Freshman English – Levinson – Odyssey Resources
The Story
Books I-IV, Telemachos' search for his father and himself
Books V-VIII, Odysseus on Calypso's island and in the land of the Phaeacians
Books IX-XII, Odysseus' adventures as told to the Phaeacians
Books XIII-XXIV, Odysseus' homecoming and triumph
The story begins on the island of Ogygia where Odysseus has been imprisoned by the nymph Calypso for seven years. She has offered him immortality in order to persuade him to remain with her, but Odysseus longs for Ithaca and his wife, Penelope. The story then turns to Ithaca where suitors have been camping out in Odysseus' palace pursuing Penelope and indulging in wild parties at Odysseus' expense. Telemachos, Odysseus' son, is persuaded by Athene to take charge and plan a journey to look for his father. Not only is Telemachos a threat to the dangerous suitors, but he is also in need of experience of the outside world. In the guise of Menor Athene guides him to visit Nestor in Pylos and then Menelaus and Helen in Sparta. Both heroes fought in the Trojan War beside Odysseus. Menelaus tells Telemachos that he has heard that Odysseus is being held captive on Ogygia. He makes no men- tion of the nymph.
Meanwhile, under orders from Zeus, Calypso gives Odysseus the tools to construct a raft and set sail home. A storm brewed by Odysseus' archenemy, Poseidon, shipwrecks him in the land of the Phaeacians where he is befriended by the white-armed Nausicaa and her parents, Alcinous and Arete. At a banquet in the anonymous guest's honor, Odysseus reveals his identity and tells the tale of his journey from Troy to Calypso's island.
After sacking the city, Odysseus made a raid on the Ciconians where he lost a few of his companions. He then stopped in the Land of the Lotus-eaters where some of his men ate the lotus and thereby forgot their homes. Odysseus dragged them back to the ships and then stopped in the land of the Cyclops. Hoping to receive guest gifts, Odysseus falls into Polyphemus' trap and, along with his men, seems about to be eaten by the one-eyed monster, son of Poseidon. Odysseus blinds Polyphemus and escapes, but in the process incurs the wrath of the god of the sea. Reaching the island of Aeolus, Odysseus is given a bag of winds that his men make the mistake of opening, thinking that it contained treasure that Odysseus was hiding from them. The ship is blown back to Aeolus' island, but the king offers no further assistance. Back on the sea, the Laestrygonians then destroy all but one of Odysseus' ships. This sole vessel lands on Circe's island where the enchantress enjoys turning men into swine. Hermes gives Odysseus a magic herb called moly that makes him immune to her magic. Odysseus forces Circe to restore his men and remains with her for a year.
The death of one of his men by drunken misadventure persuades Odysseus that it is time to get back on the road. Circe tells him that he must descend into Hades and speak with Teiresias in order to learn what he must do to reach home. Odysseus then gets past Scylla and Charybdis with a loss of only six men and sails past the Sirens with no loss of life by putting wax in his men's ears and having them tie him to the mast so he can listen to the Sirens' song. The crew is then becalmed on Helios where they anger the gods by eating the sacred cattle. For this the ship is struck by a thunderbolt and only Odysseus survives, shipwrecked on Calypso's island.
After hearing his tale, the Phaecians shower Odysseus with gifts and escort him home to Ithaca on one of their magical ships. Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus tests the loyalty of his servants while he plots his revenge on Penelope's suitors. He is reunited with Telemachos and together they make a plan. With the help of Athene, the loyal swine- heard Eumaeus, and Telemachos, Odysseus kills every suitor in the great hall of his palace. Odysseus makes the unfaithful serving girls clean up the mess and then hangs them for their disloyalty.
Odysseus and Penelope are reunited and Odysseus reestablishes himself as king of Ithaca.
Reading Support:
We have audio copies in our library. Here are websites with information on the book.
The Gods
Aphrodite: goddess of love, beauty, and fertility
Apollo: god of poetry, music, prophesy, and healing
Ares: god of war and warlike frenzy Artemis: virgin goddess of the hunt
Athene: goddess of wisdom, war, and peace.
