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.
The Odyssey-Summary 3
Book 11 Odysseus sailed forth to the river Ocean, which encircles the earth, and offered the proper sacrifice on the shore. The spirits clustered round the blood. First Elpenor spoke, requesting cremation and burial. Then Teiresias, who predicted the homeward voyage, the battle with the suitors, and a strange journey to men who know no sea. Odysseus next conversed with his mother, Anticleia, thrice attempting vainly to embrace the ghost. Then he spoke with the shades of famous women. Odysseus here, interrupts his story, but Alcinous persuades him to continue. In Hades, he next met Agamemnon who recounted his death and warned of faithless women. He spoke with Achilles, reporting the noble deeds of Achilles' son, Neoptolemus, at Troy. But the shade of Aias did not speak; he still resented Odysseus. He observed Minos, Orion, Heracles, and the torments of Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus, Finally, he departed for Aeaea.
Book 12 When Odysseus had buried Elpenor, Circe revealed his course to him, advising how he might avoid each danger. Leaving her, he sailed past the island of the Sirens, whose song draws men to their death: Odysseus bid the crew to cover their ears, while he himself was tied to the mast, so that he might listen, yet not be seduced. Avoiding the Wandering Rocks, he sailed between the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Scylla, with her six heads on six long necks, snatched and devoured six of Odysseus' companions. Next they reached Thrinacia, the island of the Sun, where the Sun's sheep and cattle grazed. Teiresias and Circe had ordered Odysseus to leave them unharmed. Eurylochus, disobeying Odysseus, led the crew in a slaughter. Thereafter Zeus avenged the Sun (Helios) by dashing Odysseus' ship in storm; only Odysseus survived, drifting back to Charybdis on a plank and thence, after ten days, to Calypso's Ogygia. Here ends Odysseus' story to the Phaeacians.
Book 13 Odysseus is promised gifts, and all retire. On the thirty-fourth day of the poem, Odysseus is borne sleeping to Ithaca by the Phaeacians and left in slumber on the shore; their vessel, as it returns to Scherie, is turned to stone by Poseidon. When he awakes, Odysseus, is met by Athena is disguise, who reveals he is on Ithaca. When he cautiously invents a story to conceal his identity, Athena for the first time appears to Odysseus as a goddess and, explaining the situation at home, disguises Odysseus as a beggar before she visits Sparta to guide Telemachus back.
Book 14 Following Athena's instructions, Odysseus, as a beggar, arrives on the thirty-fifth day at the hut of Eumaeus, his faithful swineherd. Eumaeus receives him generously, discussing at length affairs at home, and despairing of Odysseus' return. Odysseus again develops an elaborate lie, offering false information about Odysseus at Thesprotia; Eumaeus does not believe the tale. Odysseus wins a cloak with a story about Troy and retires to bed.
Book 15 In the night, Athena urges Telemachus to return home, pretending that Penelope is prepared to wed Eurchus. She discloses the ambush plot and advises Telemachus to stop at Eumaeus' hut. Receiving gifts from Menelaus and Helen, Telemachus departs with Peisistratus for Pylos. They spend a night at Pherae, and the next day (thirty-sixth or thirty- seventh: chronology uncertain), after picking up the refugee Theoclymenus, a seer, Telemachus embarks in haste from Pylos. Eumaeus, meanwhile, talks about Odysseus' parents and his own past, how he, son of the king of Sidon in Syria, was kidnapped and sold by pirates to Laertes. Telemachus lands and makes for Eumaeus' hut, after Theoclymenus draws a favorable prophecy from a bird of omen.
Book 16 Telemachus meets Odysseus at Eumaeus' hut and sends the swineherd to tell Penelope of his return. Athena removes Odysseus' disguise, and he announces his identity to his son. His plan is that Telemachus shall remove all weapons from the palace hall except two sets of gear which Odysseus, returning in his beggar's guise, and Telemachus may use against the suitors. Antinous returns in a rage from the unsuccessful ambush with a plan to murder Telemachus, but Amphinomus, a milder suitors, dissuades the other suitor. Penelope upbraids the suitors. Eumaeus returns to his home, and Telemachus and Odysseus, again in disguise, sleep.
