Odysseus's Travels (Books 9-12)

Odysseus’s Adventures (Books 9-12)

Summary of Important Events:

-Book 9

1. Tells everyone who he truly is, Odysseus Laertiades, and where he is from, Ithaca.

2. Odysseus tells them after they left Troy, wind blew them to Ismaros of the Ciconians, where they were victorious. This is the start of his troubles. He argues for a quick leave of the place with spoils in tow, but they rest dilly-dally and soon word gets out to other Ciconians on the island and they attack Odysseus and his army.

3. They escape, but a storm sent by Zeus sweeps them into the sea and for nine days they are helpless. Finally, on the tenth day, they got to land. Unfortunatley, they land of the island of Lotus-eaters. Two men tasted the fruit of the lotus and it made them want to stay there forever. Odysseus forcibly got them back to the boat and set sail.

4. Beaten down, they sailed onwards and arrived in the land of Cyclopians. They are a wild, lawless, and savage tribe, not cohesive or cultured in the least. They live in caves in the mountains. However, on part of their island goats roam free and the land is low and excellent. The harbor perfect and sheltered. There Odysseus and his men sailed into and rested peacefully, although covered with fog.

5. The next day, nymphs helped the men hunt goats to eat and Odysseus had a feast. They next day, Odysseus announced to his men he was going to see who lived here and if they were hospitable or horrible and to wait for him.

6. They saw a large cave and wandered into it, unknowingly entering the home of Polyphemus, a Cyclops and son of Poseidon. They saw him tending his flock and returning for the night. He rolled a large stone in front of the entrance in preparation for night. .At first he appeared okay, but rather rude. He was beastly in voice and appearance and knew not manners or cared to know. He snatched up two of Odysseus’s and killed them and ate ‘em for supper.

7. In the morning he ate another two of Odysseus’s men for breakfast and went out to tend to his flock, carefully sliding the large stone back into place.

8. To free himself and his men, Odysseus came up with a plan. He sharpened a large stick and hid it. The giant came back, ate two more men, and Odysseus tried to butter him up.He asked for Odysseus’s name, Odysseus said Noman. The giant announced Noman would be eaten last of all, as a strangers gift! Then went to bed.

9. They hottened the sharp stick and plunged it into the Cyclops eye until he was blind. The load bellow of Polyphemus attracted the attention of the rest of the Cyclops on the island. He tried to explain the situation and who poked him, but he kept saying Noman, as in No man so he was misunderstood.

10. Odysseus and his men attached themselves to the belly of Polyphemus’s huge sheep and waited until the next day when he let the flock out. Then he and his men hurried, sheep in tow, to the boat that awaited him. Being Odysseus, he had to boast as he was in the water going towards his ship. He called out to the Cyclops that he had gotten what he deserved and his name. The Cyclops threw a stone and the waves sent them back to shore. This happens a couple of times before Odysseus and his men could escape. The Cyclops prays to Poseidon to curse Odysseus and that is the start of Poseidon’s anger towards Odysseus. Then they went back to the other men waiting on the small island, make a grateful sacrifice, feast, divide the sheep between them men, sleep, then leave.

           

-List of Important/New Characters By: Familial Relations

-Cyclopians

-Polyphemus

-List of Themes

                                    -Hospitality; Polyphemus’s lack of it

                                    -Pride/Arrogance; Odysseus taunting Polyphemus

                                    -Wit over Strength; beating Polyphemus

-Book 10

1. They set sail from the home of the Cyclops and end up in Aiolia. Aiolos Hippotades was the ruler of this floating island and friends with the gods. He hosted Odysseus and gave him proper guestly rites. As a gift he gives Odysseus a bag full of winds. However, his crew doesn’t know and suspects he might be holding out on them.

2. They leave and the crew is suspicious of the bag. While he is sleeping, they open the bag of winds and it blows them back to Aiolos’s island. Odysseus asks for help, but Aiolos refuses.

3. The crew rowed until they reached the land of the Laestrygonians, Lamos where the night and day aren’t very separate. They entered the harbor and Odysseus sent some men to explore and find the inhabitants. They came across King Antiphates’s daughter and she pointed out the ruler of the kingdom’s home.

4. They arrived in the house and his giant wife called Antiphates back from a meeting. He then snatched one of the three men up for dinner. Two escaped and rushed back to the ship to tell Odysseus.

5. The giant Laestrygonians gave chase and crushed all ships, but Odysseus’s and killed all men but his personal crew. As they escaped, doingdouble time on the oars.

6. The men next arrived in Aiaia, the home of Circe. They kill a stag and have a fest. The next morning, Odysseus sends out another patrol of men to find the inhabitants of the island. They split into two groups and Eurylochos lead one. They discovered Circe’s house and all around it were mountain lions and wolves. They were friendly and not dangerous appearing. They were actually men who had been transformed. Eurylochos’s men heard Circe singing and were invited in and had a feast. Everyone but Eurylochos went in and ate food (unknowingly filled with drugs) because he suspected a trap. The drugs allowed Circe to change them all into pigs. Eurylochos ran back to Odysseus to tell of what happened.

