The Odyssey By Homer
Book Review: The Odyssey by Homer
Written by a blind man, Melesigenes better known as Homer, and translated by Alexander Pope, the Odyssey of Homer is a poem about the life of the king of Ithaca, Ulysses, who leaves to fight in the Trojan War, but he doesn't return until 20 years. According to Professor P. Landow, Ulysses is a great athlete and great warrior, heroic, courageous, eloquent, and masterful, and at the same time, he I pious (Landow). In those twenty years trying to get back home, he goes through many adventures including "the angry god Poseidon and the one-eyed Cyclops who try to destroy him, the seduced Sirens with their sweet song who tempt him away from his quest, and the intoxication with Circe captures him through her exotic …show more content…
magic."(Ostrow: B21) During his absent, Penelope, his loving wife, is faithful to Ulysses, but the suitors of Ithaca try to force her to marry one of them. Ulysses's son Telemachus wants to protect his mother by throwing the suitors out, but he's too young. Pallas , daughter of Zeus, tries to help Telemachus by disguising herself as Mentor, a old friend of Ulysses, and tells Telemachus to have a meeting to get the suitors to leave, but it fails. Pallas then tells Telemachus to set sail to see Nestor, King of Pylos, and Menelaus, King of Sparto. At Pylos, Nestor didn't have much to say about Ulysses. He just said that he last saw Ulysses after the war. He advises them to sail to Sparta for more information with Nestors's son Pisistratus to talk to Menelaus, King of Sparta and Ulysses's friend. They arrived at Sparta, and Menelaus tells Telemachus that Ulysses was alive and was being held by Calypso, a sea-nymph who holds Ulysses on her island for seven years. While Telemachus is gone, the suitors are having a little fun too. They plan to destroy his ship when he returns to Ithaca.The gods hold a meeting at Mount Olympus without Neptune, god of the sea. Pallas asks Zeus to send Hermes, messenger of the gods, to let Odysseus free of Calypso. Calypso obeys Zeus by letting him go. Ulysses builds a vessel and sets sail, but he runs into his first trouble, Neptune, who wrecks his ship and nearly kills Ulysses. Lencothea, a sea goddess, rescues him. He arrives at Phaeacia, where he meets Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, King of Phaeacia, while she is washing clothes. Pallas, disguised as a young virgin, meets him and shows him to the palace of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. Ulysses tells them about all of his adventures, which is what most of the book is about.
After winning the war in Troy, Ulysses and his men sail to the land of the Cicons, where they destroy the Cicons, and vice versus. They sail through a terrible storm, and they reach the land of the Lotus, which is "divine nectareous juice" from plants, and when three of Ulysses's men drank it, they lose their memory (Homer: 152). Next, they land on the land of the Cyclops, one eyed giants who raise sheep. They reach a large cave, Polyphemus's home, and when he sees the men, he eats two of them and covers the doorway with an enormous rock that only he could move. The next morning, he eats two more men, and while her sleeps, the men stabs the one eyed monster in his eye during with a stick on fire. He awakens and asks the men who hurt him. Odysseus replies that it was nobody that stabbed him. The Cyclop then tells them that his father is Neptune, god of the sea, and he removes the rock. As the men leave, Ulysses yells out that his name is Odysseus not nobody. This incident with Polyphemus causes drama between Ulysses and Neptune. They leave there, and arrive at the island of AEolus, god of the winds. He gives Odysseus and his men a bag of winds that contained all the winds that would stop them from getting home, but the nosy men opens the bag when they were almost home, which sent them right back to Aeolus. He refused to help them any farther. After six days and nights they arrived at the land of the Laestrygonians, who sinks all the ships except Ulysses's ship. Next they sail to the island of Circe, who feeds some of the men, not including Ulysses, plenty of poisonous foods such as milk, bread, honey, and wine in golden bowl. The men that eat the food turned into pigs. In order for Ulysses to survive and get his men back, Mercury, also known as Hermes, gives him a herb, Moly that has a black root but white flower, that will stop him for turning into a pig when he eats Circe's food. When Odysseus eats the food and he doesn't turn into a pig, Circe is so amazed that she converts his men back into humans. They leave the island after a year without the youngest of the men, Elpenor, who "from the roof fell, and snapp'd the spinal joint, and waked in hell." (Homer: 181) Circe tells them that they will not have a successful journey if he doesn't stop at the Land of the Dead to talk to the prophet, Tiresias. She tells him that when he gets there to dig a hole and pour milk, wine, honey, spring water, and flour into it, and that will attract the