Odysseus
- This article is about Odysseus. See also Odysseus crater, Ulysses (robot), Ulysses (poem), Ulysses (novel), 1143 Odysseus an asteroid
Odysseus is the main character in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey and plays a key role in Homer's Iliad. He is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness, and is most famous for the ten years it took him to return home after the Trojan War. He was the king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus, and son of Laertes and Anticlea. In the tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, the legendary Sisyphus is mentioned as his father.
For a character of such prominence in the Iliad, one of Agamemnon's principal lieutenants, Odysseus' pedigree is relatively obscure. Laertes' father (or stepfather) is Arcesius, a son of Cephalus (eponymous founder of Cephallenia), and grandson of Aeolus. Ithaca was one of several islands that formed Odysseus' kingdom, along the Ionian coastline of Ancient Greece. Odysseus' realm also appears to have included a small foothold in Epirus, near the mouth of the river Achelous. The exact extent of the Cephallenian realm, and the identities of the individual islands given by Homer, is unclear.
Etymology
The name has several variants: Olysseus (Ὀλυσσεύς), Oulixeus (Οὐλιξεύς), Oulixes (Οὐλίξης), and he was known as Ulysses or Ulixes in Roman mythology. His name means "son of pain" according to Homer, or perhaps more likely, it comes from the Greek οδηγός: odēgós, "a guide; the one showing the way". It may also mean "pain" in the sense of the "the one inflicting and suffering pain" — not surprisingly, he nearly always suffers pain (mental and/or physical) in return if he inflicts pain on some one and vice versa.
Odysseus sometimes receives the epithet "Laertiades (Greek: Λαερτιάδης') 'son of Laertes'.
His name and stories were borrowed into Etruscan religion under the name Uthuze.
Before the Trojan War
Odysseus was one of the suitors for Helen, daughter of Tyndareus. But when Tyndareus, afraid of offending the many famous and powerful suitors, would not choose among them, Odysseus promised to solve the dilemma, in return for Tyndareus' support for Odysseus suit for Penelope, daughter of Icarius. Odysseus proposed that Tyndareus require all the suitors to swear an oath to defend whomever Helen chose as husband from among the oath-takers. The suitors, including Odysseus, swore and Helen chose Menelaus, the most powerful of them.
When Helen was abducted by Paris of Troy (which caused the Trojan War), the suitors were called upon to honour their oaths and help Menelaus retrieve Helen. Because an oracle had prophesied he would not return for a long time, Odysseus didn't want to go to war; he pretended to be insane, ploughing his fields and sowing salt instead of seeds. Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother, sent Palamedes to convince Odysseus to join the expedition. Palamedes was very intelligent, and placed Telemachus, Odysseus' infant son, in front of the plough. Odysseus could not kill his son, thus revealing his sanity, and then left for the Trojan War.
With Odysseus now in the Argive army, Agamemnon now set his goals on enlisting Achilles (who was not a suitor for Helen), because it was foretold that Troy could not be taken without him. Odysseus was one of the ambassadors that went to Scyros to fetch him. In most accounts Achilles was disguised as a woman by his mother Thetis, so he would not be sent off to war. An oracle had predicted he would either live a long but boring life or a short one full of excitement, and she was fearful of the consequence if he went off with the expedition to Troy. So Odysseus asked if he could make presents to the women of the court. He laid out some jewels and also a sword, spear, and shield. All but one of the girls were interested in the jewellery; the exception was interested in the weapons and picked up a sword. 'She' turned out to be Achilles. Thus was Odysseus able to identify Achilles. Odysseus told Achilles' mother, Thetis, to send for Peleus' Myrmidon arms and armor made by the god Hephaestus to protect him at Troy. Odysseus let Achilles keep the sword, spear, and shield. Another account of Odysseus' ruse to identify Achilleus states that after the jewels and weapons were displayed Odysseus had a war trumpet sound, which caused Achilles to instinctively grab the weapons brought by Odysseus.
