The Odyssey Background Ithaca home of Odysseus Odysseus

The Odyssey

Background

Ithaca, home of Odysseus

Odysseus’ familial relationships: • Son of Anticlea and Laertes (or Sisyphus) • Husband of Penelope • Father of Telemachus

Odysseus woos Helen • He knows he has no chance, as he is not rich enough • He gives Tyndareus, father of Helen, a good plan (make all the suitors swear to support whatever decision Tyndareus makes and protect Helen should someone else attempt to take her • Tyndareus, in return, puts in a good word for him with Penelope’s father

Little does he know that his simple plan will have such a profound impact on his life Paris and Helen

Odysseus is Summoned

• When Paris takes Helen, Menelaus calls on all the former suitors to fulfill their pledge. Palamedes and Menelaus come to fetch Odysseus. Not wanting to leave his wife and young son, Odysseus feigns madness by plowing the seashore.

Palamedes nearly kills Odysseus’ young son, Telemachus, when he throws him in front of the plow. Odysseus turns aside the plow and reveals his sanity.

Odysseus never forgives Palamedes and gets revenge during the war. Who is Palamedes? Palamedes is the son of Nauplius and Clymene, and is a grandson of Poseidon. His name means “clever”. He is credited with various inventions, including coinage, measures and weights, some letters of the Greek alphabet, and pessoi (checkers) Odysseus gets revenge by placing gold in Palamedes’ tent and forging a letter from Priam to Palamedes stating he would give him the same amount of gold planted in Palamedes’ tent in exchange for Palamedes’ betrayal of the Greek camp. Palamedes is killed.

Departure Difficulties and on the Way

Because Agamemnon had offended Artemis, she sends contrary winds keep the Greeks from sailing from the port of Aulis to Troy.

• Calchas, the Greek soothsayer, tells the Greeks that Artemis will only be appeased by the sacrifice of a virgin – Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia.

Odysseus suggests that they tell Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, that her daughter is to be married to Achilles.

The sacrifice of Iphigenia appeases Artemis, and the Greeks are able to sail to Troy.

Odysseus suggests to the Greeks that they abandon Philoctetes on Lemnos (stinky wound)

In Troy

At Troy, Odysseus increases his reputation for being wily. 1. Raid against Rhesus at night – kills Rhesus and takes his horses. 2. Enters Troy in disguise and steals the Palladium. 3. Comes up with the idea for the Trojan Horse.

The Return Home

The first stop of Odysseus and his crew is at Ismarus.

Odysseus and his men sack Ismarus, city of the Ciconians

Only Maron, priest of Apollo is spared. • He gives them 12 amphorae of wine, which will come in handy later.

The next stop brings them to the land of the lotus-eaters, called the Lotiphagi

Some of Odysseus’ crew tasted the fruit, and thus forgot everything and only wanted to stay and continue eating. They had to be dragged back to the ships.

Polyphemus

• Odysseus and his men land on Sicily, where the cyclops Polyphemus imprisons Odysseus and 12 of his men. He eats two of Odysseus’ men the first day, and four the next.

“My name is Nobody (Outis). Have some wine. ”

The blinding of Polyphemus – Odysseus and his men give Polyphemus some of Maron’s wine. He gets drunk and they poke his eye out. The other cyclopes hear him but don’t help because he yells “No one is killing me!”

Later, Polyphemus rolled the stone away from the entrance of the cave to let his sheep graze.

Odysseus and his men escaped by clinging to the bellies of sheep.

“I am Odysseus!” As Odysseus left, he shouted his real name to Polyphemus

Polyphemus asked Poseidon to curse Odysseus, and Poseidon sent stormy winds to hinder Odysseus’ trip home.

“No one will keep me from returning home!” Odysseus’ arrogance doesn’t help matters.

Odysseus and his men arrive in Aeolia, land of Aeolus, King of the Winds. Here Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag which contains all the winds except the one which will blow him home. Odysseus refuses to tell the men what is in the bag. They assume it is gold, and just before they reach Ithaca, they open the bag and are blown far from home.

Antiphates, king of the Laestrygonians

After 7 days of travel from the island of Aeolus, Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Laestrygonians. The Laestrygonians were a tribe of giant cannibals, ruled by their king, Antiphates. The capital city was Telepylus, founded by Lamus, a son of Poseidon and Gaea. There was a good harbor there, and the night was especially, and strangely, short.

Antiphates’ daughter led the embassy of Odysseus to her father. He promptly picked up one of Odysseus’ men and ate him! The others fled, with all the Laestrygonians in hot pursuit! The Laestrygongians hurled rocks at the ships, destroying 11 of the 12, and then they speared the floundering sailors like fish. Only Odysseus’ own ship survived, as he had wisely anchored it at the entrance to the harbor.

