Ancient - Greek verse - epic - tragedy/historical/mythology

I have looked at the Iliad in detail, and now I will look at the other Greek ancient epic by Homer - the Odyssey. 

The Odyssey is mainly written as a sequel to the Iliad. It is also written in dactylic hexameter and was written in about the 8th century BC. All ancient and modern editions and translations divide the Odyssey into 24 books. Many scholars believe this division was not devised until the Roman writers of the 3rd century BC translated Homer's edition. Ancient scholars divided t he 24 books into segments, which they gave some names.

The first 4 books are known as the 'Telemachy'. The story begins 'in medias res' (in the middle of events), and starts ten years after the end of the Trojan war (the subject of the Iliad), which itself lasted ten years. Book 1 starts with the narrator invoking the Muse, asking for inspiration as he begins to prepare to tell the story of Odysseus, the Greek King of Ithaca, who fought in Troy. Odysseus has still not returned from Torjan War, and so has been gone from his home of Ithaca for twenty years. Odysseus' son Telemachus, was is twenty years old and was a baby when his father left for war, is sharing his father's absent palace on Ithaca with his mother Penelope, Odysseus' wife and the Queen of Ithaca. A hundred and eight boisterous young men, 'the suitors', are all attempting to persuade Penelope to marry them, in the absence of her long-gone husband, to claim his kingdom. They are all living at Odysseus' hospitality and eating up his wealth. Telemachus is powerless to stop the suitors, and has resigned himself to the likelihood that his father is dead.

Odysseus' protecteress, the goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom and courage, discusses his fate with Zeus, the god of thunder and King of the gods. Poseidon, Zeus' brother and the god of the sea, is Odysseus' enemy, and he is absent from Mount Olympus, the mountain where the gods reside. Athena disguises herself as a Greek chieftain named Mentes, Odysseus' old friend, and visits Telemachus on Ithaca. She tells him she believes Odysseus is still alive, and urges him to search for news of his father and banish the suitors from Ithaca. Telemachus suspects the Mentes is a goddess in disguise.

Telemachus offers Athena/Mentes hospitality and they both observe the suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a narrative poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius' theme about Troy, because it reminds her of her missing husband. Telemachus rebuts her objections, telling her Odysseus is not the only Greek hero not to return from Troy, and that if she doesn't like the music of the men's quarters, she should retire to her own chambers. Telemachus then tells the suitors they will be banished from Ithaca the next day. Two defiant suitors, named Antinous and Eurymachus, rebuke him.

In book 2 Telemachus calls an assembly to try to remove the suitors from Ithaca. Antinous blames Penelope for the suitors' continued interest; she told them that she would take one of them as her husband as soon as she finished weaving a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus' elderly father. But each night, she undoes the knitting she has completed during the day, so that the shroud will never be finished. A soothsayer named Helitherses then predicts that the suitors will face a massacre from Odysseus when he soon returns, but they rebuff him.

That night Athena disguises herself as Telemachus and finds a ship and crew for the true Telemachus. The next day Athena disguises herself as a Greek chieftain called Mentor, another one of Odysseus' friends, to tell Telemachus to leave Ithaca with him.

In book 3 Telemachus and Athena/Mentor travel to the Greek mainland. They stay at the household of Nestor, one of the Greek warriors at Troy, who is back living in Pylos. They witness a religious ceremony to Poseidon, the god of the sea. Telemachus asks Nestor about his father, but Nestor does not know where Odysseus is. Nestor says after the sack of Troy the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus had an argument. Menelaus wanted to leave Troy immediately, but Agamemnon wanted to stay, making sacrifices on the shores of Troy. Nestor left with Menelaus back to the Greek mainland, but Odysseus stayed with Agamemnon.

Nestor then says he doesn't know what happened to Odysseus after this, but that he knows that Agamemnon returned to Mycenae soon after to Greece and found that Aegisthus, a coward who remained behind when the Greeks sailed to Troy, had seduced and married his wife, Clytemnestra, whilst he was fighting at Troy. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus had then killed Agamemnon. Orestes, Agaememnon's son, had been in exile in Athens, but he soon returned to Mycenae and killed both Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. Nestor hopes Telemachus will avenge his father, or help him, in the way that Orestes avenged Agamemnon. Telemachus departs the next day with Nestor's son Peisistratus, for Sparta. Athena reveals herself as a goddess and remains behind to protect Telemachus' ship and crew.

In book 4 Telemachus and Peisistratus reach Sparta, where they find Menelaus and Helen, who are now reconciled. Both happily greet Peisistratus and Telemachus, who they recognise as Odysseus' son. As they feast, they recount with melancholy the events of the Trojan War. Helen is deeply mournful of her involvement in the beginning of the war, but speaks highly of Odysseus and his cunning. Menelaus says the Trojan horse was Odysseus' idea; where the Greek army infiltrated the gates of Troy by hiding in a wooden horse that the Trojans brought into their city. Menelaus tells of his and Helen's return from Troy; they ended up sailing too far south and became stranded on the island of Pharos, off Egypt, for three years. There they captured Proteus, the divine Old Man of th Sea. he told them the way back to Sparta, and also informed them of the fate of Agamemnon, and also Ajax, who killed himself shortly after the end of the war. Proteus then tells the story of Odysseus - he is still alive but has not returned to Ithaca, and is stranded on the island of Calypso, a nymph. Menelaus believes he remains there still. Buoyed by the news that his father is still alive, Telemachus and Peisistratus decide to return to Pylos, and then will afterwards set sail for Ithaca.

Meanwhile, in Ithaca, the suitors learn of Telemachus' voyage and prepare to ambush him on his return. Penelope learns of this and becomes distraught, thinking she may lose her son as well as her husband. However, Athena sends a phantom in the form of Penelope's sister, Iphthime, to reassure her that Telemachus will be protected by Athena.

With books 5-8, the scene shifts to tell the current story of Odysseus. In book 5 all the gods except Poseidon gather on Mount Olympus, their home, to discuss Odysseus' fate: He is in captivity on the island of Ogygia, which is ruled by the beautiful nymph Calypso. He has been kept there for the last seven years. Over the years Calypso has fallen deeply in love with him and wants to marry him but Odysseus has constantly spurned her advances and is adamant he will stay with his wife Penelope. Calypso has enchanted Odysseus several times, singing as she strolls to and fro across her weaving loom. They have slept together many times after Odysseus has heard her singing, but he remains against the idea of marrying her.

Athena urges Zeus to intervene on his behalf. Hermes, the messenger, is sent to help . Hermes is Odysseus' great-grandfather on his mother's side. Hermes travels to Ogygia and manages to persuade Calypso to release Odysseus, for it is not his destiny to live with her forever. Calypso is angry: gods often have affairs with mortal women, but the gods hate it when goddesses have affairs with mortal men. However, eventually she concedes. Odysseus builds a raft and Calypso gives him food, drink and clothing and reluctantly lets him go. She advices him to sail east, and to navigate using the stars.

On the eighteenth day of his journey he sees the shadowy mountains of the island of Sheria, the land of the Phaeacians, a Greek tribe. However, Poseidon sees Odysseus' raft and finds out about his escape from Ogygia. Poseidon produces a storm that torments Odysseus, but he is given a veil by the sea nymph Ino which allows him to survive the storm and after three days of struggle he is washed ashore on Sheria.

In book 6 Athena disguises herself as a sea-captain's daughter and instructs Nausicaa, the princess of Sherie, in a dream to go to the seashore the next day and wash her clothes. The next morning, Nausicaa and her maids go to the seashore and, after washing the clothes, they play a ball game on the beach with loud laughter. Odysseus, who has fallen asleep, naked and exhausted, nearby, is awakened by the laughter. He covers his nakedness with leaves and goes to ask for help. The maids are frightened by his unkept appearance and flee, but Nausicaa is encouraged by Athena to talk to him. She admits that the Phaeacians are an untrusting people, but Nausicaa provides clothes, food and drink to Odysseus and directs him to the palace of her parents, King Alcinous and Queen Arete.

In book 7 Odysseus makes his way to the palace of Alcinous, the king of the Phaeacians. Odysseus is stopped by a young girl who is Athena in disguise. She offers to guide him to the king's house and shrouds him in a protective mist that keeps the Phaecians, a kind but untrusting people, from harassing him. She also advises him to direct his plea to return to Ithaca to Arete, the wise queen.

Odysseus enters Alcinous' palace and finds the residents holding a festival for Poseidon. He is struck by the splendour of the palace and festivities. As soon as he sees Queen Arete he throws himself at her feet, and the mist about him dissipates. Alcinous and Arete do not ask him his name, but agree to help him when he explains he has been shipwrecked. That night Arete notices the clothes he is wearing are the ones she made for her daughter Nausicaa. Odysseus says their daughter found him on the beach and gave him clothes to wear, before telling him to find them at their palace. Odysseus didn't return with Nausicaa because he was worried about tarnishing her honour. Alcinous is so impressed with Odysseus that he offers him Nausicaa's hand in marriage. Odysseus politely refuses, saying he is already married.