According to some accounts, it was Odysseus who planned the scheme of bringing Iphigenia to be sacrificed under the pretext of marrying Achilles when the crew was without wind. This was due to a prophecy that the human sacrifice would be the only way to appease Artemis to cause favourable winds. After the sacrifice the crew was able to set sail for Troy.
On the way to Troy, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake on Chryse. Agamemnon advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering, smelled bad, and recovery seemed unlikely. Some people suggest it was Odysseus who did this but the Iliad recounts that it was Agamemnon.
At some point just before the actual war started, Odysseus accompanied Menelaus and Palamedes in an envoy to try to bring back Helen peacefully. While Menelaus' arguments to retrieve Helen were emotional and unpersuasive, Odysseus' arguments very nearly persuaded the court and elders to give back Helen, but ultimately failed. According to some accounts, after the discussion with Priam's court, the Trojans insulted and disrespected Menelaus and Odysseus except for Antenor who treated the Greeks with hospitality; because of this hospitality, Antenor was spared during the destruction of Troy.
During the Trojan War
- Main article: Iliad.
Odysseus was one of the main Achaean characters in the Trojan War. The others were "godlike" Achilles, Agamemnon "lord of men", Menelaus, Nestor, Telamonian Ajax and Ajax the Lesser, Diomedes and Teucer the master archer.
When the Achaean ships reached the shores of Troy, no one would jump ashore, since there was an oracle that the first Achaean to jump on Trojan soil would die. Odysseus tossed his shield on the shore and jumped on his shield. He was followed by Protesilaus who jumped on Trojan soil, and later became the first to die.
Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for unmasking his madness ruse, leading him to frame Palamedes as a traitor. At one point, Odysseus convinced a Trojan captive to write a letter that looked as if it was sent by Palamedes, in which a sum of gold was mentioned to have been sent as a reward for Palamedes' treachery. Odysseus then killed the prisoner and hid the gold in Palamedes tent. He caused the letter to be found and received by Agamemnon and also gave hints as to direct the Argives to the gold. This was evidence enough for the Greeks and they had Palamedes stoned to death. Other sources say Odysseus and Diomedes goaded Palamedes to descend a wall with the prospect of treasure being at the bottom. When Palamedes reached the bottom the two then proceeded to bury Palamedes with stones, killing him.
Odysseus was one of the most influential Greek champions during the Trojan War. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he was one the most trusted advisers and counsellors. He always championed the Achaean cause and was unwavering in his cause to continue on with the war and always supportive of Agamemnon when the king was in question, such as the time Thersites spoke against him. When Agamemnon (to test the morale of the Achaeans) announced his intention to depart Troy, Odysseus restored order to the Greek camp. Later on in the Iliad, after many of the heroes had left the battlefield due to injuries (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuaded Agamemnon not to withdraw. Odysseus, along with two other envoys, was chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to combat.
When Hector proposed a single combat duel, Odysseus was one of the Danaans who volunteered to battle him (Aias was the volunteer who did fight Hector though). Odysseus aided Diomedes during the successful night operations in order to kill Rhesus, because it had been foretold that if his horses drank from the Scamander river Troy could not be taken.
After Patroclus had been slain, it was Odysseus who counselled Achilles to let the Achaean men eat and rest, for Achilles, driven by rage, wanted to go back on the offensive - and kill Trojans - immediately. Eventually, Achilles reluctantly consents. During the Funeral Games for Patroclus, Odysseus becomes involved in a wrestling match with Telamonian Ajax, as well as a foot race. With the help of Athena, who favors him, and despite Apollo helping another of the competitors, he wins the race, and manages to draw the wrestling match, to the surprise of all.
When Achilles was slain in battle, it was Odysseus and Telmonian Ajax, who successfully retrieved the fallen warriors' body and armour in the thick of heavy fighting. During the funeral games for Achilles, once again Odysseus competed with Telamonian Ajax in funeral games. Thetis said that the arms of Achilles would go to the bravest of the Greeks, only these two warriors dared to lay claim to that title. The two Argives then got in a heavy dispute about each other's merits to receive the reward. The Greeks feared to decide a winner, for they did not want one of the heroes insulted and abandoning the war effort so Nestor suggested that they allow the captive Trojans decide the winner. Some accounts say a secret vote was held by the Greeks to decide the winner. In either case Odysseus was the winner and Ajax was defeated, enraged, and humiliated killed himself by the sword Hector had given him after being driven mad by Athena to protect Odysseus from his vengeance.
