Poet calls on Muse Serves to ask for help and inspiration Captures audience’s attention with highlights of heroic adventures. (Somewhat like a movie preview)

Ten years have passed since the end of the Trojan War Calypso holds Odysseus captive and the Gods talk her into letting Odysseus go. Poseidon wrecks Odysseus’ raft Athena comes to the rescue and cast Odysseus on the island of Phaeacia; Princess takes Odysseus to her father (King Alcinous). Odysseus begins to recall his adventures

Island of the Lotus Eaters Landed on island for provisions Men eat the lotus flower and want/need/crave staying

Cyclops (Polyphemus) Odysseus and his men invade Cyclops cave Men wish to leave; Odysseus wants to see the prodigious creature Polyphemus rolls a boulder in front of the door and eats men Odysseus’ Plan Get Cyclops drunk “nobody” trickery Stab out Polyphemus’ eye Tie men to sheep to escape Problem/conflict revealed – Odysseus’ Hubris (extreme pride) taunts Polyphemus shouts his name (ODYSSEUS) Polyphemus throws rocks and calls down the curse of his father Poseidon

Aeolus gives bag of unfavorable winds to Odysseus. Odysseus’ men open bag – thinking Odysseus is hiding something from them. Ships are again blown away from Ithaca.

Circe changes Odysseus’ men into pigs. Hermes delivers herb (moly) to protect Odysseus Odysseus rescues them Must stay with Circe for a year

While with Circe – must travel to the underworld Odysseus must find blind prophet Tiresias – he will tell Odysseus future trials and provides directions to be followed to get home to Ithaca

Sirens (Mermaid like creatures whose singing leads men to their deaths) Odysseus stops up the men’s ears with beeswax so they cannot hear. Odysseus is tied to the mast and listens to Sirens; he tries to get free but the men tie him tighter

Scylla and Charybdis Must go through strait in ocean with Scylla (monster- like, big teeth and all) on one side and Charybdis – whirlpool – on the other side Conflict – What is the lesser of the two evils? Lose a few men, or all? Odysseus chooses to do as he was told and sail towards Scylla Scylla eats men

The island of the sun god Helios Odysseus has been told by Tiresias and by Circe not to go to the island Men outvote Odysseus- led by Eurylochus Odysseus makes men swear they will not eat sun god’s cattle Trapped on the island by a fierce storm, run out of stores of food Starving – Euylochus talks men into slaughtering cattle while Odysseus is off praying for relief Helios is angered and threatens to stop shining Odysseus and his men leave the island Zeus appeases Helios by sending a thunderbolt sinking Odysseus’ ship All men are lost except Odysseus Odysseus survives and finds himself captive on Calypso’s island (Ogygia) for seven years

Odysseus finishes telling his tale to the Phaecians. Alkinoos, the king of the Phaecians, has a ship readied for Odysseus to return home filled with riches. The Phaecians take Odysseus back to Ithaka while he sleeps, drops him off with the treasure under an olive tree, and then leave. Odysseus does not know he is in Ithaka and grows angry with the Phaecians believing they left him somewhere else and took some of the treasure with them.

Poseidon is angry at the Phaecians for bringing Odysseus home safely and giving him treasure. He asks Zeus for vengeance. Zeus allows Poseidon to turn the Phaecians’ ship into stone when they are about to reach harbor. This causes the ship to sink and the men on board to die.

Athena and Odysseus talk to one another not realizing they are in disguise. Athena tells Odysseus he is in Ithaka and they reveal themselves to each other. Athena tells Odysseus that he must not tell anyone who he is and to hide his treasure in the cave. Athena disguises Odysseus so that the suitors will not recognize him and try to kill him. Athena also tells Odysseus that his son, Telemakhos, was sent to Sparta for safety and to get away from the suitors. Athena leaves to meet Telemakhos in Sparta while Odysseus goes to meet the suitors and his wife.

It is the night before the competition for Penelope’s hand and Odysseus worries about how he will fight off all of the suitors by himself. Athena reassures him that she will be there with him and they will win. Penelope, meanwhile, is very upset and calls on Artemis to give her death. After waking from Penelope’s cries, Odysseus asks Zeus for a good omen. Zeus sends a thunderclap and a maid curses the suitors. This is a good sign for Odysseus.