In book 8 Alcinous calls an assembly of the Phaeacians. They agree to provide Odysseus with a ship so he can sail home to Ithaca. Alcinous then holds a feast in honour of Odysseus. At the feast Odysseus hears a blind singer named Demodocus perform a narrative poem about Odysseus and Achilles in the Trojan War. Odysseus is overcome with grief when he remembers his lost friend Achilles.

Alcinous notices Odysseus' grief and ends the feast so that the games can begin. There are pentathlon games of boxing, wrestling, racing and throwing of the discus. Odysseus is asked to participate, but he is still grieving over Achilles and refuses. A young athlete named Broadsea then goads him, and Odysseus agrees to participate in his pride. He easily wins the throwing of the discus, and challenges the athletes to any other form of competition. The discussion becomes heated and Alcinous diffuses the situation by throwing another feast.

At this feast there is much singing and danging and Demodocus performs another narrative poem, this time an amusing tale of a love affair between Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. Alcinous and the other Phaeacian athletes then give Odysseus gifts to take with him on his journey home. Later on, Odysseus asks Demodocus to return to the Trojan War theme and tell of the Trojan Horse, where the Greek army got into Troy by hiding in a wooden horse. Odysseus is overcome with emotion as he hears this story because he it was initially his idea. Alcinous then hears a prophecy from a seer who tells him that Odysseus is more than he appears, and that if they help him they could be in trouble. Alcinous asks at last for Odysseus to reveal who he is, where he is from, and where he is going.

Books 9-12 are referred to as 'Apologoi', and are a single narrative from Odysseus, telling his story about his ten-year return journey from Troy. Book 9 is often called 'Cyclopeia'. Odysseus reveals to the Phaeacians that he is Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and hero from the Trojan war. He says that immediately after the sacking of Troy, he and his twelve ships from Ithaca left the beaches of Troy and carried out a pirate raid on the city of Ismaros in the land of the Cicones, a tribe that had fought for the Trojans in the war. Odysseus' men attack the Cicones, kill the men and divide the women and treasures among themselves and begin to feast. Odysseus didn't want them to remain and tried to get them to leave immediately, but they ignored him. The next day, many Cicones reinforcements arrived and attacked Odysseus' men in great numbers. Odysseus managed to flee back to his ship with some of his men, but six men from every ship were killed.

Odysseus continued to sail west to Ithaca, but as they were passing the southernmost tip of mainland Greece they were driven off course by storms sent by Zeus, who was angered over their attack on Ismaros, and they ended up disembarking on the island of the Lotus-eaters, a tribe living on an island off northern Africa. The Lotus-eaters live off the lotuses, which are narcotics that cause them to live in peaceful lethargy. The Lotus-eaters give two of Odysseus' men the lotus to eat, which causes them to forget where they are and where they are going. Odysseus takes some of the lotuses but doesn't eat them.

Odysseus leaves with his men, forcing them back to the ship and locking them up, but the forgetful men lead the way and cause them to go too far west during the night and end up on the island of Cyclopes (modern day Sicily). Polyphemus lives on this island, and is the son of Poseidon. Polyphemus is a cyclops, or a one-eyed giant, and many other cyclops live on the island with him. Odysseus and his men enter a cave filled with provisions, unknowingly entering Polyphemus' home. Odysseus' men advise him to snatch some food and hurry off, but he remains behind. When the cyclops returns he makes a show of hospitality at first, but then blocks the entrance to the cave with a great stone and eats two of Odysseus' men, whilst imprisoning the others. Odysseus wants to kill Polyphemus then, but knows that only the giant is strong enough to move the rock in front of the door to his cave. He formulates a plan.

The next morning Polyphemus eats two more men, and then leaves the cave to graze his sheep. The cyclops returns in the evening and kills two more men, and Odysseus offers Polyphemus some strong and undiluted wine made with the lotuses he took from the Lotus-eaters. The cyclops asks Odysseus for his name, promising him the ancient rights and customs of hospitality if he answers. Odysseus tells him he is 'no-one'. Polyphemus, angered at the refusal, tells him he will eat this 'nobody' last of all. Polyphemus then falls asleep, drunk from the wine. Odysseus had hardened a wooden stake from the fire and then drives it into Polyphemus' eye as he sleeps. Polyphemus is blinded, and calls out for help from his fellow giants in the surrounding caves, calling out that 'nobody' has hurt him. The giants hear this and mistakenly think he is being afflicted by divine power and so recommend he prays.

The next morning the blind cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, feeling their backs to ensure that the men are not escaping. However, Odysseus and his men have tied themselves to the undersides of the sheep so they can escape. By the time Polyphemus realises the men have escaped and has run down to the beach of his island, Odysseus and his men are already sailing away with all his sheep. As he sails off, Odysseus, in a moment of foolish pride (hubris), boastfully reveals his real name to the cyclops. Polyphemus throws huge rocks at Odysseus' departing ships, which they just manage to avoid, and then prays to his father, Poseidon, for revenge against Odysseus. Poseidon curses Odysseus, and tells him he will wander the sea for the next ten years, during which he will lose all of his men and will only return home through the aid of others.

In book 10 Odysseus explains that he and his men then landed on the floating island of Aeolia, east of Ithaca, where Aeolus, the master of the winds, lived. Aeolus gave them hospitality for a month and provided them with a west wind to take them back to Ithaca. He gave Odysseus a bag containing all the winds except for the west wind, which he was only to open when he was safely back on Ithaca. This would ensure that Odysseus could only sail westward. Odysseus and his men thanked him and left after a month. They sailed westward and came within sight of Ithaca. However, Odysseus' men then opened the bag, believing it contained gold, whilst Odysseus was sleeping. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the Ithacan ships back the way they had come to Aeolia. Aeolus refused them any further help, believing their unsuccessful voyage to mean that the gods did not favour them.

Odysseus and his men re-embarked, now without any favourable winds. The reached the island of Lamos. Odysseus kept his own ship outside the harbour of Telepylos, a city in Lamos, moored to a rock. He climbed a high rock but could only see smoke rising from the ground, and nothing else. He sent three scouts to investigate the island and its inhabitants. The men followed a road and eventually met a young woman fetching water, who says she is the daughter of Antiphates, the king of Lamos. The woman directs them to Antiphates house, but when they get there they encounter a giant woman, the wife of Antiphates, who calls her husband. Antiphates, himself a giant, snatches up one of the men and kills him, drinking his blood. The other two men, called Eurylochus and Polites, flee. Antiphates raises an outcry and the two men are pursued by thousands of Laestrygonians, a giant cannibal tribe that inhabit Lamos.

The two men return to Odysseus' ship outside the harbour and Odysseus' ship manages to escape. However, eleven of the twelve ships are bombarded with rocks that the Laestrygonians throw from the ciffs, smashing them and killing the men onboard. The men that manage to escape from the bombardment are speared like fish from by the Laestrygonians and eaten. Odysseus escapes from Lamos with only his ship, and fifty-two men. 

Odysseus and his men next sail to the island of Aeaea. The beautiful sorceress Circe lives on this island, where she lives in a mansion in the middle of a dense wood, surrounded by docile lions and wolves who she has tamed with her magic, and works on a huge loom. Circe invites Odysseus' crew to a great feast. Odysseus and a few of his men remain on their ships, but most of the men answer Circe's call and she lavishes them with a pottage of fine cheese and wine. Eurylochus, suspecting treachery, escapes and returns to Odysseus at the ships without eating anything. However, the rest of the men gorge themselves. The food and drink turns out to be enchanted with a magical potion, and it turns all of them into pigs.

Odysseus, Eurylochus and the small amount of men at the ships set out to find Circe's mansion and rescue the men. However, they are intercepted by Hermes, who has been sent by Athena. Hermes tells Odysseus to use moly, a holy herb, to protect himself from Circe's potion and magic. Odysseus takes the herb and manages to resist Circe. Surprised by his resistance, Circe falls in love with Odysseus and agrees to change his men back into human form in return for Odysseus staying on Aeaea with her and becoming her love. Odysseus agrees and Circe has his men returned. Odysseus and his men remain on Circe's island for one year afterwards, feasting and drinking wine, and Odysseus becomes Circe's lover.

After a year, Circe agrees to let them move on. She tells Odysseus to go to the Underworld, to speak with the spirit of Tiresias, the blind prophet, who will tell them which route to use to get back to Ithaca.

In book 11 Odysseus leave Aeaea to travel to the Underworld and this book is called the 'Nekyia'. Guided by Circe's instructions they reach a harbour at the western edge of the world, where they kill a ram as a sacrifice to Hades, the brother of Zeus and Poseidon and the god of the Underworld. Odysseus alone then descends into the Underworld. The first spirit he sees is Elpenor, the youngest man on Odysseus' ship, who had gotten drunk the night before they left Aeaea and fallen from Circe's roof, breaking his neck. This had gone unnoticed by Odysseus and the others. Elpenor begs Odysseus to return to Aeaea and bury his body, and Odysseus says he will.

