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The Odyssey-Summary 1 Book 1 The first book informs the reader of the imprisonment of Odysseus on Calypso's island, Ogygia, in the tenth year after the Trojan War. It also describes the insolence of the young nobles in Ithaca (led by Antinous and Eurymachus) who, in the absence of Odysseus, live off his wealth and woo his wife, Penelope. After the invocation to the Muses, with which the Odyssey opens, a council of the gods is summoned, during which Zeus decides that Odysseus shall return home safely and Athena shows herself to be the champion of Odysseus. The goddess visits Telemachus, son of Odysseus, in disguise, gives him courage to rebuke the suitors, and persuades him to seek news of his father by sailing to the mainland. The suitors retire to their homes and Telemachus goes to bed. Book 2 On the next day, which occupies Bk. 2, Telemachus calls the first assembly of the Ithacans since the departure of Odysseus for Troy. Telemachus formally upbraids the suitors, demanding that they quit the palace and leave his mother to her grief. Antinous retorts that the suitors will remain until Penelope weds one of them and he denounces Penelope's ruse. (She had vowed to choose a husband when she completed a shroud she had been weaving for Laertes [Odysseus' father]. But each night she unraveled the portion she had woven during the day.) A pair of eagles is interpreted as a favorable omen by Halitherses, a seer, and Telemachus requests a ship for his voyage. After Telemachus dissolves the assembly, the goddess Athena, disguised as Mentor, a faithful lord, promises to procure a ship and crew. At the palace, after an exchange with Telemachus, the suitors grow worried about his plans. Telemachus enjoins Eurycleia, nurse of Odysseus, to prepare provisions in utter secrecy; he then departs at night and sails until dawn. Book 3 On the morning of the third day, Telemachus arrives in Pylos, kingdom of aged Nestor, who had fought in the Trojan War. Telemachus and his guide Athena, still in the form of Mentor, are welcomed by the Pylians, who are sacrificing a bull to Poseidon, god of the sea. Telemachus identifies himself and announces his mission. Nestor's reply is characteristically lengthy: he reports the homecoming of the heroes of Troy, relating the murder of Agamemnon by his wife, Clytemnestra, and his cousin, Aegisthus, and the revenge of Agamemnon's son, Orestes, who slew the murderers of his father; Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus, was unable to intervene, for unfavorable winds had carried him to Egypt. Nestor bids Telemachus visit Menelaus at Sparta and offers him, on Athena's suggestion, a chariot and his son, Peisistratus, as companion. Telemachus spends the night at Nestor's palace and, after a sacrifice, travels throughout the fourth day and part of the fifth to Sparta. Book 4 In the evening of the fifth day, they arrive at Menelaus' palace, where his daughter's wedding is in progress. Menelaus is amazingly wealthy but unhappy over the fates of the heroes of Troy. His wife, Helen, recognizes Telemachus by his resemblance to Odysseus and pours a potion into the wine to ease the grief of all. She tells a story about Odysseus in Troy; Menelaus answers with a tale of Odysseus' cunning while in the wooden horse. The next morning Menelaus tells how Eidothea, a sea-nymph, daughter of the sea-god Proteus, helped him escape the island of Pharos, where he was stranded: in seal-skins for disguise, following her instructions, Menelaus and his men trapped and held fast Proteus, who could assume any shape. Proteus was forced to tell Menelaus his destiny, with information about other heroes, including Agamemnon and Odysseus. Back at Ithaca, the suitors learn of Telemachus' trip and plan an ambush at the island of Samos. Penelope hears of their plot, but Athena in a dream assures her of her son's return. Book 5 Bk. 5 opens on the seventh day of the poem with a second council of the gods on Olympus, whence Hermes, messenger of the gods, is dispatched to Ogygia to order Calypso to release Odysseus. Calypso, reluctantly agreeing, seeks out Odysseus, who sits weeping on the beach. She instructs him to build a raft. This he completes in the next four days; the day following, he departs for Phaeacia. On the eighteenth day of his voyage (the twenty-ninth day of the poem), he spies Phaeacia, but Poseidon, returning from Ethiopia, in anger sends a storm against him and wrecks his craft. Then he swims for two days and nights upon a divine veil received from the sea-nymph Ino until he reaches the coast. Odysseus escapes the sharp crags with a prayer to the gods and falls asleep beneath the brush on the