dead. While at Hades, first he converses with Tiresias , Elpenor, who tells him that when he gets home to have a funeral for him; and his mother, Anticlea, who tells him about his family's future. He also makes encounters with Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax, Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Hercules, some of whom were dead kings. After he leaves the Land of the Dead, he returns to Circe and gives a funeral for his dear friend, Elpenor. Circe gives him the supplies and cautions needed to get home. Those warning included the Sirens, who sang deathful song; the Rocks, which destroys only one ship; Scylla , a six headed monster; and Charybdis, a whirlpool. Next he reaches the Thrinacia, the island of Helios, sungod where there are seven herds and seven flocks and in each flock and herd, there are fifty animals. If Ulysses and his destroy the animals, they survive, but if the animals die, the men die. All the men die, except Ulysses. Ulysses then arrives at Calypso where his journey continues.
He ends his story and leaves King Alcinous and Queen Arete, and he arrives in Ithaca with their help. Pallas tells Ulysses how to destroy the suitors and disguises him as an old beggar. He arrives at the home of Eumaeus, Ulysses faithful servant. Meanwhile as Ulysses and Eumaeus converse, Telemachus returns to Ithaca safely with the Pallas's help, and she also tells Telemachus to go directly to Eumaeus's house upon his arrival. Telemachus sends Eumaeus to tell Penelope that he is home. Ulysses reveals his true self to his son, and they plan to kill the suitors. Antinous and the other suitors plan to kill the prince, but Amphinomus convinces them hold off the murder. Pallas turns Ulysses back into the old beggar and only Telemachus knows who he really is. Telemachus tells his mother about his journey. Theoclymenus, the seer, tries to tell Penelope that Ulysses was home, but she didn't believe him. The next morning Eumaeus and Ulysses walk to town, where Melanthias, one of the suitors, try to pick a fight with the old beggar. Melanthias isn't the only suitor that bullies Ulysses. Later on in the day, Irus also picks a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses finds out that Eurymachus, one to the suitors, is having an affair with Melantho, Penelope's maid. That night, Ulysses and Telemachus hide the weapons from the suitors. When Ulysses, still disguised as an old beggar, is alone with Penelope, he tells her that he knew her husband. Euryclea, the old nurse and also raised Ulysses when he was young, baths him and recognizes a cut on his knee that she knew Ulysses had gotten while he was boar hunting. She swears to keep his identity a secret. Afterwards, Penelope explains that at the celebration of Apollo, god of archer, she will choose one of the suitors to be her husband by successfully completing a challenge. They have to shoot a bow through a straight row of six circles, and it is a game that only Ulysses has successfully completely. On the next day at the celebration of Apollo, Melanthius picks a fight with Ulysses again and so does Ctesippus, another suitor. Penelope starts the contest, and Telemachus tries to shoot it first but fails. The suitors also fail, and Ulysses meets Eumaeus and Philoetius outside, reveals his identity, and tells them the plan he and Telemachus have to kill the suitors. Since everyone failed, Antinous tells them to continue the contest the next day. Ulysses wants to try first, and he successfully shoots the bow through the circles. He then gives Telemachus a signal, and Telemachus, Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Ulysses start the battle with the suitors. They kill Antinous first by shooting an arrow through his throat. They continue to kill the rest of the suitors with the help of Pallas once again, still disguised as Mentor. Eumaeus and Philoetius catch Melanthius trying to get armor for the suitors. They later execute him and the unfaithful servants, who were sleeping with the suitors, last. After the fight, Eurycleia goes to tell Penelope what happened, but she doesn't believe that her husband returned. Pallas turns him back into the handsome king he was. In order to see if Ulysses is really her husband, Penelope tests him. Ulysses built their bed around an olive tree so it couldn't be moved. She figures that he would know this. She told Eurycleia to remove the bed stand and cover it up. When Ulysses went in the room and didn't she the tree, he became very upset, so Penelope knew he was her husband. For the first time in 20 years, they spend such a wonderful night together that Pallas postpones daylight. The next day, Mercury leads the dead suitors to Hades. Ulysses goes to the house of his father, Laertes, where he reveals his identity and eat. I figured all the fighting was over and done with, but Eupithes, Antinous father, comes with more trouble. He hears about his son's murder, and he and other men came to seek revenge. Laertes kills Eupithes. Once again Pallas appears as Mentor and brings peace in Ithaca.