Odysseus then sees the prophet Tiresias, who reveals that Poseidon is punishing them for blinding his son Polyphemus, the cyclops. He tells Odysseus his fate - he will eventually return home, reclaim his wife and palace from the many suitors, and one day make another sea trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. Tiresias warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of Helios when he reaches the land of Thrinacia, otherwise he will suffer much hardship and lose all his men before he returns home. After Tiresias Odysseus sees his own mother, Anticleia, who tells him she died of grief waiting for him to return. She tells him about Ithaca, and how Penelope is being bombarded with many suitors who are living in his palace at his expense.

Tiresias departs and Odysseus then sees many other spirits. He tries to cut his tale short and asks his Phaeacian hosts if he can go to bed, but the King and Queen ask him to tell them about all the spirits he saw; including any Greek heroes from Troy. Odysseus says after his mother he saw Agamemnon, the Greek High King of Mycenae who led the Greek armies at Troy. He says he was murdered by his wife and her lover when he returned home after the sack of Troy. Next Odysseus meets Achilles, who greeted him as a friend and asks about his son, Neoptolemus. Odysseus was delighted to see Achilles, and told him how renowned he is throughout the world for his exploits at Troy. Achilles replies by saying he would rather be alive and a servant for the lowliest man on earth than be dead and a renowned king in the Underworld. Odysseus then sees Ajax, a Greek king from Troy. Immediately after the sack, Ajax lost a contest with Odysseus over the arms of Achilles and then killed himself. Odysseus tries to speak with Ajax, but he ignores him. Odysseus then sees the hero Heracles, King Minos, the hunter Orion, Sisyphus; who struggles eternally to push a boulder over a hill only to have it roll back down when it reaches the top, and Tantalus; who sits in a pool of water overhung by bunches of grapes who is eternally thirsty and hungry but can never reach the water or the food. Odysseus is then mobbed by many souls wishing to know about their living relative. He becomes frightened, and returns back to the land of the living and his ship.

In book 12 Odysseus and his men return to Aeaea to bury Elpenor's body. Circe suggests two alternative routes for Odysseus and his men to return to Ithaca: to pass Planctae, a group of rocks known as the 'Wandering Rocks', which are notoriously treacherous, or to pass between the dangerous Scylla, a six-headed monster who lives on a rock, and the whirlpool Charybdis (this pass is the modern-day Strait of Messina). Circe tells them they will pass the Sirens' island, but must not listen to their song and must plug their ears and carry on sailing. Otherwise, the Sirens will lure them to their island where their ship will be destroyed on the rocks. Odysseus then spends one last night with Circe.

Odysseus' men sail the next day and pass the island of the Sirens. Odysseus' men plug their ears with beeswax according to Circe's advice and tie Odysseus to the ship's mast. Odysseus alone hears the Sirens' music and it is so seductive that he begs his men to untie him, but they do not.

Odysseus and his men pass through the strait between Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus manages to hold his course tight through the cliffs of Scylla's lair and the whirlpool, but Scylla swoops down and eats six of his men.

The company next come across the island of Thrinacia, the island of Helios, a sun god. Remembering Tiresias' warning, Odysseus doesn't want to land on the island, but his right-hand man Eurylochus persuades him to let his exhausted crew rest there. Odysseus relents, but says they must not eat any animals from the island, according to Tiresias' warning. Zeus is angry at Odysseus for ignoring Tiresias, and causes a storm to keep them beached for a month. When the crew's provisions run out, Eurylochus persuades the crew to disobey Odysseus and slaughter the cattle of Helios for food. When Helios finds out, he asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. Zeus eases the storm, and Odysseus and his men set sail from Thrinacia. Shortly afterwards, Zeus causes another storm, even deadlier, which destroys the ship and kills every member of Odysseus' crew except for Odysseus himself.

The storm sweeps Odysseus to the whirlpool of Charybdis, which he narrowly avoids. Afloat on the broken timbers of his ship, he eventually reaches Ogygia, the island of Calypso. Odysseus ends his story here, saying that he stayed on Ogygia for seven years, held captive by Calypso, before escaping her island and ending up on Sherie, where he is currently.

In book 13 Odysseus looks forward to leaving Sheria. Alcinous loads his gifts aboard his ship, and Odysseus sleeps the whole voyage back to Ithaca whilst the Phaeacian crew sail him back to Ithaca. Odysseus is still asleep when he arrives at his home, and is carried onto the island.

When Poseidon sees Odysseus on Ithaca he becomes enraged at the Phaeacians for assisting his nemesis. He complains to Zeus, who allows him to punish the Phaeacians. Just as their ship returns to Sheria, it is turned into stone and sinks to the bottom of the sea. The Phaeacians resolve from then on not to accomodate wayward travellers.

In Ithaca, Odysseus wakes to find a country he doesn't recognise. Athena has shrouded the island in mist to conceal its true form when she plans his next move. At first Odysseus curses the Phaeacians, whom he thinks have duped him and left him in some unknown land. But then Athena, disguised as a shepherd, meets him and tells him he is in Ithaca. Athena tells him it is time for him to use his wits to punish Penelope's suitors. She tells him to hide in the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus. She informs him that his son Telemachus has gone in search of news of him, and gives him the appearance of an old vagabond so no-one will recognise him.

In book 14 Odysseus finds Eumaeus outside his hut. Although Eumaeus doesn't recognise the vagabond as Odysseus, he helps him. In his hut, Odysseus is well-fed and Eumaeus heaps praise on the memory of Odysseus, whom he fears lost for good, and pours scorn upon the cruel suitors. Odysseus makes up a story that he is from Crete and fought with Odysseus at Troy before making it home safely. However, a later trip to Egypt went awry and he was reduced to poverty. It was there that he heard that Odysseus is still alive.

In book 15 Athena travels to Sparta, where she finds Telemachus and Peisistratus, who are about to return to Pylos, and then Ithaca. She tells Telemachus he must hurry home to Ithaca before one of the suitors succeeds in marrying his mother. She also warns him that the suitors plan to ambush him when he returns. She instructs him to head for the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus when he returns to his home, who will convey the news of his safe return to Penelope. Peisistratus stays in Pylos and Telemachus sets sail for Ithaca. Suddenly, Theoclymenus, a descendent of a famous prophet who is fleeing prosecuction for a manslaughter he committed in Argos, approaches Telemachus and is allowed to come onboard.

Back in the hut of Eumaeus, Odysseus tests the limits of his hospitality by offering to leave in the morning, hoping Eumaeus will offer to let him stay longer. Eumaeus explains that he first came to Ithaca as the son of a King, but he was tolen from his house by Phoenician pirates with the help of a maid in his father's employment. The pirates took him all over the seas until Laertes, Odysseus' father, brought him to Ithaca. Laertes' wife then had Eumaeus brough up alongside their daughter, Odysseus' younger sister.

In book 16 Telemachus reaches Ithaca on the next morning. He disembarks and entrusts Theoclymenus to a loyal crewman. When Telemachus reaches Eumaeus' hut, he finds him talking to a stranger (Odysseus in disguise). Eumaeus suggests Odysseus-in-disguise goes to the palace with Telemachus, but Telemachus is afraid of what the suitors might do to them. Eumaeus therefore goes alone to tell Penelope that her son has returned.

Athena then appears and calls Odysseus outside. When he returns, the old-man disguise is gone and he stands in the glory of his heroic warrior-king status from Troy and all of his travels. Telemachus is stunned, but then father and son weep and embrace. Odysseus tells him how he was brought here by the Phaeacians and then begins plotting the overthrow of the suitors. He plans to enter the palace disguised as a beggar and then Telemachus will hide the palace's surplus arms so the suitors cannot reach them. The two of them will then seize the arms and slaughter the suitors. 

Before Eumaeus can tell Penelope the news of Telemachus' return, the crew of his ship reach the palace and inform everyone that Telemachus has returned. The suitors are furious that their plot to ambush him has failed. Antinous recommends putting Telemachus to death before he can call an assembly to denounce them, but Amphinomus, a more thoughtful suitor, persuades them to wait for a sign from the gods. Penelope finds Antinous and denounces him for the plot against her son. Eurymachus manages to clam Penelope down with false concern for the safety of Telemachus.

In book 17 Telemachus leaves Odysseus at Eumaeus' hut and heads to the palace, where he receives a tearful welcome from Penelope and the nurse Eurycleia. In the palace he meets Theoclymenus and Piraeus and tells them not to bring the gifts from Menelaus and Helen to the palace because the suitors will steal them. When he sits to eat with Penelope he tells her the news he heard of Odysseus in Pylos and Sparta, but doesn't reveal he has seen him in Eumaeus' hit. Theoclymenus swears he believes Odysseus is back in Ithaca.

Eumaeus and Odysseus walk towards the palace; Odysseus back in his old-man disguise. On the way they meet Melanathis, a subordinate of the suitors, who is scornful of Eumaeus and the old man. Odysseus is treated similarly at the palace and the suitors insult him and treat him cruelly. When Penelope hears of this, she demands the old man be brought to her so she can question him about Odysseus. Odysseus refuses for the moment. Eumaeus returns to his hut, leaving Odysseus alone with Telemachus and the suitors.