Odysseus and his men reach Aeaea, the island of the enchantress Circe.

Circe and her swine

Only Eurylochus and Odysseus are not turned into swine – thanks to Hermes and his Holy Moly.

Odysseus stays with Circe for a year. She bears him a son, Telegonus.

Odysseus in the Underworld

• Odysseus meets a lot of heroes, beautiful women, etc. • He meets his mom, who has died from longing for him, Agamemnon, and even Heracles. • He meets Achilles, who says it’s better to be a slave on earth than king of all the dead

Tiresias and Odysseus * suitors * avoid Scylla and Charybdis * don’t eat Helios’ cattle * carry an oar around unti someone asks if it’s a winnowing fan and then make a sacrifice to Poseidon

The Ghost of Elpenor begs Odysseus to bury his body.

Odysseus and the Sirens

Scylla and Charybdis Scylla’s six heads each pluck a sailor from Odysseus’ ship.

Island of Thrinacia, home of the cattle of Helios, the sun god.

Odysseus warns his men not to eat the cattle of Helios, but he falls asleep and they do it anyway!!!

Helios complains to Zeus, who causes a storm which wrecks the ship. • Only Odysseus survives • He floats to the island of Ogygia

Island of Ogygia, home of the nymph Calypso

Odysseus stays on Ogygia for seven years. Calypso promises Odysseus eternal life if he will stay with her.

At last Hermes comes and tells Calpyso she must let Odysseus go.

She helps Odysseus build a raft, and he sets out, tormented by Poseidon.

Leucothea helps Odysseus reach Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians • A peaceful and prosperous kingdom • Ruled by King Alcinous and Queen Arete • Odysseus declines marriage with their helpful daughter, Nausicaa • The Scherians take Odysseus back to Ithaca

Odysseus and Nausicaa

A Phaeacian ship

Odysseus Returns Home • Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar and protects him and Telemachus. • Several things happen repeatedly: – The suitors throw things at him – His servants treat him insolently – The suitors plot to kill Telemachus – Odysseus repeats his story about being from Crete, and several times his cover is nearly blown

Eumaeus, the swineherd, takes in the disguised Odysseus, and his conversation reveals that he is loyal. When Telemachus returns from Sparta, he sends Eumaeus to tell his mother of his return. At this point Athena reveals Odysseus to Telemachus, and they begin plotting the death of the suitors.

Odysseus and Argus – Argus recognizes his master, wags his tail, and dies.

Penelope has been putting off the suitors for three years by telling them that she will marry when she completes the death shroud for Laertes – but she secretly undoes her work at night.

The Suitors • Athena urges them on in their evilness • Antinous – leader of the evil suitors who pushes the plan to kill Telemachus. The first to die. • Amphinomus- shows pity towards disguised Odysseus. Does not heed Odysseus’ warning about staying, and so is killed. • Eurymachus – tries to arrange for the death of Telemachus. Offers to repay Odysseus. Before his death he blames Antinous, then attacks Odysseus. • Ctesippus – speaks arrogantly to beggar Odysseus and throws a cow’s hoof at him. Telemachus kills him.

Evil Suitor Sympathizers • Melanthius, the disloyal goatherd. Supplies the suitors with weapons in their battle with Odysseus and Telemachus. • Melantho, insults Odysseus. She is one of the 12 disloyal maids who sleep with the suitors. She is Eurymachus’ girlfriend. • Leiodes – Sacrificial priest to the suitors. Though he hated their deeds, he served them and so Odysseus killed him.

The arrogant beggar, Irus, insults Odysseus and challenges him to a boxing match. Irus regrets this when Odysseus nearly kills him.

• Eurycleia, Odysseus’ old nurse, while washingi his feet, recognizes him by a scar caused by a wild boar.

• Penelope’s trick is revealed to the suitors. They demand that she choose a husband the next day.

• Penelope has a dream that an eagle swoops down and kills her 20 pet geese. The disguised Odysseus tell her it means her husband is about to come home and kill the suitors.

Penelope declares that whoever can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through the holes of a dozen axe heads set in a line will be her new husband.

The suitors fail in the task. Odysseus demands a try, and the suitors mock him. He succeeds, and they marvel. He then shoots Antinous, and the slaughter begins.

Slaughter of the suitors

• The suitors are all killed. • Melanthius is killed. • The twelve disloyal maids are hanged.

• Penelope refuses to believe that Odysseus is really her husband returned (is it a god, like happened to Alcmene), and to test Odysseus tells Eurycleia to move the bed in their room. Odysseus protests that is not possible, for one leg of the bed was carved from a living olive tree!

Odysseus and Penelope reunited.