Later on it was learned that the war could not be won without the bow of Heracles, which were owned by the abandoned Philoctetes. Odysseus and Diomedes went out to retrieve them, or according to some accounts Odysseus and Neoptolemus. In any event upon their arrival Philoctetes (still suffering from the wound) was still very angry with the Danaans, especially Odysseus, for abandoning him. While his first instinct was to shoot Odysseus when they arrived to retrieve him, Philoctetes anger was eventually diffused due to Odysseus' persuasive powers and the influence of the gods. Odysseus returned with Philoctetes and his arrows to the Argive camp.
Again with Diomedes, Odysseus went to fetch Achilles' son, Neoptolemus, to come to the aid of the Achaeans, because an oracle stated that Troy could not be taken without him. Upon the success of the mission Odysseus gave Neoptolemus the armaments of his father.
Later on in the war, Odysseus captured Priam's son Helenus the prophet. Helenus told the Greeks that Troy could not be taken without the capture of the Palladium, located in the city of Troy. Once again Odysseus and Diomedes went on a mission together to fulfill a prophecy. Some say that Diomedes crawled on Odysseus' shoulders to enter the city and would not let Odysseus up and into the city. When Diomedes returned from stealing the Palladium and met back up with Odysseus, who was infuriated at Diomedes for not letting him up, he thought to kill Diomedes and take credit for himself and stepped behind Diomedes in order to stab him with his sword. Diomedes caught the glint of the sword in the moonlight and spun around and disarmed the Ithacan king, and proceeded to drive Odysseus back to the Argive camp with the flat of his sword. Another account of the stealing of the Palladium states that both Odysseus and Diomedes entered the city together.
Some myths state that Odysseus in the guise of a beggar covered in rags and blood entered the Trojan city secretly and alone. He was recognized by no one except for Helen and Hecuba, questioned by them, and allowed to return to the Greek camp unharmed.
The Trojan Horse, the famous stratagem, was devised by Odysseus. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. Before hand, Odysseus made Menelaus to give him whatever he asked after they had taken Troy. Menelaus agreed. When the Horse was brought inside Troy, Odysseus and Menelaus descended from it and went directly to Prince Deiphobos' house, where they engaged in a most ferocious battle(Although some accounts say it was Odysseus who fought him and Menelaus came to find the dead body. Ultimately, Deiphobos, who was then the leading son of Priam and Helen's third husband, was killed. Menelaus was also about to kill Helen for leaving him but Odysseus took advantage of the promise earlier and made Menelaus swear not to kill her. Then Menelaus got Helen back. For his crimes, including slaying the Theban warriors in their sleep, Odysseus was compelled by the gods to endure 10 years of hardship before he achieved a nostos, a homecoming. However, other Greeks committed great evils in Troy, such as the execution of King Priam. The most significant crime was the rape of Cassandra, carried out by Ajax, son of Oileus. This angered Athena, as Cassandra was a priestess of the goddess. It was Odysseus who advised the Greeks to stone Ajax to death for his crime. However, the Greeks declined the life-saving advice. Athena was intensely infuriated, and as a result she sent a storm that destroyed much of the returning Greek fleet.
In Euripedes' "The Trojan Women", it is Odysseus who convinces the other Argives to kill Hector's young son, so he has no chance to avenge his city.
Journey home to Ithaca
- Main article: Odyssey.