7. Odysseus starts back to free his men and is intercepted by Hermes. Hermes tells him to take a charm and how to make Circe under his power. He goes to the house, is unaffected by her charms, uses wits to control her, then sleeps with her.

8. He then convinces her to transform his men back and they collect their seashore companions and live merrily in the house of Circe for one year. She tells him she will assist him, but he has to go to Hades first to get directions home.

9. Elepenor, a man drunk with wine, falls off the house and dies, but Odysseus doesn’t have time to properly bury him. He then goes and tells the men of the journey ahead.

-List of Important/New Characters By: Familial Relations

                        -God/esses

                                    -Circe

                                    -Hermes

                        -Ithaca

                                    -Eurylochos

                        -Laestrygonians

                                    -Antiphates

-Themes

                        -Hospitality; Circe’s (bad), Aiolos (good)

                        -Loyalty; Eurylochos

-Wit over Strength; Odysseus & Hermes conquer what 20 men couldn’t

            -Book 11

1. Odysseus crosses the sea like Circe told him. He then prays and sacrifices sheep to the skulls of the dead and Teiresias. He doesn’t let the dead touch the sacrifice until Teiresias answers his questions. Elpenor, a soul now, approaches Odysseus guarding the sacrifice and asks him to bury his body properly when he rests in Aiaia again. Odysseus’s dead mother, Anticleia, approaches him, but he would not let her pass as well.

2. Finally Teiresias comes and drinks the blood and tells Odysseus his prophecy. Odysseus would come to an island with Helios’s sacred cattle. If he hurts them, trouble will come in the form of the destruction of crew, ships, and trouble back in Ithaca. However he will take care of the suitors. After all is said and done, he must make a magnificent sacrifice to Poseidon to make amends, then a smaller one to the rest of the gods.

3. He talks with his mother, Anticlea, for a while and finds out she died from missing and mourning Odysseus. She also tells him how his house and people fair while he is away. He then interviews many dead ghosts under the blood influence.

4. He talks to Alcinoos and Arete in real life and decides to stay for another day to tell more tales at the invitation of the royalty. He then continues to tell the tales.

5. He speaks to Agememnon and he advises Odysseus to never fully trust a woman, who are men’s curse throughout the ages. Many other important men he speaks with. Odysseus then sees Minos, son of Zeus dispersing sentences for the dead.

6. Then a huge crowd of the dead appear and heros such as Hercules and Achillies make their appearance. After, a huge crown of thousands of ghosts came and it made Odysseus nervous and he took his crew and sailed away.

-List of Important/New Characters By: Familial Relations

                        -Ghosts

                                    -Hercules

                                    -Agememnon

                                    -Achillies

                                    -Anticlea

            -List of Themes

                        -Fate/Obediance according to the Gods’ will

                        -Wit; keeping the blood from ghosts until the proper one came

           

            -Book 12

1. Odysseus and company sail back to Aiaia and Circe. They rest on the beach, then give Elepenor a proper burial. Circe realizes they are back from Hades and fixes them all a feast and tells them to spend the night and leave in the morning. She then proceeds to tell Odysseus about the challenges he will face: the Sirens, either Syclla or Charybdis, and the island of Helios’s cattle.

2. They set sail the next morning and Odysseus decides to tell the men of what is to come minus the Scylla part because he knows some will die. They pass through the waters of the Sirens, the crew with stopped up ears, Odysseus tied to the mast.

3.Next, they entered the straits and hug the rock as told to by Circe. They view the great whirlpool created by Charbydis. Six of his best men get chomped up by Scylla.

4. After that ordeal, they came upon the island of Helios. Odysseus warns the crew against going upon the land due to the great misfortune that he knew would come upon them. However the men overruled him, by he made them all promise not to disrupt or kill any of the cattle at any cost.

5. They get stuck on the island for a month due to bad winds and food is running out. Phaethusa and Lampetie are the guardians of Helios’s cattle. Finally, Odysseus goes farther inland to pray by himself. Meanwhile Eurylachos has been telling the men that quick death is better than starvation and they should just kill a few cattle, later they can build a monument to Helios when they get back to Ithaca in thanks. So the starving men kill cattle and roast it.

6. Odysseus smells the meat and races back. Lampetie report to Helios that the men have killed some of his sacred cattle. He in turn asks permission from Zeus for vengence. Zeus agrees with Helios that vengence is needed and strikes Odysseus’s boat and crew with a bolt of lightening after six days when they set sail again.

7. Odysseus escapes and clings to a fig tree in the middle of the Straits of Monsters until he sees a peace of the boat well-enough to make a raft out of. For nine days he drifts, then he comes upon the island of Calypso.

-List of Important/New Characters By: Familial Relations

            -Phaethusa and Lampetie

            -Helios

            -Eurylachos

            -Sirens

            -Scylla and Charybdis

-List of themes

            -Obedience; to Circe’s and ghosts words

            -Loyalty; or lack (Eurylochos)

            -Wit; not telling the men of Scylla