Before the author was named Homer, he was Melesigenes, who was born sometime between the 8th century and 17th century B.C.E near the river of Meles in Boeria, but the The Odyssey wasn't written until after his death in 6th century B.C.E.
Homer took over his adopted father's school, but later closed it to travel with his friend, Mentor. He became blind in Ithaca, and moved back the Smyra, where he studied poetry. Afterwards, he became very poor and settled in Cumae and the Cumans called Melesigenes, Homer, because the Cumans call blind man Homers. Homer started to recite verses of his poems to the Cumans, and they honored him greatly. Homer actually wrote songs to be sung by himself and by the people that sung them in the streets and at assemblies, and was put together about 500 years later as a long poem. Since the poems were not written until about 500 years after Homer's death, two French writers, Hedelin and Perrault, think that The Odyssey of Homer was written by several authors not just one. Homer wrote this book because when he moved to Ithaca, he became interested in the legends of Ulysses and became interested in poetry when he moved to Smyrna. According to Fergus M. Bordewich, "It is one of the greatest poems in all literature, rich with psychological insight into the stresses of abandonment, jealousy, pride and shame. It is a fabulous book, so lyrical" (Bordewich). The Odyssey is written in stanzas like some of the stories in History such as the Mahabharata, a great Hindu epic that contains over 75,000 stanzas about a war between two cousins, and Ramayana, another Hindu epic poem, which is similar to The Odyssey, is about the wanderings of a banished prince and his faithful wife (Baiike, et al: 83-85). Everyone leaves behind some form of writing that historians discover. Homer's work was found a long time after his death and was "in the tradition of oral poetry," even though historians think that written language was invented by then (Lombardo: 18).
Historians found out information about the Aryans by the hymns of Rig-Veda, about the Hyksos by their Hieroglyphic (sacred carvings) system of writing, and about the Hebrews by the Old Testament that was written and approved by rabbis in about 90 C.E (Baiike, et al: 28, 69, 78) Everyone leaves behind some kind of way of communication behind like Homer did. Even though, they leave behind so much stuff, historians still try to find out more information. A British archaeologist is trying to find the land Homer described in the Odyssey. He has discovered that the land near Ithaki, known as the Ionia island of Cephalonia, used to be Ithaca. The people who helped Homer through his difficulties after he became blind are his characters. In The Odyssey of Homer, Mentor was Ulysses companion and a medical superintendence who took care of Homer when he was going blind. Homer is the character for the Greek nation; where as, prophets, kings, and priests was the character of their nation. Homer's poems are full of "love of children, wife, country, and glory." Works Cited
Bailke, Nels B., Palmira Brummett, Robert R. Edgar, Neil J. Hackett, George F. Jewsbury, Clyde J. Lewis, Alastair M. Taylor, T. Walter Wallback. Civilization: Past and Present. 10th ed. Boston, Mass: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2003.
Bordewich, Fergusm. "Odyssey's End?" Smithsonian 37.1 (2006): 92-100.
Landow, George P. Versions of Odysseus. 27 December 2004. 19 September 2006.
Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Alexander Pope. Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, .
Lombardo, Stanley. "And After all of that, Here Is a Taste of the Odyssey." Literary Cavalcade 54.2 (2001): 18.
Ostrow, Ruth. "Meandering Along the Road Less Traveled." The Australian 18 Jan. 2003: B31.