The Ciconians
After Odysseus and his men depart from Troy, they are greeted by friendly and calm waters. The ships near land and Eurylochus, convincing Odysseus that the gods were on their side, told him to go ashore and loot the nearby city. The crew had landed in Ismara. The city was not at all protected and all of the inhabitants fled without a fight into the nearby mountains. Odysseus and his men looted the city and robbed it of all its goods. Odysseus wisely told the men to board the ships quickly but they refused, ate dinner and fell asleep on the beach. The next morning, the Ciconians (also known as the Cicones), allies of Troy and great warriors, returned with their fierce kinsmen from the mountains. Odysseus and his men fled to the ships as fast as they could but "Six benches were left empty in every ship" (The Odyssey. Book IX. line 64).
The Lotus-Eaters
When Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus sent out a scouting party of three or so men who ate the lotus with the natives. This caused them to fall asleep and stop caring about ever going home. Odysseus went after the scouting party and dragged them back against their will to the ship and set sail.
Polyphemus
A scouting party led by Odysseus (and his friend, Misenus), lands in the territory of the Cyclops and ventures upon a large cave. They enter the cave and proceed to feast on food they find there. Unknown to them, the cave is the dwelling of Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant who soon returns. Polyphemus refuses hospitality to his uninvited guests and traps them in the cave by blocking the entrance with a boulder that could not be moved by mortal men. He then proceeds to eat a pair of the men each day, but Odysseus devises a cunning plan for escape.
To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gives him a bowl of strong, unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asks for his name, Odysseus tells him that it is "Noman" (Outis) or in other accounts "Nobody". In appreciation for the wine, Polyphemus offers to return the favour by eating him last. Once the giant falls asleep, Odysseus and his men turn a pine into a giant spear, which they had previously prepared while Polyphemus was out of the cave shepherding his flocks, and blind Polyphemus. Hearing Polyphemus' cries, other Cyclops come to his cave and ask what is wrong, what man has put out his eye? Polyphemus replied that Noman is "slaying him by guile". The Cyclops left, thinking that his outbursts must be madness or the gods' doing. In other accounts Polyphemus cries that "Nobody has ruined me".
In the morning, Polyphemus rolls back the boulder to let the sheep out to graze. Now blind, Polyphemus cannot see the men, but feels the tops of his sheep to make sure the men are not riding them. Odysseus and his men escape, having tied themselves to the undersides of three sheep. Once Odysseus and his men are out, they load the sheep on board their ship and set sail.
As Odysseus and his men are sailing away he reveals his identity to Polyphemus in an act of hubris. Enraged, Polyphemus tries to hit the ship with boulders, but because he is blind, he misses although they are close to the ship. When the ship appears to be getting away at last, Polyphemus raises his arms to his father, Poseidon, and asks him to not allow Odysseus to go back home to Ithaca, and if he does, he must arrive back alone, his crew dead and in a stranger's ship.
This event is the setting for the only surviving complete satyr play, Cyclops by Euripides. This version contains a more humorous version of the story by including the cowardly satyrs.
According to Virgil's Aeneid, Achaemenides was one of Odysseus' crew who stayed on Sicily with Polyphemus until Aeneas arrived and took him with him. Here, Virgil is probably trying to interweave his tale as much as possible with Homer's already ancient, great work, especially as Achaemenides has nothing to do with the story at all and is in fact never mentioned again.
Aeolus
Odysseus stopped at Aiolia, home of Aeolus, the favoured mortal of the gods who received the power of controlling the winds. Aeolus gave Odysseus and his crew hospitality for a month in return for Odysseus telling interesting stories. Aeolus also provided a bag filled with the all the winds but the one to lead him home, which Odysseus' crew members, suspecting that treasure was in the bag, because of Odysseus guarding the bag for the entire voyage home without a wink of sleep. A couple of the men decided to open it as soon as Odysseus falls asleep and just before their home was reached. They were blown by a violent storm back to Aiolia by Poseidon, where Aeolus refused to provide any more help because he thought Odysseus was cursed by the gods. Now, Odysseus has to start his journey from Aiolia to Ithaca over again; he is heartbroken, but he tries to hide his feelings from his crew.
