1. Brief Summary of Homer’s Odyssey Dr. Alan J. M. Haffa

2. Beginning in Ithaka • 10 years after the other Greeks have come home from Troy and 20 years after leaving for the war, Odysseus and the men of Ithaka have yet to return • The nobles of Ithaka and surrounding area are wooing his Queen, Penelope, eating his food, drinking his wine, and abusing his servants and son • Telemachus is visited by Athena in disguise and the question of his succession and the future kingship of Ithaka is raised

3. Telemachus’ Journey • The boy outfits a ship and sails to Pylos to seek out news of his father and is entertained by Nestor • He goes by chariot to Sparta and is entertained by Menelaos and the reunited Helen • He learns of the homecoming of the other Greeks; Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and Orestes; Aias dead in an earthquake from Poseidon; Odysseus is still alive, but a castaway on the island of Calypso • The suitors plan an ambush on the sea for Telemachus’ return

4. Odysseus with Calypso (year 9) • He has spent 7 years, shipwrecked on the island of Calypso after Poseidon sunk his ship • Counsel of the God’s decides O.’s homecoming—on a raft for 20 days he is to land on the island of the Phaeacians and they are to bear him home with gifts • Hermes tells Calypso she must help O. and she agrees but is not happy

5. Phaeacians • After another storm, O. washes up on the island of the Phaeacians—a semi-divine people • Supplication of Nausikaa; Queen Arete and King Alcinoos. • Hospitality: Games and feasting • Storytelling: First by the aiodos Demodokos, then Odysseus tells his own story

6. Odysseus’ story (books 9-12) • Kikones’ battle • Cyclops—Polyphemus; capture in cave and then escape; Angered Poseidon, father of Cyclopes; Zeus rejects the offerings made to him from the sheep of Polyphemus; plans for the destruction of the ships • Aeolus, the Wind God treats them hospitably; good winds blow them, but the men open the bag and the bad winds blow them back

7. Kirke the Witch, Two years there • Men turned to Swine • Odysseus with the help of Hermes saves the men • They are treated hospitably • Finally them men beseech him to go home; he supplicates Kirke to give him advice • He must sail to the land of the dead and get advice from the dead Prophet, Teiresias

8. The Dead and Prophecy • Sacrifice to the dead, which enlivens them to speak • Dead companion—Elpenor, begs for burial • Agamemnon and Achilles speak to him • His mother and other famous women • The Prophet tells him that P. plans punishment: Self Denial and Restrain of his shipmates is the only way to get home; he must avoid the oxen of the sun god, Helios, or he alone will come home; At home he must kill the suitors and then journey inland to where men do not know an oar and plant it

9. Return Journey Failed • Return to Kirce; burial of Elpenor; She warns him of the Sirens and Scylla and Charybdis • The Sirens tempt but they escape; they sail through the narrows and Scylla eats some of his men • They land in Africa and starving, with no wind, the men eat the Oxen of Helios • Helios appeals to Zeus; He sends a lightening bolt to Shipwreck and only Odysseus survives on the island of Calypso

10. Homecoming • The Phaeacians return O. to Ithaka in disguise as a beggar; • Poseidon goes to Zeus to complain about O’s homecoming; in punishment the ship of the Phaeacians is turned to stone by Poseidon just outside the harbor, hiding the city from the ocean; in future they will not receive guests or give them transport

11. The Beggar • Odysseus receives hospitality from his Swine Herd, Eumaios • He meets Telemachus there • He reveals himself and they plan his return in disguise • The suitors treat him badly • He fights another beggar • He speaks to Penelope about “Odysseus”

12. The King Revealed • Penelope proposes a competition with O’s bow • No one can string it • Telemachus strings it but doesn’t shoot it • Odysseus shoots the arrow through the rings and the battle begins • He, Telemachus, and his two servants kill some 50 suitors in the Hall

13. Justice? • He refuses the supplications of most and kills them all • Except the Singer and the Herald • Telemachus vouches for both • The slave girls who slept with the suitors and disrespected Penelope are hung

14. Husband and Wife • Penelope refuses to believe it is Odysseus—she has been fooled too many times • She orders his bed to be moved and set outside the chamber • He gets angry—the bed could not be moved unless some other man has been there and uprooted it—carved from a single tree • They embrace in love and tell each other their stories

15. Final Battle • The family of the suitors organize and attack • Odysseus, father Laertes, son Telemachus, and his loyal servants and people fight them off • They would have killed all the rebels if Athena had not stopped it; Peace is made with Athena’s help