ODYSSEY SUMMARY Flashcards
I
i.Laertes, King of Ithaca and married to Anticleia (11.85), a great fighter in his youth(24.375–8z), purchases a slave-woman, Eurycleia (1.430–31).
II
ii.Laertes and Anticlea have a son. He is named Odysseus by his grandfather Autolycus, and looked after by Eurycleia (19.409, 482–3). Odysseus is raised with his younger sister Ctimene and another family slave Eumaeus (15.361–70). Laertes trains Odysseus in husbandry(24.336–44). On a boar-hunt with Autolycus’ sons, he is badly wounded in the thigh(19.413–66).
III
iii. Odysseus loves hunting, especially with his dog Argus (17.291–317).When he is sent on a mission to Messene (21.13–41), he meets Iphitus, son of Eurytus, who gives him a special bow as a gift. Odysseus uses this in Ithaca but takes it nowhere else.
IV
iv.Odysseus becomes the wise and gentle King of Ithaca (2.233–4), and marries Penelope, daughter of the Spartan King Icarius. He builds their bedroom and constructs abed around the bole of an olive-tree (23.183–204).
V
v.Although not eager to join the expedition to Troy (24.115–19), Odysseus does so just after his son Telemachus is born(4.112). An omen accompanies his departure (2.161–76). As he leaves, he tells Penelope that, if he does not return, she is to remarry when Telemachus comes of age (18.257–70).He leaves Mentor (or Laertes?) in charge of the palace (2.226–7).
VI
vi.Odysseus has various adventures in Troy (4.235–89, 8.75–82); other heroes are killed (3.103–12, e.g. Achilles, Ajax, Patroclus, Antilochus); Troy falls to Odysseus’ wooden-horse trick (8.500–520,11.523–32).
VII
vii.The Greeks depart for home, and various adventures befall them (3.130 ff.). In particular, Nestor, King of Pylos, arrives home safely and soon(3.115–83); the lesser Ajax is drowned, presumably for his seizure/rape of Cassandra at Athene’s shrine in Troy, though Homer never mentions it (4.496–511); Menelaus, husband of Helen, has adventures at sea for eight years especially in Egypt (4.81 ff., 351ff.); Agamemnon, leader of the expedition, arrives home in Argos to be killed by Aegisthus, lover of his wife Clytaemnestra; his death is avenged by his son Orestes eight years later (1.35–43, 4.512–37, 11.405-2.6),. Odysseus has one false start leaving Troy before he eventually sets off (3.162–4).
BOOK I
BOOK I
In the twentieth year of Odysseus’ absence, the gods convene a meeting and, on Athene’s pleas, decide to order Calypso (12) to release Odysseus. Athene seeks to put some spirit into Telemachus and, disguised as an old friend of Odysseus (Mentes), arrives in Ithaca. She succeeds in her mission, and advises Telemachus to confront the suitors in public. If they still insist on staying, he is to visit his father’s old friends Nestor, King of Pylos, and Menelaus, King of Sparta, to seek news of Odysseus.
BOOK II
BOOK II
2.Telemachus tries to stir the men of Ithaca to action against the suitors, but to no avail. He sets off secretly on the journey proposed by Athene. Athene accompanies him, disguised as Mentor (v).
BOOK III
BOOK III
3.Telemachus visits Nestor. First, he hears stories of other Greeks’ returns (vi, vii), but nothing of Odysseus. Accompanied now not by Athene but by Nestor’s son Peisistratus, he moves on to Sparta.
BOOK IV
BOOK IV
4.At Menelaus’ palace he hears from both Menelaus and his wife Helen more stories of the returns of Greeks and of his father’s exploits at Troy (vi, vii), and that his father is alive. Back in Ithaca, the suitors plan to ambush him on his return. Penelope is grief-stricken to hear of his departure.
BOOK V
BOOK V
5.After a second council of the gods, Hermes sets off for Ogygia, and Calypso releases Odysseus. Odysseus sails off, but the sea-god Poseidon, enraged that Odysseus blinded his son the Cyclops (9), creates a tremendous storm, which nearly kills him. He is finally swept ashore on the peninsula called Scherie, where the Phaeacians live.
BOOK VI
BOOK VI
6.Athenearranges that Nausicaa, daughter of the King Alcinous, should rescue him.
BOOK VII
BOOK VII
7.Odysseus makes his way to the palace, where he is kindly received, well looked after, and enjoys full Phaeacian hospitality.
BOOK VIII
BOOK VIII
8.During the next day’s festivities, the Phaeacian bard Demodocus sings some stories of Odysseus’ past adventures (vi). Alcinous enquires who he is and why he weeps. Odysseus announces himself and tells the story of his journey from Troy to Calypso (see 9, 10, 11, 12 above).
BOOK IX
BOOK IX
9.For three years he is blown around the Mediterranean, experiencing adventures with the Cicones, the Lotus- eaters, the Cyclops Polyphemus (son of Poseidon, whom he blinds),
BOOK X
BOOK X
10.Aeolus the wind-god, the giant Laestrygonians (who destroy all his ships but his own), and the witch Circe, who sends him to the Underworld.
BOOK XI
BOOK XI
11.In the Underworld Odysseus consults the seer Teiresias in order to find out how to return home, and who also tells him that Odysseus will travel inland carrying an oar, until someone mistakes it for a winnowing fan - there he will sacrifice to Poseidon and will return home to die in peaceful old age. He meets the ghost of his mother Anticleia, various celebrated women, some dead companions from Troy (Agamemnon, Achilles and Ajax) and sees other heroes in torment.
BOOK XII
BOOK XII
12.When he leaves Circe, he listens to the song of the Sirens, escapes Scylla and Charybdis and finally arrives on Thrinacia, the island of the sun-god. There his men refuse to heed Odysseus’ warning not to eat the sun-god’s cattle. His last ship is destroyed in the subsequent storm at sea, and Odysseus alone survives, being swept away to Ogygia, the island of the demi-goddess Calypso, where he is marooned for seven more years.
BOOK XIII
BOOK XIII
13.The Phaeacians load Odysseus with gifts and send him home. On his arrival in Ithaca, Athene meets him, warns him of the suitors, disguises him as an old beggar, and instructs him to visit Eumaeus (ii,viii).
BOOK XIV
BOOK XIV
14.Odysseus is welcomed by Eumaeus (who does not recognize him) and hears about events in the palace (viii).
BOOK XV
BOOK XV
15.Athene summons Telemachus back from Sparta. He meets a prophet Theoclymenus, on the run for killing a man, and gives him refuge onboard ship. Telemachus arrives home, avoids the suitors’ ambush (4), disbands his crew, puts Theoclymenus in the care of a friend, and sets off for Eumaeus’ hut. The beggar-Odysseus hears more news of Ithaca (viii).
BOOK XVI
BOOK XVI
16.Telemachus sends Eumaeus off to town to tell Penelope of his arrival home. In Eumaeus’ absence, Odysseus’ disguise is temporarily lifted and he is reunited with his son. They plan their action against the suitors.
BOOK XVII
BOOK XVII
17.Telemachus reaches the hut and goes on ahead to the palace, followed by Odysseus and Eumaeus. Odysseus is recognized by his old hunting-dog Argus (iii).Odysseus begs in the palace, and is attacked and insulted, but Penelope asks Eumaeus to arrange for him to meet her.
