In book one of the Odyssey Odysseus is stuck on calypso's Island because he has angered the Gods. upon this The Gods have blocked his passage home to Ithaca. He has angered Apollo because his men ate his herd of sacred cows. Poseidon is mad because he Has blinded his, son the cyclops, Polyphemus. Odysseus is said to be the only greek survivor of the trojan war who still has not returned home. Athena pleads with Zeus to let Hermes free Odysseus of the island, and to let her travel to Ithaca and council odysseus's son, Telemachus, on how to get rid of the suitors that have besieged their house.

How did he get to Calypso's island in the first place?

Telemachus calls a meeting of the Suitors and he gets mad at them for taking his inheritance. He decides he will go to find any news of Odysseus and if he is alive. He says that if his father is dead he will give away his mother's hand in marriage. The Suitors try not to allow him to leave because they believe that he will find news of his father and they will be required to leave. Telemachus goes on a secret journey to find news of his father. When Telemachus and his crew arrive in sparta and pylos they are greeted with Zenia. Zeus sends Telemachus a sign that his struggles have been heard.

Telemachus arrives in the port of pylos and is invited to eat at Nestors feast. He approaches the king asking for information of his father, However Nestor did not know what had happened. Odysseus left with Nestor however he had turned back to help Agamemnon worship the gods to apologize for the war. Nestor does tell him that Agamemnon was murdered when he returned home by his wife and her lover. Nestor lends him a chariot and his son to make the journey to Sparta to ask Menelaus for help

The gods Have a meeting and athena proposes that the gods release Odysseus from calypso's Island. Hermes is sent to tell him to leave her island. Calypso believed this was unfair of the gods because he is the only man she loves. Odysseus builds a raft on her island to sail back home. Poseidon still in anger creates a storm to make odysseus's journey much harder however he can not kill him. The sea nymph Io comes to save Odysseus and she gives him a scarf to help him stay above the water. Athena guides Odysseus to the shore and he settles down in a hollow with leaves trying to stay warm and get rest.

Why was the sea nymph sent to help Odysseus?

How does the other people of Ithaca feel about the suitors?

Why does Athena not fix all of Odysseus's problems if she loves him so much?

Why is it recommended that Odysseus go to the queen rather than the king for help?

Odysseus had been guided to Scheria where the Phaeacians lived. The princess of Scheria was sleeping with two of her slaves outside her door. Athena disguised herself as one of the princess Nausicaa's best friend Dymas daughter of a famous sailor. She then told Nausicaa that she had dirty clothes laying on the floor and shamed her for it. In reaction to this Nausicaa took her slaves with Athena created a incident which caused odysseus to wake up and to see the girls playing ball by the river. He then came across the 3 girls. Odysseus then told the three girls his story and how he got there. The slaves ran from Odysseus but Nausicaa stayed to try to get him help. Nausicaa took Odysseus to the village but left him to go to the queen and king by himself. She gave him directions to target out the queen seeing as she had the softer heart than the king.

Why would the king offer away his daughter so easily.

Odysseus was guided to the kings by Athena disguised as a little girl. He tells them some parts of his story where he has been trapped on the island of Calypso and of his sufferings he endured. However he is very careful to make sure he does not reveal his identity to the king. The king grants Odysseus passage home and help getting there. The king offers his daughters hand to Odysseus, and offers to give him wealth and prosperity if he stays. Because of the Glamor that Athena has put on Odysseus he glows with power and command which causes the King to see power in him. He is offered Zenia and a place to sleep inside their home.

Odysseus and his men had veered of course in their ship due to a wind caused by Zeus. The wind carried them to an island full of cyclops, most notably Polyphemus. There was a prophecy at the time telling of Odysseus blinding polyphemus. . Odysseus took 12 of his men to go and meet polyphemus, however when they arrived at his cave and saw the amount of food they planned to steal instead and leave. When Polyphemus saw them they were stopped from stealing. Odysseus using his quick wits gave Polyphemus wine from the gods as a gift.. Then Odysseus said that his name was Noman trying to trick Polyphemus. Two of Odysseus men were killed when polyphemus said he does not fear the gods. That night when Polyphemus was sleeping Odysseus stabbed his eye and in rage, Polyphemus called for his friends and said that no man was killing him. Because of the name Odysseus had given himself the other cyclops thought that no one was killing him and they left. When they ran from his island Odysseus reveals his identity to the cyclops and he cursed his men and him. Poseidon responded to this call.

Odysseus was dumped on the shore and Athena came to his help again. She tells him not to go to the palace but to the swine heard instead. Odysseus is welcomed by Eumaeus, he goes outstandingly out of his way to offer xenia to him. Eumaeus knows about the violation of xenia in the palace because he is raising the swine for the cattle. Odysseus tells of his bad luck and his travels but does not reveal who he is. but to brighten Eumaeus's spirits he tells that odysseus will be home soon and that the suitors days are numbered. odysseus wants to see what the suitors are doing but Eumaeus tells him that is a bad idea due to the wild actions of the suitors. Odysseus back story is that he was in troy and he tells storys of the battles mainly featuring himself

Why does Eumaeus think so highly of Odyssues?

