Troy

Land of Cicones

Lotus Eaters

After Odysseus and his men left The Island of the Cicones they ended up on the Island of the Lotus Eaters. When the men met the Lotus Eaters they got some food and a drink that had nectar from Lotus flowers in it. What the men didn’t know was that the nectar made them lose all desire of home. Odysseus realized that the men he sent have been gone for hours. He found them and had to tie them up by force because they did not want to leave. They got back to the ship and left.

Cyclopes

Island of Aeolus

Telepylos

After the wind storm was over Odysseus’ ships landed on Telepylos, the land of the Laestrygonians. Three men go onto the land and Laestrygonian king eats on of the scouts. When this happens all of the other greeks run for the ships, but, the Laestrygonians smash 11 of the ships. They start feeding on some of the men. Odysseus orders the men to his ship, and they have to hurry. They row away from Telepylos as fast as possible.

Circe's Island

 The men land on Circe’s island, after they leave Telepylos. Odysseus sends half of his men to go look for someone to get food and water. The men that are sent hear Circe’s singing, and as they get closer to her home they see animals that should be attacking, but they are just sitting there staring at them. When they reach the house Circe feeds them and then turns them into pigs. Eurylokhos runs back to the ship to tell Odysseus what happened. Odysseus decides to go to Circe and try to get her to let his men go. On his way to Circe’s home Odysseus runs into Hermes. Hermes gives him a magical flower that can keep him protected from Circe’s spells and Hermes also gives Odysseus some advice. When Odysseus gets to Circe’s home she offers him some of the drugged wine. He drinks it no problem and she is waiting for him to change into a pig. She is really surprised and confused when he doesn’t. She asks him to make love with her, but he refuses to unless she swears to a binding oath. When she does they make love and afterwards Circe’s nymphs bathe and feed Odysseus. Odysseus tells her that he wants his men to be freed. After they are freed Odysseus and his men stay with Circe for a year and then Odysseus asks her for help to get home. She tells him that he first must head for the Underworld and look for Tiresias.

Land of the Dead

Odysseus and his men head for the Underworld. When they get there Odysseus enters it alone. He searches for Tiresias, but in order to find him he has to sacrifice a ewe and a lamb. When he sacrifices them he has to fight off other spirits. Eventually he find Tiresias. Tiresias tell Odysseus how to get home. As Odysseus is about to leave the Underworld he notices his moms spirit. He talks to her for a while to find out how she died and why. He then heads off to continue his journey.

Sirens

Before Odysseus left Circe’s island she warned him of the Sirens. She told him that the Sirens are creatures that lure men towards them, causing the the ships to break on the rocks, with their singing. He had to put beeswax in the oarsman's ears so they did not hear the singing and steer towards the island. He also had to be tied to the mast of the ship if he wished to listen and that no matter how much begging was done, his men could not untie him until they were past the island

Scylla and Charybdis

To get home Odysseus and his men had to pass through two cliffs. The Scylla lived on one cliff and the Charybdis lived on the other side. The Scylla is a six headed creature that would take six men from each ship that passed by. The Charybdis lived under the water and would come up and take all the men and the whole ship. Odysseus had to decide which cliff he would have his men row by. It was a decision of losing six men versus all of his men and his ship. He chose to go on the side with the Scylla. They found a way to distract the Scylla from taking six men. They through a lamb onto the cliff and the Scylla ate that. They finally made it through the passing way and headed for their next destination.

Helios

Their next stop on the journey was the land of Helios, the sun god. Odysseus was warned that he should not let his men harm the cattle. If they were to leave the cattle unharmed they would all return to Ithaca. If they harmed the cattle they would all die except for Odysseus, he alone would return to Ithaca, but with a great delay. He ordered them to leave the cattle alone. They agree to only eat the food Circe gave them. The winds end up really bad and they are stuck there for over a month. The man then suggests that they find the best cattle and sacrifice the cattle to the gods. In doing so they make Helios very mad. When Odysseus returns and finds what he had done he is furious with his men. When the winds die down they set off on their journey again, but they run into a storm. Zeus sends down a lighting bolt and they all are tossed off the ship. The winds send him back to the Scylla and Charybdis. He grabs onto the brand of a fig tree and holds on while the Charybdis eats the rest of his ship. The Charybdis regurgitates his mast and keel so Odysseus jumps onto those and heads off to sea again.

Calypso's Island

Odysseus ends up at Ogygia where the goddess Calypso lives. He stays there for a few years. Athena eventually steps in and asks Zeus if he could let Odysseus go. Zeus has Hermes go to Calypso and tells her that she must allow him to leave and return home to Ithaca. She tells Odysseus that he can go, but then she tries to trick him into staying by saying “Is she more beautiful than I am, I mean I’m a goddess?” He replies by saying something like“No one is more beautiful than you, but she is my wife and i need to return home to her.” He then sets sail for Ithaca.

Scheria (Island of the Phaeaians)

Poseidon creates a storm and the boat crashes. The Goddess Ino saves Odysseus. He washed up on Scheria the land of the Phaeaians at nighttime. That night while Princess Nausica is sleeping Athena appears in her dream, disguised as her friend. She tells Nausica to go to the riverbank to wash her clothes the next morning. Nausica goes with a few of her handsmaidens and they take off their clothes to wash them. They start playing ball and Odysseus wakes up. He sees them and they are all afraid except for Nausica. Nausica lets him wash himself up alone and Athena makes him look very handsome so that Nausica will fall in love with him. Nausica brings him to her father, Alcinous. Alcinous is so impressed by Odysseus that he asks him to take his daughters hand in marrige. They had dinner the next night and asks a blind bard, Demodocus, to tell the story of the Trojan horse. During the story Odysseus breaks down and Alcinous asks him who he is, where he is from, and where he is going. Odysseus tells Alcinous his whole story and Alcinous gives him a ship that will take him home the next day. So the next day he heads for Ithaca

Ithaca

When Odysseus returns to Ithaca he disguises himself as a beggar for two reasons: The first reason is to see who is on his side, and the second reason is to see if his wife has remained faithful. Odysseus goes to Eumaeus’ house and also finds his son, Telemachus. Later he tells Telemachus who he is, but warns him to keep it a secret. Later they go into Ithaca and speak to Penelope. Odysseus finds all the suitors there, and he doesn’t like the fact that his home is raided by suitors. Penelope is told that she must pick one of the suitors. She decides that she will make an impossible task for the suitors and whoever wins will become her husband. The task is to string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through ten targets in a row. None of the suitors could do it. Odysseus does it, still disguised as a beggar, and it surprises the suitors. Later he kills all the suitors, after they found out who he was, and has his unfaithful maids clean up the dead bodies. After the maids cleaned the bodies up he hung them. He then tells Penelope that he is home, but she makes him tell her about their bed to make sure it really is him. This ends Odysseus’ journey.