is forced to wander for ten years before returning home
to his wife Penelope in Ithaca.

The epic poem the Iliad, also attributed to Homer, describes events of the Trojan War. In contrast with
the Iliad, which is mainly located in Troy and is recounted in a straightforward narrative, the Odyssey
has many changes of scene and a complex plot. Its scenes range from Troy to Egypt, North Africa, the
Peloponnesus, Ithaca, and the western Mediterranean. The narrative begins near what is
chronologically the end of the story, and earlier incidents are unfolded later in the poem (as in the
modern flashback technique).

Homer’s Odyssey is one of the great stories of all time. It has had a strong influence on later European
literature, especially on epics of the Renaissance (14th century through 16th century). From Homer’s
plan of the Odyssey, a standard practice developed of beginning an epic with an incident from the
middle or the end of the story. Earlier events are then related at a convenient point later in the story.
The outstanding 20th-century example of the Odysseus, or Ulysses, theme is the novel Ulysses, by
Irish author James Joyce.

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

Penelope and Telemachus
The beginning of the Greek epic the Odyssey recounts events at the court of Ithaca while its king, Odysseus, was
away for 20 years, fighting in the Trojan War. His loyal wife, Penelope, has resisted the persistent efforts of suitors
to convince her that Odysseus is dead and has raised their son, Telemachus, alone. On coming of age, Telemachus
has decided to go and search for his father. This Greek vase, which dates from about 440 bc shows Telemachus
announcing his plans to Penelope.
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

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

Ulysses in the Cave of Polyphemus
On their return from the Trojan War, Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) and his men are taken prisoner by the one-
eyed giant Polyphemus, who is gradually eating them. After blinding Polyphemus, the remaining men escape by
holding on to the belly of the giant’s sheep. Knowing that the Greeks will try to escape, Polyphemus touches each
sheep as it leaves the cave but fails to check underneath. This painting by 17th-century Flemish artist Jacob
Jordaens is in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia.
Alexander Burkatowski/Corbis

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

The Sirens
In Greek mythology sirens were sea nymphs who lured sailors with their sweet singing, causing their ships to
founder. Odysseus overcame the temptation by tying himself to his ship’s mast as shown in this painting by 19th-
century French artist Leon Belly in the Musée de l’Hotel Sandelin in Saint Omer, France.
Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

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 and Calypso
The Greek warrior Odysseus, shown in silhouette on the left, spends seven years as a captive of the sea nymph
Calypso, who has fallen in love with him. This moody and mysterious painting by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin
suggests the tension between the two. Painted in 1882, the work is in the Basel Art Museum in Switzerland.
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

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

The Return of Odysseus
After the Greek warrior Odysseus returns from the Trojan War to his home in Ithaca, he kills the uninvited and
unwanted suitors of his wife, Penelope, who believed him to be dead. Odysseus’s astonishing skill with the bow
convinces Penelope that he is indeed her long-absent husband. This anonymous engraving is of an unknown date.
Corbis

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.

III THE CHARACTERS

Though in language, style, meter, and characterization the Odyssey closely resembles the Iliad, in
setting, atmosphere, and mood it is often more like a folk tale or a romantic novel than a heroic epic.
The central figure, Odysseus, is a true hero; but his chief exploits are no longer on the field of battle
or in military council, but among magicians, monsters, and domestic enemies. Here resourcefulness is
as important as strength, cunning as necessary as courage, but he must learn to use his cunning and
strength appropriately. Odysseus’s wife Penelope has as heroic a struggle as her husband to maintain
her loyalty and affection and the integrity of her house during Odysseus’s long absence. Homer makes
it clear that she is as resourceful and intelligent as her husband. Telemachus grows up under Athena’s
guidance and helps Penelope fight off her suitors.

There are many vivid portraits among the minor figures: faithful servants like Eumaeus and Eurycleia;
Laertes, a kind of rural Priam; the ghost of Anticleia, full of yearning for her lost son; the arrogant
leaders of the suitors; the tender Calypso; the sinister and beautiful Circe; the naive, savage Cyclops;
and kings, queens, princesses, sailors, servants, ghosts, magicians, monsters—a teeming world half
magical, half realistic. The gods on the whole are more principled and concerned with morality than in
the Iliad; Athena is a figure of some charm. In contrast with the tragic ending of the Iliad, the
Odyssey concludes with a vision of justice: The righteous are rewarded, the unjust are slain, and the
last word is with the gods.