Cronus: A Titan who ruled the universe until Zeus took over
Hephaestus: god of metalworking
Hades: god of the underworld, brother to Zeus
Hera: goddess of marriage, wife and sister of Zeus
Hermes: messenger god
Poseidon: god of the sea, brother of Zeus
Zeus: ruler, supreme god of all the Olympians
Character List:
Anticleia: Odysseus's mother who died while he was away from Ithaca
Antinoos: "Ringleader" of Penelopeia's suitors
Arete: King Alcinoos' wife, known for her kindness and beauty
Athena: Goddess of wisdom; Odysseus's helper
Calypso: Witch/nymph who wanted Odysseus as her husband
Circe: "Terrible goddess with lovely hair, who spoke in the language of men" (115); daughter of Helios
Eumaios: Swineherd; a faithful servant of Odysseus
Eurycleia: Faithful old servant of Odysseus and his family; "she loved him [Telemachos] more than any other of the household, and she had been his nurse when he was a little tot." (21)
Eurymachos: One of Penelopeia's cruelest suitors
Laertes: Odysseus's father; lives in seclusion in the country
Odysseus: Protagonist unable to reach home after the Trojan War; "wise beyond all mortal men" (12)
Nausicaa: Daughter of King Alcinovs; "tall and divinely beautiful" (73)
Penelopeia: Odysseus's faithful wife
Poseidon: God of the sea; bore a lasting grudge against Odysseus; often called "Earthshaker"
Polyphemos: "Most powerful of all the Cyclopians" (12); son of Poseidon
Telemachos: Odysseus's son; "a fine-looking boy" (13); approximately twenty years old
Theoclymenos: Prophet who returns to Ithaca with Telemachos
Teiresias: Blind Theban prophet
Important Themes
Hospitality
Loyalty
Heroism
Vengeance
Perseverance
Appearance vs. Reality
Cunning over strength
Temptation
Fate vs. Free Will
Piety
Justice
Pride
Family
Tradition and Custom
The Odyssey is an Epic Poem. In its strict sense the term epic or heroic poem is applied to a work that meets at least the following criteria: it is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told in a formal style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race. Literary epics are highly conventional compositions which usually share the following features, derived by way of the Aeneid from the traditional epics of Homer:
- The hero is a figure of great national or even cosmic importance.
- The action involves superhuman deeds in battle or a long, arduous, and dangerous journey intrepidly accomplished, such as the wanderings of Odysseus on his way back to his homeland, in the face of opposition by some of the gods. In these great actions the gods and other supernatural beings take an interest or an active part.
- An epic poem is a ceremonial performance, and is narrated in a ceremonial style which is deliberately distanced from ordinary speech and proportioned to the grandeur and formality of the heroic subject and architecture.
Epithets: short, stock adjective or adjectival phrase that defines a distinctive quality of a person or thing. In Homer, epithets are often reoccurring.
wine-dark sea,many-minded Odysseus
cloud gathering Zeus
rosy-fingered dawn
early-born,
rosy-fingered dawn
long-haired Achaians
swift-footed dogs
godlike Odysseus
godly Odysseus
ill-fated man
Zeus-born Odysseus
winged words
Ithacan Odysseus / well-greaved Achaians
high-talking Telemachos
sound-minded Telemachos
sea-circled Ithaca
long-sorrowful death
fair-braided Achaians
many-voiced assembly
scepter-bearing king
high-roofed chamber
well-timbered ship
wine-faced sea
well-plaited oxhide ropes
bright-eyed Athene
life-killing drug
Olympian Zeus
Epic Similes
Epic similes compare heroic events in the story with common, everyday events. Epic similes are sometimes quite long, offering the poet the opportunity to spin out a detailed comparison. The most famous of these in The Odyssey is Homer's comparison of the blinding of Polyphemus with the work of a carpenter and blacksmith.
They lifted the olive pole that was sharp at its tip
And thrust it in his eye; I myself, leaning on it from above,
Twirled it around as a man would drill the wood of a ship
With an auger, and others would keep spinning with a strap beneath, Holding it at either end, and the auger keeps on going.
So we held the fire-sharpened pole in his eye
And twirled it. The blood flowed around it, hot as it was.
The fire singed his eyebrows and eyelids all around
From the burning eye. Its roots swelled in the fire to bursting,
As when a smith plunges a great ax or an adz
Into cold water and the tempering makes it hiss
Loudly, and just that gives the strength to the iron;
So did his eye sizzle around the olive pole. (124)