Homer’s second epic, the Odyssey, tells the story of the Greek hero
Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) on his journey home to Ithaca
after the Trojan War. He faces many perils, including
monstrous creatures and seductive women. Each encounter
stretches his intelligence and cunning. But his greatest
challenge comes when he arrives home to find his wife
besieged by suitors who believe him to be dead.The Odyssey
CLASSICAL EUROPE
Odysseus
Like all Greek heroes, Odysseus was physically
strong. But he was also cunning, which helped him
overcome the obstacles that beset his voyage.Greek ship
Greek ships had banks
of oars but were also
equipped with sails, so
Odysseus’s ships would
have been able to take
advantage of the wind.men into pigs. But Odysseus saved himself by eating a
protective herb given to him by the god Hermes. Circe
saw that Odysseus was resistant to her magic, and
turned his crew back into men again. Circe advised
Odysseus to visit the Underworld to find out
more about his future. He travelled there,
and had a vision in which his homeland
was occupied by hostile invaders. The
hero decided to hurry home.
But his journey took longer than
he had expected. Odysseus first
encountered the Sirens, enchanting
creatures whose beautiful song lured
all passing sailors. He sailed past them
by commanding his men to block their ears.
After this, Odysseus’s ship had to pass between
Scylla, a six-headed, man-devouring
monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool.
Odysseus was forced to take the painful
decision of losing six of his sailors to Scylla,
each of whose six heads could only eat one
man at a time, rather than have all of them
drown in the whirlpool of Charybdis.THE MYTH
After leaving Troy, Odysseus and his sailors first came to the
country of the Lotos Eaters. These inhabitants, who lived a lazy
life of ease, tempted them with the lotos fruit, which had the
power to make them forget the past. Odysseus had to force his
reluctant companions back to their ships. Next they
encountered the Cyclopes, a race of one-eyed
giants. Odysseus and his followers were caught by
one of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus, who kept them
captive in a cave and ate some of them. When the
Greek hero was asked to identify himself, he
cleverly said he was called Outis (meaning “no
one”). Odysseus plied Polyphemus with wine
and then blinded the giant with a heated stake.
When Polyphemus shouted, “Outis [no one] is
killing me”, the other Cyclopes heard him
but did not come to his
rescue because they
thought he was drunk,
and the Greeks managed to escape. Polyphemus
complained to his father, the sea god Poseidon, who
sent terrible storms to hinder Odysseus’s journey.AT THE MERCY OF THE WINDS
At their next port of call, Aeolus, the god of the
winds, gave Odysseus the winds tied up in a bag,
allowing him to control his course homewards. But
Odysseus’s men, filled with curiosity about the
contents of the bag, untied it, letting loose all the
winds. The ship was blown far of course, first to
the land of the giant Laestrygonians, who destroyed
most of their ships, and then to an island inhabited
by the enchantress Circe, who turned Odysseus’s»
46