Outline On The Odyssey

ea. Odysseus is trapped on the island Ogygia by the goddess Calypso who wants him to be her husband.
b. Hermes is sent to tell Calypso to release Odysseus and she eventually complies.
i. Calypso helps Odysseus build a boat and stocks it full of everything he will need.
c. Poseidon creates a storm and nearly drowns Odysseus but a goddess gives him a cloak that allows him to swim to a nearby shore.
i. Up a stream into nearby woods
d. Odysseus wakes up in the woods and sees the princess of the Phaeacians bathing and begs for her help.
i. Worried about causing a scene if she walked into town with a strange man, the princess simply gives Odysseus directions to the palace
e. Odysseus finds the palace and explains that he needs to get home and
is told he will get a ship to sail home in.
f. Next day the King of the Phaeacians, Alcinous, holds a feast for his guest.
i. Bard sings about Troy and everyone but Odysseus enjoys it. The king notices Odysseus sadness and ends the feast. ii. Several games begin and at one point Odysseus is asked to play but he declines and is insulted by a young athlete. Odysseus doesn’t take kindly to the insult so he ends up participating and winning. iii. Alcinous invites Odysseus to another feast.
g. At dinner that night Odysseus asked the bard to sing about Troy again and as he listened he broke down again.
i. The king notices again and wants to know who Odysseus really is.
h. Odysseus starts to recount his time wandering the earth and longing for home. (next several points are all flashbacks)
i. Odysseus and crew left Troy and landed near Ismarus where they plundered the land
i. Were eventually driven off by the Cicones