The Odyssey

Odysseus tells of “all the trouble Zeus / has caused” him on his journey home from Troy, devoting the majority of his story to his encounter with a Cyclops called Polyphemus (241). The book is presented as Odysseus’s dialogue.

Odysseus introduces himself as “Odysseus, Laertes’ son, / known for my many clever tricks and lies,” adding, “My fame extends to heaven, but I live in Ithaca” (241). Though two goddesses, Calypso and Circe, wanted him for their husbands, his heart never wavered. A man who travels far and wide, Odysseus says that nothing is sweeter “than his own native land and family” (241).

When they first set off, Zeus sent a wind to blow them off course, and they ended up in Ismarus, the land of the Cicones. Odysseus and his men sacked the city and captured the Cicones’ riches and women. He spared Apollo’s priest, as well as his wife and son, and the priest gifted him high-quality wine as thanks. Odysseus urged his men to leave immediately, but they lingered to drink and feast. Dawn brought bad luck from Zeus, as surviving Cicones assembled and fought hard, killing some of Odysseus’s men. After performing a religious ritual for the lost, the crew set off again.