The Odyssey Short Summary By Homer Analysis and Explanation
About the Poet Homer
| Poet Name | Homer |
| Born | Ionia |
| Death | Ios, Greece |
| Profession | Author, Bard, Poet |
| Movies | Troy, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ulysses, Helen of Troy, MORE |
| Books | The Odyssey, The lliad and the Odyssey |
Students can also check the English Summary to revise with them during exam preparation.
Summary of The Odyssey
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
drive time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
The Odyssey Introduction Summary Study guide
When Robert Fagles’ translated this masterpiece of Homer, The New York Times Review of book hailed it as “A distinguished Achievement.” If you don’t mind to consider Iliad to be the greatest war epic, then Odyssey will be the grandest evocation of every individual’s life cycle. Odysseus’ survival during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the great Trojan War teaches us a person’s roller-coaster story with a moral test of his endurance level. In the shadow of some rumors and unspoken truths, Homer gave this lyrical mastery to the world of literature. This book will surely blow your mind and make you fall in love with Greek mythology and antiquity.
A decade has passed since the drop of Troy, and the mighty kingdom of Ithaca has not experienced the glory of the comeback of the Greek legend Odysseus. A huge and unruly horde of suitors who have to invade Odysseus’s royal residence and plundered his arrive proceed to court his spouse, Penelope. She was steadfast to Odysseus throughout her life. Sovereign Telemachus, Odysseus’s child, needs frantically to toss them out but does not have the certainty or encounter to battle them. One of the suitors, Antinous, plans kill the youthful sovereign, killing the as it were resistance to their domain over the royal residence.
Odysseus is alive, and suits don’t have any clue about this. Being a traveler of the route to the man’s heart, Calypso imprisoned him on her island. Despite the inclination towards his wife and son, he failed to escape due to the unavailability of ship and crew. Gods and goddess of Mount Olympus started worrying about Odysseus’s future. Odysseus’s greatest defender among the gods named Athena determined to assist Telemachus. She disguised herself as prince’s grandfather Laertes and suggested the prince to call a meeting of the assembly to reproach the suitors. Additionally, Athena gets the prince ready for a journey to Pylos and Sparta. Because it was the place of kings Nestor and Menelaus, who are companions of Odysseus’s during the war. The whole idea was to inform them that Odysseus is not dead yet and trapped on the island of Calypso. Telemachus wants to return, so he started preparing for that. Meanwhile, in Ithaca, Antinous, along with the other suitors, are getting ready for an ambush killing as soon as he reaches port.
Hermes was sent by Zeus to protect Odysseus from Calypso. Hermes convinces Calypso to let Odysseus construct a dispatch and take off. The achy to visit the family saint sets cruise. But the god of the ocean Poseidon sends a storm to devastate Odysseus’s transport after noticing him sailing home. Poseidon has possessed a biting resentment against Odysseus since the later blinded his child, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Athena intercedes to spare Odysseus from Poseidon’s anger, and the ambushed ruler lands at Scheria, domestic of the Phaeacians. The Phaeacian princess Nausicaa appears him to the illustrious royal residence, and Odysseus gets a warm welcome from the queen and king. After revealing himself as Odysseus, his hosts who have listened to his misuses at Troy, are dazed. They guarantee to donate him secure section to Ithaca, but to begin with; they ask to listen to the story of his adventurous experiences.
Everyone pays attention when Odysseus starts describing the line of events that ended up him on Calypso’s island. He relates his trip to the arrival of the Lotus Eaters, his romance with the witch-goddess Circe, his fight with Polyphemus the Cyclops. He continues his enticement by the dangerous Sirens, his travel into Hades alludes to the prophet Tiresias, and his battle with the ocean beast Scylla. The Phaeacians allow Odysseus to return Ithaca after he completes his adventurous story. Then he searches hard to find the hut of his faithful herder, Eumaeus. Eumaeus welcomes Odysseus to his hurt though later was disguised as a beggar. Pylos and Sparta returnee Telemachus was encountered by him despite all those suitor’s ambush. Then he speaks the truth about his identity. Now Telemachus and Odysseus planned for a massacre and to gain the power of Ithaca again.
The very next day, when the disguised Odysseus meets suitors, he is abused and insulted by them. But there is an old nurse named Eurycleia who recognises him but promises him to remain silent. However, Penelope is curious about the beggar and suspects he might be her husband, whom she lost years ago. An archery competition was arranged by Penelope, where the task is to string Odysseus’s bow and fire an arrow with twelve axes, which is only an Odysseus thing. And the man who successfully does that will marry Penelope. Each suitor steps up and goes back empty-handed, and then Odysseus arrives and fires an arrow with all the twelve axes effortlessly. Then immediately, he, along with Telemachus and few faithful servants, kills all suitors.
And the time comes when Odysseus reveals himself in front of the whole mansion and comes back with her lovable Penelope. It’s a long time he has not seen his father Laertes, who is older now. He visited to see him. Vengeful dead suitors attack them, but Laertes, empowered with his son’s return, kills Antinous’s father, and that’s how the attack stops. Peace is divine for a kingdom and an ultimate goal for a king. So Zeus sends off Athena to bring back peace. Now power is in the right hand, and family is reunited. Odysseus’s prolonged ordeal sees a happier end.