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Contents of Homer's Odyssey. Odyssey. They performed under the shepherd's flute and percussion

Kikons and lotophages

Soon the flotilla of Odysseus sailed to the island, on which many goats were grazing. The Greeks heartily treated themselves to their meat. The next day, Odysseus with one ship went to inspect the island. It soon became clear that it was inhabited by ferocious cyclops giants, each of which had only one eye in the middle of the forehead. Not knowing how to cultivate the land, the Cyclopes lived as shepherds. They had no cities, no authorities, no laws. The Cyclopes lived alone - each in his own cave among the rocks. Seeing the entrance to one of these caves, Odysseus and his companions entered there, not knowing that it was the abode of the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of the sea god Poseidon, a ferocious cannibal. The Greeks lit a fire, began to fry the goats found in the cave and eat the cheese hung on the walls in baskets.

The Destruction of Troy and the Adventures of Odysseus. cartoons

In the evening Polyphemus suddenly appeared. He drove his herd into the cave and blocked the exit with a stone, which was so huge that the Greeks had no way to move it. Looking around, the Cyclops noticed the Hellenes. Odysseus explained to Polyphemus that he and his men were sailing home from the long Trojan War and asked for hospitality. But Polyphemus growled, grabbed two of Odysseus' companions by the legs, killed them with a blow to the ground with their heads and devoured them, not even leaving bones.

Odysseus in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. Artist J. Jordans, first half of the 17th century

Having finished his bloodthirsty feast, the cyclops snored loudly. The Greeks could not get out of the cave, as the exit was blocked by a huge stone. Rising in the morning, Polyphemus smashed the heads of two more companions of Odysseus, had breakfast with them and left to graze the herd, locking the Greeks in the cave with the same stone. But while he was away, Odysseus took the trunk of a wild olive tree, sharpened its end, burned it on fire and hid it under a pile of dung. In the evening, the Cyclops returned and dined with two more people of Odysseus. Pretending to be polite, Odysseus offered Polyphemus a full cup of strong wine. The Cyclops, who had never tasted wine before, liked this heady drink very much. Emptying another cup, Polyphemus asked Odysseus his name. "My name is Nobody," replied Odysseus. “Well, then, Nobody, as a sign of my disposition, I will eat you last,” Polyphemus burst out laughing.

The drunken Cyclops quickly fell into a dead sleep, and Odysseus and his comrades, who had not yet been eaten, heated the trunk on a fire, stuck it in the giant's only eye and began to rotate.

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus. Black-figure vase from Laconica, mid-6th century. BC

Polyphemus yelled loudly. At his cry, other Cyclopes came running, asking a neighbor what happened to him.

“No one, my friends: I am perishing by my own mistake. No one could harm me by force! shouted Polyphemus.

“If no one,” answered the other Cyclopes, “why are you crying like that?” If you are sick, then ask for help from your father, the god Poseidon.

The Cyclopes are gone. In the morning, Polyphemus removed the stone from the entrance to the cave, stood nearby and began to release his herd to pasture. At the same time, he fumbled with his hands to grab the Greeks if they tried to get out. Then Odysseus tied three rams and attached his people under their belly, one at a time. He himself placed himself under the belly of the leader of the sheep herd, holding on to the wool from below with his hands.

Polyphemus, releasing the rams, felt their backs to make sure that no one was riding the animals. Under the belly of the sheep, the Cyclops did not think of sticking his hands. Odysseus and his companions rode out of the cave under the rams and boarded the ship. Sailing away, Odysseus shouted to Polyphemus that, having now become blind, he would no longer be able to devour the unfortunate wanderers. Enraged, Polyphemus threw a huge rock into the sea, which fell in front of the ship and raised a wave that almost threw the ship back onto the shore. Pushing off from the land with a pole, Odysseus shouted:

- Know, Cyclops, that you were blinded by the destroyer of cities, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus!

Flight of Odysseus from the island of Polyphemus. Artist A. Böcklin, 1896

Polyphemus prayed to his father, the god of the seas, Poseidon, asking that Odysseus endure many misfortunes on the way home. The Cyclops threw another rock after the Greeks. This time she fell behind the stern of the ship, and the wave raised by her carried the ship of Odysseus out to sea. Having gathered the rest of the ships around him, Odysseus left the island of the Cyclopes. But the god Poseidon heard the request of his son Polyphemus and swore to fulfill it.

Odysseus on the island of Aeola

The heroes of the Odyssey soon arrived on the islands of Eol, the god-lord of the winds. Aeolus celebrated sailors for a whole month. Before they sailed on their way, he handed Odysseus a fur tied with a silver thread. In this fur, Aeolus placed all the stormy winds subject to him, except for the affectionate western Zephyr, who was supposed to carry the ships of Odysseus towards his native Ithaca. Eolus said that Odysseus should not untie the silver thread on the bag before he sailed home.

The journey became calm. Odysseus was already approaching Ithaca and could even make out the fires burning on it, but at that moment he fell into a dream from extreme fatigue. The companions of Odysseus, who believed that rich gifts given to their leader were in the bag of Eol, furtively untied the silver thread. The winds broke out and rushed home to Aeolus, driving Odysseus' ship ahead of them. The heroes of the Odyssey soon found themselves again on the island of Eola and began to ask him for help, but the angry god drove them away.

Odysseus and the Lestrigons

Odysseus and the sorceress Circe

Rushing eastward by sea, they soon reached the island of Ei, where the sorceress Circe, the daughter of the sun god Helios, lived. By her father, she was the sister of the treacherous king of Colchis, Eet, from whom the Argonauts mined the golden fleece. Like this brother of hers, like her niece Medea, Circe was tempted in witchcraft and did not like people. Eurylochus, a friend of Odysseus, and with him 22 more people went to inspect the island. In the center of it, in a wide clearing, they saw the palace of Circe, around which wolves and lions roamed. The predators, however, did not attack the people of Eurylochus, but began to caress them, waving their tails. The Greeks did not know that these beasts were in fact humans, enchanted by Circe.

Circe herself also went out to the Greeks and, smiling affably, offered them a meal. Everyone agreed, except for the cautious Eurylochus. He did not go to Circe's house, but began to peep through the windows to see what was happening there. The goddess set before the travelers delicious dishes with a magic potion added to them. The Homeric poem reports that when the Greeks tasted it, Circe touched them with a magic wand, turned them into pigs and, with a malevolent grin, drove them into a pigsty.