The Laestrygonians
They came to Telepylos, the stronghold of Lamos, king of the Laestrygonians. Here Odysseus sends out two soldiers and a herald, they meet an inhabitant and proceed to wait for her husband. When the husband comes home the man "rips apart" the herald and the soldiers escape to the ship through the windows in the house. The Laestyygonians were cannibals, eating the poor seafarers who came to their island. These people attacked the fleet with boulders, sinking all but one of the ships and killing hundreds of Odysseus' men.
Circe
The next stop was the island of Circe (Aeaea), where Odysseus sent a scouting party ahead of the rest of the group. She invited the scouting party to a feast, the food laced with one of her magical potions, and she then changed all the men into pigs with a wand after they gorged themselves on it. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted and told by Hermes to procure some of the herb moly to protect him from the same fate. When her magic failed he was able to force her to return his men to human form by making her swear the Oath of the Immortals. She later fell in love with Odysseus and he was treated well in her abode. Later, quite reluctantly (reluctant since she did not want to part with Odysseus), she assisted him in his quest to reach his home after he and his crew spent one year with her on her island. On Circe's island, Elpenor, the youngest of Odysseus' crew, got drunk and fell off Circe's roof. The fall killed him (x.607ff). Some versions of the story differ in that Elpenor died not by a fall from Circe's roof but after leaving Circe's island. He went up the mast to scout ahead, meanwhile a very powerful west wind blew him off the mast and he died on the ship's deck. The crew regarded this as very suspicious since, when Elpenor fell a white bird flew up and guided them to the world of the dead. They believed that Athena killed Elpenor so that his soul would guide them.
Journey to the Underworld
Odysseus wanted to speak with Tiresias, so he and his men journeyed to the River Acheron in Hades, where they performed sacrifices which allowed them to speak to the dead, including his mother, Elpenor, Tiresias, and Achilles. They all gave him valuable advice on how to pass the rest of his journey. Odysseus sacrificed a ram and the dead spirits were attracted to the blood. He held them at bay and demanded to speak with Tiresias, who told him how to pass by Helios' cattle and the whirlpool Charybdis. During the Trojan War Odysseus met a Trojan boy captured by Achilles who was later freed to Troy, named Helios. He didn't remember the name until he heard how to get by Helios, the god.
Tiresias tells Odysseus that after he returns to Ithaca, he must take a well-made oar and walk inland with it to parts where no one mixes sea salt with their food, until someone asks him why he carries a winnowing fan. At that place, he was to fix the oar in the ground and make a sacrifice to appease Poseidon. He also told Odysseus that after all that was done, that he would die an old man, "full of years and peace of mind," that his death would come from the sea and that his life would ebb away very gently. (Some read this as meaning that his death would come away from the sea.) He later meets Achilles who tells Odysseus that he would rather be a slave on earth than the king of the dead. Then, Odysseus went to Circe's island again.
The Sirens
Circe warned Odysseus of the dangers of these singing creatures who lured men to their death. She advised him to avoid hearing the song but that if he really felt he had to hear then he should be tied to the mast. His men should have their ears stopped with wax and be ordered not to heed his screams. Odysseus, moved by curiosity, twisted the words and told the men that Circe had told him that he had to listen to the song. He obeyed her instructions and listened to the song while he was tied to the mast. This episode shows Odysseus's curious nature and also that he was prepared to risk the lives of others to satisfy it.
Scylla and Charybdis
Odysseus was told by Circe that he would have a choice of two paths home. One was the prowling rocks which has been passed only by Jason with the help of Zeus, where either all make it through or all die, but he chooses the second path. On one side was a whirlpool, called Charybdis, which would sink the ship. However, on the other side of the strait was a monster called Scylla, daughter of Crataeis with six heads who would seize and eat six men.
The advice was to sail close to Scylla and lose six men but not to fight, lest he lose more men. However, he did not dare tell his crew of the sacrifice, or they would have cowered below and not rowed and everyone would have ended up in Charybdis. Six men died and Odysseus announced that the desperate cries of the wretched betrayed men were the worst thing he had ever known. Undoubtedly, this affected morale and left the survivors feeling mutinous.