In book 18 another beggar, Arnaeus (nicknamed Irus), insults Odysseus and challenges him to a boxing match. Athena gives Odysseus extra strength and stature and Odysseus floors Irus and nearly kills him. The suitors congratulate Odysseus. Amphinomus gives him food and treats him well. Odysseus is thankful and pulls the man aside to tell him that Odysseus will return soon and warns him to return to his own land. Amphinomus becomes worried, but refuses to leave.

Athena tells Penelope to go before her suitors. She gives her extra stature and beauty to inflame their hearts. Penelope tells the suitors that Odysseus has instructed her to take a new husband if he was gone for ten years. She then asks them to bring her gifts to show their worth. The suitors shower her with presents. Athena inspires Eurymachus to insult Odysseus; hoping to make him even moreangry at the suitors. Just as a riot is about to break out, Telemachus arrives and difuses the situation.

In book 19 the suitors go to bed and Telemachus and Odysseus remove the arms from the palace. Telemachus then retires and Odysseus is joined by Penelope. Penelope questions the old man about Odysseus, asking him to describe him. Odysseus describes the Greek hero - capturing himself so perfectly that it makes Penelope weep. He tells Penelope that Odysseus had a long ordeal but is alive and is freely travelling the seas. He predicts he will be back within a month. Eurycleia then washes Odysseus' feet and recognises a scar on his foot that Odysseus got whilst boar hunting with his grandfather Autolycus. She realises it is him and is overjoyed, but Odysseus tells her to keep his secret for now and she agrees. Before she retires, Penelope tells Odysseus that she will choose a new husband and will marry the first man who can shoot an arrow through the holes of twelve axes set in a line, in accordance with a prophetic dream she has had. Penelope remains tormented by the loss of her husband and her commitment to remarry.

In book 20 the suitors plot Telemachus' murder. Amphinomus convinces them to call it off, but Athena keeps the other suitors antagonistic to keep Odysseus angry. Ctesippus, a wealthy and arrogant suitor, throws food at Odysseus, which angers Telemachus and amuses most of the other suitors. Theoclymenus and others believe the suitors will soon meet their doom.

In book 21 Penelope gets Odysseus' bow out of the storeroom and announces she will marry the suitor who can string it and shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes. Telemachus sets up the axes and tries his own hand, but fails to string the bow. The suitors warm and grease the bow to make it supple, but one by one they all try and fail. Odysseus follows Eumaeus and Philoetius outside and reveals his identity to them by showing them the scar on his foot. He promises to treat them as his sons if they fight with him against the suitors.

When Odysseus returns, Eurymachus fails to string the bow, and realises his inferiority to Odysseus. Antinous suggests they adjourn until the next day, when they can sacrifice to Apollo, the god of archery, before trying again. Odysseus, still disguised, asks for the bow. All the suitors complain, arguing a beggar should not be allowed the attempt. Telemachus orders that Odysseus be given the bow. Odysseus then easily strings the bow and sends the first arrow through all twelve axes.

In book 22 Odysseus shoots a second arrow through Antinous' throat. He finally reveals himself in all his heroic glory, and the suitors become terrified. Philoetius locks the front door and Eumaeus has locked the doors to the women's quarters, leaving the suitors with no way out. Eurymachus tries to calm Odysseus, saying that Antinous was the only bad person amongst them, but Odysseus announces he will spare none of them. Eurymachus charges at Odysseus but is cut down by an arrow. Amphinomous is then killed by the spear of Telemachus. Telemachus then gets more arms from the storeroom and arms Eumaeus and Philoetius, but he forgets to lock it and Melanthius reaches it and arms the suitors. However, he is soon found and locked in the storeroom.

A full battle now rages. Athena encourages Odysseus, but doesn't intervene, wanting to test his strength. Odysseus and his men kill several suitors whilst only receiving small wounds themsleves. Finally, Athena joins the battle and Odysseus is victorious. Odysseus then rounds up the disloyal servant women who served the suitors and makes them clear the corpses from the hall before having them taken out of the palace and executed. Melanthius is then tortured and killed.

In book 23 Eurycleia goes to wake Penelope, who has slept through the entire fight. She doesn't believe Eurycleia and remains in disbelief when she enters the hall and sees Odysseus in all his glory. Telemachus rebukes his mother for not greeting her husband more lovingly after his long absence. Odysseus worries that because he has just killed all the noble young men of Ithaca their families may be greatly distressed. He decides that he and his family should lay low in their farm for a while. Penelope remains wary, afraid that a god is playing a trick on her. Odysseus reveals intimate details about their marriage and Penelope finally realises he is her husband. They joyfully reacquaint with each other and Odysseus gives a brief account of his wanderings. He also tells her that Tiresias made a prophecy in the Underworld that he would one day sail again to appease Poseidon. The next day he leaves with Telemachus to go to Laertes' farm. He tells Penelope not to leave her room. Athena cloaks Odysseus and Telemachus in darkness so no-one will see them as they walk through Ithaca.

In book 24, Hermes leads the souls of the suitors to the Underworld. They are weeping as they go. In the Underworld, Agamemnon and Achilles argue over who had the better death, and Agamemnon tells Achilles all about his own funeral. They see the suitors arrive and ask how so many noble young men died. Amphimedon, whome Agamemnon once knew in life, pins most of the blame on Penelope and her indecision. Agamemnon is impressed with Penelope, and contrasts her constancy with the treachery of his own wife Clytemnestra, who quickly remarried.

Back in Ithaca, Odysseus arrives at Laertes' farm. He finds that his father has aged prematurely out of grief for his lost son and dead wife. He doesn't recognise Odysseus, and so Odysseus doesn't immediately reveal himself, pretended to be a friend of his. When Laertes weeps for his son, Odysseus embraces him and reveals himself, using the scar on his foot to reveal himself, and also talking of the memories of the fruit trees Laertes gave him when he was a young child. He tells his father he has avenged himself upon the suitors, and Laertes is overjoyed to see him returned. Dolius, the father of Melanthius and Melantho, joins them for lunch.

The goddess Rumor then flies through the city spreading the news of the massacre at the palace. The parents of the suitors hold an assembly where they assess how to respond. Halitherses, an elder prophet, argues that the suitors got what they deserved for their wickedness. Eupithes, Antinous' father, encourages the parents to seek revenge on Odysseus. Their small army tracks Odysseus to Laertes' house but Athena, disguised again as Mentor, decides to end the violence. Eupithes is killed by Laertes, but the rest are spared. Athena makes the Ithacans forget the massacre and recognise Odysseus as their king. The Ithacans recognise the authority of Odysseus and peace is restored. 

Ancient - Greek verse - epic - tragedy/historical/mythology

The main works of Ancient Greek epic poetry are the two monumental works of Homer - the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey'.

The figure of Homer is widely regarded as the first great writer in the Western canon of literature. His work has had an enormous influence on all literature written in the western world since - including other Ancient Greek writers and later writers throughout Europe and the Americas, in a period spanning nearly three thousand of years.

Critics differ over the exact place and time of Homer's birth, but most believe he was born around the 8th or 7th century BC, which puts him at the very beginning of the ancient Greek time frame. His work thus had an enormous influence on Ancient Greek language, arts and culture. The writing of the Iliad would have preceded the Odyssey, by some decades, but they were both probably written in around the 7th century BC. However, some scholars believe the epics are the culmination of many generations of oral story-telling and only became fixed texts in the 6th century BC. We cannot be sure.

Aristotle, in his Poetics, wrote that that Homer focused on a single unified theme in his epic cycle. He used dactylic hexameter, a form of verse with a rapid rhythm and syntax which structures the flowing evolution of the thoughts of characters. It is often direct in expression. This form of rapidity of movement and directness of expression are not distinguishing qualities in the later epic poets of Virgil, Dante, Spenser or Milton, but are unique to Homer. However, Homer's verse is not lyric poetry; its epic qualities can be found in its noble and powerful style found through every change of idea or subject.

Homer's epics differ from the later Roman, Italian, French and English epics because they lack an underlying motive. Virgil and Spenser were concerned with elevating the greatness of their current nations (Ancient Rome and Elizabethan England, respectively); Dante, Milton and the French epics were concerned with religious themes extorting their criticisms of other faiths and their celebration of their own, or political themes regarding the current rulers of their age. However, Homer's epics include no criticism of certain rulers, races or religions and the wars he writes about are not concerned with political events because they are mythological rather than historical, and are not meant to be analogies to current political events or rulers. Homer is concerned purely with the dramatical; the strength and depth of human interaction, emotion and achievement.

The 'Iliad' is largely centered around the events of the Trojan war. 19th century archeologists discovered that the Trojan war had some historical basis, and that the Iliad reflects a succession of oral epics written about a historical war that happened in around the 12th century BC. The Iliad presents the Trojan war as a ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium), in modern-day Turkey, by a coalition of Greek kings and states. I have decided to include a description of the plot of the epic because it involves some great tales from Greek mythology.