Odysseus wins in the fight against another beggar who is begging near the palace. When Odysseus is fighting he breaks the other beggars jaw. Altinues says that if Odysseus does not fight or he losses then they will send him to the cruel king of the mainland. Penelope is made immensely beautiful by Athena before she walks downstairs to see the situation created by the guest. She tells Telemachus that if he continues to allow guests to be abused his reputation will fall apart. She says she wants to start a formal courting where the suitors will bring her gifts and she will begin to choose a new husband. That night Odysseus see's the slave girls lighting torches and sleeping with the suitors. He tells her to go to the Queens quarters and be by her side then stay in the way of temptation.

Odysseus proceeds to finish the story to the Phaeacians. His crew's next stop was Aeolian Island home of the god of wind. They stay with Aeolus for a month and as a gift for when he left was a stack of winds. Aeolus set the west wind to blow Odysseus home and the men sailed for 9 years and on the 10th, they saw Ithaca. Odysseus then fell asleep of exhaustion. His crew then though that his parting gift was something he was hiding from them, so they opened it and sent them back to sea. Odysseus and his ship sailed on and stopped at Circe's Island. They rested for 2 days, and Odysseus went deer hunting to feed his men. They feasted and slept. The next day Odysseus arose to smoke rising towards the middle of the island. He sent half his men to investigate and when they arrived in Circe's palace, they heard singing and called out to her. She welcomed them to her table, but she mixed the potion into their food and wiped their memories and turned them into pigs. Odysseus sets out to save his men and, on the way, he meets Hermes. Hermen tells him that he cannot do it alone and he will forget his way home, he then gives him an antidote that makes him immune to the spells. He then has to sleep with her after scaring her to set his men free. Then spend a year there and then realize they must leave. They don't remember the way home, so Circe tells them to meet with Hades and Tiresias.

How did Odysseus just happen to meet Hermes?

Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean in the land of the Cimmerians. He performs sacrifices as Circe earlier instructs him to do to attract the souls of the dead. The first to appear is that of Elpenor, the crewman who broke his neck falling from Circe’s roof. He begs Odysseus to return to Circe’s Island and give his body a proper burial. Odysseus then speaks Tiresias, and he says that Poseidon is punishing the Achaeans for blinding his son. He also tells Odysseus his fate and how he will return home and take back his wife and home from the suitors. He will also make a trip to a distant land to meet Poseidon. He tells Odysseus to not touch the flocks of the sun, or he will not return with any of his crew, and it will be a wretched journey. When Tiresias departs Odysseus calls the other spirits to him and speaks to his mother Anticlea. She then tells him about the affairs and how she died from grief of waiting for him. He meets with famous men, and they tell them their cause of death and life stories. Odysseus asks the spirits to let him sleep but the queen and king urge him to continue and asked if he met any fallen Greeks from Troy in Hades. He tells them his encounters there were Agamemnon which he tells him about his murder at the hands of his wife and then meets with Achilles who asks about his son. Odysseus soon finds himself surrounded by souls asking about their relatives, he then gets frightened and heads back to his ship to sail away.

They set sail and return to Aeaea to burry Elpenor and spends one last night with Circe. She tells him about the obstacles ahead and how to navigate through them. Then they approach the island of sirens and Odysseus as instructed by Circe plugs his men's ears with beeswax. His men then bind him to mast of the ship to prevent him from getting controlled by the sirens. Odysseus begs for his men to let him go but they bind him harder. Once they pasted Siren Island they had to go through the strait between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla, who is a six headed monster, will eat one sailor for each head from passing ships. Charybdis is a whirlpool that will threaten to swallow the ship whole. Odysseus holds the ship against the cliff of Scylla's lair. He and his men keep an eye on Charybdis while Scylla's heads eat six sailors. Odysseus then goes to Thrinacia, the island of the sun. He originally wanted to avoid this island, but Eurylochus convinces him to let his crew rest. A storm keeps them beached for a month. Eurylochus then convinces some of Odysseus' crew to disobey him and slaughter the cattle of the sun. Once they do that Odysseus sleeps and when the sun finds out they ask Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. Once they leave the island Zeus starts up another storm that destroys the ship and sends them under the waves. As predicted Odysseus is the only survivor and he just barely made it out. The storm pushes him back to Charybdis and him just barely makes it out a second time on a piece of driftwood from his ship. He eventually reaches Ogygia the island of Calypso. He then tells the Phaeacians he has no need to repeat to them his experience on Ogygia.