Helios' Cattle
Finally, Odysseus and his surviving crew approached an island, Thrinacia, sacred to Helios, where he kept sacred cattle. Odysseus had been warned by Tiresias and Circe not to touch these cattle. Odysseus told his men that they would not be landing on the island. Eurylochus then threatened mutiny and Odysseus unwisely gave in. The men were trapped by adverse winds on the island and began to get hungry. Odysseus went inland to pray for help and fell asleep. In his absence Eurylochus incited the men to kill and eat the cattle. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethusa, told their father. Helios complained to Zeus and said that he would take the sun down to Hades if justice was not done. Zeus destroyed the ship with a thunderbolt and all the men save Odysseus perished. Odysseus was swept past Scylla and Charybdis whom he luckily escaped and was washed up on Calypso's island.
Calypso and the Phaecians
Odysseus was washed ashore on Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso, daughter of Atlas lived. She made him her lover for seven years and would not let him leave, promising him immortality if he stayed. As a result, Odysseus was strongly attracted to her by night yet wept by the shore for his home and family by day. On behalf of Athena, Zeus intervened and sent Hermes to tell Calypso to let Odysseus go. Odysseus left on a small raft furnished with provisions of water, wine and food by Calypso, only to be hit by a storm launched by his old enemy Poseidon and washed up on the island of Scheria and found by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, who entertained him well and escorted him to Ithaca. While upon Scheria, the bard sings a song of the Trojan war. As Odysseus was at Troy and longed to return to his home, he wept at the song. Alcinous, realising this decided to press Odysseus for his true identity. It is here that we get the actual story of Odysseus' trip from Troy to Scheria taking up books nine to twelve of the epic. After the recital, the Phaecians offer Odysseus passage home, with all of the hoardings he obtained on the way and the gifts the Phaecians themselves had bestowed upon him (showing xenia, the idea of guest friendship). On the twentieth day[citation needed] of sailing he arrived at his home in Ithaca. However, Poseidon upon seeing Odysseus return home was furious and intended to cast a ring of mountains around Scheria so they could never sail again. This, naturally would have been damaging to the Phaecians as they were seafarers. Zeus however managed to persuade Poseidon not to do this. Instead he turned the ship which carried Odysseus home to stone. From that day on the Phaecians resolved to be less trusting of guests.
Odysseus reaches Ithaca
In Ithaca, Penelope was fending off countless suitors while Odysseus' mother, Anticlea, had died of grief. Odysseus, upon landing, was disguised as an old man or a beggar by Athena, and took the name Eperitus. Odysseus' faithful dog Argos was the first to recognize him in his rags. He had waited twenty years to see his master. Aged and decrepit, he did his best to wag his tail, but Odysseus did not want to be found out, and had to feign ignorance, leading the dog to die. Odysseus was then welcomed by his old swineherd, Eumaeus, who did not recognize him in disguise, but still treated him well. The first person to recognize him was his old wet nurse, Euryclea; he also revealed his identity to his son Telemachus.
Odysseus learned that Penelope was faithful to him, pretending to knit or weave a burial shroud for Odysseus' father Laertes and claiming she would choose one suitor when she finished. Every night she undid part of the shroud, until one day, a maid of hers betrayed this secret to the suitors, and they demanded that she finally choose one of them to be her new husband. This occurred just before Odysseus' return, who was then able to watch the suitors drink and take advantage of his family's hospitality.
Still in his disguise, Odysseus went to Penelope and told her that he had met Odysseus, and he said that whoever could string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-handles would be able to marry Penelope. This was to Odysseus' advantage, as only he could string his own bow (it is believed that Odysseus' bow was a composite bow, requiring great skill and leverage to string, rather than brute strength). Penelope then announced what Odysseus had said. The suitors each tried to string the bow, but in vain. Odysseus then took the bow, strung it, and completed the task. Athena then took off his disguise and, with the help of his son Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the swineherd, killed all of them except Medôn, who had been polite to Penelope, and Phemius, a local singer who had only been forced to help the suitors against Penelope.