Crying Eurylochus returned to Odysseus and told about what had happened. Odysseus rushed to rescue his comrades. On the way, the god Hermes appeared to him and gave him a remedy that could protect Circe from witchcraft. It was a fragrant white "moth" flower with a black root. When Odysseus reached the house of Circe, she invited him to the table. However, while eating her treat, the hero, on the advice of Hermes, sniffed the magic flower all the time.

Circe hands Odysseus a bowl of witchcraft. Painting by J. W. Waterhouse

Circe touched Odysseus with her wand with the words: "Go and wallow like a pig in a cloak." But the witchcraft didn't work. Odysseus jumped up and raised his sword over Circe. The sorceress began to ask for mercy, promising that she would treat Odysseus well and share the marital bed with him.

Odysseus and Circe. Greek vessel c. 440 BC

Taking an oath that Circe would not harm him, the hero of Homer lay down with her. He did not respond to Circe's love caresses until she removed her charms not only from his comrades, but from all the seafarers she had previously bewitched. Odysseus lived for a long time on the island of Circe. She gave birth to three sons from him: Agria, Latina and Telegon.

Odysseus descends into the realm of Hades

Longing for Ithaca and his wife Penelope, Odysseus nevertheless decided to leave Circe. She advised him first to visit the underground kingdom of the dead of the god Hades and ask the shadow of the famous soothsayer Tiresias of Thebes living there about his future fate in his homeland. Homer's poem describes how Odysseus and his companions, driven by a fair wind sent by Circe, sailed north to the edge of the world, where the Cimmerian tribe lives in thick fog and twilight. In the place where the underground rivers Cocytus and Phlegeton merge with Acheront, Odysseus, on the advice of Circe, sacrificed a cow and a black ram to Hades and his wife Persephone. The souls of the dead people immediately flocked to drink the sacrificial blood. On the advice of Circe, Odysseus had to drive away all the shadows with his sword until the soul of Tiresias of Thebes arrived to drink the blood.

The first to the place of sacrifice was the shadow of Elpenor, the companion of Odysseus, who a few days ago fell drunk from the roof of the palace of Circe and died to death. Odysseus was surprised that Elpenor reached the kingdom of Hades, sooner than his comrades, who sailed there on a fast ship. Strictly following the words of Circe, Odysseus, overcoming pity, drove away the soul of Elpenor from the blood of the slaughtered cow and ram. He drove away from her even the shadow of her own mother, Anticlea, who also flew to where her son was standing.

Odysseus in the kingdom of Hades, surrounded by the shadows of his dead comrades

Finally, Tiresias of Thebes appeared. After drinking plenty of blood, he told Odysseus that the god Poseidon would cruelly persecute him for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Tiresias urged Odysseus by all means to keep his companions from kidnapping the bulls of the solar god Helios on the island of Trinacria (Sicily). He said that big troubles awaited Odysseus in Ithaca, but he would be able to take revenge on the thieves of his property. But even upon returning to his homeland, the wanderings of Odysseus will not end. He must take the ship's oar and travel until he meets people who have never seen the sea. Where Odysseus' oar is mistaken for a shovel, his wanderings will end. There he should make a sacrifice to the propitiated Poseidon, and then return to Ithaca. Having lived there to a ripe old age, Odysseus will receive death from across the sea.

Odysseus also spoke with the souls of his deceased comrades-in-arms in the Trojan War: Agamemnon, Achilles. Ajax Telamonides, unfriendly to him, did not conduct conversations and left in gloomy silence. Odysseus saw how the judge of the underworld judges the shadows of the dead Minos how to hunt Orion, Tantalus and Sisyphus suffer, and saw the mortal soul of the great Hercules.

Before continuing on to Ithaca, Odysseus returned to the island of Circe. The sorceress warned the hero that he would have to swim past the island of sirens, bloodthirsty women with the body and legs of birds (some legends tell, however, that the sirens had a fish body and tails). With beautiful, charming singing, they lured sailors to their magical island and betrayed them to a fierce death, tearing them to pieces. They say that the goddess of love Aphrodite turned the sirens into birds because these arrogant maidens did not allow anyone to deprive themselves of their virginity. On the meadow of their island were piles of human bones. Circe advised Odysseus to seal his men's ears with wax so that they would not hear the sirens sing. If Odysseus himself wants to enjoy their beautiful singing, then let him order his companions to tie themselves tightly to the mast and not untie them, despite any requests.

Odysseus and the Sirens. Attic vase, ca. 480-470 BC

Now Odysseus had to go between two cliffs standing close in the middle of the sea waters, on which two disgusting monsters lived - Scylla and Charybdis. The huge Charybdis (“whirlpool”), the daughter of the god Poseidon, sucked masses of water from her cliff three times a day and then spewed it out with a terrible noise. On the opposite rock lived Scylla, the daughter of the terrible monsters Echidna and Typhon. It was a monster with six terrible dog heads and twelve legs. Announcing the whole neighborhood with a heartbreaking screech, Scylla hung from her rock, caught sailors passing by, broke their bones and ate them.

Odysseus' ship between Scylla and Charybdis. Italian fresco of the 16th century

To escape from Charybdis, Odysseus sent his ship a little closer to the cliff of Scylla, which grabbed six of his companions with six mouths. The unfortunate, dangling in the air, screaming outstretched their hands to Odysseus, but it was already impossible to save them.

Odysseus on the island of Helios Trinacria

Soon, Trinacria (Sicily), the island of the sun god Helios, who grazed seven herds of beautiful bulls and numerous flocks of sheep, appeared before the eyes of the sailors. Remembering the prophecies of Tiresias of Thebes, Odysseus took an oath from his comrades not to kidnap either a bull or a ram. But, according to the story of Homer, the stay of the Greeks in Trinacria was delayed. A contrary wind blew for thirty days, food supplies were exhausted, and hunting and fishing gave almost nothing. Once, when Odysseus fell asleep, his friend Eurylochus, tormented by hunger, persuaded his associates to slaughter several selected bulls, saying that in gratitude they would erect a temple to Helios on Ithaca. The sailors caught several bulls, slaughtered them, and ate the meat to their heart's content.

Waking up and learning about this, Odysseus was horrified. Helios complained about the arbitrariness of the travelers to Zeus. When the ship of Odysseus left Trinacria at sea, Zeus sent a strong wind on him and struck the deck with lightning. The ship sank, and everyone who sailed on it, with the exception of Odysseus himself, drowned - as Tiresias of Thebes predicted in the kingdom of Hades. Odysseus somehow tied the mast and keel floating on the water with a belt and held on to them. Soon he realized that the waves were carrying him to the rock of Charybdis. Clinging to the roots of a fig tree growing on a cliff, he hung on them until Charybdis first swallowed the mast and keel with water, and then released them back. Grasping the mast again and starting to row with his hands, Odysseus swam away from the whirlpool.