Written by a blind man, Melesigenes better known as Homer, and translated by Alexander Pope, the Odyssey of Homer is a poem about the life of the king of Ithaca, Ulysses, who leaves to fight in the Trojan War, but he doesn't return until 20 years. According to Professor P. Landow, Ulysses is a great athlete and great warrior, heroic, courageous, eloquent, and masterful, and at the same time, he I pious (Landow). In those twenty years trying to get back home, he goes through many adventures including "the angry god Poseidon and the one-eyed Cyclops who try to destroy him, the seduced Sirens with their sweet song who tempt him away from his quest, and the intoxication with Circe captures him through her exotic …show more content…
magic."(Ostrow: B21) During his absent, Penelope, his loving wife, is faithful to Ulysses, but the suitors of Ithaca try to force her to marry one of them. Ulysses's son Telemachus wants to protect his mother by throwing the suitors out, but he's too young. Pallas , daughter of Zeus, tries to help Telemachus by disguising herself as Mentor, a old friend of Ulysses, and tells Telemachus to have a meeting to get the suitors to leave, but it fails. Pallas then tells Telemachus to set sail to see Nestor, King of Pylos, and Menelaus, King of Sparto. At Pylos, Nestor didn't have much to say about Ulysses. He just said that he last saw Ulysses after the war. He advises them to sail to Sparta for more information with Nestors's son Pisistratus to talk to Menelaus, King of Sparta and Ulysses's friend. They arrived at Sparta, and Menelaus tells Telemachus that Ulysses was alive and was being held by Calypso, a sea-nymph who holds Ulysses on her island for seven years. While Telemachus is gone, the suitors are having a little fun too. They plan to destroy his ship when he returns to Ithaca.The gods hold a meeting at Mount Olympus without Neptune, god of the sea. Pallas asks Zeus to send Hermes, messenger of the gods, to let Odysseus free of Calypso. Calypso obeys Zeus by letting him go. Ulysses builds a vessel and sets sail, but he runs into his first trouble, Neptune, who wrecks his ship and nearly kills Ulysses. Lencothea, a sea goddess, rescues him. He arrives at Phaeacia, where he meets Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, King of Phaeacia, while she is washing clothes. Pallas, disguised as a young virgin, meets him and shows him to the palace of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. Ulysses tells them about all of his adventures, which is what most of the book is about.
After winning the war in Troy, Ulysses and his men sail to the land of the Cicons, where they destroy the Cicons, and vice versus. They sail through a terrible storm, and they reach the land of the Lotus, which is "divine nectareous juice" from plants, and when three of Ulysses's men drank it, they lose their memory (Homer: 152). Next, they land on the land of the Cyclops, one eyed giants who raise sheep. They reach a large cave, Polyphemus's home, and when he sees the men, he eats two of them and covers the doorway with an enormous rock that only he could move. The next morning, he eats two more men, and while her sleeps, the men stabs the one eyed monster in his eye during with a stick on fire. He awakens and asks the men who hurt him. Odysseus replies that it was nobody that stabbed him. The Cyclop then tells them that his father is Neptune, god of the sea, and he removes the rock. As the men leave, Ulysses yells out that his name is Odysseus not nobody. This incident with Polyphemus causes drama between Ulysses and Neptune. They leave there, and arrive at the island of AEolus, god of the winds. He gives Odysseus and his men a bag of winds that contained all the winds that would stop them from getting home, but the nosy men opens the bag when they were almost home, which sent them right back to Aeolus. He refused to help them any farther. After six days and nights they arrived at the land of the Laestrygonians, who sinks all the ships except Ulysses's ship. Next they sail to the island of Circe, who feeds some of the men, not including Ulysses, plenty of poisonous foods such as milk, bread, honey, and wine in golden bowl. The men that eat the food turned into pigs. In order for Ulysses to survive and get his men back, Mercury, also known as Hermes, gives him a herb, Moly that has a black root but white flower, that will stop him for turning into a pig when he eats Circe's food. When Odysseus eats the food and he doesn't turn into a pig, Circe is so amazed that she converts his men back into humans. They leave the island after a year without the youngest of the men, Elpenor, who "from the roof fell, and snapp'd the spinal joint, and waked in hell." (Homer: 181) Circe tells them that they will not have a successful journey if he doesn't stop at the Land of the Dead to talk to the prophet, Tiresias. She tells him that when he gets there to dig a hole and pour milk, wine, honey, spring water, and flour into it, and that will attract the dead. While at Hades, first