Names

• Aiolos (Book 10) - Manager of the winds. In book 10, he gives Odysseus a bag of winds to aid him on his journey and help his boat sail. Refuses to help him further when they meet again.

• Alcinoos/Alkinoos (Book 13) - King of the Phaeacians. Helped Odysseus return home by giving him supplies and a ship.

• Anticleia (Book 11) - Mother of Odysseus, wife of Laertes. Odysseus meets her in the Underworld and she tells him that she’s passed away due to loneliness.

• Antiphates (Book 10) - Laestrygonian cannibal who devours some of Odysseus’ men.

• Athena (All) - the goddess of wisdom and war strategy, Helps throughout Odysseus’ journey.

• Charybdis (Book 12) - a violent whirlpool that spits out water 3x a day and any ships that sail through is lost to it.

• Circe (Book 10) - Goddess and witch. She turns Odysseus’ crew into pigs. Then later she displays proper xenia and sends Odysseus off on a journey to the Underworld to see Teiresias.

• Elpenor (Books 10 & 11) - the youngest of Odysseus’ crew. He gets drunk when they are on Circe’s island, falls off a roof, and dies. He asks Odysseus to give him a proper burial when they meet in the Underworld.

• Eumaios (Book 14) - swineherd on Ithaca who helps beggar Odysseus. He is very loyal to Odysseus’ family

• Eurylochos (Book 10) - Odysseus’ right-hand man. He is the only one, along with Odysseus, who was not turned into a pig when they were on Circe’s island. However, on Helios’ island, he encouraged the others to eat the cattle despite Odysseus’ warnings.

• Helios (Book 12) - Sun god, live on Thrinacia. Odysseus’ men ate his sacred cattle.

• Laertes - Odysseus’ father.

• Scylla/Skylla (Book 12) - A sea monster with 6 heads and 12 feet. Takes many of Odysseus’ men. (6 I think?)

• Teiresias (Book 11) - The blind prophet of Apollo that Odysseus is sent to meet by Circe in the Underworld. He tells Odysseus about the struggles that lie ahead in his journey and also warns him about Helios’ cattle. Tells him that he will make it home, but lose his ships and crew as punishment.

• Theoclymenos (Book 15) - prophet. He is being hunted down for murdering his cousin in Argos. He asks if he can come on Telemachos’ ship and ride back with them to Ithaca.

Book 10

Names: Aiolos, Antiphates, Elpenor, Eurylochos.

Brief summary: Odysseus and his crew first land in the home of Aiolos who gives them winds to help sail. His crew releases the winds and Odysseus refuses to give more help. Next, they sail to the home of the Laestrygonians and one of their men gets eaten. All but one ship is destroyed. Then they sail to Circe’s island. Some of the men get turned into pigs. Odysseus comes to save them by laying with Circe. They stay for a year after the men are released to regain their strength and Circe sends them off to the Underworld.

In-depth notes:

• Odysseus lands on Aiolia Island, home to Aiolos Hippotades, manager of the winds. They displayed proper xenia and they stayed there for a month. When they left they were given a bag of wind to help their ship sail, but Odysseus’ crew got curious and greedy (vice) and opened the bag, letting the wind out. When Odysseus went back to the island to beg for more assistance, Aiolos refused.

• They were at sea for 6 more days till they finally landed on the island of Lamos, home to the Laestrygonians. The squadron stayed inside a cavern on a bay. Odysseus sent out 2 men and a herald to see who was on the island. They met the daughter of Antiphates who brought them to her father. Upon meeting him, Antiphates ate 1 of the men and the other 2 escaped back to the ships. All the Laestrygonians gathered and shot boulders at the ships. Only Odysseus’ ship remained after all the others were destroyed.

• They went to Aiaia island where the goddess and witch Circe/Kirke lived. Odysseus killed a stag and brought it back to the ship, telling the men that they will not die of hunger. He divided the crew into 2 groups led by himself and Eurylochos. Eurylochos and his group of 22 men, who were very scared, went off to the hall of Circe. They assume that it won’t mean any harm to go in, but Eurylochos stays wary. She ended up drugging them and turning them into pigs. Eurylochos ran back to the ship to inform Odysseus, and he told him that he would go to Circe. But before he left, he was visited by Hermes who gave him advice. Hermes tells him that if he goes there to free his men he will not return. Circe will try to drug him as well, but it will not work against the special plant that Hermes introduces to him. Odysseus will pull out his sword and threaten her. Then she will offer up her bed and he should not refuse. After, she will release his men and leave unharmed. He succeeds and enters Circe’s “flawless bed of love.”

• After that, she frees his men and they all feast, including the crew still left on the ship. She tells Odysseus to stay with her while they regain all their energy. They end up staying for a year. The crew reminded him that they need to get home and he agrees. Circe then gives him instructions on where to go next. She tells him to go to the Underworld and see the blind prophet Teiresias who will also give him advice. She tells him to promise Teiresias he will give an offering when he returns home.

• Elpenor, the youngest of the crew, is said to have fallen asleep drunk on the roof of Circe’s hall. He then slips and dies.

Book 11: brief summary

They travel to the Underworld where Odysseus meets many people. He is able to lure spirits with a blood offering. He meets Anticleia who has died of loneliness. He meets Teiresias the prophet who tells him about his future of struggle. He meets others such as Elpenor, Agamemnon, Tantalus, and Sisyphus.

Book 12

Names: Charybdis, Scylla, Helios

Brief Summary: Odysseus and his crew face many challenges such as sirens and Skylla. They end up killing Helios’ cattle despite the warnings and get killed by Zeus’ thunderbolt. Odysseus is left alone until he drifts upon Ogygia.

