The Odyssey

A war hero vanishes for twenty years while his wife fends off a houseful of greedy suitors and his son grows up fatherless. Along the way there is a one-eyed giant, a witch who turns men into pigs, sirens whose song means death, and a six-headed monster guarding a strait. But the real subject is homecoming, and the cleverest man alive must shed his pride and disguise himself as a beggar to win back everything that is his. It is the oldest adventure story in the Western world, and it is still the best.

What happens in The Odyssey

Ten years after the fall of Troy, the Greek hero Odysseus has still not returned to his island kingdom of Ithaca, held captive on a distant island by the nymph Calypso while the sea-god Poseidon punishes him for blinding the Cyclops. In Ithaca his faithful wife Penelope holds off a mob of arrogant suitors who feast on his estate and pressure her to remarry, while their son Telemachus, urged on by the goddess Athena, sets out to learn his father’s fate. The gods at last compel Calypso to free Odysseus, who is shipwrecked and washes up among the Phaeacians. There he recounts his wanderings: the lotus-eaters, the blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus, the wind-bag of Aeolus, the witch Circe who turns his men to swine, a journey to the land of the dead, the deadly song of the Sirens, the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, and the fatal feast on the cattle of the Sun that drowns all his remaining crew. The Phaeacians ferry him home at last, where Athena disguises him as a beggar. Reunited secretly with Telemachus and tested by his household, he endures the suitors’ insults until Penelope announces a contest of the great bow. Odysseus alone strings it, reveals himself, and with his son slaughters the suitors. After proving his identity to the cautious Penelope, he is reunited with her and his aged father, and Athena imposes peace on the island, completing his long-delayed homecoming.

Where and when The Odyssey happens

Chapter by chapter summary + why it matters

1. 1

   Athena Rouses Telemachus (Books 1 to 2)

   The gods agree that Odysseus should go home, and Athena, disguised as the stranger Mentes, urges young Telemachus to stand up to the suitors who are eating up his father’s estate. At an assembly the suitors refuse to leave, and Antinous blames Penelope, who for three years wove a shroud for Laertes by day and unravelled it by night to put off choosing a husband. With Athena’s help, now disguised as Mentor, Telemachus slips away by night in a borrowed ship.

   Why it mattersBeginning with the son rather than the hero, Homer shows the crisis at home first, so that Odysseus’s return has a household waiting to be saved.

2. 2

   Nestor and Menelaus (Books 3 to 4)

   At Pylos old Nestor tells Telemachus how the Greeks sailed home from Troy and how Orestes avenged his father Agamemnon, then sends his son Peisistratus with him to Sparta. Menelaus and Helen welcome them, and Menelaus reports that the sea-god Proteus told him Odysseus is held by the nymph Calypso. In Ithaca the suitors learn of the voyage and plan an ambush, and Athena comforts Penelope with a dream.

   Why it mattersThe story of Agamemnon’s murder is told again and again as a warning of what a homecoming can become, and it sets Penelope against Clytemnestra.

3. 3

   Calypso and Nausicaa (Books 5 to 6)

   Hermes orders Calypso to free Odysseus, who has spent seven years on her island. He sails on a raft for seventeen days until Poseidon wrecks it, and the sea-goddess Ino gives him a veil that keeps him afloat until he reaches the land of the Phaeacians. The princess Nausicaa, sent to the river by a dream, finds him and tells him how to win help at her father’s palace.

   Why it mattersThe hero first appears weeping for home, not fighting, and his rescue by Nausicaa shows the right way to treat a stranger.

4. 4

   At the Court of Alcinous (Books 7 to 8)

   Odysseus appeals to Queen Arete and King Alcinous, who promise to send him home. At the games a young Phaeacian taunts him, and he answers with a mighty throw of the discus. When the minstrel Demodocus sings of the wooden horse at Troy, Odysseus weeps, and Alcinous asks him at last who he is.

   Why it mattersHearing his own deeds turned into song, Odysseus sees what his fame costs him, and the poem prepares for him to tell his story himself.

5. 5

   The Cyclops, Aeolus, and Circe (Books 9 to 10)

   Odysseus names himself and tells his story: the raid on the Cicones, the Lotus-eaters, and the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whom he blinds after saying his name is Noman, and whose curse turns Poseidon against him. Aeolus gives him the winds in a bag, but his men open it with Ithaca in sight. The Laestrygonians destroy every ship but his own, and the goddess Circe turns some of his men into swine until Odysseus, protected by the herb moly from Hermes, makes her free them.

   Why it mattersThe Cyclops episode shows cunning beating strength, but Odysseus’s boast as he sails away shows the pride that keeps him from home.

6. 6

   The Dead, the Sirens, and the Cattle of the Sun (Books 11 to 12)

   At the edge of the world Odysseus speaks with the dead: the prophet Tiresias warns him to spare the cattle of the Sun, his mother tells him of his waiting family, and the shade of Achilles says he would rather be a poor man’s hired servant on earth than rule the dead. Odysseus hears the Sirens while bound to the mast and loses six men to Scylla. On the island of the Sun his starving crew eat the forbidden cattle, Zeus wrecks the ship, and Odysseus alone survives.

   Why it mattersThe journey to the dead is the poem’s turning point, and the loss of the last crew leaves Odysseus with nothing but his own wits.

7. 7

   Home in Disguise (Books 13 to 14)

   The Phaeacians carry the sleeping Odysseus to Ithaca, and Poseidon turns their ship to stone on its way home. Athena meets him, hides his treasure, and changes him into a ragged old beggar. He goes to the hut of the loyal swineherd Eumaeus, who feeds him kindly, and he tells a long, invented story of his life.