he converses with Tiresias , Elpenor, who tells him that when he gets home to have a funeral for him; and his mother, Anticlea, who tells him about his family's future. He also makes encounters with Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax, Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Hercules, some of whom were dead kings. After he leaves the Land of the Dead, he returns to Circe and gives a funeral for his dear friend, Elpenor. Circe gives him the supplies and cautions needed to get home. Those warning included the Sirens, who sang deathful song; the Rocks, which destroys only one ship; Scylla , a six headed monster; and Charybdis, a whirlpool. Next he reaches the Thrinacia, the island of Helios, sungod where there are seven herds and seven flocks and in each flock and herd, there are fifty animals. If Ulysses and his destroy the animals, they survive, but if the animals die, the men die. All the men die, except Ulysses. Ulysses then arrives at Calypso where his journey continues.
He ends his story and leaves King Alcinous and Queen Arete, and he arrives in Ithaca with their help. Pallas tells Ulysses how to destroy the suitors and disguises him as an old beggar. He arrives at the home of Eumaeus, Ulysses faithful servant. Meanwhile as Ulysses and Eumaeus converse, Telemachus returns to Ithaca safely with the Pallas's help, and she also tells Telemachus to go directly to Eumaeus's house upon his arrival. Telemachus sends Eumaeus to tell Penelope that he is home. Ulysses reveals his true self to his son, and they plan to kill the suitors. Antinous and the other suitors plan to kill the prince, but Amphinomus convinces them hold off the murder. Pallas turns Ulysses back into the old beggar and only Telemachus knows who he really is. Telemachus tells his mother about his journey. Theoclymenus, the seer, tries to tell Penelope that Ulysses was home, but she didn't believe him. The next morning Eumaeus and Ulysses walk to town, where Melanthias, one of the suitors, try to pick a fight with the old beggar. Melanthias isn't the only suitor that bullies Ulysses. Later on in the day, Irus also picks a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses finds out that Eurymachus, one to the suitors, is having an affair with Melantho, Penelope's maid. That night, Ulysses and Telemachus hide the weapons from the suitors. When Ulysses, still disguised as an old beggar, is alone with Penelope, he tells her that he knew her husband. Euryclea, the old nurse and also raised Ulysses when he was young, baths him and recognizes a cut on his knee that she knew Ulysses had gotten while he was boar hunting. She swears to keep his identity a secret. Afterwards, Penelope explains that at the celebration of Apollo, god of archer, she will choose one of the suitors to be her husband by successfully completing a challenge. They have to shoot a bow through a straight row of six circles, and it is a game that only Ulysses has successfully completely. On the next day at the celebration of Apollo, Melanthius picks a fight with Ulysses again and so does Ctesippus, another suitor. Penelope starts the contest, and Telemachus tries to shoot it first but fails. The suitors also fail, and Ulysses meets Eumaeus and Philoetius outside, reveals his identity, and tells them the plan he and Telemachus have to kill the suitors. Since everyone failed, Antinous tells them to continue the contest the next day. Ulysses wants to try first, and he successfully shoots the bow through the circles. He then gives Telemachus a signal, and Telemachus, Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Ulysses start the battle with the suitors. They kill Antinous first by shooting an arrow through his throat. They continue to kill the rest of the suitors with the help of Pallas once again, still disguised as Mentor. Eumaeus and Philoetius catch Melanthius trying to get armor for the suitors. They later execute him and the unfaithful servants, who were sleeping with the suitors, last. After the fight, Eurycleia goes to tell Penelope what happened, but she doesn't believe that her husband returned. Pallas turns him back into the handsome king he was. In order to see if Ulysses is really her husband, Penelope tests him. Ulysses built their bed around an olive tree so it couldn't be moved. She figures that he would know this. She told Eurycleia to remove the bed stand and cover it up. When Ulysses went in the room and didn't she the tree, he became very upset, so Penelope knew he was her husband. For the first time in 20 years, they spend such a wonderful night together that Pallas postpones daylight. The next day, Mercury leads the dead suitors to Hades. Ulysses goes to the house of his father, Laertes, where he reveals his identity and eat. I figured all the fighting was over and done with, but Eupithes, Antinous father, comes with more trouble. He hears about his son's murder, and he and other men came to seek revenge. Laertes kills Eupithes. Once again Pallas appears as Mentor and brings peace in Ithaca.
