Well, The Odyssey is more of an epic than a regular myth, consisting of 24 books and some 12,000 lines. Having studied it at both A Level and degree level, the story has gone beyond just another study book and has become one of my favourite tales. It's very long and I warn anyone who attempts to read it to get the text version rather than the poetic version because the former is a lot easier to understand! I'd also read it in little chunks, ideally 2-4 books at a time, or you will probably go crazy... like I did!! So, sit back and scroll down to read a summary of one of the best-known epics of all time...
King Odysseus of Ithaca was the son of Laertes and Anticleia, the husband of Penelope and the father of Telemachus. Just after his son was born, Odysseus joined the expedition to Troy in order to rescue Helen, the wife of Menelaus from the Trojan prince Paris. After a ten-year siege, they rescue Helen and depart for home.
While the other heroes have their adventures on the seas and arrive home, Odysseus too had his share of adventures. For two years, he is blown around the Mediterranean, experiencing adventures with the Cicones, the Lotus-Eaters and the Cyclops Polyphemus. It was during his encounter with the Cyclops that the hero blinded his only eye and as a son of Poseidon, Polyphemus called to his father to avenge his blindness, thus making Odysseus a bitter enemy of the sea-god. Odysseus then meets Aeolus, the wind-god before sailing to Laestrygonia where the natives destroy all the ships in the fleet except for Odysseus' own. He sails with his crew to the island of the witch Circe who detains them for a year before sending Odysseus alone to the Underworld where he must consult the famous blind prophet Tiresias.
After consulting Tiresias, Odysseus passes through the trap of the Sirens and escapes the threat of Scylla and Charybdis. He finally arrives at the island of Thrinicie, home of the sun-god. There, Odysseus' men refuse to heed his warnings and they kill the cattle of the sun-god. As a consequence for their folly, the ship is wrecked on the high-seas by Poseidon and Odysseus alone survives and is swept on to the shores of Ogygia, home of the demi-goddess Calypso. She detains Odysseus there for seven years with no hope of escape for him.
During the period that Odysseus has been away, his mother has died, his sister Ctimene has left to be married, a family slave named Eumaeus has been sent to a country estate and his father Laertes has retired to the country. In the seventeenth year of his absence, 108 suitors from Ithaca and the surrounding areas began to take residence in his palace by day in the hope of persuading Penelope to re-marry. Telemachus is hopeless in the face of their superior numbers and has to watch them consume his inheritance.
(Homer picks up the epic at this point onwards)In the twentieth year of Odysseus' absence from Ithaca, the gods of Olympus convene a meeting and Athene manages to persuade the release of Odysseus from Calypso. Athene then goes to Ithaca and persuades Telemachus to find news of his father. When the men of Ithaca refuse to help him, Telemachus sets off alone to Nestor who advises him to see Menelaus of Sparta. Menelaus confirms that Odysseus is alive from the information that Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea had told him while he was in Egypt. Telemachus then sets off for home where the suitors have discovered his absence and plan to ambush him on his return.
Meanwhile, Calypso has released Odysseus under the order of Hermes and the hero sets sail for Ithaca. However, Poseidon is greatly angered at his release and as punishment for blinding his son, shipwrecks Odysseus who narrowly escapes death by swimming for the island of Scherie. On arrival to the palace of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, Odysseus is warmly greeted and asked for his story. Odysseus then relates all his adventures from the leaving of Troy to his escape from Ogygia. When he has completed his story, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca in their invincible ships where as soon as he lands, he is warned by Athene of the situation at the palace.
Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus makes his way towards the palace. An unsuspecting Eumaeus welcomes him and offers him temporary residence in his shelter by the palace pigsty. Telemachus arrives in Ithaca after avoiding the suitors' ambush that Athene forewarned him of. He goes to Eumaeus to speak with him of the news of Odysseus and, during a short time when Eumaeus leaves the hut, Odysseus' disguise is temporarily lifted. Father and son are then united and plan the death of the suitors. As Eumaeus returns, Odysseus resumes his disguise and the three make their way to the palace where Odysseus begs (as true to his disguise) and is abused by the suitors. Penelope then meets the disguised Odysseus who tells her that her husband is still alive.
Odysseus and Telemachus go to the Great Hall where the suitors are assembled for a competition. With the help of Eumaeus, a cowherd called Philoetius and Athene, they manage to kill all the suitors and unfaithful servants. Odysseus does away with his disguise and is then reunited with Penelope before he is then re-united with his father.