Ithica In The Odyssey

This book unites characters and events from the past, present, and future to help Odysseus see why he needs to get home quickly. Odysseus's mother is the most important character from the past with whom Odysseus reunites. Odysseus did not know his mother died while he was away and found out while he was looking for Teiresias. Odysseus states, "now came the soul of Antikleia, dead, my mother…seeing this ghost I grieved" (187). She asks him how he came to Hades, a place that is "no sight for living eyes" (190). Odysseus tells her he came to see Teiresias, then asks her about the rest of his family. She tells him Penelope is grieving for him and his son has taken over his kingdom. Odysseus then asks, "what was the bane that pinned you down in Death?" (190). She answers that she died of a broken heart, longing for her son to return. This conversation is a direct link to Odysseus's past.

Chapter 1- Ten years after the Trojan War, everyone reached home except for Odysseus. He remained a hostage at Ogygia by Calypso. Meanwhile, Telemachus (Odysseus’s son) is told by Athena, disguised as Mentes, that his father will return home and tells him to dispel the suitors who keep devouring his father’s estate.

Odysseus’s wife, Penelope lives back in their town, Ithaka, is being pressured by unwanted suitors. Their son, Telemachos, is visited by the goddess Athene. Athene was quite close with Odysseus, and she tells Telemachos to go looking for his missing father. He travels to Pylos to see the King, Nestor. Nestor takes him in, gives him dinner and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Telemachos does as he’s told and travels to Sparta to see King Menelaos. He tells him that his father Odysseus is alive and is being kept captive on Kalypso’s island. He also tells him that his brother, King Agamemnon, has been murdered by his own wife, Klytamestra, and her lover Aigisthos. But, Agamemnon’s son, Orestes has killed his father’s murderers

Many forms of popular culture today are inspired by themes, characters, and other references in various types of classical literature. John Denver's song 'Calypso'; is about the relationship between men and women, and he bases this comparison on the relationship between Kalypso and Odysseus in Homer's the Odyssey. In 'Calypso'; Denver portrays women in general as being superior to men by using the beautiful and enchanting goddess, Kalypso, from Homer's epic. John Denver encompasses all women in his song by providing Kalypso as a universal symbol. Along with the relationship between Odysseus and Kalypso and men and women, there are other interpreted allusions from the Odyssey to Kalypso's song.

During Odysseus’ journey in ‘The Odyssey’, Odysseus runs into a couple problems. He leaves home ready to fight in the Trojan War. Although he had plans on coming home, he never made it home. His wife Penelope and his son Telemachus assumed that Odysseus was dead. It was not until Athena came to Telemachus and gave him everything he needed to make it to his dad. What Telemachus did not know was that Odysseus wanted to come home, but he could not because he was being held prisoner on an island named Ogygia. Odysseus wants nothing more to return home and see his lovely wife Penelope.

In “The Odyssey”, composed by Homer, Odysseus’s son Telemakhos sails from Ithaka to Pylos and Sparta searching for information about his lost father. Telemakhos’ experiences on these foreign lands reveal their stark contrasts with his homeland. Pylos and Sparta differ from Ithaka in their respect of elders, hospitality, and piety.

Odysseus has a sense of hubris that leads to adversity and causes him harm, he also has humility; however, the lack of balance between these emotions takes Odysseus through many tough obstacles. When Odysseus tricks Polyphemos, he does it logically, and he uses his mind and reason; however, his hubris comes out when he feels the need to expose his true identity thus leading to his difficulty to return to Ithaka and future problems. Odysseus’s men beg him to stop harassing the beast, but Odysseus has one other plan in mind when he says, “Kyklops / … Odysseus raider of cities, took your eye: / Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaka!” (Homer 160). This provoking of Polyphemos that Odysseus displays is a cause for the pain Ithaka is going though, as well as personal and direct grieving directed at Odysseus and his immediate

For literally thousands of years, Homer’s story, The Odyssey, has had people captivated by the story of a war general named Odysseus who is coming home from a war. Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, has not lived a normal life. He is a young man who has seen his father once on the first day he was born. He has been home with his mother, Penelope, on the Greek island Ithaca and has to deal with hundreds of men that raid his house called suitors. His father, Odysseus, has been gone for twenty years now and has finally, after years and years of searching for him, has given up hope.

There is yet one more difference between Odysseus and the other two heroes which may help to find the reason why his tale does not end

In Homer’s Iliad, fate is a prime mover for the ancient Greeks, and in the Hebrew Torah, the God of Abraham is the ultimate decision maker of who is punished and who is rewarded. The effect of this is that the West has a certain mindset, one which dictates a certain lifestyle; one that does not believe in free will, and one that places importance on pleasing God; not so much the natural world, or fellow humans. In contrast to this, I have shown that the East, as represented by the Bhagavad Gita and the Tao Te Ching, do not place importance in any gods, or in fate. Rather, they believe that the natural world is the prime mover, and all consequences, good and bad, come directly from it.

Odysseus’s strong desire to return to his family inspires foreign rulers to assist Odysseus in returning home. Odysseus states, “Nevertheless I long—I pine, all my days— / to travel home and see the dawn of my return” to Calypso (5.242-234). Odysseus stayed with the goddess Calypso as her “unwilling lover” until he leaves on a raft (5.172; 179-187). Calypso grants Odysseus leave from her island because he is in grieving over being separated from his family. Odysseus lands in Phaeacia after leaving Calypso’s island. While begging for passage home, Odysseus says, “How far away I’ve been / from all my loved ones—how long I have suffered” (7.180-181). King Alcinous

Sing I me, Muse, and through me tell the story of the lady nymph goddess Calypso. Oh so beautiful and immortal who lives in the sea- hollowed caves on the island Ogygia. She craved the hero of Troy, king of Ithaka, son of Laertes, a mortal and took him as her own. Nine long years they spent on the island together.

The Odyssey is a epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald. In the epic poem one can conclude that the definition of love is not an object or an emotion but a commitment between two lovers that can never be broken no matter how long, distant, and absent their lover is in the relationship. In the epic poem Odysseus has been far away from Penelope for a long time because he is “trapped” inside of Calypso’s paradise she had created for him that he manages to get let free from by using his charm and wit to elude staying. Likewise when Odysseus is at Circe’s island he is the only one that had not been turned into a swine, however that is only because Hermes had given him a molie before hand to protect him from being cursed.

A reversal in fortune is exemplified when two of Odysseus’s men are killed. When Polyphemus returns, he discovers Odysseus and

The only thing Odysseus truly desired for twenty years was to return home to his family. Although Odysseus was looking forward to his homecoming, when he finally arrives home he disguises as a beggar, which is an odd thing to do considering that he was already home. He disguises himself, as a beggar because he was not sure whom he could really trusts considering he has been away for twenty years. He also wanted to test all the citizens and Penelope, his wife, of her loyalty. I believe that Odysseus unconsciously knew that the notion of home that he knew before has not changed. Once he proves that he could trust his family, he is just there for one night. It seems he could never truly stay home and Poseidon’s curse is true. Also, Odysseus seems to come to realize that his true home is actually being in an adventure with his crewmen. Odysseus undergoes so much suffering such as near death experiences just to arrive home.