Before the author was named Homer, he was Melesigenes, who was born sometime between the 8th century and 17th century B.C.E near the river of Meles in Boeria, but the The Odyssey wasn't written until after his death in 6th century B.C.E.
Homer took over his adopted father's school, but later closed it to travel with his friend, Mentor. He became blind in Ithaca, and moved back the Smyra, where he studied poetry. Afterwards, he became very poor and settled in Cumae and the Cumans called Melesigenes, Homer, because the Cumans call blind man Homers. Homer started to recite verses of his poems to the Cumans, and they honored him greatly. Homer actually wrote songs to be sung by himself and by the people that sung them in the streets and at assemblies, and was put together about 500 years later as a long poem. Since the poems were not written until about 500 years after Homer's death, two French writers, Hedelin and Perrault, think that The Odyssey of Homer was written by several authors not just one. Homer wrote this book because when he moved to Ithaca, he became interested in the legends of Ulysses and became interested in poetry when he moved to Smyrna. According to Fergus M. Bordewich, "It is one of the greatest poems in all literature, rich with psychological insight into the stresses of abandonment, jealousy, pride and shame. It is a fabulous book, so lyrical" (Bordewich). The Odyssey is written in stanzas like some of the stories in History such as the Mahabharata, a great Hindu epic that contains over 75,000 stanzas about a war between two cousins, and Ramayana, another Hindu epic poem, which is similar to The Odyssey, is about the wanderings of a banished prince and his faithful wife (Baiike, et al: 83-85). Everyone leaves behind some form of writing that historians discover. Homer's work was found a long time after his death and was "in the tradition of oral poetry," even though historians think that written language was invented by then (Lombardo: 18).
Historians found out information about the Aryans by the hymns of Rig-Veda, about the Hyksos by their Hieroglyphic (sacred carvings) system of writing, and about the Hebrews by the Old Testament that was written and approved by rabbis in about 90 C.E (Baiike, et al: 28, 69, 78) Everyone leaves behind some kind of way of communication behind like Homer did. Even though, they leave behind so much stuff, historians still try to find out more information. A British archaeologist is trying to find the land Homer described in the Odyssey. He has discovered that the land near Ithaki, known as the Ionia island of Cephalonia, used to be Ithaca. The people who helped Homer through his difficulties after he became blind are his characters. In The Odyssey of Homer, Mentor was Ulysses companion and a medical superintendence who took care of Homer when he was going blind. Homer is the character for the Greek nation; where as, prophets, kings, and priests was the character of their nation. Homer's poems are full of "love of children, wife, country, and glory." Works Cited
Bailke, Nels B., Palmira Brummett, Robert R. Edgar, Neil J. Hackett, George F. Jewsbury, Clyde J. Lewis, Alastair M. Taylor, T. Walter Wallback. Civilization: Past and Present. 10th ed. Boston, Mass: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2003.
Bordewich, Fergusm. "Odyssey's End?" Smithsonian 37.1 (2006): 92-100.
Landow, George P. Versions of Odysseus. 27 December 2004. 19 September 2006.
Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Alexander Pope. Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, .
Lombardo, Stanley. "And After all of that, Here Is a Taste of the Odyssey." Literary Cavalcade 54.2 (2001): 18.
Ostrow, Ruth. "Meandering Along the Road Less Traveled." The Australian 18 Jan. 2003: B31.