The 'Iliad' starts with an invocation to the Muses, then the plot launches 'in medias res' (in the middle of events), in the final year of the Trojan war between the defending Trojans and the besieging Greeks. Chryses, a Trojan priest of Apollo, the god of light and the sun, offers the Greeks wealth for the return of his daughter Chryseis, who is a captive of Agamemnon, who is the Greek King of Mycenae and considered the High King of the Greeks (the king of the coalition of other Greek kings), and is leading the Greek siege on Troy. Agamemnon refuses this offer, to the chagrin of the other Greek kings. Chryses prays to Apollo, who causes a plague through the assembled Greek army in response.

After nine days of plague, Achilles, king of the Myrmidon warrior-tribe of Greeks and the greatest warrior in the Greek army, calls an assembly. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father, but decides to take another woman, Briseis, as compensation. Achilles had led a previous assault on Troy and captured Briseis when all her family had been killed. He had susequently taken her as his concubine, with thoughts of marrying her. Achilles is furious that Agamemnon has taken Briseis, and in his wrath he declares that the Myrmidons will no longer fight for the coalition of Greeks and will go home. Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca and a close friend of Achilles, then takes a ship and brings Chryseis to her father. Apollo ends the plague in return.

Achilles asks his mother Thetis, a sea nymph, to ask Zeus, the King of the gods, for the Greeks to be brought to near-defeat by the Trojans so that Agamemnon will realise how much the Greeks need Achilles for their victory. Thetis does this for Achilles. Zeus, acting on behalf of Thetis, sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon decides to first test the dedication of the Greek army by telling them to return home; giving them a false order to see who will stay and who will leave. The plan backfires and a riot breaks out amongst the Greek army.

Odysseus, inspired by Athena, the goddess of wisdom and justice, manages to stop the fighting. He confronts Thersites, a common Greek soldier who voices discontent about the war, and manages to turn the rest of the Greeks back to their siege. Agamemnon and Odysseus agree to go forward with the plan to attack Troy. Priam, the king of Troy, hears news of the imminent Greek attack and deploys his own troops. Leading them is his eldest son, Prince Hector, who is the greatest warrior in Troy and the heir to the Trojan throne.

The Greek armies approach the Trojan armies on the plain before the city. Before they begin to fight, Paris, the younger son of Priam and younger brother of Hector, offers to end the war before it comes to another battle by fighting in single combat against Menelaus, the Greek King of Sparta and younger brother of Agamemnon. Hector agrees with Paris' plan to fight Menelaus. Menelaus agrees to the single combat, and both the Greeks and Trojans swear a truce and promise to abide by the outcome of the duel. Menelaus beats Paris, but he saved by Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who rescues him before Menelaus can kill him and takes him to bed with Helen, his wife.

Hera, the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage and childbirth, hates the Trojans. Before the war Paris had given the Apple of Discord to Aphrodite instead of her and she has held a grudge against Paris and the Trojans ever since. Hera pressures Zeus to force the Trojan warrior Pandaros to break the truce between the Greeks and Trojans by wounding Menelaus with an arrow.

Aphrodite rescues Diomedes

Pandaros harms Meneaus and Agamemnon rouses the Greeks to attack the Trojans once again. Many heroes and kings on both sides join the battle. In the fighting, Diomedes, the Greek king of Argos, kills many Trojans, including Pandaros, and defeats the Trojan warrior Aeneas. Aphrodite rescues Aeneas before Diomedes kills him, but is herself attacked and wounded by Diomedes as she escapes. Apollo chastises Diomedes and warns him against attacking the gods. However Athena encourages Diomedes to continue fighting and he wounds Ares, the god of war, and puts him out of action.

Hector manages to rally the Trojans; he enters Troy, urgers prayers and sacrifices and incites Paris and others to re-join the battle. He then bids farewell to his wife, Andromache, and his son, Astyanax, on the city walls, before leading the Trojan army against the Greeks and managing to stop a Greek rout.

Diomedes and the Trojan warrior Glaucus manage to find common ground on the field of battle. They learn that their grandfathers were friends and declare that they should continue their friendship despite being on opposite sides. They exchange armour as a sign of their friendship, but Glacus is tricked by Zeus, and gives Diomedes far more expensive armour than the one he receives himself. 

Hector duels with Ajax, the Greek king of Salamis. However, nightfall interrupts the fighting and both sides retire; the Trojans retreating back into Troy and the Greeks returning to their camps. That night the Trojans argue about returning Helen to Menelaus to end the war. Paris offers to return the treasure he stole from the Greeks, and give further wealth as compensation, but refuses to return Helen. This offer is given, but the Greeks refuse it. A day's truce is agreed for burning the dead of both sides, and the Greeks also build a wall to protect their ships.

The fighting begins again on the next day, and Zeus forbids the gods from interfering. Without the help of Hera and Athena, the Greeks are forced to retreat back to their wall by the Trojans, led by Hector. The Trojans inflict heavy losses on the Greeks and they camp in the field just next to the Greek wall, ready to attack them at first light. The Greeks despair over their loss and Agamemnon admits his error in antagonising and ostracising Achilles. He sends an embassy of Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix, a Myrmidon who stayed behind when Achilles departed, as well as two heralds to offer Briseis and many gifts to Achilles, who is camped next to his ships away from the fighting, to persuade him to return to the war.

Achilles and his close companion Patroclus receive the embassy well, but he is beyond reconciling with Agamemnon and angrily refuses to return to the fighting. He declares that he will only return to battle if the Trojans threaten to burn his ships. The embassy return to Agamemnon without Achilles and the other Myrmidons.

That night Odysseus and Diomedes venture into the Trojan camp and kill the warrior Dolon before wreaking havoc in the camps of the Thracians, who are allies of Troy. This leads to an outbreak of fierce fighting from the Trojans the next day, and Agamemnon, Diomedes and Odysseus are all wounded. Achilles is alarmed by the losses the Greeks suffer from the Trojans and he sends Patroclus to the battle to inquire about Greek casualties. Whilst there Patroclus is moved to pity by the speech of Nestor, an elderly Greek king, who tells Patroclus to try to persuade Achilles to reconcile with Agamemnon and save the Greek army.

Hector is given an ill omen about attacking the Greek wall by the Trojan seer Polydamas. He urges Hector to fall back to Troy and warns him about Achilles, but Hector ignores this and leads an assault on the Greek wall on foot. The fighting is brutal and the Greeks are overwhelmed. The wall's gate is breached and Hector and the Trojans charge in. Many are killed on both sides, but the Greeks suffer far more.

Hera despairs when she sees the Greeks losing, so she seduces Zeus and lures him to sleep. Whilst he is sleeping the gods can interfere in the fighting once again. Poseidon, Zeus' brother and the god of the sea, interferes on the side of the Greeks, and the Trojans are forced back from the wall to the plain. When Zeus awakens he is enraged by Poseidon's intervention. He sends Apollo to aid the Trojans, to balance out Poseidon's act, against the fury of the the gods that support the Greeks. With Apollo's help the Trojans breach the wall once again, and the battle extends down to the Greek ships, with heavy Greek losses.

Patroclus can no longer stand to watch the Greeks being routed and so he begs Achilles to allow him to defend the Greek ships. Achilles relents, and lets Patroclus wear his armour. He tells him to defend the ships, but not to pursue the Trojans so that he will not take Achilles' glory. Patroclus leads the Myrmidons into battle with the other Greeks and arrives as the Trojans set fire to the first ships. The Trojans are routed by the surprise onslaught from Patroclus, and Patroclus kills the Trojan warrior Sarpedon.

Patroclus then ignores Achilles' demand and pursues the retreating Trojan army all the way to the gates of Troy. Here he is stopped by Apollo and the Trojan warrior Euphorbos. Hector then engages Patroclus in single combat, thinking he is Achilles, and kills him. He then takes Achilles' armour off him and releases he has killed the wrong man.

That night Achilles is mad with grief when he hears of Patroclus' death. He vows to take vengeance on Hector, but his mother Thetis grieves, telling him that if he kills Hector, he will also die young. Achilles ignores this. Athena makes him appear even mightier then he is, and he stands next to the Greek wall and roars in rage; vowing to retrieve Patroclus' body and take vengeance on Hector. The Trojans are terrified by Achilles' appearance. The Greeks manage to bear Patroclus' body away.

Polydamas again urges Hector to withdraw back into Troy and flee from Achilles, but Hector refuses and the Trojans camp in the plain at nightfall. The Greeks mourn Patroclus. At Thetis' request, Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen and metallurgy, fashions new armour for Achilles, as well as a magnificent shield. The next morning Agamemnon gives Achilles the promised gifts, including Briseis, but Achilles is indifferent to them because he is so dismayed over Patroclus' death. He fasts instead of taking a meal with the Greeks and then straps on his new armour as well as his shield and great spear. He then attaches his horse, Xanthos, to his chariot.