shore. The Odyssey-Summary 2 Book 6 Before the dawn of the thirty-second day (this book and the next), Athena visits Nausikaa, princess of Phaeacia, and in a dream instructs her to wash her clothing when the day breaks, lest a marriageable girl be dressed unseemly. So in the morning she goes to the river where Odysseus is asleep. With her attendant maids she tosses a ball, and the girls' screams awaken Odysseus. Naked and unkempt, he beseeches her pity in a careful, flattering speech. Persuaded, she offers clothing and oil with which to wash. Odysseus reappears, exceedingly handsome, and wins from her a description of the city (for it would be improper for her to accompany a stranger into town), with the advice to pass by Alcinous, the king, and to clasp the knees of her mother, the queen, in supplication. Book 7 Athena, in the guise of a young girl, meets Odysseus and guides him to the palace, having enveloped him in mist so that he might not be seen. The magnificent palace and its lovely garden impress Odysseus. He enters and supplicates Arete, the queen. Well received, he dines among the nobles of Phaeacia. In the evening, Odysseus describes to the king and queen how he came to Phaeacia, and Alcinous promises to speed his journey home. Book 8 The next morning Alcinous summons a assembly to offer a ship to Odysseus and then invites the lords into his palace to hear Demodocus, the blind bard, sing a tale of Odysseus at Troy. Alcinous observes that the song draws tears from Odysseus, and he calls for a contest of games. Odysseus responds to a challenge from the proud Euryalus by hurling a discuss farther than all, and he issues a general challenge; all are astonished at his valor. Again in the palace, Demodocus sings of the infidelity of Aphrodite, goddess of love, with Ares the war-god, and how her husband Hephaestus, god of crafts, caught them in an invincible net. After marvelous dancing and the presentation of gifts to Odysseus, Demodocus recites the exploits of Odysseus and the wooden horse. Again Odysseus weeps, and Alcinous asks him his story. Book 9 Odysseus relates his story. He tells of the battle with the Cicones at Ismarus and the luckless nine-day detour to the land of the Lotus-eaters, where two of his men are narcotic fruit and forgot their homes. Then he tells of the arrival at the land of the wild and lawless Cyclopes, giants with a single eye who dwell alone and have no culture. Odysseus had ventured with twelve picked men into the cave of Polyphemus, a Cyclops and son of Poseidon. He requested hospitality, but the Cyclops, scorning the gods and the ways of men, devoured two of Odysseus' companions. Next morning, he breakfasted on another two, and imprisoned the rest in the cave. Odysseus lulled the monster to sleep with wine and then drove a sharpened stake into his eye. Polyphemus called out for help, but when his fellows responded to his cries, he announced that "Noman" harmed him-for Odysseus had told the Cyclops that Noman was his name. Odysseus and his men ultimately escaped by binding themselves to the underside of Polyphemus' sheep. Odysseus taunted the monster from his ship, and Polyphemus invoked the curse of his father, Poseidon (hence the god's enmity toward Odysseus). With his twelve ships, Odysseus sailed to Aeolia. Book 10 Odysseus was entertained for a month by Aeolus, king of the winds, who sent him off with the gift of all the winds bound in a sack, except the favorable west wind. When they had nearly reached home, Odysseus' crew opened the bag, thus letting loose a storm which drove them back to Aeolia. Aeolus cast them out in hostility, for they seemed to be detested by the gods. They sailed seven days to Laestrygonia. Antiphates, king of the giant Laestrygonians, devoured one of the scouts and set his people upon Odysseus' men. Hurling huge stones, they destroyed eleven ships; only Odysseus and his crew escaped. They reached Aeaea, the island of the sorceress-goddess Circe. When they had feasted, Eurylochus led half the crew to explore the house of Circe, unaware that she transformed all who entered into beasts. Only Eurylochus remained outside and could report the fate of the others to Odysseus. Odysseus ventured out to save his men and received a magic herb from Hermes. Thus protected, he compelled Circe at sword point to abjure treachery. She returned his men to human form and offered hospitality to the crew. Circe informed Odysseus that to reach home he must consult the blind prophet Teiresias of Thebes in Hades. She gave detailed instructions for the trip to the underworld, and he departed, leaving behind the young Elpenor, who had been killed in a fall.
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