Odyssey Greek The epic poem by Homer that describes the adventures of Odysseus on his homeward voyage to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The action of the Odyssey occurs in no more than six weeks, but 20 years' adventures are related by means of flashback episodes told by Odysseus to the people he encounters. Scholars see the Odyssey, divided into 24 books, as a collection of folktales to which Homer gave continuity and coherence by attributing the adventures to a single hero (Odysseus) and by reworking each incident so that it contributes to a consistent picture of the hero. Some scholars say that the Odyssey is the first novel, a fictional story with fictional characters, to be read and enjoyed. Homer wrote the Odyssey in about the eighth century b.c. after he wrote the Iliad, according to most modern scholars. Odysseus and Polyphemus - Mythology. On his way home from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew landed on an island that had rich pastures and great flocks of sheep. The shepherd turned out to be Polyphemus, one of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants. When he discovered Odysseus's men in his cave, Polyphemus immediately killed and ate two of them, then closed off the entrance to the cave with a huge rock. While the giant slept after his meal, Odysseus and his men devised a plan. They made a sharp spear from olive wood. After the giant awoke, they gave him some very sweet and potent wine that they had brought with them from Ismarus. After the giant had killed and eaten another two crewmen and fallen into a drunken stupor, Odysseus gouged out his one eye, leaving the Cyclops blind. The men knew that they could never move the rock that closed the entrance. They waited anxiously for the giant to awaken. Meanwhile the cunning Odysseus helped his men to tie themselves under the bellies of the sheep. When the giant awoke, O he moved the rock to let out the sheep to their pasture. He never suspected that Odysseus's men were leaving at the same time. It was not until the men were safe aboard their ship that they learned that Polyphemus was the name of the monster. Polyphemus hurled rocks after the ship and vowed that his protector, Poseidon, the sea god, would avenge him, and that the sea would always be Odysseus's enemy. Odysseus and Circe - Mythology. On their way back to Ithaca after the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew made landfall on the island of Aeaea, on which dwelled the witch-goddess Circe. Circe turned all the men into swine, except for Odysseus and Eurylochus. Eventually Odysseus persuaded Circe to turn his men back into their human forms. Under her spell, he dallied for a year on the island of the sorceress, who gave him warnings about the perils he would encounter on his way home. Odysseus in the Underworld - Mythology. After suffering under the spell of the witch-goddess Circe for a year, Odysseus and his crew grew restless and wanted to leave. On the advice of Circe, Odysseus and his crew visited the Underworld (1) to consult the ghost of the blind seer Tiresias. Tiresias had many warnings for Odysseus and his men, particularly about the danger of offending the gods on Thrinacie, the Island of the Sun. Terrified by the ghosts and the gloom of the Underworld, Odysseus and his crew fled. Odysseus and the Sirens - Mythology. Circe had warned Odysseus about the Sirens, beautiful nymphs who lured sailors to their destruction by singing so sweetly that the men would be driven mad and would be shipwrecked on the rocky coast where the Sirens lived. Always resourceful, Odysseus plugged the ears of his men with wax so that they would not hear the singing. Then, because he himself wanted to hear the songs, Odysseus had himself tied to the mast of the ship while the men rowed on. They could hear neither the singing nor the pleas of their captain to be released so that he might join the Sirens. Odysseus (helmet) and his men are discovered by the giant cyclops Polyphemus who is driving his sheep into his cave for the night. Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) captured the moment in this painting, which now hangs in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. 104 OdyssEY Odysseus and Scylla and Charybdis - Mythology. One of the many dangers Odysseus encountered on his way home after the Trojan War was the narrow strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus steered his ship close to Scylla to avoid being sucked into the boiling whirlpool of Charybdis. He lost six men to Scylla, the many-headed monster who lived high up on a cliff and sent down six long necks armed with ferocious teeth to devour any who came close. Odysseus on the Island of the Sun - Mythology. Both Circe, the witch-goddess, and Tiresias, the blind seer, had warned Odysseus about the Island of the Sun, which belonged to the sun god, Hyperion; but in a state of despair and exhaustion, Odysseus and his crew went there. While Odysseus rested, his crew disobeyed his orders and killed and ate the cattle of Hyperion. Odysseus was horrified when he awoke to the smell of roasting meat, but it was too late. Hyperion was furious and asked Zeus to punish the men. This Zeus did, by causing the wreck of Odysseus's ship in a terrifying storm. Only Odysseus escaped alive. He was cast up on the island of the nymph Calypso, where the hero stayed for seven years. Odysseus Returns to Ithaca - Mythology. Odysseus and his men struggled for 10 years and through many adventures before they got back to their kingdom of Ithaca. By this time Odysseus, who had been shipwrecked many times, looked like a poor old man rather than a king. Only his old dog, Argus (3), and his loving old nurse, Eurycleia, recognized him. Odysseus chose to remain silent as he observed what was happening at his court. His wife, Penelope, who had waited for him faithfully for 20 years (10 years for the war, and 10 years for the return), was besieged by a host of aggressive suitors who wanted to rule Odysseus's kingdom. The son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus, guided by the goddess Athene, had gone off in search of his father and come back to Ithaca convinced that he was still alive and was nearby. At last Penelope, in desperation, put her suitors to the test by asking them to string the magnificent bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow straight through a double row of axes. The suitors failed. The old man took up the challenge. He strung the bow with ease and shot it straight and true. After that, with the help of his son, Odysseus slew all the greedy suitors and reclaimed his wife and his throne. Oedipus (Swollen Foot) Greek Son of Laius, king of Thebes, and of Jocasta. Father of Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. An oracle had warned King Laius that Oedipus would kill him, so Laius abandoned his infant son on a hillside (a fate common to many unwanted children in ancient times), having first pierced the child's feet and bound them together (hence the name Oedipus, meaning "Swollen Foot," or, some say "Clubfoot"). A shepherd rescued Oedipus and took him to the king of Corinth, who raised Oedipus. Years later another oracle told Oedipus, now a young man, that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Believing that his foster parents were his real parents, Oedipus fled from them. On his journey, he met Laius, his real father. The two had a skirmish at a crossroads and Oedipus killed Laius. In Thebes, Oedipus correctly answered a riddle set by the Sphinx and in so doing won the hand of Jocasta, whom he married not knowing she was his mother. Thus the oracles' prophecies were fulfilled. When Oedipus learned the truth about his parents and his relationships with them, he blinded himself in agony and was either killed in battle or exiled to Colonus in Attica, while his sons battled for the throne of Thebes (see Seven Against Thebes). His loving daughter, Antigone, guided Oedipus in his blind wanderings. Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides all wrote plays based on the story of Oedipus. The one by Sophocles, known as Oedipus Rex, has been called the greatest and most powerful of the Greek tragedies.
