The Odyssey by Homer

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The Odysseyby Homer

• Part 1
• An Invocation (1)
• Homer, the author of The Odyssey, begins his
  story by calling upon the Muse, the goddess of
  epic poetry, for help and inspiration.
• New Coasts and Poseidons Son
• Land of the Phaeacians (3)
• Homer begins the story of Odysseus , not at the
  beginning and not at the end but in
  the middle.
• Odysseus, while with the Phaeacians, began to
  tell the stories of his adventures at sea.
• Odysseus expresses his love for his home.
• 1st adventure-Land of the Cicones (3)
• Odysseuss twelve ships attacked the Cicones.
• The men became drunk and would not follow
  Odysseus commands.
• The Cicones attacked, drove Odysseuss men back,
  and killed many of them.

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• The Lotus Eaters (3)
• Ten days Odysseus and his crew drifted and came
  to the land of the
• Lotus eaters.
• Odysseus sent out two men and a runner to learn
  of the men on the land.
• The men did not return and Odysseus found them
  forgetful of home because of eating the lotus
  plant. He drove them back to the ship, tied them
  down, and set sail.
• The Cyclops(7)
• Odysseus and his men came to the land of the
  Cyclopes, a race of one-eyed giants.
• Odysseuss curiosity led him to take what they
  wanted but wait to see this giant.
• The giant, Polyphemus, trapped them inside his
  cave and devoured them two at a time, six in
  total.
• Odysseus hid his identity by saying his name was
  Nohbdy.
• Odysseus and his men used a sharpened green olive
  tree, heated in the fire to blind
• Polyphemus. They got him drunk first and waited
  for him to go to sleep.
• They all escaped under the bellies of the sheep
  when the blinded Polyphemus moved the stone to
  let his sheep go out to graze.
• Odysseuss bragging and identifying himself to
  Polyphemus led to the revenge Polyphemus prayed
  to his father, Poseidon.

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• Part 2
• Sea Perils and Defeat
• God of the Winds, Aeolus (4)
• Aeolus bagged all of the winds except the west
  wind and told Odysseus that the west wind would
  take him home but not to open the bag.
• After several days at sea, Odysseus fell asleep.
• His men, believing that there were treasures in
  the bag, thought that Odysseus was not going to
  share, opened the bag and released the winds.
• The winds returned them to Aeolus who refused to
  help them again.
• Laestrygonians (2)
• Monstrous cannibals.
• All killed except Odysseus and the crew on
• his ship.
• Circe (4)
• Circe turned Odysseuss men into swine.
• Odysseuss was given instructions and moly by
  Hermes to help him save his men.
• Circe released Odysseus a year later and sent him
  to the blind prophet Tiresias.

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• 4. Circe warned Odysseus of the Sirens and
  told him what to do to survive.
• Land of the Dead-Tiresias(5)
• Odysseus went to the Land of the Dead with a
  sacrifice to see the blind prophet Tiresias.
• Tiresias told Odysseus he would have to venture
  through Scylla and Charybdis, and then to the
  land of the sun god Helios.
• Odysseus was warned not to let his men injure the
  sun gods cattle.
• Odysseus saw his mother while he was in the Land
  of the Dead and he cried.
• Odysseus returned to Circes where she once again
  warned him.
• Sirens (3)
• Circe instructed Odysseus to have his men place
  softened beeswax in their ears and tie him to the
  ships mast so that he could hear the sirens
  song.
• The sound of the sirens song would drive sailors
  crazy and lure them into the rocks and to their
  death.
• Odysseus heard the song that had a special
  message for him but they all safely made it
  through.

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• Scylla and Charybdis (4)
• The men were not told of the upcoming danger in
• fear that they would panic.
• 2. Odysseus steered his men toward Scylla
  reasoning
• that he would rather lose six men instead of
  all.
• Scylla was a monster with 6 dog heads and
  Charybdis
• was a giant whirlpool that would swallow
  everything around it and then spew it all up.
• Six of his best men were lost but they made it
  through.
• Land of the Sun God (12)
• The tired men complained
  and demanded to go on shore.
• Odysseus explained that
  going on shore could be fatal.
• Storms continued to rage and the men began to
  starve.
• Odysseus had them swear that they would not harm
  the Sun gods cattle.
• Odysseus went inland to pray to the gods, but
  they put him to sleep.
• Meanwhile back at the camp, Eurylochus convinced
  the men that it was better to make sacrifices to
  the gods, eat and take a chance than to starve.

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• The men killed the cattle, made sacrifices,
  cooked and ate the beef.
• Odysseus awoke and feared the worst. He hurried
  back to the camp and found their
• fateful deed. The meat mooed and the skins
  crawled across the ground.
• 9. Helios demanded justice by Zeus or he would
  take his sun and leave the face of the earth.
• When Odysseus and his men left the island, Zeus
  threw down a thunder bolt, blew up the ship, and
  killed all except for Odysseus because he did not
  eat and cattle.
• Odysseus drifted for nine days on a piece of
  wood, made it pass Scylla and Charybdis, and
  washed ashore on the island of Calypso. She kept
  him there for seven years.
• Odysseus ends his story (flashback ) to the
  Phaeacians.