Achilles rides his chariot into battle against the Trojans, leading the Myrmidons. Zeus decides he wants to end this war and so lifts the ban on the gods' interference. The gods intervene on both sides. Achilles is burning with rage and grief, and his assault on the Trojans is bloody. He and the Myrmidons manage to divide the Trojan army in half, and proceed to slaughter one half and fill the river Skamandros with the dead. The river is angry at the killing and confronts Achilles, but is beaten back by Hephaestus, who produces a firestorm. The gods then begin to fight amongst themselves. The Trojans retreat back to Troy, being let back in through the gates, and Apollo disguises himself as a Trojan warrior and leads Achilles away from the city gates. By the time Apollo reveals himself to Achilles, the remaining Trojan army has retreated back behind the walls of Troy to safety, all except for Hector.

Achilles fights Hector

Hector feels the shame of the retreat. Despite the warnings from Polydamas and the pleas from Priam and Hecuba, his father and mother, and Andromache, he resolves to face Achilles on his own. Hector is chased around the city by Achilles, until Athena tricks him to stop running, and he turns to face his opponent. Achilles and Hector duel, and it is one of the greatest duels of all time. Eventually, Achilles stabs Hector in the neck. As he falls, dying, Hector reminds Achilles that he is fated to die in the war as well. After Hector is dead Achilles takes his body and ties it to the back of his chariot to drag back to the Greek camp.

Achilles drags Hector's body behind his chariot

That night the ghost of Patroclus appears to Achilles in a dream and tells him to bury his body. The next day the Greeks bury their dead, including Patroclus, and hold a day of funeral games. Achilles gives out the prizes. Zeus is dismayed that Achilles still hasn't returned Hector's body, so he decides to convince him to return it to Priam. Zeus sends Hermes, his messenger, to Priam, to take him out of Troy and across the plains to the Greek camp unnoticed. Priam grasps Achilles by the knees and begs to have his son's body back. Achilles is moved to tears, and the two lament their losses in the war. Achilles gives Priam a meal, and then returns his body back, telling Priam that Hector was the greatest warrior he's ever fought. Priam carries Hector's body back to Troy, he is buried and the city mourns.

'The Iliad' is a martial epic and its main theme is a celebration of the glory in war: characters are judged worthy or not based upon their competence and bravery in battle. Characters like Achilles, Ajax and Hector are venerated for their strength and courage in battle, and warlike deities like Athena and Ares are also judged the most favourably. Characters that show less interest or competence in war, such as Paris, Aphrodite and Artemis, are widely derided. 

Homer emphasises the glory of war by holding it to be more important than the loving bonds of family and home. The pursuit of 'kleos' (glory/renown) should triumph over 'nostos' (homecoming). Achilles chooses to fight in the Trojan War over living a long and happy, but uneventful, family life. He also chooses to remain fighting rather than return home to his ageing father, and wins eternal glory as a result. Likewise, Hector's wife Andromache constantly pleads with Hector not to fight and to stay with her and their infant son, but Hector continues to fight on the frontline to win both himself and his father glory. If the hero fights, he wins 'timê' (honour/respect) and proves his noble bravery and integrity which ensures that his name will be remembered.

Characters that do not make this choice are condemned by Homer. Paris would rather spend time making love to Helen than fighting in the war, and this wins him the derision of his brother, father, most of the Greeks and Helen herself. The fact that he chooses to fight with a bow and arrow rather than a sword also marks him as a coward, and unmanly, and wins him further scorn. The timidity of the goddesses Aphrodite and Artemis, who run from aggression instead of fighting, are used as comic relief and are portrayed as far less worthy than their fellow goddess Athena, who wins huge renown supporting the Greeks.

Despite being a martial epic, the poem does not ignore the brutal realities of war. Men and women die gruesome deaths, plague ravishes the Greek camp and there is much grief and anguish. Both armies sometimes bitterly regret that the war ever begun and there are many times when both sides contemplate suing for peace and ending the fighting. Homer presents the horrors of war and the regrets over fighting, as well as the fears that even the mightiest warriors face. He presents the grief of friends, brothers, fathers and lovers over their lost ones. However, he never implies that the fight constitutes only a waste of human life. Rather, he portrays both sides as having a justifable reason to fight and depicts warfare as a respectable way of settling a dispute. Homer's voice throughout the poem is neutral; he doesn't portray one side as more noble that the other. Rather, both the Greeks and the Trojans have good and bad characters and do noble and cowardly deeds. 

Through prophecies, Homer emphasises his theme of fate. He alludes to Troy's ultimate destruction several times, as well as recording prophesies over the deaths of Priam and all his children and many of the Greeks including Achilles, Agamemnon and Ajax. The indication that fate governs all the actions of the characters alludes to the idea of mortality and inevitableness, which runs through the Iliad. Achilles repeatedly states that all men die sooner or later, and Homer demonstrates the ephemeral nature of humans and the world, suggesting that mortals should try to live as honourably as possible so they will be remembered well after their short lives are over, as all of them one day will be. This also adds greater renown to the gods, who live in greater glory because of their immortality. 

Ancient - Greek verse - epic - tragedy/historical/mythology

I've looked at lyric poetry as a form of Greek verse, and now I will look at Greek epic poetry.

Surviving Greek epic poems generally follow what is known as the 'Epic Cycle' and relate the story of the semi-legendary, semi-historical Trojan War; including the events that happened before, the causes, some of the main battles, and the long aftermath. Many of the epic works survive today only in fragments and are essentially a distillation in literary form of oral traditions of telling stories from before the Ancient classical period. These stories are based upon Greek mythology and contain references to Greek gods and heroes, but are based upon historical events. 19th century archeology confirmed that the Trojan War had some basis in fact, and occured around the 12th century BC in the ancient city of Troy (Ilium), in modern-day Turkey.

The Epic Cycle includes the 'Cypria', the 'Iliad', the 'Aethiopis', the 'Little Iliad' (its later name), the 'Iliu persis', the 'Nostoi', the 'Odyssey', and the 'Telegony'. The 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' are the only poems that are completed, and they were both written by the ancient Greek writer Homer. Some scholars leave both Homeric epics out of the cycle, and use the title 'Epic Cycle' to refer to the non-Homer epic. However, I have placed Homer's epics within the cycle to denote the chronological order of events of the Trojan War.

Virgil and Ovid, Roman writers living centuries after Homer, also wrote about the Trojan War. However, they are not included in the Epic Cycle; that is seen as a solely Greek preserve.

The 'Cypria' begins the cycle, and is largely attributed to Stasinus, a semi-legendary ancient Greek poet. The poem comprises 11 books of epic dactylic hexameter verse and was probably composed around the 7th century BC. It is sometimes seen as a 'prequel' to Homer's 'Iliad', which the author was probably familiar with. The original text only survives in fragments, the rest is provided by a prose summary from the unknown 'Proclus' (possibly a grammarian from the 2nd century AD).

The poem begins with the decision of Zeus, the King of the gods, to relieve the Earth of the burden of population through war. The wars against Thebes ensue, but Zeus is still not content.

A wedding takes place between Peleus, a Greek warrior-hero and King of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a sea nymph. The gods attend the feast and Poseidon, god of the sea and the brother of Zeus, gives Peleus two immortal horses as a present: Balius and Xanthus. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the feast because she would have caused mischief. Angered by the snub, she arrives with a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides, a garden of nymphs in northern Africa. She calls the apple the 'Apple of Discord' and inscribes 'to the fairest' on it, before throwing it at the gods and declaring that it belongs to the most beautiful goddess. Hera, goddess of marriage; Athena, goddess of wisdom; and Aphrodite, goddess of love, all declare that the Apple belongs to them and descend into a jealous rivalry with each other.

Over the years Peleus and Thetis have seven sons, only one of whom survives infancy; Achilles. At Achilles' birth, Thetis is so worried over the fate of her only surviving son that she tries to make him immortal. She takes him to the Underworld of Hades, brother of Zeus and Poseidon and god of the Underworld, and dips him in the river Styx to make him invincible. However, she holds him by his heel, which does not enter the river. Thus, Achilles is invincible except for his heel. Peleus gives his son Xanthus as his horse when he comes of age and Achilles grows up to become perhaps the greatest warrior in the world.

Hera, Athena and Aphrodite remain furiously arguing over the Apple of Discord for many years. They ask Zeus to judge who amongst them is the fairest but he declines this offer, knowing he will win the enmity of the other two whomever he chooses. Zeus declares that Prince Paris, son of the King of Troy, will judge who is the fairest. Paris had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest where Ares, the god of war, had appeared in bull form and bested Paris' own prize bull. Instead of becoming angered, Paris had graciously awarded the prize to Ares. After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida before Troy, the goddesses appear naked before Paris and ask him to choose who is the fairest, and to give the Apple of Discord to the one he chooses.