Once Odysseus was finished with his story, he was showered with gifts, and they paid a levy so that none of them would majorly suffer from the buying of gifts. He then gets ready to depart and says thanks for all they have given him. When Poseidon sees Odysseus in Ithaca he gets angry that the Phaeacians helped his enemy. He then complains to Zeus who lets him punish the Phaeacians. When the ship is coming to the harbor of Sheria the ship suddenly turns into stone as the prophecy said. The people of Sheria notices that the prophecy was true and did not help the travelers. In Ithaca Odysseus wakes up in an unknown place, this happens because Athena surrounds him in mist, and he doesn't recognize a thing. He is then angered at the Phaeacians because he thinks they have led him to an unknown place. Athena disguised as a shepherd reassures him that he is in Ithaca. He then conceals his identity even though Athena knows its him. Once he finds out its Athena, he tells her its him. She then tells him he needs to punish the suitors. She tells him that Telemachus is on the search for him and in disguise so no one will recognize him.

Odysseus is observing the serving girls again but resists temptation to punish them for their actions. Odysseus feels that the situation here is the just as bad as when his men were eaten by the cyclops. Penelope continues to weep. Odysseus receives a sign that he should take action from Zeus. The goat herder continues to insult him however he gains the support of another slave who has continued to be faithful to him. Athena encourages the suitors to insult Odysseus. Her plan is to get him riled in order for his plan to work better. She makes the suitors hurl insults and objects at him. The prophet Theoclymenus sees an omen that all of the Suitors will die.

Athena puts the idea into Penelope's mind to go and find the bow and axe heads need in order to create the official challenge. She says that whoever can string the bow completely and shoot it through the axes will win her hand in marriage. Telemachus digs a trench to lay the axe heads. The first man to try is an older holy man and he can not string the bow. The suitors ask for a fire and lard in which they can grease the bow and heat it to make it quite easy to string it and bend it. Odysseus reveals himself to two of the goat herds seeing as they were the only two who prayed for his return. Telemachus tells his mother to go to her chambers and bring all of her slave girls with her and lock the doors. Odysseus ask for the bow and effortlessly grabs the bow, strings it, and fires it through the axe heads

The suitors were brought to the underworld by hermes and guided in. The suitors stop to enform the other fallen warriors that Odysseus has come home and got his revenge. Agamemnon continues to writhe about his misfortunate death. He says that penelope is the ideal wife with her virtue, however his wife taints the reputation of all greek women. Odysseus goes into the mountains to meet his father, but instead of revealing himself he continues to hide his identity. When he sees the grief that this has caused his father he reveals himself and tells his father he has returned. The suitors families are enraged from the fate of their son's. However one suitor tries to convince them to stop, but the families refuse. Athena intervenes in the situation and gives the suitor immense strength. He kills another suitor and Athena causes the fighting to stop. Finally, Zeus sends a sign to Odysseus to stop all the fighting otherwise he will be dreadfully punished.

Telemachus goes to the palace to tell the suitors and his mother of his return Telemachus invites theoclymenus into the palace as a renowned guest. Odysseus sets out toward town still disguised as a beggar, all of the suitors offer him scraps and leave him be. The goatherd insults odysseus and kicks him. Altinuos is the only one of the suitors who does not respect odysseus instead he throws a footstool at him. Penelope invites Odysseus to come and talk to her and tell any news of odysseus's return. She promises him food and new clothes if he has any news.

Why does odysseus put off the conversation with penelope?

Telemachus goes to bed but Odysseus remains downstairs. Penelope comes to him and tells him of her trick with the loom to put of marriage with the suitors. Odysseus tells her false stories about himself and continues on to inform her that her husband is alive and well and will return soon. Penelope offers him a nice bed however he refuses saying he is used to rough conditions, however he does accept to his feet being washed. The maid who washes his feet recognizes a scar from an incident while hunting. Penelope tells him of her plan to hold a contest tomorrow to string odysseus's old bow and to shoot it through twelve axe heads as odysseus used to. She says the winner of this competition will win her hand in marriage.

Why does penelope still plan the contest when she knows odysseus will return?

Altinous raises his cup to drink after odysseus makes the arrow through the heads. However, Odysseus shoots him through the neck and reveals his true identity. He starts the slaughter killing many of the suitors. One of them sneaks of to go and get back the suitors weapons however the heardsmen intercept him and torcher him in the storage room by hanging him by his wrists from the ceiling. Telemachus is sent to hack to death the youn loyal slave girls but instead he decides to hang them. The suitors are slaughtered and kept from escaping.

When Odysseus is finished with the slaughter one of the slaves is sent upstairs to tell Penelope what has happened. She does not believe that Odysseus is home but tells the slave girl to tell him that their bed had been moved outside. This angers Odysseus because he knows that he built the bed from a living olive tree. When he says this Penelope truly believes he is home. He tells her of his journeys and that she will have to prepare for the rage of the ithacans and the suitors families. They sleep and weep together and are truly rejoiced to be back together.

Why does Agamemnon still complain of his death?

Why does odysseus build the bed on a living tree?