The Odyssey

The Odyssey:
For anyone studying Classical Civilizations at A level, the translation used by the exam board is By E.V.Rieu.

Background information:
written in Ancient Greece, this Novel is written in Books instead of Chapters, concerning the tale of Odysseus' return from the battle of Troy which takes twelve years. Most of the novel is told by Odysseus about the adventures he experiences on his return to Ithaca.

Book 1:
Book 1 starts with an invocation by Homer to the Gods: "The hero of the tale which I beg the Muse to help me tell is that resourceful man who roamed the wide world after he sacked the holy citadel of Troy. He saw the cities of many peoples and he learnt their ways. He suffered many hardships on the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home. But he failed to save thee comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own sin that brought them to their doom, for in their folly they devoured the oxen of Hyperion the sun, and the God saw to it that they should never return. This is the tale I pray the divine Muse to unfold to us. Begin it, Goddess, at whatever point you will." to start his tale. The tale starts in Olympus with Athene asking to visit the human world and help Odysseus' son Telemachus to find his father and help him return home. She also asks Zeus to send Hermes the messenger to the Goddess Calypso's island to free Odysseus from the island.
Athene takes the form of an old friend Mentes and visits the palace where she finds the suitors feasting in the palace and Telemachus sitting to one side. (while Odysseus has been gone, the suitors think that he is dead and have been courting his wife Penelope). Telemachus on spotting the visitor immediately jumps up and takes the spear from his hand and greets the stranger (showing Good Xenia). Athene dines with Telemachus and the suitors with the intention of giving him directions on where to go to look for his father, after fulfilling her task, she disappears immediately and Telemachus knows that his instructions were given to him by a God.

In most syllabus you will not be asked questions on books 2-5 so i will add these chapters at a later date.
The next most important chapter is chapter 5 itself and this chapter is all about Odysseus being stuck on the Nymph Goddess Calypso's island (it has a technical name and i'll look it up and post it later on). This book is full of major themes, and we also are shown the mortal side of Odysseus. When we meet him, he is crying on  the island, he's been away from Ithaca for more than ten years and he misses his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Although he doesn't suffer that much while his on this island, he is still under the command of Calypso and is not free to leave. Athene visits Zeus and asks him to send Hermes to Calypso telling her to release Odysseus and help him on his journey back home. The only reason that he has not made it home is because he has made an enemy out of Poseidon (we find out why in book 9). We have to remember that the story is an Epic poem and that really, it is Odysseus telling us his story. (Remember that in an exam, a question about Women may come up as an essay question and Calypso is an important character to write about as her actions help the story to progress and shows the strength of female characters.)

Book 6:
This is when the real poem begins. In chapter five we get an idea from the gods about what has happened to Odysseus and Homer starts to talk about Odysseus' journey away from Calypso's island and how he endures a storm sent by Poseidon and ends up on an island.
In book six he meets the daughter of the rulers of phaesia (Nausicaa). Her role is important in this book and again would be useful in an exam if they ask about women.
She acts wisely and gives Odysseus some clothes to wear. I'm getting ahead of myself and forgot to mention that Athena appeared to her in a dream and told her to go down to the river and take someone with her. She also tells Odysseus to speak directly to her mother and not to her father first.
In this book, Athena's role is important and useful to learn. 1) Athena appears in a dream to Nausicaa. 2) She covers Odysseus with a mist so that he can't be seen when walking to the palace. (this is important because it means that Nausicaa keeps her honour).
This book is actually quite short and really is important only for the role of women and the role of the Gods. If you get asked about women in the exam the Nausicaa is quite useful.

Book 7: the palace of Alcinous.
This is where he really starts walking through the streets towards the palace. As he starts to walk towards the palace, Athene appears to him in the form of a little girl and directs him towards the palace (Role of the Gods). Let us remember that Odysseus usually recognizes very quickly afterwards when something is done by divine intervention. Athene accompanies him to the palace.
Odysseus speaks to Queen Arete, Alcinous listens to the story while providing food and drink (Xenia). Odysseus starts crying in the middle of the story, so he suggests a dance off. Alcinous is one of the best hosts in the entire epic!
After distracting Odysseus with the dance off, the story continues. Most of the book is just Odysseus retelling his story. At the end of the book, Alcinous decides that he is going to hold games to celebrate the arrival of Odysseus and he will increase the tax to get the people of his country to pay for the games.