Penelope, still not quite sure that the stranger was indeed her husband, tested him. She ordered her maid to make up Odysseus' bed, and move it from their bedchamber. Odysseus was astonished because the bed was built into the trunk of an olive tree, the main support for their house, and thus cannot be moved; he tells her this, and since only Odysseus and Penelope knew this, Penelope accepted that he was her husband. She came running to him hoping that he would forgive her. He forgives her because he could understand why she did what she did.
One of the suitors' (Antinous) fathers, Eupeithes, tried to overthrow Odysseus after the death of Antinous. Laertes killed him, and Athena thereafter required the suitors' families and Odysseus to make peace; this ends the story of the Odyssey.
Odysseus had been told (by the shade of Tiresias) that he had one more journey to make after he had re-established his rule in Ithaca, and also that his death would come from the sea and would be peaceful and pleasant. The time frame of these events is left vague, however, perhaps because Homer intended to compose the continuation of the story and wanted room for improvisation.
Other stories
Odysseus is one of the most recurrent characters in Western literature. He has been used by innumerable writers, who often interpret his character and actions in very different ways.
Classical
According to some late sources, most of them purely genealogical, Odysseus had many other children besides Telemachus, the most famous being:
- with Penelope: Poliporthes (born after Odysseus' return from Troy)
- with Circe: Telegonus, Ardeas
- with Calypso: Nausinous
- with Callidice: Polypoetes
Most such genealogies aimed to link Odysseus with the foundation of many Italic cities in remote antiquity.
He figures in the end of the story of King Telephus of Mysia. There may have been a sequel to the Odyssey, named Telegonia, after Telegonus, his son with Circe.
In 5th century BC Athens, tales of the Trojan War were popular subjects for tragedies, and Odysseus figures centrally or indirectly in a number of the extant plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, (Ajax, Philoctetes) and Euripides, (Hecuba, Rhesus) and figured in still more that have not survived.
As Ulysses, he is mentioned regularly in Virgil's Aeneid, and the poem's hero, Aeneas, rescues one of Ulysses' crew members who was left behind on the island of the Cyclops. He in turn offers a first-person account of some of the same events Homer relates, in which Ulysses appears directly. Virgil's Ulysses typifies his view of the Greeks: he is cunning but impious, and ultimately malicious and hedonistic.
Ovid retells parts of Ulysses' journeys, focusing on his romantic involvements with Circe and Calypso, and recasts him as, in Harold Bloom's phrase, "one of the great wandering womanizers." Ovid also gives a detailed account of the contest between Ulysses and Ajax for the armor of Achilles.
A very old popular legend tells of Ulysses as the founder of Lisbon, Portugal, calling it Ulisipo or Ulisseya, during his twenty-year errand on the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. This is recounted by Estraban based on Asclepiades of Myrleia's words, by Pomponius Mela, by Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd Century A.D.), and finally by Camões in his epic poem Lusiads (source: [1]).
Middle Ages and Rennaisance
Dante, in Canto Twenty-Six of the Inferno of his Divine Comedy, encounters Odysseus near the very bottom of Hell: with Diomedes, he walks wrapped in flame in the eighth ring (Counselors of Fraud) of the Eighth circle (Sins of Malice), as punishment for his schemes and conspiracies that won the Trojan War. In a famous passage, Dante has Odysseus relate a different version of his final voyage and death from the one foreshadowed by Homer. He tells how he set out with his men for one final journey of exploration to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules and into the western sea to find what adventures awaited them. After travelling east and south for five months, they saw in the distance a great mountain rising from the sea (this is Purgatory, in Dante's cosmology), before a storm sank them. Dante did not have access to the original Greek texts of the Homeric epics, so his knowledge of their subject-matter was based only on information from later sources, chiefly Virgil's Aeneid but also Ovid; hence the discrepancy between Dante and Homer.
He appears in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, set during the Trojan War.
Modern
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Ulysses presents an aging king who has seen too much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away. Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".