Odysseus at Calypso

Nine days later he found himself at the island of Ogygia, the home of the nymph Calypso, covered with meadows of flowers and cereals. Calypso lived there in a huge cave overgrown with poplars, cypresses and wild grapes. The beautiful nymph greeted Odysseus, fed him and put him to bed with her. Soon she gave birth to the twins Navsifoy and Navsinoy from the navigator.

Odysseus and Calypso. Artist Jan Styka

For seven years Odysseus lived with Calypso on Ogygia. But he did not cease to yearn for his native Ithaca and often spent time on the shore, looking into the sea. Finally, Zeus ordered Calypso to release Odysseus. Upon learning of this, Odysseus tied the raft, said goodbye to the hospitable nymph and sailed home.

But the light ship of the hero was accidentally seen by his hater, the god Poseidon, who was driving across the sea on a winged chariot. Having sent a huge wave to the raft, Poseidon washed Odysseus overboard. The sailor barely floated to the surface and somehow climbed back onto the raft. Next to him, the merciful goddess Levkoteya (Ino) descended from the sky in the form of a diving bird. In her beak she held a wonderful veil, which had the ability to save those who wrapped themselves in it from death in the depths of the sea. Poseidon shook the raft of Odysseus with a second wave of terrible height. Thinking that this time the hero could not be saved, Poseidon went to his underwater palace. However, the cover of Leucothea did not allow Odysseus to drown.

Odysseus on the island of theacs

Two days later, completely weakened from the struggle with the water element, he reached the island of Drepana, where the Feak tribe lived. Here, on the shore, Odysseus fell into a sound sleep.

Odysseus at the court of Alcinous, king of the Theacians. Painter Francesco Hayez, 1814-1815

The next morning, Nausicaa, the daughter of the king and queen of the Feacians (Alcinous and Arete), came with her maids to the stream to wash clothes. After work, the girls began to play ball and screamed loudly when it fell into the water. This cry woke Odysseus. Covering his nakedness with branches, he went out to the girls and, with skillful speech, aroused the sympathy of Nausicaa. The king's daughter took him to the palace, to his father and mother. Tsar Alkinoy listened to the story of Odysseus' travels, gave him gifts and ordered him to take the hero by sea to Ithaca.

Departure of Odysseus from the country of the feacs. Artist C. Lorrain, 1646

Being already near his native island, Odysseus fell asleep again. The feacs who were with him did not wake up the navigator, but carried him to the shore, sleeping, laying Alcinous' gifts next to him. When the feacs were returning by ship to their pier, Poseidon, angry with their help to Odysseus, hit the ship with his palm and turned it, along with the crew, into stone. He began to threaten Alcinous that he would destroy all the ports on the island of the feacians, filling them with the fragments of a large mountain.

Odysseus and suitors

Return of Odysseus to Ithaca

Waking up on Ithaca, Odysseus went far from the seashore and met along the way the goddess Athena, who took the form of a shepherd. Not knowing that Athena was in front of him, Odysseus told her a fictional story, calling himself a Cretan who fled his homeland because of a murder and accidentally ended up in Ithaca. Athena laughed and revealed her true form to Odysseus.

The goddess helped the hero hide the gifts of King Alcinous in the grotto and made him unrecognizable. Odysseus's skin was covered with wrinkles, his head went bald, his clothes turned into miserable rags. In this form, Athena took him to the hut of the servant of the kings of Ithaca, the faithful old swineherd Eumeus.

The following fragment from the introductory article by Professor A.A. Takho-Godi to the books of Homer tells about the storyline of the poem "The Odyssey" (about the plot of "The Iliad").

The Odyssey, which refers to the poems about the return of heroes from Troy, unlike the Iliad, does not have a through line of plot development, but is divided into four songs.

Songs I-IV tell about the decision of the gods to return Odysseus to his homeland in the tenth year of his wanderings, as well as about the trip of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, to his father's friends, Menelaus and Nestor, in the hope of learning any news about him, since in the house for many years, the so-called suitors of Penelope have been outrageous, claiming her hand, ready to seize Odysseus' property and even kill Telemachus. Clever and strong-willed Penelope is not able to restrain suitors with more ingenious tricks.

In songs V-VIII, the messenger of the gods Hermes arrives on the island of the nymph Calypso, where Odysseus has been languishing for the seventh year, with a command to release the hero. Odysseus, having built a raft with his own hands, goes to sea on it, where he falls into a storm sent by the lord of the seas, Poseidon. So God avenges the blinding of his son Polyphemus by Odysseus. The hero, barely escaping from death, ends up on the island of Scheria, where the feacs live, meets with the royal daughter Nausicaa and her parents Alcinous and Areta. At the feast during the performance of a song about the events of the Trojan War, Odysseus gives himself away, reveals his name and, at the request of his companions, tells about his wanderings in the first three years after the fall of Troy.

Songs IX-XII - Odysseus's story about adventures after his sailing from Troy (the lands of kikons and lotophages, the blinding of Polyphemus, the god of the winds Aeol, the giants-lestrigons, the sorceress Kirk, or Circe, the kingdom of death - Hades, where Odysseus meets his comrades, killed in the war). Odysseus tells how he passed the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, arrived on the island of Trinacria, lost all his companions in a storm, and finally ended up with the nymph Calypso. Feaki, feeling a sense of surprise and compassion, endow the hero with rich gifts and send him to his homeland.

In songs XIII-XVI - the arrival of Odysseus on the island of Ithaca, home, where he hides the treasures of the feacians in the cave of the nymphs, and then, under the guise of a wanderer, comes to the swineherd Eumeus, meets Telemachus there, opens himself to him and prepares the death of the suitors.

In songs XVII-XX, Odysseus, turned by Athena into a beggar old man, is present at the feast of suitors in his own house, sees their impudent antics, remembers the most daring and strengthens in the idea of exterminating them with the help of faithful servants. In the form of a wanderer, he talks with Penelope, supports her confidence in the imminent arrival of her husband. The old nanny of Eurycleia, washing his feet, recognizes Odysseus by the scar on his leg, but he forces her to be silent.

