Circe is helpful once more, providing supplies and warnings about the journey to begin the next dawn. On his way to the palace of alcinous, the king of the phaeacians, odysseus is stopped by a young girl who is athena in disguise. The epic focuses, of course, on odysseuss nostos return home or homeward voyage, a journey whose details a greek audience would already know because of their rich oral mythic tradition. Summary and analysis book 12 the cattle of the sun. Telemachus gathers an assembly of achaeans to make his case for removing the suitors from his home.
Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the odyssey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. These are some of the greatest works of epic literature in the western canon. The odyssey by homer book 9 summary and analysis youtube. Sparknotes literature guides make studying smarter, better, and faster. Now that the battle has ended and the house has been cleaned, good nurse eurycleia scurries up to penelopes quarters to tell her all that has happened.
As odysseus sleeps, athena flies to a phaeacian city where the princess nausicaa, daughter of the king alcinous, lies sleeping. The odyssey is an ancient greek epic telling the story of the hero odysseus journey home from the trojan war. The odyssey at a glance cliffsnotes study guides book. Telemachus excuses himself from eumaeus to see his mother, and instructs him to lead odysseus to town so he can beg. First the greeks must get past the sirens whose irresistible songs lure sailors into their islands coastal reefs. Click to copy the odyssey is divided into 24 books. She offers to guide him to the kings house and shrouds him in a protective mist that keeps the phaeacians, a kind but. Homer begins by asking the muse, the goddess of poetry and music, to sing to him about odysseus and his travels. Odysseus returns to aeaea, where he buries elpenor and spends one last night with circe. Book 5 opens on mount olympus at another council of the gods. Read a character analysis of odysseus, plot summary, and important quotes. This lesson begins with a brief recap of book 23 of the odyssey.
The next day, alcinous loads his gifts on board the ship that will carry odysseus to ithaca. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the odyssey. Summary and analysis book 11 the visit to the dead. Agamemnon and achilles discuss the suitors deaths in hades, and odysseus and. The odyssey books 1617 quiz the odyssey books 1820 summary the odyssey books 2122 summary the odyssey summary the odyssey quotes the odyssey important characters the odyssey quiz literature literature summaries homer facts. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. In book 12 of homers odyssey, the title character and his crew sail away from circes island and continue their efforts to return to ithaca. A large and rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun odysseus s palace and pillaged his land continue to court his wife, penelope. It is, in part, a sequel to the iliad, the other homeric epic. Athena cloaks odysseus and telemachus in darkness so that no one will see them as they walk through the town. She offers to guide him to the kings house and shrouds him in a protective mist that keeps the phaeacians, a kind but somewhat xenophobic people, from harassing him.
Odysseus and his crew have seen many strange lands and have suffered many trials. The odyssey is a fundamental work in the modern western. The new odyssey brings to mind the original epic with which this book has many parallels. He meets up with the fugitive theoklymenos in town and brings him home, where they. Odysseus follows circes instructions, digging a trench at the site prescribed and pouring libations of milk, honey, mellow wine, and pure water. The odyssey books quiz the odyssey books 46 summary the odyssey books 79 summary the odyssey summary the odyssey quotes the odyssey important characters the odyssey quiz literature literature summaries homer facts. Odysseus languishes on the remote island ogygia with the goddess calypso, who has fallen in love with. Eumaeus shows his hospitality by welcoming the stranger, feeding him, and giving him a place to sleep for the. Idiotically if you ask us, telemachos refuses horses and a chariot and wants a keepsake instead. When the suitors retire for the night, telemachus and odysseus remove the arms as planned. Read an overview of the entire poem or a line by line summary and analysis. The odyssey sparknotes literature guide by homer making the reading experience fun. Penelope retrieves odysseus great bow from the storeroom and her maids bear axe heads into the main hall. The account of his wanderings now finished, odysseus looks forward to leaving scheria.
