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 scene is dynamic. The reader, along with the heroes, is transported from Troy to Egypt, then to North Africa and the Peloponnese, and ends up in Ithaca and on the western shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
Life of heroes after the capture of Troy
The plot begins ten years after the victory of the Greeks in the
Trojan War. The angry gods did not allow Odysseus to immediately immediately return to their native places without hindrance. For some time, the hero lives on a distant western violet island with a sea nymph Calypso. For a long time, the eternal intercessor Odysseus Athena has been trying to beg Zeus permission to rescue a person, and, finally, she succeeds. Athena in a strange appearance appears on Ithaca, where Penelope and her son named Telemachus are besieged by grooms from all sides. More than a hundred people convince the queen to choose one of them as husbands, referring to the fact that Odysseus was dead. However, Penelope continues to hope for the return of her husband. Athena speaks with Telemachus and convinces him to hit the road to find out some information about the fate of his father. Almost immediately, Telemachus sailed 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 tells about the challenges that some Greek leaders faced on the way back from Troy. With the first rays of the sun, Telemach sets off on a chariot to Sparta, where Menelaus and Elena again live in love and harmony. Outlining the summary of Homer's Odyssey, it is worth mentioning that they arranged a sumptuous feast in honor of Telemachus, as well as telling the famous story with a wooden horse, the construction of which the Greeks thought Odysseus. However, they cannot help the young man with the search for his father.
The long-awaited release of Odyssey
At the same time, in Ithaca, Penelope’s suitors decide to ambush Telemachus and kill him. Athena again begins to talk about the liberation of Odysseus. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, at the instigation of Zeus, goes to Calypso demanding that she release the hero. Odysseus immediately set about building a raft, and then sailed towards Ithaca. But the ruler of the seas Poseidon is still angry with him for the fact that the hero deprived of sight of Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of God. Therefore, Poseidon sends a merciless storm to Odysseus, the raft of the hero is shattered, and only with the help of Athena he manages to reach the shore.
Odyssey’s path to the house was not easy
The following is a summary of Homer's Odyssey that tells us about the events of the next morning. The hero wakes up from the sound of girlish voices. This is the princess of Scherius named Nausicaa and her faithful maids. Odysseus asks Nausicaa for help, and she is supportive of the hero - she gives him food and clothing, and at the same time narrates about herself and her royal parents. Navsikaya says to the maidservants that he desires to see just such a person as his spouse. The queen directs Odysseus to the capital, where he, left to his own devices, admires the magnificent palace and the amazing garden of the king of the feacs. In the front hall, he is greeted by Tsar Alkina and his wife Aretha - 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 being held in the capital of the feacs. The talented singer Demodok recites several ancient legends about gods and heroes. Alkina, however, asks Odysseus to tell the people of the feacs about himself and the adventures that happened to him. The fairy-tale, amazing imagination of Odysseus' story lasts until the very night, and the feacs listen to him with pleasure. The good-natured people generously endow their guest, and then put at their disposal a high-speed ship and send Odysseus home. The hero himself is plunged into 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 long been waiting for the hero and immediately warns that danger awaits him in the palace. Insolent and tired of waiting, the groom is 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, who wanders through mainland Greece. Odysseus at this time stops at a swineherd named Eumeus. Although he did not recognize his master, he treated him very kindly and amiably. Telemachus returns, and Athena helps the young man recognize his father.
What does Homer further discuss? The Odyssey, the contents of which we are studying, continues. After a joyful meeting between father and son, they together develop a plan on how to destroy Penelope's suitors. Telemachus sets off towards the palace, and Odysseus, without changing his appearance to the present, sets off there a little later. Some grooms and servants are rude to him, and professional beggar Ir even challenges Odysseus to a duel. Odyssey manages to talk with Penelope and mislead her with his fiction. However, he does not succeed in outwitting Euriclea, his old nanny: a woman recognizes a foster child by the old scar on her leg. Odysseus persuades Euriclea to keep the secret of his return. Penelope, having never guessed who was standing in front of her, tells Odysseus about the strange dream she had that night, and about her intention to arrange a competition for the suitors, according to which she will determine which of them will become her husband.
Odyssey's Revenge and the Reign of Peace
Finally, the day of competition comes. Penelope’s husband should be the one who can bend the bow of Odysseus, pull the bowstring, and then shoot the arrow so that it flies through a dozen rings - the handle holes in the axes in a row. Many suitors failed, and the beggar (under the guise of whom Odysseus was hiding) manages to do so. He throws off his rags, becomes Telemachus at the entrance to the hall, and with the help of two faithful slaves, his son and father destroy all the suitors. Penelope, however, first arranges an Odyssey check to make sure that her husband is really in front of her, and then 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 leaving to see Laertes, his elderly father. In pursuit of him, in order to take revenge, the relatives of the grooms are launched. Together with several loyal servants, son and 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 open spaces of Ithaca again.