In cantos XX-XXIV, Penelope, at the instigation of Athena, arranges an archery contest, the winner of which will become her husband. Odysseus stocks up weapons the night before to attack the suitors. He is also a competitor. Odysseus is among the laughing and mocking rivals, but he knows that he alone will be able to pull the bowstring. The arrow he shoots catches the suitors by surprise. Telemachus and faithful servants rush at them with weapons. The beating begins, where all suitors are expected to die. Odysseus administers judgment on the servants and maids who betrayed him. The banquet hall is put in order, Odysseus himself is washed from blood and dust and appears before Penelope. However, he has to face the relatives of the dead suitors, and only the goddess Athena saves everyone from bloodshed and establishes peace in Ithaca.

And here in the Odyssey, as well as in the Iliad, many events in the vast expanse of the text are limited by tight time frames, and it is noticeable that the story about them is conducted at different tempos, creating the impression of either a calm flow of time, or its extraordinary conciseness. Therefore, if we trace at least some ratios of the distribution of plot episodes by songs and days (and the action of the Odyssey, as mentioned above, takes 40 days), then curious details become clear.

Telemachus' visit to his father's friends (p. I-IV) is a secondary line of development and, taking six days, flows slowly and calmly, in unhurried conversations and memories of the past. The stay of Odysseus on the island of the nymph Calypso for 7 years is briefly mentioned, as is his journey to the island of the feacs from the seventh to the thirty-third day. But three days of a sea storm are drawn in all details.

Interestingly, the story of Odysseus at the feast of the feacs about the first three years of his wanderings takes only one evening of the thirty-third day, but covers four songs (IX-XII). Before the listeners - a memory, passionately experienced by the narrator, it is conducted at a dynamic pace, time, as it were, is compressed to the limit - it must fit in one evening.

In subsequent songs, the real connection between the songs and the days of the events is more noticeable. By the end of the poem, the drama builds up, and events proceed at an accelerated pace. If songs XIII-XVI take four days (from the thirty-fourth to the thirty-seventh), then the next four (points XVII-XX) fit into two days (thirty-eighth - thirty-ninth). Such important events as preparing for the beating of suitors, archery competitions, reprisals against enemies (n. XXI-XXIII) are concentrated on the thirty-ninth day, so that only one remains for the denouement (n. XXIV) - the fortieth day, when Athena reconciles enemies.

The story in the Odyssey is much more whimsical than in the Iliad. Some events are depicted in detail, others are barely mentioned, others are bypassed, earlier events are presented in later songs (IX-XII), and even in the form of a memory. Nine days are enough for the hero of the poem to decide (albeit not without the help of the gods) his fate: for three days Odysseus is with King Alcinous, for three days in the hut of the shepherd Eumeus and for three days in his own house.

Odyssey (Odysseia) - Epic poem

The Trojan War was started by the gods so that the time of heroes would end and the present, human, iron age would come. Who did not die at the walls of Troy, he had to die on the way back.

Most of the surviving Greek leaders sailed to their homeland, as they sailed to Troy - in a common fleet through the Aegean Sea. When they were halfway there, the sea god Poseidon broke out in a storm, the ships were swept away, people drowned in the waves and crashed on the rocks. Only the chosen ones were destined to be saved. But even those were not easy. Perhaps only the wise old Nestor managed to calmly reach his kingdom in the city of Pylos. The supreme king Agamemnon overcame the storm, but only to die an even more terrible death - in his native Argos he was killed by his own wife and her avenging lover; the poet Aeschylus will later write a tragedy about this. Menelaus, with Helen returned to him, was carried by the winds far into Egypt, and it took him a very long time to get to his Sparta. But the longest and most difficult of all was the path of the cunning king Odysseus, whom the sea carried around the world for ten years. About his fate, Homer composed his second poem: "Muse, tell me about that highly experienced husband who, / Wandering long since the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him, / Visited many people of the city and saw customs, / Endured much grief on the seas caring about salvation ... "

The Iliad is a heroic poem, its action takes place on a battlefield and in a military camp. "Odyssey" is a fabulous and everyday poem, its action takes place, on the one hand, in the magical lands of giants and monsters, where Odysseus wandered, on the other hand, in his small kingdom on the island of Ithaca and in its environs, where Odysseus was waiting for his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. As in the Iliad, only one episode, "the wrath of Achilles", is chosen for the narrative, so in the "Odyssey" - only the very end of his wanderings, the last two stages, from the far western edge of the earth to his native Ithaca. About everything that happened before, Odysseus tells at a feast in the middle of the poem, and tells very briefly: all these fabulous adventures in the poem account for fifty pages out of three hundred. In the Odyssey, the fairy tale sets off everyday life, and not vice versa, although readers, both ancient and modern, were more willing to re-read and recall the fairy tale.

In the Trojan War, Odysseus did a lot for the Greeks - especially where they needed not strength, but intelligence. It was he who guessed to bind Elena's suitors with an oath to help her chosen one against any offender, and without this the army would never have gathered on a campaign. It was he who attracted the young Achilles to the campaign, and without this the victory would have been impossible. It was he, when, at the beginning of the Iliad, the Greek army, after a general meeting, almost rushed from Troy on the way back, managed to stop him. It was he who persuaded Achilles, when he quarreled with Agamemnon, to return to the battle. When, after the death of Achilles, the best warrior of the Greek camp was to receive the armor of the slain, Odysseus received them, and not Ajax. When Troy could not be taken by siege, it was Odysseus who came up with the idea of building a wooden horse, in which the bravest Greek leaders hid and thus penetrated into Troy - and he is one of them. The goddess Athena, the patroness of the Greeks, loved Odysseus the most of them and helped him at every step. But the god Poseidon hated him - we will soon find out why - and it was Poseidon who, with his storms, did not allow him to reach his homeland for ten years. Ten years under Troy, ten years in wanderings - and only in the twentieth year of his trials does the action of the Odyssey begin.

It begins, as in the Iliad, Zeus' will. The gods hold a council, and Athena intercedes with Zeus for Odysseus. He is a prisoner of the nymph Calypso, who is in love with him, on an island in the very middle of a wide sea, and languishes, in vain wishing "to see at least smoke rising from his native shores in the distance." And in his kingdom, on the island of Ithaca, everyone already considers him dead, and the surrounding nobles demand that Queen Penelope choose a new husband from among them, and a new king for the island. There are more than a hundred of them, they live in the Odysseus Palace, feast and drink wildly, ruining the Odysseus economy, and have fun with the Odysseus slaves. Penelope tried to deceive them: she said that she had made a vow to announce her decision not before weaving a shroud for old Laertes, Odysseus's father, who was about to die. During the day she wove in front of everyone, and at night she secretly unraveled what was woven. But the servants betrayed her cunning, and it became more and more difficult for her to resist the insistence of the suitors. With her is her son Telemachus, whom Odysseus left as a baby; but he is young and is not considered.

