Odysseus

Introduction on Odysseus

Ulysses on his ship. Romanesque mosaic

Odysseus or Ulysses, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus, was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca. He plays a key role in the Iliad as one of the main Achaean leaders in the Trojan War. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he was one of the most trusted counsellors and advisers., and renowned for his guile, cunning, and resourcefulness. Yet it took him ten eventful years to return home to his queen and son after the ten-year Trojan War.

When the war was over and Odysseus had sailed away from Troy, he came first to the island of the Cicones. Thereafter Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters.

Then Odysseus and his friend Misenus led a party that landed in the territory of the Cyclops and entered a large cave. They did not know that the cave was the dwelling of a one-eyed giant who trapped them in the cave by blocking the entrance with a boulder, and then ate a pair of them every day. When the giant asked for his name, Odysseus told him that it was "Noman", which happened to be a short form of his own name, and soon the giant cried, "Noman is killing me either by treachery or brute violence!" The other Cyclopes let him be, and Odysseus and his men escaped.

Odysseus stopped at the home of Aeolus, who could control the winds. They came next to a place where they were pursued by thousands of giants who threw vast rocks from the cliffs, smashing the ships, and speared the men like fish.

Odysseus escaped with his single ship. The rest of his company was lost. The surviving crew travelled to the isle of the enchantress Circe, who turned the crew into swine after they ate food laced with one of her magical sleep-inducing potions. Odysseus threatened to kill her for it. Then she offered to sleep with him, and let the swine be changed to humans again. He stayed with her for a whole year.

Odysseus and his men now journeyed to the River Acheron in Hades and spoke to the dead. Odysseus met Achilles there.

Circe had warned Odysseus of the dangers of the singing creatures who lured men to their death. She had advised him to have his men plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast to avoid their allurement. Odysseus had his men do so and survived.Between Sicily and Calabria they steered between the six-headed, man-eating monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, whirlpool called Charybdis, and lost six men.

Afterwards, Odysseus and his surviving crew were trapped on the island Thrinacia, where Helios kept hallowed cattle.

The crew slaughtered some of the cattle, and in return Zeus destroyed the ship with a thunderbolt, killing all but Odysseus, who was was washed up on an island, Ogygia, home to the nymph Calypso. She held Odysseus captive as her lover for seven years. Zeus intervened and sent Hermes to tell Calypso to let him go.Odysseus departed on a small raft, and was hit by a storm. He was washed up on the island of Scheria and found by a Phaeacian princess. The Phaeacians offer him passage home, and provided a fast ship that carried Odysseus home to Ithaca.Back in Ithaca, Penelope was having difficulties, her husband having been gone for twenty years. She did not know whether he was alive or dead, and was beset with numerous suitors who thought that a fairly young widow and queen of a small but tidy kingdom was a great prize. When Odysseus arrived, he was disguised by Athena as an old man or beggar. Odysseus's faithful dog, Argos, was the first to recognize him. The first human to recognize him was his old wet nurse, Euryclea. Odysseus learned that Penelope had remained faithful to him.When Odysseus arrived at his house, disguised as a beggar, he sat in the hall, where he observed the suitors and was repeatedly humiliated by them. Penelope then told the suitors whoever could string Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axe-handles would marry her. Only Odysseus could string his bow, and he followed up by shooting an arrow through all twelve axe-handles. Athena then took off his disguise, and he killed all the suitors, helped by family and faithful servants.