Paris inspects the three goddesses, but thinks them all ideally, and equally, beautiful. The goddesses therefore try to bribe him to give them the Apple; Hera offers him power and to make him King of all of Europe in return for the Apple; Athena offers him wisdom and the greatest skill in war in the world in return for the Apple; and Aphrodite offers him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife - this is Helen of Sparta, the wife of Greek King Menelaus - in return for the Apple. Paris, enamoured of Helen, accepts Aphrodite's gift and gives the Apple to her. Hera and Athena are furious at Paris for this, and swear vengeance against him and the Trojans in general. This event is known as the Judgement of Paris.

Paris then builds ships at Aphrodite's suggestion. Helenus, a Trojan warrior, foretells the future that stealing Helen will cause war, but Paris ignores him. Paris sets sail for mainland Greece with Aeneas, his cousin, and others. In Sparta the Trojans are lavishly greeted and entertained by many Greek heroes, including Tyndareus, Helen's father, and Castor and Polydeuces, Helen's brothers. The next day, King Menelaus departs for Crete, ordering Helen to entertain the guests for as long as they remain. Aphrodite brings Helen and Paris together during Menelaus' departure. Paris and his men then successfully storm Menelaus' palace and Paris takes Helen back with him to Troy as his wife. Some believe Helen went with Paris willingly - he is exceptionally handsome himself; others argue that she was taken by force.

Iris, a goddess messenger, informs Menelaus of Helen's theft at Crete. He returns to Sparta in rage and grief. He soon makes overtures to his elder brother, Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae who is gaining power over the other Greek kings and who some consider the High King of all of Greece. Menelaus pleads with his brother to gather all the Greek kings and plan an attack on Troy to regain Helen and avenge themselves against the Trojans. Agamemnon, who wants to expand his power further, agrees. They decide to bring together all the Greek king. First of all they decide to seek out all the former suitors of Helen, who are among the greatest warriors in Greece, and who all swore an oath to defend the rights of whichever one won her hand in marriage.

They seek out Nestor, King of Pylos and one of Helen's suitors. He was an Argonaut and was the eldest of Helen's suitors. Although he is too old to fight in battle, he agrees to send many Pylos men to Menelaus and Agamemnon's war and to go with them to provide advice. Menelaus and Agamemnon then seek out the rest of the suitors successfully, gathering all of them except for Odysseus, King of Ithaca.

Odysseus tries to avoid the summons of Menelaus and Agamemnon by feigning lunacy. He had heard a prophecy from an oracle that if he went to war, he would suffer a long-delayed return home. Not wishing to suffer leaving his home, wife and young son, he hooks a donkey and an ox to his plough - since they have different stride lengths they cannot plough togethe - and also sows his fields with salt. Agamemnon sends Palamedes, a Greek warrior, to the island of Ithaca to disprove Odysseus' madness. Palamedes places Telemachus, Odysseus' infant son, in front of the plough. Odysseus veers away from his son, thus exposing his sanity. Afterwards, Odysseus finally agrees to go to war with the Greeks, but he holds a grudge against Palamedes for taking him away from his home forever after.

The assembled leaders offer sacrifices at Aulis, where the prophet Calchas warns them that the war will last ten years, and that they will not be able to win it without Achilles, the son of the King of the Myrmidons and perhaps the greatest warrior in the world. The Greek leaders travel to the land of the Myrmidons in mainland Greece. Thetis, Achilles' sea nymph mother, has heard a prophecy that Achilles will either live a long, uneventful life or he will achieve everlasting glory while dying young if he goes to war. Not wanting her son to go, she attempts to disguise Achilles as a woman so the Greek leaders will not recognise him. Odysseus manages to identify the woman as Achilles, because she is the only one of the women who shows an interest in the weapons hidden amongst the gifts the Greek leaders give to the women of the Myrmidons. Odysseus then sounds a battle horn and Achilles clutches a weapon to show his skill in arms and his disguise is lost. Achilles agrees to go with the Greek leaders to war, wanting the everlasting glory prophecised to him. The 'Cypria' ends here.

The next epic to fall in chronological order of the Epic Cycle is Homer's 'Iliad', which takes up the story nearly ten years later, near the end of the Trojan War. There have been many battles and huge losses from both the Greeks and the Trojans, but neither side has managed to prevail over the years and the war has ground to a stalemate. The 'Iliad' (which I will examine at length in another blog post), tells the story of Achilles' argument with Agamemnon, which leads to him taking his Myrmidon soldiers out of the war, before being reconciled to the war effort after Prince Hector, King Priam's eldest son, kills his close companion Patroclus. Achilles then rejoins the war and kills Hector in an epic battle. The 'Iliad' notes many of the battles between the Trojans and Greeks, but stops short of telling the end of the story, although there are glimpses of the end of the war told through prophecy.

After the Iliad comes the 'Aethiopis', which is sometimes attributed to Arctinus of Miletus, a semi-legendary Greek poet. The poem comprises five book of dactylic hexameter, although it is largely lost and survives only in fragments. It was probably composed around the 7th century BC. We are largely dependent on the the summary written much later by the grammarian 'Proclus'.

The 'Aethiopis' begins shortly after the death of the Trojan hero Prince Hector, with the arrival of the Amazon warrior Panthesileia who arrives to support the Trojans. She is glorious in battle against the Greeks, but is eventually killed by Achilles. The Greek warrior Thersites then taunts Achilles, claiming he had been in love with her, and Achilles kills him as well. Achilles is then ritually purified for the murder of Thersites, who was on the same side as him in battle.

Memnon, son of the Titans Eos and Tithonus, leads an Ethiopian contingent into war on the side of the Trojans. The Ethiopians wear armour made by Hephaestus, god of metallurgy. In battle Memnon kills Antilochus, a Greek warrior and son of Nestor, who was a great friend of Achilles. Achilles then kills Memnon, and Zeus makes Memnon immortal at Eos' request. In a rage over Antilochus' death, Achilles pursues the Trojans into the very gates of Troy. He enters the city in glory, but is then killed when Paris, assisted by Apollo, god of the sun, shoots an arrow at him that strikes his heel. Achilles' heel is his one area of weakness where he is not invincible, and the arrow in his heel kills him. Achilles' body is then rescued by Ajax, King of Salamis, and Odysseus, who carry it back to the Greek camp.

The Greeks hold a funeral for Antilochus, and then Achilles. Thetis, Achilles' mother, arrives with her sisters and the Muses to lament over Achilles' body at his funeral. Funeral games are held in his honour, and his armour and weapons are offered as a prize for the greatest warrior in the world. A dispute rages over Achilles' armour between Ajax and Odysseus, who both think they are the most deserving. The 'Aethiopis' ends with this feud unresolved.

The 'Little Iliad' is the next poem in the Epic Cycle. 'Little Iliad' is the later name the poem was given, and it is largely lost and exists only in fragments. It survives mainly in the summary of 'Proclus', written centuries later. It has been attributed to the ancient writers Lesches of Pyrrha, Cinaethon of Sparta, Diodorus of Erythrae and Thestorides of Phocaea. It comprises 4 books of dactylic hexameter, and was probably written in the late 7th century BC.

The 'Little Iliad' opens with the contest between Ajax and Odysseus over Achilles' armour. With the help of Athena, the arms are awarded to Odysseus. Ajax goes insane from the rejection, and attacks the Greeks' herd in his madness. Later, in shame, he kills himself and is buried without full heroic honours because of Agamemnon's fury over the lost Greek herd.

Calchas, the Greek prophect, prophesies that the city of Troy will not fall unless the Greeks recover the arrows of Heracles, the Greek warrior, from the hero Philoctetes, who was left behind on Lemnos when he was bitten by a poisonous snake. Odysseus and Diomedes go to Lemnos to bring back Philoctetes, who is healed of his wounds of Machaeon, a Greek physician.

Philoctetes then fights Paris in single combat and kills him. After Paris' death, Helen is fought over by Deiphobus and Helenus, Paris' brothers. Deiphobus wins and marries her, and the defeated Helenus angrily abandons Troy and moves to Mount Ida.

Odysseus ambushes Helenus and captures him. Helenus, who is also a prophet, reveals that Troy will not fall while it harbours the Palladium, the statue of Athena. Odysseus and Diomedes go into Troy disguised as beggars. They are recognised by Helen, who, wanting an end to the war, tells them where the Palladium is. After killing some Trojans, Odysseus and Diomedes return to the Greek army with the Palladium.

Athena then guides the Greek warrior Epeius to build a giant wooden horse. Odysseus devises a plan to enter the city of Troy: the Greeks will place their best warriors in the horse and then burn their camp, before the bulk of their army withdraws to the nearby island of Tenedos. Once the Trojans bring the horse inside their city the Greek warriors will come out of the horse and open the gates to Troy from the inside, letting the rest of the Greek army (who will return from Tenedos under cover of darkness) into the city.

The Greeks build the horse and hide their warriors within it. They then burn their camp and secretly withdraw to Tenedos. The Trojans see the Greek camp has departed and believe the Greeks have surrendered the war. They see the horse and believe it is a gift from the gods to celebrate their victory. The 'Little Iliad' ends here.

The 'Iliu persis' follows, and tells the story of the sack of Troy. It is sometimes credited to Arctinus of Miletus, but is largely lost. It is written in 2 books of verse in dactylic hexameter and was probably written around the 7th century BC.

