The Odyssey and Sequels

Overview

As Aristotle says. This is story about a man kept away from is home for many tears. Poseidon is watching him. The wealth is being squandered by his wife's suitors and plots laid against his son. After being buffeted by storms he returns home, eventually reveals his identity and kills the suitors.

Altogether Odysseus is away from Ithika for 20 years. Homer says there were over 100 suitors. Penelope clings to the hope that he will return and as a delaying strategy agrees to mary a suitor once she completes a shroud, which she undoes every night until the suitors uncover her ruse.

The 1st four books focus on Telemakhos. Books 5-12 focus on the journey home. 9-12 are narrated by Odysseus his self in flashbacks. Books 13 to 24 are located in Ithaka. The story begins with an evocation that he could not save his companions who presisged due to their own recklessness. Odysseus is not a drifter even though Tennyson calls him a vagabond. Odysseus is often at loggerheads with his crew but still strives to get them home. There are two levels to the story

1. A personal story of one man's journey home 2. A social tale of a king who returns and eradicates his usurpers

So it is a tale about the function of society and problems of an individual

Odysseus story is preceded by the Council of the Gods minus Poseidon, where Athena pleads that Odysseus should be allowed to sail back home. Zeus agrees but before the story starts we get Homer narrating the Telemachy or the education of Telemakhos.