   Why it mattersThe king returns as the lowest man on the island, which lets him test who is still loyal and makes his lies a kind of skill.

8. 8

   Father and Son (Books 15 to 16)

   Athena sends Telemachus home from Sparta, and he avoids the suitors’ ambush and lands safely, bringing a prophet named Theoclymenus. Eumaeus tells the beggar how he was stolen as a child and sold. When Telemachus reaches the hut, Odysseus reveals himself to his son, and the two plan the suitors’ destruction.

   Why it mattersThe two halves of the poem finally meet, and the reunion turns Telemachus from a boy seeking news into his father’s partner.

9. 9

   The Beggar in His Own Hall (Books 17 to 18)

   Odysseus enters his own hall disguised as a beggar. His old hound Argos knows him and dies, the goatherd Melanthius kicks him, and Antinous strikes him with a footstool. He beats the beggar Irus in a boxing match, warns the suitor Amphinomus to leave while he can, and watches Penelope draw gifts from the suitors.

   Why it mattersOdysseus must endure insults he could avenge at once, and his restraint separates him from the suitors, who show no self-control at all.

10. 10

    The Scar and the Omens (Books 19 to 20)

    At night Odysseus and Telemachus hide the weapons, and Penelope questions the beggar, who swears Odysseus will soon return. The old nurse Eurycleia, washing his feet, recognizes a scar from a boar hunt, and he silences her. Penelope decides to set a contest with Odysseus’s bow and the twelve axes. The next day the suitors mock the beggar again, and Theoclymenus sees a vision of their doom.

    Why it mattersPenelope’s long talk with the beggar is full of tests and hints, and readers still debate how much she has guessed.

11. 11

    The Bow and the Slaughter (Books 21 to 22)

    Penelope brings out the great bow, and none of the suitors can string it. Odysseus reveals himself to Eumaeus and the cowherd Philoetius, then strings the bow with ease and shoots an arrow through the axes. He kills Antinous first, and with Telemachus and the two herdsmen he kills the rest, sparing the minstrel Phemius and the herald Medon, before the disloyal maids are hanged.

    Why it mattersThe bow only its master can string proves who he is, but the violence of the revenge, including the hanging of the maids, has troubled many readers.

12. 12

    Penelope and Peace (Books 23 to 24)

    Penelope will not believe the stranger is her husband until he describes their bed, built around the trunk of a living olive tree, and then they are reunited. Hermes leads the suitors’ souls to the dead, where Agamemnon praises Penelope’s faithfulness. Odysseus finds his father Laertes working in his vineyard and proves who he is. When the suitors’ families come for revenge, Laertes kills their leader Eupeithes, and Athena stops the fighting and makes peace.

    Why it mattersPenelope’s test shows she is as cunning as her husband, and the poem ends only when a god halts the cycle of revenge.

Characters and how they connect

Character Relationships who connects to whom, and the themes that bind them

Themes in The Odyssey what the novel is really about

Symbols & motifs

Important quotes

The ending of The Odyssey, explained

The ending of the Odyssey is the long-promised triumph of homecoming, justice, and reunion. After years of wandering and a final return disguised as a beggar, Odysseus uses the contest of the great bow, which only he can string, to expose the suitors and slaughter them in his own hall with the help of Telemachus and his loyal servants. The killing is presented not as cruelty but as the restoration of order, the punishment of men who violated the sacred bond of hospitality by devouring another man’s house and courting his wife. Yet Homer withholds the easiest sentiment: Penelope, having survived twenty years by caution and cunning, refuses to accept the stranger until she tests him with the secret of their marriage bed, carved from a living olive tree rooted in the ground and impossible to move. When Odysseus describes it, proving he alone could know it, the bed becomes the emblem of a fidelity as unmoving as the tree itself, and the couple is at last truly reunited. Odysseus then reconciles with his aged father Laertes, but the cycle of vengeance threatens to continue as the slain suitors’ families take up arms. Only the direct intervention of Athena, commanding both sides to stop, brings lasting peace to Ithaca. The poem thus closes by affirming that a homecoming is complete only when the home, the marriage, the family line, and the wider community are all restored under the order the gods sanction.

Common misreadings

Test yourself

Flashcards flip, self-grade, and the deck remembers what you know

After winning the Trojan War, a clever king named Odysseus just wants to sail home to his wife and son, but it takes him ten more years because a sea-god is angry at him. Along the way he outsmarts a one-eyed giant, escapes a witch who turns his men into pigs, sails past singing monsters, and even visits the land of the dead, losing all his crew before he finally reaches home alone. Back on his island, greedy men have taken over his house and are trying to marry his loyal wife Penelope, so Odysseus sneaks in disguised as a beggar. He proves who he is by stringing a giant bow no one else can, defeats the intruders, and reunites with his family. The whole story is about how badly people want to get home and how brains can beat brute strength.

Compare & connect the story universe

Adaptations. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000, Film), The Odyssey (1997, Television miniseries).

Discussion & essay prompts for class, or your next paper

Key questions students ask

• What is the main theme of The Odyssey
• Why does Poseidon hate Odysseus in The Odyssey
• How does Odysseus defeat the Cyclops Polyphemus
• What does the olive-tree bed symbolize in The Odyssey
• Why is hospitality so important in The Odyssey
• How does Penelope test Odysseus at the end of The Odyssey