Books 1012 of homers odyssey contain a number of allusions to other events in classical mythology. Books 512 describe the adventures the hero encounters on his way home. Literary works dont come much more venerable or influential than the odyssey, a 12,000line poem written in ancient greek and composed sometime in the eighth century b. The odyssey is an epic journey, but the word journey must be broadly understood. Together with its companion poem the iliad, the odyssey describes the action and aftermath of the trojan wars, andis the model for the heroic quest. The first four describe the difficulties faced by telemachus, the son of odysseus. The achaeans sail from the land of the cyclopes to the home of aeolus, ruler of the winds. True to his word, odysseus returns to aeaea for elpenors funeral rites. In book 10 and elsewhere, hermes is given the epithet slayer of argus, which alludes to a. Homers epic poem the odyssey tells the story of odysseus, greek hero of the trojan war, and his adventures at sea during his travel home.
The odyssey by homer book 5 summary and analysis youtube. This study guide consists of approximately 76 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of the odyssey. That night, athena appears in a dream to the phaeacian princess nausicaa, disguised as her friend. The odyssey sparknotes literature guide sparknotes literature guide series by homer author, sparknotes author 4. When a paper is due, and dreaded exams loom, heres the litcrit help students need to succeed. The husband and wife are both descendants of the god poseidon. Poseidon is notably absent, and athena once more advocates odysseus case. He sleeps the whole night, while the phaeacian crew commands the ship. Moreover, they are complex pieces of work with many twists and turns. The odyssey is homer s epic of odysseus 10year struggle to return home after the trojan war. The odyssey opens with the poet asking the muse of epic poetry, calliope, to inspire him in the telling of this story.
Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the odyssey and what it means. Menelaos is all, thanks, man and books it off island. The odyssey books 2124 summary and analysis gradesaver. The land of the dead is near the homes of the cimmerians, who live shrouded in mist and cloud 11. Homer s 8th century bce oral narrative of a warriors decadeslong quest to return home defines epic poetry. Together with its companion poem the iliad, the odyssey describes the action and aftermath of the trojan wars, andis the model for. Fate, the gods, and free will piety, customs, and justice. The odyssey books 46 quiz the odyssey books 79 summary the odyssey books 1012 summary the odyssey summary the odyssey quotes the odyssey important characters the odyssey quiz literature literature summaries homer facts. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19 book 20 book 21 book 22 book 23 book 24 themes all themes fate, the gods, and free will piety, customs, and justice cunning, disguise, and selfrestraint memory and grief glory and honor.
At pylos, telemachus and mentor athena in disguise witness an impressive religious ceremony in which dozens of bulls are sacrificed to. Quick and easy odyssey synopsis, analysis, and discussion of major characters and themes in the epic poem. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of the odyssey. As is the case throughout homers work, the epic poet. Athena once again asks zeus to assist odysseus, and zeus decides to send hermes to help him break free of his captivity by the lustrous calypso. Granted, its likely not every contemporary readers favorite work although you probably would have felt differently 2,000 years. At the manor, penelope tearfully embraces her son and asks what news he learned.
The odyssey books 1720 summary and analysis gradesaver. Ten years have passed since the fall of troy, and the greek hero odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom in ithaca. Their careless behavior has sometimes angered the gods, who. As much as penelope would like to believe that her husband has returned and vanquished the suitors, she is cautious and goes to the great. In book fourteen odysseus goes to visit a swineherd named eumaeus at athenas request. Telemachus instead tells her to make a sacrifice to the gods to help them with their revenge. Zeus agrees to send his son hermes immediately to ogygia in order to liberate the king of ithaca from calypso. While odysseus battles mystical creatures and faces the wrath of the gods, his wife penelope and his son telemachus stave off suitors vying for penelopes hand and.
898 1302 1476 32 1231 1567 1380 436 443 271 904 214 446 1296 1136 1322 411 1050 1399 474 560 570 1036 647 550 1385 1391 1474 564 1479 1080 333 1177 26 1242 802 834 85 1159