And now an unfamiliar wanderer comes to Telemachus, calls himself an old friend of Odysseus and gives him advice: "Finish the ship, go around the surrounding lands, collect news about the missing Odysseus; if you hear that he is alive, you will tell the suitors to wait another year; if you hear that he is dead - you will say that you will celebrate the wake and persuade your mother to marry. He advised and disappeared - for Athena herself appeared in his image. So Telemachus did. The suitors resisted, but Telemachus managed to leave and board the ship unnoticed - for the same Athena helped him in this,

Telemachus sails to the mainland - first to Pylos to the decrepit Nestor, then to Sparta to the newly returned Menelaus and Elena. The talkative Nestor tells how the heroes sailed from under Troy and drowned in a storm, how Agamemnon later died in Argos and how his son Orestes avenged the murderer; but he knows nothing about the fate of Odysseus. The hospitable Menelaus tells how he, Menelaus, getting lost in his wanderings, on the Egyptian coast, waylaid the prophetic sea elder, the seal shepherd Proteus, who knew how to turn into a lion, and a boar, and a leopard, and a snake, and into water, and into tree; how he fought with Proteus, and overcame him, and learned from him the way back; and at the same time he learned that Odysseus was alive and suffering in the middle of the wide sea on the island of the nymph Calypso. Delighted by this news, Telemachus is about to return to Ithaca, but then Homer interrupts his story about him and turns to the fate of Odysseus.

The intercession of Athena helped: Zeus sends the messenger of the gods Hermes to Calypso: the time has come, it's time to let Odysseus go. The nymph grieves: "Did I save him from the sea, did I want to give him immortality?" - but dare not disobey. Odysseus does not have a ship - you need to put together a raft. For four days he works with an ax and a drill, on the fifth - the raft is lowered. For seventeen days he sails, ruling over the stars, on the eighteenth a storm breaks out. It was Poseidon, seeing the hero escaping from him, that swept the abyss with four winds, the logs of the raft scattered like straw. "Oh, why didn't I die near Troy!" cried Odysseus. Two goddesses helped Odysseus: a kind sea nymph threw him a magical veil that saved him from drowning, and faithful Athena calmed three winds, leaving the fourth to carry him by swimming to the near shore. For two days and two nights he swims without closing his eyes, and on the third wave they throw him onto land. Naked, tired, helpless, he buries himself in a pile of leaves and falls into a dead sleep.

It was the land of the blessed feacs, over which the good king Alkinos ruled in a high palace: copper walls, golden doors, embroidered fabrics on the benches, ripe fruits on the branches, eternal summer over the garden. The king had a young daughter, Nausicaa; At night, Athena appeared to her and said: “Soon you will be married, but your clothes have not been washed; gather the maids, take the chariot, go to the sea, wash your dresses.” They left, washed, dried, began to play ball; the ball flew into the sea, the girls screamed loudly, their cry woke up Odysseus. He rises from the bushes, terrible, covered with dried sea mud, and prays: "Whether you are a nymph or a mortal, help me: let me cover my nakedness, show me the way to people, and may the gods send you a good husband." He bathes, anoints himself, dresses, and Nausicaä, admiring, thinks: "Ah, if only the gods would give me such a husband." He goes to the city, enters Tsar Alcinous, tells him about his misfortune, but does not name himself; touched by Alkina, he promises that the Phaeacian ships will take him wherever he asks.

Odysseus sits at the Alkinoic feast, and the wise blind singer Demodocus entertains the feasters with songs. "Sing about the Trojan War!" - asks Odysseus; and Demodocus sings about the wooden horse of Odysseus and the capture of Troy. Odysseus has tears in his eyes. "Why are you crying?" says Alkinoy. "That's why the gods send death to the heroes, so that the descendants sing glory to them. Is it true that someone close to you fell near Troy?" And then Odysseus opens: "I am Odysseus, the son of Laertes, the king of Ithaca, small, stony, but dear to the heart ..." - and begins the story of his wanderings. There are nine adventures in this story.

The first adventure is with the lotophages. The storm took the Odyssey ships from under Troy to the far south, where the lotus grows - a magical fruit, after tasting which, a person forgets about everything and does not want anything in life except the lotus. The lotus-eaters treated the Odyssey companions to the lotus, and they forgot about their native Ithaca and refused to sail further. By force of them, weeping, they took them to the ship and set off.

The second adventure is with the Cyclopes. They were monstrous giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads; they herded sheep and goats and did not know wine. Chief among them was Polyphemus, the son of the sea Poseidon. Odysseus wandered into his empty cave with a dozen companions. In the evening, Polyphemus came, huge as a mountain, drove a herd into the cave, blocked the exit with a block, asked: "Who are you?" - "Wanderers, Zeus is our guardian, we ask you to help us." - "I'm not afraid of Zeus!" - and the Cyclops grabbed two, smashed them against the wall, ate them with bones and snored. In the morning he left with the herd, again blocking the entrance; and then Odysseus came up with a trick. He and his comrades took a Cyclops club, as big as a mast, sharpened it, burned it on fire, hid it; and when the villain came and devoured two more comrades, he brought him wine to put him to sleep. The monster liked the wine. "What is your name?" - he asked. "Nobody!" Odysseus answered. "For such a treat, I'll eat you, Nobody, last!" - and drunken cyclops snored. Then Odysseus and his companions took a club, approached, swung it and plunged it into the single giant's eye. The blinded ogre roared, other Cyclops ran: "Who offended you, Polyphemus?" - "Nobody!" - "Well, if no one, then there is nothing to make noise" - and dispersed. And in order to get out of the cave, Odysseus tied his comrades under the belly of the Cyclopean rams so that he would not grope them, and so, together with the herd, they left the cave in the morning. But, already sailing away, Odysseus could not stand it and shouted:

"Here's an execution from me, Odysseus from Ithaca, for offending the guests!" And the Cyclops furiously prayed to his father Poseidon: "Don't let Odysseus swim to Ithaca - and if it's destined to do so, then let him swim a long time, alone, on a strange ship!" And God heard his prayer.

The third adventure is on the island of the wind god Eol. God sent them a fair wind, and tied the rest in a leather bag and gave Odysseus: "When you swim - let go." But when Ithaca was already visible, the tired Odysseus fell asleep, and his companions untied the bag ahead of time; a hurricane arose, they rushed back to Aeolus. "So the gods are against you!" - Eol said angrily and refused to help the disobedient.