Three men approach Odysseus believing him to be a beggar. Eumaeus, the swineherd, is kind. Melanthios, the goatherd, is rude and tells him to beg elsewhere. Philoitios, the cattle foreman, is kind and welcoming. He says that he has not given up hope on Odysseus.

During the feast, the suitors plot ways of killing Telemakhos, but then an eagle appears with a rockdove in his claws. This sign causes Amphinomos to ask the suitors to stop their plotting and to enjoy the feast. Athena, however, wants Odysseus to remain angry with the suitors, so Ktesippos throws a cow’s hoof at Odysseus. This causes Telemakhos to threaten to kill Ktesippos. The suitors laugh and Theoklymenos shares his vision of blood and ghosts. The suitors continue to joke and ignore Theoklymenos’s vision.

Penelope announces to the suitors that to marry her they must complete a contest. She brings out Odysseus’s bow. Whichever suitor can string the bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-helve sockets will win. Telemakhos is actually the first to try. On the fourth try he is close, but notices Odysseus stiffen so gives the bow up to the suitors. Many suitors try but all fail with trying to string the bow.

The beggar (Odysseus) talks with Eumaeus and Philoetius. He asks them if they would stand beside Odysseus if he were to return. They pray to the gods that Odysseus would return. The beggar then reveals himself as Odysseus to them and promises that if they help him defeat the suitors then he will give them gifts and consider them a son.

Meanwhile, Antinoos suggests they give up and try again tomorrow after they make a sacrifice to Apollo, god of the bow. The beggar instead asks to try his hand at the bow. Antinoos pokes fun at him and the suitors don’t like the idea of it. Penelope agrees to it, but only promises gifts to him, not her hand in marriage. Telemakhos grows angry and tells her he’s in charge and that she should go back to her rooms. Penelope returns to her rooms and cries for Odysseus. The beggar takes the bow, strings it and shoots the arrow successfully winning the contest. Odysseus and Telemakhos prepare to fight.

Odysseus kills Antinoos. Eurymakhos tries to explain that Antinoos was the ringleader and was greedy for power. He offers that he and the other suitors will pay Odysseus back and will give him gifts, but Odysseus refuses. Eurymakhos then urges the suitors to stand and fight Odysseus. Telemakhos retrieves weapons for himself, Odysseus, and the two servants helping them. He leaves the storeroom unlocked though. Melanthios, the goatherd, retrieves weapons for the suitors. The two men helping find him, tie him up, and lock him in the storeroom.

Athena appears disguised as Mentor. She doesn’t help Odysseus yet, but encourages him and wants to test his strength. After Athena begins helping, the battle soon ends. Odysseus only saves two of the men: Phemios, the minstrel and Medon, their herald. After the battle is over, Odysseus asks Eurykleia to bring out the guilty women. When the guilty women come out, they are directed to clean the mess of the battle, haul the dead bodies out, and are then hanged. Odysseus then purifies the palace before asking for Penelope.

Eurykleia wakes Penelope up and tells her Odysseus has returned and killed all of the suitors. Penelope does not believe her, but leaves her room to see the man who killed the suitors. Telemakhos grows angry with Penelope for still not believing the beggar was Odysseus. Odysseus tells a harper to play music and has the maids dance so others in Ithaka will believe they are having a wedding feast. He and his family will then lay low at their own farm. Penelope tests Odysseus by telling a maid to move their bed. Odysseus grows angry because moving the bed is impossible since he built it around an olive tree. After he tells her this, Penelope believes it is really him.

Odysseus and Penelope then catch up and retell their tales. Odysseus tells Penelope that he still has one more trial of embarking on a journey and making a sacrifice to Poseidon. When he returns home he must make sacrifices to the gods.

The next day Odysseus advises Penelope that she should take herself and her women to the upper floor and stay there silently as the town begins to hear about the suitors’ murders. Odysseus and his men leave to see his father, Laertes.