In-depth Notes:

• The Sirens - The crew makes their way back to Aiaia where they give Elpenor his proper burial, which Odysseus promised to do when they met in the Underworld. Circe offers up her hospitality once more. She also has more advice for Odysseus. She informs him that on the way they’re going to sail into siren (‘seirenes'“) territory. Their voices can bewitch sailors and he will lose his longing for home and family, which challenges nostos. “the Seirenes will sing his mind away/ on their sweet meadow lolling.” She tells him that in order to prevent this, they must put wax in all the oarsmen’s ears so they don’t hear them. She also tells him that if he wants to listen to what they are saying, his crew must tie him to the mast very tightly and not let him down even if he begs.

She then tells Odysseus that he has 2 options of course to sail.

• Prowling Rocks/Drifters - These falling rocks destroy ships that pass by. Their remains get scattered by the sea or catch on fire. Only 1 ship has ever made it through, the Argo, because of Hera.

• Skylla/Charybdis - the second course lies between headlands. There is a mountain that is home to the great sea monster Skylla. She has 6 legs and 12 tentacles. “She takes,/ from every ship, one man for every gullet.” Opposite of that lies Kharybdis, the “whirling maelstrom.” Three times a day she sucks in water and spits it back out. Not even Poseidon could save a ship from Charybdis.

She advises Odysseus to take the route of Skylla. He then asks her if it’s possible to defeat them and she tells him no.

• She then continues to tell him about Helio’s island. On the island are immortal cattle, as well as their immortal shepherds Phaethousa and Lampetia the nymphs. She advises against touching the cattle because it would bring destruction to their crew.

• They set sail and come upon the sirens. Odysseus decides to listen to their song so he’s tied up on the mast, begging to be let down when he hears their voices. They were able to make it through.

• Then they are on their way to Skylla. He does not tell them that some of them will die for fear that they will become cowardly and not want to sail through any longer. They were able to see Kharybdis and the men were in fear. Then Skylla came along and took 6 of his men, as predicted by Circe. She brought them to her den as they sailed past. They were able to make it through.

• They then make it to Helio’s island and Odysseus remembers Teiresias and Circe’s warnings to not eat the cattle, so he tells his crew. Eurylochos is angry at this, and even after they all swear not to touch cattle he encourages them to do so anyway while Odysseus is asleep. They take the cows and make an offering. Lampetia informed Lord Helios that they’ve touched his cattle and he wanted them to be punished. Zeus ended up killing them off with his thunderbolt and they all died except for Odysseus.

• Odysseus ended up drifting straight back to Skylla and Charybdis and he clung to a fig tree where he waited till Charybdis spouted out the remains of his ship once more. He was able to pass Skylla and from there he drifted off to Ogygia, Calypso’s island. His storytelling ends.

Book 13

Names: Alcinoos/Alkinoos, Pontinoos the crier

Brief Summary: Odysseus finally arrives home, but cannot recognize the island. Athena tells him that he’s in Ithaca and reveals herself to him. She then tells him about the suitors and filled with anger, asks her to join him in reclaiming his home. Athena agrees but says he has to find out more information. She tells him to visit the swineherd Eumaios who has stayed loyal to Odysseus’ family and question him while she tells Telemachus, who is still with Menelaus, to come home.

In-depth Notes:

• Odysseus finished recounting his story to King Alcinoos and he immediately ordered gifts to be given and a ship to be prepared for Odysseus’ voyage home. They made a toast to each other and then he made his way to the ship. The crew steered the ship while Odysseus was left to finally rest. They dropped Odysseus off at the entrance where the water nymphs, Naiades, and Lord Phorkys, baron of the sea, live. They lay Odysseus on the sand, still sleeping, and piled his treasure around an olive tree so it would remain protected.

• Poseidon, however, still wanted revenge on Odysseus for his son Polyphemus and was mad that he returned home safely. He decides he’ll take it out on the Phaeacians. He wanted to impale the ship that brought Odysseus home, but Zeus suggests that they turn the ship to stone so it blocks the entrance of the bay so no more travelers can enter. Alcinoos told everyone that it was prophecied by his father and he knew it would happen. He decides to not help any more castaways and they make an offering of 12 bulls to Poseidon.

• Back in Ithaca, Odysseus awoke, but could not remember what his homeland looked like after so many years away, so at first, he thought he’d been tricked by the sailors. But Athena appeared to him as a young shepherd and assured him that it was his home. He tells her a false story, saying that he was from Crete and he heard of Ithaca. The gifts from the Phaeacians were the treasure he took with him. He said that he also killed Orsilokhos, son of Idomeneus. But she saw right through him and finally reveals herself to him. She tells him about Penelope and he she is still lonely. She reveals Ithaca to him, removing the mist. They then hide his treasure in a cave and they closed the cave up with a stone. She then proceeds to tell him about how the suitors have taken over his home but Penelope has remained faithful. He is angry at that information and asks that she join him in taking revenge on the suitors.

• She agrees to join him but first tells him that he needs to disguise himself so that he can figure out more information about the situation before revealing himself. She tells him to visit the swineherd Eurmaios who has stayed loyal to his family. He must stay with him and ask him questions while she visits Telemachos to tell him to come back home to Ithaca. He asks her if she would tell Telemachos all that has happened to him, but she tells him that she wants Telemachos’ name to be known. She tells him that the suitors are thinking of killing him before he comes home. She transforms him into an old beggar as his disguise and went their separate ways: Odysseus to Eumaios and Athen to Telemachos.