Dan Simmons' novel Ilium and its sequel, Olympos. In these books, Odysseus is encountered both at Troy, and on the futuristic Earth.
James Joyce's novel Ulysses uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom; which turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus' twenty years of wandering.
Frederick Rolfe's The Weird of the Wanderer has the hero Nicholas Crabbe (based on the author) travelling back in time, discovering that he is the reincarnation of Odysseus, marrying Helen, being deified and ending up as one of the three Magi.
Nikos Kazantzakis' The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, a 33,333 line epic poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of Penelope's suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen, incites revolutions in Crete and Egypt, communes with God, and meets representatives of various historical and literary figures such as Vladimir Lenin, Jesus, and Don Quixote.
Ulysses 31 is a Japanese-French anime series (1981) which updates the Greek and Roman mythologies of Ulysses (or Odysseus) to the thirty-first century. In the series, the gods are angered when Ulysses, commander of the giant spaceship Odyssey, kills the giant Cyclops to rescue a group of enslaved children including Telemachus. Zeus sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived and he will be able to return to Earth. In one episode, he travels back in time and meets the Odysseus of the Greek myth.
The Coen Brothers' film O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) is loosely based on the Odyssey. However, they also admit to never having read the epic. George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill, leading a group of escapees from a chain gang through an adventure in search of the proceeds of an armoured truck heist. On their voyage, the gang encounter—amongst other characters—a trio of sirens and a one eyed bible salesman.
In S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time Trilogy, Odikweos (Mycenean spelling) is a 'historical' figure who is every bit as cunning as his legendary self and is one of the few Bronze Age inhabitants who discerns the time-traveller's real background. Odikweos first aids William Walker's rise to power in Achaea, and later helps bring Walker down after seeing his homeland turn into a police state.
Between 1978 and 1979, German director Tony Munzlinger made a documentary series called Unterwegs mit Odysseus (roughly translated: "Journeying with Odysseus"), in which a film team sails across the Aegeian Sea trying to find traces of Odysseus in the modern-day settings of the Odyssey.
Odysseus appears as a playable character in the video game Age of Mythology (2002). In addition, one of the levels in the game involves the player's rescue of Odysseus and his men from Circe.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood retells the story from the point of view of Penelope.
Lindsay Clarke's "The War at Troy" features Odysseus, and its sequel, "The Return from Troy" retells the voyage of Odysseus in a manner which combines myth with modern psychological insight.
Odysseus may be part of the basis for the character of Desmond Hume on the television series Lost. He is attempting to finish a "race around the world" and return to his girlfriend Penelope when he is stranded on the island.
Progressive Metal band Symphony X have a song referring to Odysseus' journey called 'The Odyssey' on the album going by the same name. It comes in at 24 minutes 7 seconds long, and has a 6 part orchestra playing in it, each part comprising of 60 people or so.
Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, an Irish poet, wrote a poem called 'The Second Voyage' in which she makes use of the story of Odysseus.
Other cultures
- Nala and Rama. A similar story exists in Indian mythology with Nala and Damayanti where Nala separates from Damayanti and reunites with her. The story of stringing a bow is similar to the description in Ramayana of Rama stringing the bow to win Sita's hand in marriage.
References
Classical references
- Homer. Iliad
- Homer. Odyssey
- Sophocles. Philoctetes
- Sophocles. Ajax
- Euripides. Cyclops
- Euripides. Hecuba
- Anonymous. Rhesus
- Apollodorus. Bibliotheke III, 8
- Apollodorus. Epitome III, 7; V, 6-22; VII, 1-40
- Ovid. Metamorphoses XIII, 1-398
- Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Canto XXVI
References
- Vasil S. Tole, Odyssey and Sirens: A Temptation towards the Mystery of the Iso-polyphonic Regions of Epirus, A Homeric theme with variations, Tirana, Albania, 2005, ISBN 99943-31-63-9
- Bittlestone, Robert (2005). Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85357-5.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) Odysseus Unbound website
See also
External links
- Archaeological Discovery in Greece may be the tomb of Odysseus [2]
