The great epic of ancient Greece came to us in the form of two works by Homer: The Iliad and Odyssey. Both poems are devoted to events of about the same time: the
Trojan War and its consequences. The war has just ended. Odysseus proved himself to be an excellent warrior, an intelligent strategist. Thanks to his ingenious decisions, more than one battle was won. This is evidenced by his own story in a poem, or rather, its summary. Homer's “Odyssey” (and his second poem, “The Iliad”) not only beautifully depicts historical events, but also has an excellent artistic presentation. The facts are embellished by the author’s rich imagination. It is because of this that history has gone beyond the scope of the usual annals or chronicles and has become the property of world literature.
Homer's poem Odyssey. Summary
After the war, Odysseus went home to his native Ithaca, where he was a ruler. There he is waiting for the old father Laertes, Penelope's wife and Telemachus' son. On the way, Odysseus is captured by the nymph Calypso. Spends several years there. And at this time in his kingdom there is a struggle for the throne. There are many applicants for the place of Odyssey. They live in his palace and convince Penelope that her husband has died and will not return, and she must decide who she will remarry. But Penelope is faithful to Odysseus and is ready to wait for him for many years. To cool the candidates for the throne and her hand, she comes up with various tricks. For example, she knits a shroud to old Laertes, promising to make a decision as soon as the work is completed. And at night she dismisses what is already connected. Telemachus, meanwhile, has matured. Once a stranger came to him and advised him to equip the ship and go in search of his father. In the image of a wanderer, the goddess Athena herself was hiding . She patronized the Odyssey. Telemachus followed her advice. He ends up in Pylos to Nestor. The elder says that Odysseus is alive and is at Calypso. Telemachus decides to return home, to please the mother with good news and to drive off the annoying pretenders to the royal place. The events of the poem conveys a summary. Homer draws the Odyssey as a fairy-tale hero who went through terrible trials. Zeus at the request of Athena sends Hermes to Calypso and orders to release Odysseus. He builds his raft and sets sail. But the sea god Poseidon again bothers him: in a storm, the logs of the raft are broken. But Athena again saves him and brings him to the kingdom of Alkinoi. He is received as a guest, and at the feast Odysseus talks about his adventures. Nine science fiction stories are created by Homer. The Odyssey (a summary and transmits these stories) is a fabulous frame of real historical events.
The Adventures of Odyssey
At first, Odysseus and his companions found themselves on an island with a magical lotus depriving memory. Locals, lotofagi, treated guests with a lotus, and they forgot about their Ithaca. Odysseus with difficulty led them to the ship and went on. The second adventure is a meeting with the Cyclops. With difficulty, sailors manage to blind the main Cyclope Polyphemus and, hiding under the skins of sheep, leave the cave and escape from the island. Further events can be found by reading the summary. Homer's "Odyssey" leads the reader after his hero, covers a large period of time - about twenty years. After the island of Cyclopes, Odysseus came to the island to the god of winds Aeolus, who gave the guest one tailwind and hid three more winds in a bag, tied it up and warned that it was only possible to untie the bag on Ithaca. But Odysseus' friends untied the sack when he was sleeping, and the winds brought their ship back to Aeolus. Then there was a clash with the cannibal giants, and Odysseus miraculously managed to escape. Then the travelers visited Queen Kirk, who turned everyone into beasts, in the kingdom of the dead, by cunning managed to pass by the seductive Sirens, to swim in the strait between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis on the island of the Sun. Such is the poem, its summary. Homer returns the Odyssey to his homeland, and he, together with Telemachus, expels all the “suitors” of Penelope. In this, peace reigns. The ancient poem is of interest to the modern reader both as a historical work and as a classic fiction.