The fourth adventure is with the lestrigons, wild cannibal giants. They ran to the shore and brought down huge rocks on the Odysseus ships; eleven of the twelve ships perished, Odysseus and a few comrades escaped on the last.

The fifth adventure is with the sorceress Kirka, the queen of the West, who turned all aliens into animals. She brought wine, honey, cheese and flour with a poisonous potion to the Odyssey messengers - and they turned into pigs, and she drove them into a barn. He escaped alone and in horror told Odysseus about this; he took a bow and went to help his comrades, not hoping for anything. But Hermes, the messenger of the gods, gave him a divine plant: a black root, a white flower, and the spell was powerless against Odysseus. Threatening with a sword, he forced the sorceress to return the human form to his friends and demanded: "Get us back to Ithaca!" - "Ask the way of the prophetic Tiresias, the prophet of the prophets," said the sorceress. "But he's dead!" - "Ask the dead!" And she told me how to do it.

The sixth adventure is the most terrible: the descent into the realm of the dead. The entrance to it is at the end of the world, in the country of eternal night. The souls of the dead in it are incorporeal, insensible and thoughtless, but after drinking the sacrificial blood, they acquire speech and reason. On the threshold of the kingdom of the dead, Odysseus slaughtered a black ram and a black sheep as a sacrifice; the souls of the dead flocked to the smell of blood, but Odysseus drove them away with a sword until the prophetic Tiresias appeared before him. After drinking blood, he said:

“Your troubles are for insulting Poseidon; your salvation is if you don’t offend the Sun-Helios; if you offend, you will return to Ithaca, but alone, on a strange ship, and not soon. and you will have a long kingdom and a peaceful old age." After that, Odysseus allowed other ghosts to the sacrificial blood. The shadow of his mother told how she died of longing for her son; he wanted to hug her, but under his arms there was only empty air. Agamemnon told how he died from his wife: "Be careful, Odysseus, it's dangerous to rely on wives." Achilles said to him:

"I'd rather be a laborer on earth than a king among the dead." Only Ajax did not say anything, not forgiving that Odysseus, and not he, got the armor of Achilles. From afar I saw Odysseus and the infernal judge My-nos, and the eternally executed proud Tantalus, the cunning Sisyphus, the impudent Titius; but then horror seized him, and he hurried away, towards the white light.

The seventh adventure was Sirens - predators, seductive singing luring sailors to death. Odysseus outwitted them: he sealed the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast and not let go, no matter what. So they sailed past, unharmed, and Odysseus also heard singing, the sweetest of which is none.

The eighth adventure was the strait between the monsters Skilla and Charybdis: Skilla - about six heads, each with three rows of teeth, and twelve paws; Charybdis - about one larynx, but such that in one gulp it drags the whole ship. Odysseus preferred Skilla Charybdis - and he was right: she grabbed six of his comrades from the ship and ate six of his comrades with six mouths, but the ship remained intact.

The ninth adventure was the island of the Sun-Helios, where his sacred herds grazed - seven herds of red bulls, seven herds of white rams. Odysseus, mindful of the covenant of Tiresias, took a terrible oath from his comrades not to touch them; but opposite winds blew, the ship stopped, the satellites were hungry, and when Odysseus fell asleep, they slaughtered and ate the best bulls. It was scary: the flayed skins moved, and the meat on the skewers lowed. The Sun-Helios, who sees everything, hears everything, knows everything, prayed to Zeus: "Punish the offenders, otherwise I will descend into the underworld and will shine among the dead." And then, as the winds subsided and the ship sailed from the shore, Zeus raised a storm, struck with lightning, the ship crumbled, the satellites drowned in a whirlpool, and Odysseus, alone on a fragment of a log, rushed across the sea for nine days, until he was thrown ashore on the island of Calypso.

This is how Odysseus ends his story.

King Alkina fulfilled his promise: Odysseus boarded the Phaeacian ship, plunged into an enchanted dream, and woke up already on the foggy coast of Ithaca. Here he is met by the patroness Athena. “The time has come for your cunning,” she says, “hide, beware of suitors and wait for your son Telemachus!” She touches him, and he becomes unrecognizable: old, bald, poor, with a staff and a bag. In this form, he goes deep into the island - to ask for shelter from the good old swineherd Evmey. He tells Eumeus that he comes from Crete, fought near Troy, knew Odysseus, sailed to Egypt, fell into slavery, was with pirates and barely escaped. Eumeus calls him to the hut, puts him to the hearth, treats him, grieves for the missing Odysseus, complains about violent suitors, pities Queen Penelope and Prince Telemachus. The next day, Telemachus himself comes, having returned from his wandering - of course, Athena herself also sent him here. In front of him, Athena returns Odysseus his true appearance, mighty and proud. "Are you a god?" - asks Telemachus. "No, I am your father," Odysseus replies, and they, embracing, cry with happiness,

The end is near. Telemachus goes to the city, to the palace; behind him wander Eumeus and Odysseus, again in the form of a beggar. At the palace threshold, the first recognition is made: the decrepit Odysseus dog, who for twenty years has not forgotten the voice of the owner, raises his ears, crawls up to him with his last strength and dies at his feet. Odysseus enters the house, goes around the room, asks the suitors for alms, suffers ridicule and beatings. Suitors pit him against another beggar, younger and stronger; Odysseus, unexpectedly for everyone, knocks him over with one blow. The grooms laugh: "Let Zeus send you what you want for this!" - and do not know that Odysseus wishes them a speedy death. Penelope calls the stranger to her: has he heard the news of Odysseus? "I heard," says Odysseus, "he is in a distant land and will soon arrive." Penelope can't believe it, but she is grateful for the guest. She tells the old maid to wash the wanderer's dusty feet before going to bed, and invites him to be in the palace at tomorrow's feast. And here the second recognition takes place: the maid brings in the basin, touches the guest's legs and feels the scar on her lower leg, which Odysseus had after hunting the boar in his younger years. Her hands trembled, her leg slipped out: "You are Odysseus!" Odysseus clamps her mouth: "Yes, it's me, but be quiet - otherwise you will ruin the whole thing!"

