Notes: The Odyssey - By Homer

Book 1: A Goddess Intervenes

• The gods meet on Mount Olympus and discuss the fate of Odysseus, who has been trapped on the island of the nymph Calypso for seven years.
• Athena, his patron goddess, asks Zeus to intervene. Zeus agrees and sends Hermes to order Calypso to release Odysseus.
• Athena then travels to Ithaca in disguise and encourages Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, to search for news of his father.

Book 2: A Hero’s Son Rises

• Telemachus calls an assembly of the Ithacan people to complain about the suitors who are trying to marry his mother, Penelope, and are consuming his household’s wealth.
• He announces his plan to sail to Pylos and Sparta to seek news of Odysseus.

Book 3: A Journey for Answers

• Telemachus and Athena (still in disguise) arrive in Pylos and are welcomed by King Nestor.
• Nestor tells Telemachus about the return journeys of other Greek heroes but has no information about Odysseus’s fate. He advises Telemachus to visit Sparta.

Book 4: The Kingdom of Menelaus

• Telemachus and Nestor’s son, Peisistratus, travel to Sparta and are welcomed by King Menelaus and Queen Helen.
• Menelaus recounts his own difficult journey home and tells Telemachus that he learned from the sea god Proteus that Odysseus is alive and being held captive on Calypso’s island.

Book 5: Calypso’s Island

• Hermes arrives at Calypso’s island and delivers Zeus’s command to release Odysseus.
• Calypso reluctantly helps Odysseus build a raft.
• After eighteen days at sea, Odysseus’s raft is shattered by a storm sent by the sea god Poseidon, who holds a grudge against him.
• Odysseus is rescued by the goddess Ino and eventually washes ashore on the island of Scheria.

Book 6: The Princess and the Stranger

• On Scheria, the princess Nausicaa discovers Odysseus.
• She is washing her clothes near the shore with her maidens when they find the exhausted and naked Odysseus.
• Nausicaa gives him clothing and instructions on how to approach her parents, the king and queen of the Phaeacians.

Book 7: A Royal Welcome

• Odysseus is welcomed into the palace of King Alcinous and Queen Arete.
• He receives a warm reception but hides his identity, telling them only of his time on Calypso’s island.

Book 8: Games and a Song

• The Phaeacians host games in Odysseus’s honor.
• A blind bard, Demodocus, sings a song about the Trojan War, and Odysseus weeps at the memories.
• Alcinous notices his distress and asks him to reveal his true identity.

Book 9: The Cyclops

• Odysseus begins to tell his story. He and his men land on the island of the Cyclops.
• They are captured by Polyphemus, the giant son of Poseidon, who eats several of his men.
• Odysseus blinds the Cyclops by driving a heated stake into his eye and escapes by clinging to the underside of the Cyclops’s sheep.
• As they sail away, Odysseus reveals his identity, and Polyphemus prays to his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus’s journey.

Book 10: Circe’s Island

• Odysseus and his men land on the island of the enchantress Circe.
• She turns some of his men into pigs.
• With the help of the god Hermes, Odysseus outsmarts Circe and forces her to turn his men back.
• They stay with Circe for a year, and she eventually tells Odysseus he must visit the Underworld to speak with the prophet Tiresias to find his way home.

Book 11: The Underworld

• Odysseus travels to the Underworld.
• He meets the ghosts of his mother, Anticlea, and fallen comrades like Achilles and Agamemnon.
• The prophet Tiresias warns him not to harm the cattle of the sun god Helios and foretells his long, difficult journey home.

Book 12: Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis

• Odysseus and his men sail past the Sirens, whose beautiful songs lure sailors to their deaths. Odysseus has his men plug their ears with wax and has himself tied to the mast so he can hear their song safely.
• They navigate between Scylla, a six-headed sea monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool.
• His men ignore Tiresias’s warning and eat the cattle of Helios, angering the gods.
• Zeus sends a storm that destroys their ship, and only Odysseus survives, washing ashore on Calypso’s island.

Book 13: Return to Ithaca

• The Phaeacians sail Odysseus back to Ithaca.
• He is disguised as a beggar by Athena so he can safely assess the situation in his home.
• He is reunited with his faithful swineherd, Eumaeus.

Book 14: The Swineherd’s Home

• Odysseus stays with Eumaeus, who, unaware of his master’s identity, tells him how the suitors have been harassing Penelope and consuming the household’s wealth.

Book 15: Telemachus’s Return

• Athena visits Telemachus and tells him to return home.
• Telemachus and Odysseus are reunited at Eumaeus’s hut, and Odysseus reveals his true identity.

Book 16: The Father and Son Reunion

• Telemachus returns to the palace, and Odysseus, still in disguise, follows.
• The two plan how they will defeat the suitors.

Book 17: The Beggar in the Palace

• Odysseus enters his palace as a beggar. He is only recognized by his dying dog, Argos.
• He is insulted by the suitors.

Book 18: The Beggar’s Brawl

• Odysseus gets into a fistfight with another beggar, Irus, and easily defeats him, earning the respect of some of the suitors.

Book 19: The Scar

• Odysseus and Penelope have a long conversation.
• While washing his feet, Odysseus’s old nurse, Eurycleia, recognizes a scar on his leg from a childhood hunting accident. She promises to keep his identity a secret.

Book 20: The Looming Battle

• Odysseus, unable to sleep, observes the suitors’ actions and grows increasingly angry.
• The suitors continue their disrespectful behavior.

Book 21: The Contest of the Bow

• Penelope announces a contest: she will marry the suitor who can string Odysseus’s great bow and shoot an arrow through the handles of twelve axes.
• None of the suitors can even string the bow.
• The disguised Odysseus asks for a turn, and after being mocked, he easily strings the bow and shoots the arrow, revealing his true identity.

Book 22: The Slaughter of the Suitors

• With his identity revealed and the bow in hand, Odysseus, with the help of Telemachus, Eumaeus, and a few loyal servants, begins to slaughter the suitors.
• It is a bloody and merciless massacre.

Book 23: The Great Test

• Penelope, still unsure of the beggar’s identity, devises a test for Odysseus.
• She tells him that she has moved their marital bed, which is built from the trunk of a living olive tree.
• Odysseus reveals his knowledge of the bed’s unique construction, and Penelope, now certain, embraces him.

Book 24: Peace and Restitution

• The ghosts of the suitors travel to the Underworld.
• Odysseus goes to see his father, Laertes, and reveals himself.
• The families of the suitors rise in rebellion against Odysseus, but the rebellion is stopped by Athena and Zeus.
• The epic ends with peace being restored to Ithaca.

Canonical Text History

The canonical text of The Odyssey, like the Iliad, is a reconstructed text based on a critical analysis of various historical documents. These documents are primarily:

• Papyri fragments: The earliest surviving fragments of the Odyssey are on papyrus scrolls, some dating to the 3rd century BC. These fragments, found in places like Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, show that the text was relatively stable in antiquity, although some small variations existed.
• Medieval manuscripts: These are the most complete and valuable sources for the canonical version of the poem. The most important is likely a 10th-century Byzantine manuscript, which contains the full text and ancient commentaries (scholia) by Alexandrian scholars. Scholars compare readings from these manuscripts to create the comprehensive modern editions we use today.