Book 17 In the morning of the thirty-eighth (or thirty-ninth) day, Telemachus returns to the palace and relates his adventures to Penelope. Odysseus heads for town with Eumaeus, patiently suffering the rudeness of his swineherd, Melanthius, on the way. Outside the palace, Odysseus' dog Argus recognizes him after twenty years and then dies. Odysseus begs among the suitors, but the haughty Antinous strikes him with a footstool. Even the suitors are appalled. Penelope summons the beggar for his story, but Odysseus puts off the encounter until evening. The Odyssey-Summary 4
Book 18 An insolent beggar, Irus, challenges Odysseus; goaded by the suitors, Odysseus fells the frightened braggart and wins a meal. Penelope, rendered more beautiful by Athena, enters the hall and scolds Telemachus for permitting a beggar to be maltreated. She laments the absence of Odysseus; the suitors give her presents and reiterate their intention to remain until she weds. After suffering further insults from the servant-girl Melantho, Odysseus is taunted by Eurymachus, who also hurls a footstool, though he misses. At the bidding of Telemachus and Amphinomus, the suitors retire.
Book 19 Telemachus and Odysseus remove the arms. Melantho again taunts Odysseus, but is chided by Penelope, who has come to hear the stranger's tale. After her lament, Penelope listens to Odysseus' lie, with false information about himself: that the Phaeacians left him in Thesprotia with King Pheidon, whence Odysseus went to consult Zeus' oracle at Dodona. The nurse Eurycleia is instructed to wash the beggar's feet: his resemblance to Odysseus is confirmed when she comes upon a scar on his knee, which Odysseus received as a boy from a boar's tusk. Odysseus seizes the nurse and swears her to silence. A dream suggests to Penelope Odysseus' slaughter of the suitors, but, she says, this dream must have come through the ivory gate of delusion, not the gate of horn, whence true dreams come. She decides to wed the man who performs Odysseus' feat: to string his bow and fire an arrow through the holes in the blades of twelve axes standing in a row. Penelope then retires.
Book 20 Athena finds Odysseus still awake, but she allays his fears, and he falls asleep. In the morning of the thirty-ninth (or fortieth) day, Zeus thunders favorably and Odysseus, Telemachus, and Eumaeus are joined by the faithful herdsman, Philoetius. A wanton suitor, Ctesippus, abuses Odysseus and arouses Telemachus' wrath. But Agelaus, another suitor, restores calm. Athena provokes uncontrollable laughter among the suitors who mock the dire prediction of Theoclymenus.
Book 21 Penelope brings forth Odysseus' bow and announces the contest of the axes. The suitors attempt, in turn, to string the bow but none can bend it. Odysseus reveals his identity to Eumaeus and Philoetius and orders them to have all the gates barred. Meantime, Eurymachus and Antinous decline to enter the contest. Odysseus demands a try but the suitors are afraid lest he succeed where they have failed. Eumaeus brings him the bow, which Odysseus strings, and he shoots an arrow clean through the axeholes. At a sign from Odysseus, Telemachus straps on his sword and stands by his father.
Book 22 Odysseus throws off his rags and sends an arrow through Antinous' throat. Amazed, Eurymachus tries vainly to appease Odysseus by shifting the blame for the suitors' misbehavior to Antinous. An arrow fells him. Telemachus kills Amphinomus and hastens to procure armor. Melanthius finds armor for the suitors but he is bound fast by Eumaeus and Philoetius, who then stand with Odysseus and his son. With Athena's help, the four rout the numerous suitors in a pitched battle. Only the bard, Phemius, and the page, Medon, are spared. Eurycleia names the disloyal housemaids whom Telemachus then hangs. Melanthius is killed. Odysseus has the hall fumigated and purified with sulphur.
Book 23 Eurycleia informs Penelope of Odysseus' return and tells of his deeds, but Penelope remains suspicious lest the stranger be some other or a god (but not her husband). Odysseus bids Phemius play wedding music so that the suitors' kin will not suspect the slaughter but will think, rather, that Penelope has chosen a husband. When Odysseus has bathed, Penelope, still aloof, tests him by suggesting that his bed be moved. Odysseus, however, knows the bed he built is immovable for he constructed it around an olive tree which serves as a bedpost. Thus, Penelope recognizes and accepts her husband. He relates the adventures yet in store for him, prophesied by Teiresias, and they retire to their bed where they relate their histories. In the morning, Odysseus wakes his three supporters and leads them to the house of his father, Laertes, in the country.
Book 24 Hermes leads the spirits of the suitors to Hades where Achilles and Agamemnon are conversing. Agamemnon describes the mourning and burial of Achilles, who, he says, is fortunate to have died nobly in battle and to have received a fit funeral. The suitors arrive and recount their death, implicating Penelope in the plot. Agamemnon praises her fidelity. Odysseus tests his father with still another lie and then reveals himself by his scar. Meanwhile, in an assembly, Eupeithes, father of Antinous, rouses the people to seek revenge. This is against the advice of Medon and Halitherses. The two sides meet and Odysseus slays Eupeithes but Athena prevents the unequal battle by frightening the attackers with her aegis. In the form of Mentor, she proclaims everlasting peace in Ithaca.