The last day is coming. Penelope calls the suitors to the banquet room: "Here is the bow of my dead Odysseus; whoever pulls it and shoots an arrow through twelve rings on twelve axes in a row will become my husband!" One after another, one hundred and twenty suitors try on the bow - not a single one can even pull the bowstring. They already want to postpone the competition until tomorrow - but then Odysseus gets up in his impoverished form: "Let me try too: after all, I was once strong!" The suitors are indignant, but Telemachus stands up for the guest:

"I am the heir of this bow, to whom I want - I give it; and you, mother, go to your women's affairs." Odysseus takes up the bow, easily bends it, rings the bowstring, the arrow flies through the twelve rings and pierces the wall. Zeus thunders over the house, Odysseus straightens up to his full heroic height, next to him is Telemachus with a sword and a spear. "No, I have not forgotten how to shoot: now I will try another target!" And the second arrow hits the most impudent and violent of suitors. "Ah, you thought that Odysseus was dead? No, he is alive for truth and retribution!" The suitors grab their swords, Odysseus strikes them with arrows, and when the arrows run out - with spears, which the faithful Eumeus brings. The suitors rush about the ward, the invisible Athena darkens their minds and diverts their blows from Odysseus, they fall one by one. A pile of dead bodies is piled up in the middle of the house, faithful slaves and slaves crowd around and rejoice when they see their master.

Penelope did not hear anything: Athena sent a deep sleep on her in her chamber. The old maid runs to her with good news:

Odysseus is back. Odysseus punished the suitors! She does not believe: no, yesterday's beggar is not at all like Odysseus, as he was twenty years ago; and the suitors were probably punished by angry gods. "Well," says Odysseus, "if the queen has such an unkind heart, let them make a bed for me alone." And here the third, main recognition takes place. "Well," says Penelope to the maid, "take the guest to his rest the bed from the king's bedroom." “What are you saying, woman?” Odysseus exclaims, “this bed cannot be moved, instead of legs it has an olive stump, I myself once knocked it together and adjusted it.” And in response, Penelope weeps with joy and rushes to her husband: it was a secret, they alone knew a sign.

It's a victory, but it's not peace yet. The fallen suitors have relatives left, and they are ready to take revenge. With an armed crowd, they go to Odysseus, he comes forward to meet them with Telemachus and several henchmen. The first blows are already thundering, the first blood is shed - but Zeus's will puts an end to the brewing discord. Lightning flashes, striking the ground between the fighters, thunder rumbles, Athena appears with a loud cry: "... Do not shed blood in vain and stop the evil enmity!" - and the frightened avengers retreat. And then:

"With a sacrifice and an oath, the union between the king and the people was sealed / The bright daughter of the Thunderer, the goddess Pallas Athena."

With these words, the Odyssey ends.

THE ROLE OF ODYSSEY IN THE TROJAN WAR

Odysseus is the king of the island of Ithaca in Greek mythology. Odysseus' mother is Anticlea, daughter of Autolycus and granddaughter of the god Hermes. Autolycus is a dexterous robber who received from his father Hermes the gift of trickery, the ability to assume any form and make objects invisible. One day Autolycus stole the flocks of Sisyphus, another notorious trickster. Sisyphus caught Autolycus and in retaliation dishonored his daughter Anticlea, who shortly thereafter was married to Laertes and gave birth to Odysseus. Some ancient authors consider the true father of Odysseus Sisyphus, others - Laertes. The version with the paternity of Sisyphus explains the cunning of Odysseus much better, because. in this case, both on the paternal and maternal lines in the family of Odysseus there were famous cunning people: Sisyphus, Autolycus, Hermes, therefore Odysseus himself was destined to become the most cunning of people. According to the goddess Athena, even the gods find it difficult to compete in cunning with Odysseus. The name "Odysseus" comes from the Greek odyssao - ("I am angry") and indicates the fate of Odysseus to provoke the wrath of the gods (for example, Poseidon), who do not tolerate the fact that a mere mortal can be equal to them in intelligence and cunning.
Odysseus was among the suitors of Elena, but in the end he married her cousin, Penelope, who was given to him as a wife in gratitude for the wise advice on reconciling Elena's suitors: all suitors were required to take an oath to protect the honor of Elena's future husband in the future. However, Odysseus himself was bound by this oath, and when Paris kidnapped Helen, Odysseus, among other Greeks, had to go on a campaign against Troy. Not wanting to leave his beloved wife and newly born son Telemachus, Odysseus resorted to cunning and pretended to be insane. When Palamedes, a messenger from the Achaeans, arrived at Odysseus, he saw the following picture: Odysseus, harnessed to a plow by a horse and a horse, sows salt. Then Palamedes put little Telemachus in the path of Odysseus' plow and Odysseus was forced to give up pretense.

Soon it was the turn of Odysseus to expose the pretense of another hero - Achilles, whom his mother Thetis, not wanting to send to war, hid among the girls on the island of Skyros, dressing Achilles in women's clothes. Odysseus and Diomedes arrived at Skyros under the guise of merchants and laid out jewelry and weapons in front of the girls, after which they staged an attack by robbers. All the girls fled in fear, only Achilles grabbed his weapon and was exposed.
Odysseus arrived at the Trojan coast at the head of an army on 12 ships. In the war, Odysseus proved himself to be a fearless warrior who did not retreat from the battlefield, even when he was alone against many Trojans:

Here Odysseus the spearman will leave alone; from the Achaeans
No one stayed with him: everyone was dispelled by their horror.
He sighed and spoke to his noble heart:
"Woe! what will happen to me? shame, if the crowds are afraid,
I will run away; but worse than that, if the crowd comprehend
I will be alone: the thunderer scattered the other Argives.
But why does my soul worry about such thoughts?
I know that the vile one retreats dishonorably from the battle!
Who in the battles is noble in soul, no doubt, must
Stand bravely, strike him or he strikes!"

(Homer "Iliad", song 11th)

Having captured the Trojan soothsayer Helen, Odysseus learns from him that one of the conditions for victory in the war is the possession of the statue of Athena, located in the temple of the goddess in Troy. Then Odysseus entered Troy and stole the statue (according to another version of the myth, Diomedes helped him in this).

At the games arranged in honor of the burial of Patroclus, Odysseus won the running competition. Also at the games, Odysseus fought with Ajax Telamonides, an Achaean hero second only to Achilles in strength. Odysseus and Ajax could not overcome each other, then Achilles stopped the duel, telling them:

“End your struggle and do not languish with cruel labor.
Your victory is equal; and having taken equal rewards,
Get off the field: let others enter into feats."

(Homer "Iliad", song 23rd)

A new confrontation between Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus happened during a dispute over who would get the armor of the murdered Achilles. Ajax believed that he protected Achilles' body from the Trojans better than Odysseus, however the armor was awarded to Odysseus. The enraged Ajax decided to kill the Achaean leaders at night, but Athena decided to insure her favorite Odysseus against an accident and sent madness to Ajax. As a result, Ajax killed herds of cattle. When reason returned to Ajax, he could not bear the shame and committed suicide. Even in the realm of the dead, Ajax refused to speak with Odysseus, continuing to harbor a grudge.