The 'Iliu persis' ('Sack of Troy') opens with the Trojans discussing what to do with the giant wooden horse that the Greeks have left behind. Laocoon, a Trojan priest to Poseidon, rules against them bringing the horse into the city. Cassandra, Priam's daughter and Princess of Troy, agrees with him. Cassandra had been a favourite of Apollo, who gave her the gift of prophecy, but when she refused to sleep with him, he cursed her with the fate that no-one would believe her prophesies. Cassandra had prophesied that Paris, her brother, stealing Helen would bring about the destruction of Troy, but no-one had believed her. She had tried to warn him against going to Sparta, but he had ignored her. Later, she had treated Helen with hostility when she first entered Troy, knowing that her presence would cause war and later destruction, and this, coupled with her prophesies that no-one believed, had caused many Trojans to believe her to be mad.

Cassandra prophesied that the Trojan horse contained many Greek warriors, and if they let the horse into the city the Greeks would sack the city and kill many of them. She also predicted that Aeneas, her cousin and a Trojan warrior, would escape the city and later found a new, mightier Trojan city (Rome). However, no-one believed her. The Trojans mocked her and called her a madwoman. Many of the Trojans believe the horse to be a holy relic of Athena, and bring it into the city in a victory parade. Poseidon sends an ill omen of two snakes which kill Laocoon and his sons. Seeing this, Aeneas and his men leave Troy, believing the horse to be a danger (their story is later told in Virgil's 'Aeniad'). Cassandra attempts to set fire to the horse, but she is stopped by the Trojan people.

That night, the Greek warriors inside the horse emerge, and open the city gates to let in the Greek army, which has arrived back from Tenedos in darkness. A massacre occurs as the Greek army sweeps through Troy, ransacking it and burning it to the ground. Many Trojan heroes are taken unawares as they sleep, drunk from the festivities of the previous night, and are killed by the Greeks. Many of the high-ranking Trojan women are taken as captives by the Greeks, to be returned to Greece as concubines.

Menelaus kills Deiphobus and takes back his wife Helen, who he then escorts safely out of the city. Talthybius, the Greek herald, takes Astyanax, Hector's baby son, and throws him from the walls of Troy. Neoptolemus, Achilles' son, then takes Andromache, Hector's wife, as his captive and concubine. The Greeks decide to take Priam's daughter Polyxena back to Achilles' tomb, where she is sacrificed to placate Achilles' angry spirit.

King Priam takes refuge at the altar of Zeus in the main temple of Troy, but Neoptolemus enters and kills him. Priam's daughter Cassandra takes refuge at the altar of Athena, but Ajax 'the Lesser', the Greek king of Locris, drags her from the altar and rapes her. Cassandra is then taken as Agamemnon's captive and concubine.

Troy is destroyed and burnt to the ground by the Greeks, and all the Trojan heroes and warriors are killed and the women are either killed, raped, or taken as concubines. Athena, though an enemy of the Trojans, becomes furious with Ajax the Lesser because of the sacrilege he committed at her altar by raping Cassandra. She demands he be punished, and Odysseus orders that he be stoned to death for his crime. Ajax successfully manages to win enough support to avoid punishment, himself clinging to Athena's statue, but Athena vows revenge against him. The 'Iliu persis' ends with the Greeks victorious in Troy.

The 'Nostoi' ('return home') follows in the Epic Cycle. It is attributed to Agias or Eumelos, semi-legendary poets, but largely only remains in fragments. It comprises 5 books in verse of dactylic hexameter and was probably written around the 6th century BC.

The 'Nostoi' opens with the Greeks victorious in Troy and about to sail back to Greece. Athena is still angered by Ajax the Lesser's sacrilege during the sack of Troy, and Agamemnon remains behind to appease her. Odysseus also remains behind with Athena and Agamemnon, and is given Queen Hecuba, Priam's wife, as a concubine. Neoptolemus is visited by his grandmother, the sea-nymph Thetis, who tells him to remain behind and make many sacrifices to the gods to atone for killing King Priam at the altar of Zeus during the sack of Troy.

Diomedes and Nestor are the first Greeks to leave, and both return safely to Greece. Ajax the Lesser departs, attempting to escape Athena's wrath, but she calls upon both Poseidon and Zeus, who create a storm that hits his ships. He is shipwrecked and killed on the Kapherian rocks in eastern Greece. Menelaus departs with Helen soon after, but they encounter a storm and are blown off course and shipwrecked in Egypt, where they remain marooned.

After a few months Neoptolemus follows his grandmother's advice and returns home with the Myrmidons by land, slowly, paying penance to the gods as he goes. He eventually arrives home, where he is welcomed as a hero by his grandfather King Peleus, and is finally forgiven by the gods.

Odysseus decides to remain behind for a little longer, but Agamemnon decides to leave after believing he has adequately quenched Athena's wrath. He sets sail to depart home to Mycenae with his concubine, Cassandra. Cassandra prophecies that both she and Agamemnon will be killed by Agamemnon's wife and her lover when they return home. She also tells Odysseus that he will spend ten years wandering before he returns home to Ithaca. Both Agamemnon and Odysseus do not believe her.

As Agamemnon prepares to leave, the ghost of Achilles appears to him and corraborates Cassandra's story, telling him he will be killed by his wife and her lover when he returns home, but Agamemnon does not believe him either. Sure enough, when Agamemnon returns home he finds that his wife Clytemnestra has taken Aegisthus, a Greek warrior who refused to go to Troy, as her lover. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus then kill Agamemnon and Cassandra. Aegisthus declares himself King of Mycenae and rules for several years, before he and Clytemnestra are killed by Orestes, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's son, who avenges his father.

Menelaus and Helen are marooned on an island off Egypt for several years before then manage to return home to Sparta.

Odysseus is the last to leave Troy. His concubine Hecuba goes mad at the thought of all her dead children and is turned into a dog by the gods so she can escape. She runs off across the beaches of Troy, and Odysseus lets her go. When Odysseus eventually does leave Troy he takes the longest by far to return to Greece. The 'Nostoi' ends where, and gives no account of Odysseus' later story.

Odysseus' ten-year journey from Troy to Ithaca is told in detail in Homer's 'Odyssey', which forms the next tale in the Epic Cycle. The Odyssey (which I will describe in another blog) tells the story of Odysseus' long return from Troy, where he encounters a cyclops, sorceresses, sirens, monsters and sea nymphs, before eventually returning home. When he arrives back in Ithaca he finds his wife Penelope, who has remained faithful to him, surrounded by suitors who want to marry her and claim themselves King of Ithaca. Odysseus and his son Telemachus successfully defeat the suitors and Odysseus reclaims Penelope and Ithaca.

The 'Telegony' ends the Epic Cycle. It is attributed to Eugammon of Cyrene, a semi-legendary Greek poet, although it only remains in fragments. It is written in two books of verse in dactylic hexameter and was written around the 6th century BC.

The 'Telegony' opens with the burial of Penelope's suitors, who have been killed by Odysseus and his son Telemachus. Odysseus has reclaimed Ithaca and Penelope, and now rules in peace. A few years later Odysseus travels to Thesprotia, the most westerly point of Greece, at the behest of the spirit of Tiresias, who he saw in the Underworld on his visit there during his travels. Tiresias told him to make sacrifices to the gods here, which Odysseus does. He then fights for the Thesprotians in a war against the neighbouring Brygoi. Ares attempts to destroy them, but Athena, ever Odysseus' champion, counters this. Apollo intervenes between the battling gods and the Thesprotians are victorious. Odysseus then returns to Ithaca.

Meanwhile, it transpires that Circe, the sorceress that Odysseus lived with for a year and who was his lover for a time, has given birth to his son, Telegonus, who has grown up with Circe on the island of Aeaea. Athena advises Circe to tell Telegonus the name of his father. She gives him a supernatural spear to defend himself which is tipped with the sting of a poisonous stingray made by Hephaestus.

Whilst Telegonus is out sailing a storm forces him onto Ithaca. Starving, he begins stealing Odysseus' cattle. Odysseus defends his property and fights Telegonus. During the fight, Telegonus stabs Odysseus with his spear, fulfilling Tiresias' prophecy that Odysseus would meet his death from 'out of the sea' (the poison of the stingray). As Odysseus is dying Telegonus recognises him as his father and laments his mistake. Telegonus brings Odysseus' body, Penelope and Telemachus back to Aeaea, where Odysseus is buried with full heroic honours and Circe makes the others immortal. Telegonus marries Penelope and Telemachus marries Circe.

In other versions of the story Telegonus sails with Odysseus to Aeaea before he dies, and Circes saves him from death. He, Circe, Telegonus, Penelope and Telemachus remain on Aeaea, where they live peacefully. Telemachus later marries Circe, but Telegonus is happy remaining unwed. Odysseus dies later, when he reaches a very old age, and is buried with full heroic honours. This fulfils Tiresias' other prophecy that Odysseus would die a 'gentle death', when he is in 'sleek old age'.