Thanks to the cunning of Odysseus, the Greeks were still able to take Troy: Odysseus offered to build a wooden horse, hollow inside, hide a small part of the army there, and the rest of the army to sail into the sea, then to return. The Trojans, not listening to the warnings of the priest Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. At night, Odysseus and other soldiers got out of the horse, killed the guards, opened the gates to the returning Achaean army, and the 10-year war ended with the fall of Troy.

Summary of Homer's Odyssey is an amazing story of the long wanderings of the Greek king Ithaca, the brave Odysseus, and his return to his beloved wife Penelope. If in the Iliad Homer focuses all the action in Troy and its environs, then in the Odyssey the place of action is dynamic. The reader, along with the characters, is transferred from Troy to Egypt, then to North Africa and the Peloponnese, finds himself in Ithaca and on the western coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The life of heroes after the capture of Troy

The plot begins ten years after the victory of the Greeks in the Angry Gods did not allow Odysseus to immediately return to his native place without hindrance. For some time, the hero lives on a distant western violet island with the sea nymph Calypso. For a long time, Athena, the eternal intercessor of Odysseus, has been trying to get permission from Zeus to rescue a person, and, finally, she succeeds. Athena in a strange guise appears on Ithaca, where Penelope and her son named Telemachus are besieged from all sides by suitors. More than a hundred people convince the queen to choose one of them as her husband, referring to the fact that Odysseus died. However, Penelope continues to hope for the return of her husband. Athena speaks with Telemachus and convinces him to go on a journey to find out some information about the fate of his father. Almost immediately, Telemachus sails towards Pylos (on the western edge of the Peloponnese), to the city of Nestor.

The beginning of the wanderings of Telemachus

Nestor gives Telemachus a warm welcome. He allows the young man to spend the night in his palace, and in the evening he tells about the trials that some Greek leaders faced on their way back from Troy. With the first rays of the sun, Telemachus sets off in a chariot to Sparta, where Menelaus and Helen again live in love and harmony. Outlining the summary of Homer's Odyssey, it is worth mentioning that they arranged a luxurious feast in honor of Telemachus, and they also tell the famous story of a wooden horse, the construction of which Odysseus suggested to the Greeks. However, they cannot help the young man with the search for his father.

The long-awaited release of Odysseus

At the same time, in Ithaca, Penelope's suitors decide to ambush Telemachus and kill him. Athena again begins to talk about the release of Odysseus. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, at the instigation of Zeus, goes to Calypso, demanding that she release the hero. Immediately, Odysseus starts building a raft, and then sails towards Ithaca. But the ruler of the seas, Poseidon, is still angry with him because the hero deprived the sight of the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of God. Therefore, Poseidon sends a merciless storm to Odysseus, the hero's raft is shattered, and only with the help of Athena does he manage to reach the shore.

Odysseus' path to home was not easy

Further, a summary of Homer's Odyssey tells us about the events of the next morning. The hero wakes up from the sound of girlish voices. This is the princess of Scheria named Nausicaa and her faithful servants. Odysseus asks Nausicaa for help, and she is supportive of the hero - she gives him food and clothes, and at the same time tells about herself and her royal parents. To the servants, Nausicaä says that she wants to see such a person as her spouse. The queen sends Odysseus to the capital, where he, left to himself, admires the luxurious palace and the amazing garden of the king of the feacs. In the front hall he is met by Tsar Alkina and his wife Areta - they give the hero an extremely kind welcome and listen to his request to help him return to his homeland.

The next day, a grand feast is held in the capital of the Phaeacians. The talented singer Demodok recites several ancient legends about gods and heroes. Alkinoy asks Odysseus to tell the people of the Feacians about himself and the adventures that happened to him. The fabulous, amazing story of Odysseus lasts until the very night, and the feacs listen to it with pleasure. The good-natured people generously endow their guest, and then put a high-speed ship at his disposal and send Odysseus home. The hero himself falls into a deep sleep at this time. Waking up, he sees that he found himself in Ithaca, where he had not been for almost twenty years.

Return to Ithaca and meeting with his son

At this point, Athena is again included in the summary of Homer's Odyssey. She has been waiting for the hero for a long time and immediately warns that danger awaits him in the palace. Insolent and tired of waiting, the suitors are even ready to kill the king if he openly appears in his house. Therefore, Athena transforms Odysseus into a beggar, and she herself goes in search of Telemachus, wandering around the mainland of Greece. Odysseus at this time stops at a swineherd named Eumeus. Although he did not recognize his master, he treated him very kindly and friendly. Telemachus returns, and Athena helps the young man to recognize his father.

What does Homer say next? The Odyssey, the content of which we are studying, continues. After a joyful meeting between father and son, the two of them develop a plan to destroy Penelope's suitors. Telemachus sets off towards the palace, and Odysseus, without changing his appearance to the real one, goes there a little later. Some grooms and servants treat him rudely, and the professional beggar Ir even challenges Odysseus to a duel. Odysseus manages to talk to Penelope and mislead her with his fiction. However, he fails to outwit Eurycleia, his old nanny: the woman recognizes the pupil by the old scar on her leg. Odysseus convinces Eurycleia to keep the secret of his return. Penelope, without guessing who is standing in front of her, informs Odysseus about the strange dream that she had that night, and about her intention to arrange a competition for the suitors, according to the results of which she will determine which of them will become her husband.

Revenge of Odysseus and the reign of peace

Finally, the day of the competition arrives. Penelope's husband should be the one who can bend Odysseus' bow, draw the string, and then shoot the arrow so that it flies through a dozen rings - holes for the handle in axes lined up. Many suitors have failed, and the beggar (under whose guise Odysseus was hiding) manages to do it. He throws off his rags, stands with Telemachus at the entrance to the hall, and with the help of two devoted slaves, the son and father exterminate all suitors. Penelope first arranges for Odysseus to check to make sure that her husband is really in front of her, and then she happily accepts her husband after a long separation.

The story that Homer described in his poem is nearing completion. The Odyssey, a very brief summary of which is given in this article, ends with the hero going to see Laertes, his aged father. In pursuit of him, in order to take revenge, the relatives of the grooms set off. Together with several devoted servants, a son and a father, Odysseus manages to repel their onslaught. And then Athena intervenes with the permission of Zeus and helps to restore peace and prosperity in the vastness of Ithaca again.