The Cicones In The Odyssey

After Odysseus’ flea from the island of the Cyclopes he docks his vessel on the island of Aeolus, who is the God of Winds. Aeolus provides Odysseus with a sack of wind rapidly delivering him to his home. However, Odysseus’ crew assumes the sack of winds contains treasures and they rip the bag wide open, releasing the wind. Odysseus and his crew are thrusted back to the island of Circe and the God Circe transforms the men into pigs. When Odysseus begins to search for his men the God Hermes approaches and provides him with a herb that will deflect Circe’s altering abilities. Consequently, after Odysseus overcomes Circe, she offers him

Circe, famously, makes an appearance in Book 10 of The Odyssey, when she turns Odysseus’s men into swine. The book, Circe tells her story. Why does she turn men into swine? Where did her story begin? Circe is the daughter of the sun god, Helios, and ocean nymph, Perse.

He does have a moment where he thinks it would be wise to leave Ismarus. They really should have. Even though the crew did not listen to him, Odysseus was still loyal to his crew. He fought courageously in battle with his against a larger stronger Cicone retaliation. After Odysseus and his crew escaped the Cicones, they honored those who had died.

Odysseus was very good at covering up his true identity and feelings when he needs to get information that will help him home. Hermes gave Odysseus the advice to visit Circe, for Circe could give Odysseus a major clue on how to get home. Without the help of Hermes, Odysseus would not have made it to Circe in order to get the information on the monsters of the sea, which he needed to pass through to get home. Circe told Odysseus how to defeat Scylla, Charybdis, and the Sirens. The Sirens were quite beautiful on the outside, but deadly on the inside. Sirens sang a song of forgetfulness, those who heard their song forgot about their values and what was most important to them. The Sirens sang a song that lured sailors to their deaths. Odysseus had already lost many men and could not have afforded to loose anymore. Circe gave valuable advice to Odysseus on how to get through the Sirens unharmed. Odysseus took Circe’s advice and had given all the men wax so they would not hear the alluring song. Odysseus, however, had his men tie him up so he could hear the song of the Sirens. I believe the reason for this is due to the fact that he misses his family so much. Odysseus needed time to forget about his family, so he could face what was ahead with a clear mind. The fact that Odysseus needed to hear the sirens is proof that he wants to hear the siren song to help him

He would additionally lose six men to the monstrous siren Scylla. Odysseus made his men put wax in their ears so they couldn't hear the Sirens crying. " Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship.” ( Homer 921 ). Odysseus persevered even after he heard the Sirens crying and losing six of his best men.

This part of the story shows how Odysseus went into danger to save his men and bring them back to the

The islands of Circe and Calypso in Homer’s Odyssey are places where Odysseus’ most challenging problems occur. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win. These two female characters are especially enticing to Odysseus because they are goddesses. Though it is evident that Odysseus longs to return to Penelope in Ithaka, it sometimes appears that he has lost vision of what life was like with a wife, a son, and with thousands of people who regard him as King. Although his experiences on the islands of these goddesses were similar in that he was retained from Ithaka for the longest periods of his adventure, these goddesses and the

The Sirens in the Odyssey represent more than just a maritime danger to the passing ship. They are the desires of man that he cannot have. The Sirens can also be construed as forbidden knowledge or some other taboo object. Whatever these singing women actually are, the sailors are wise to avoid them. As usual, the wily Odysseus cheats at the rules of the game by listening to their song under the restraints constructed by his crew.

After the encounters with the Sirens, Odysseus had to face a terrifying creature that he feared of. Circe warned Odysseus about the dangers of Scylla. He is informed that she will snag six of his men and tells him that it is much better than loosing everyone. “Nobody would feel good seeing her, not even a god who crossed her path. She has a dozen feet all deformed, six enormously long necks, with a horrible head on each of them and three rows of teeth packed closed together, full of murky death” (Steele and Alwa, 489). Odysseus knew that in order for his survival and to be able to get to the island, he had to sacrifice his men and escape this monster. “Monsters such as the Sphinx are often represented as female, as if to imply that women are on the borderline between human and “other” than human”(Steele and Alwa, 41). Odysseus also had to deal with his love affair with the witch goddess, Circe. She lived with nymphs on a mythical island. She changed all of Odysseus’s men into animals when he showed up to see her. Hermes helped Odysseus remove the men from the spell. “Many men appear to have felt that they could truly not love women who were not educated well enough to read, write, or engage in informed dialogue with their husbands”(Steele and Alwa, 43). The love between Odysseus and Circe failed due to her lack of ability to engage with men, by

Hermes helps him out and gives him a plan to help save his men. So our hero is saved by the god Hermes from a horrible fate. Still Odysseus is not content to sail on and leave the goddess behind (Odyssey 10:269-532). Here Odysseus lost sight of his goal, thinking he was in full control of the situation. Only after a full year has past does he even ask Circe to help them on their way and only at the urging of his crew. He forgets that it was only by the gods help that he was able to triumph over Circe. There was no other way he could have survived her magic. In a sense he is beat by her because he forgets his voyage home and wastes a year in tarring there. By forgetting the voyage he denies himself, a hero, and forgets his family and subjects in Ithaca. Exactly the same threat that the lotus eaters posed to Odysseus and his men. The temptation that Circe offers is a life of pleasure. Anything you desire: food, sport, beautiful women, anything at all. For a time Odysseus is taken in my her offer but thanks to his men he is able to break free of it and remember his home and family.

Rome always waged war with its neighbors. They are led by the consul an Roman soldiers were once surrounded by their enemies. The best soldiers fled, and hurried to Rome. The messengers said if the Romans would not send help to the consul, the enemies would live to be a consul and his soldiers. The Romans told one man to give help. Cincinnatus worked in the fields, but he was now a dictator, (messengers ran to Rome?). Cincinnatus and his army left the city. The enemies walked quickly throughout the night, but Cincinnnauts and his soldiers walked quicker. The enemy, was afraid of Cincinnati's army, they put down their arms. Then, having conquered his enemies, Cincinnatus, send them under the yoke. Then after 16 days, Cincinnatus was called to

When Odysseus and his men come to their island Calypso, first, uses her beauty to captivate him and keep him with her. She wanted him to stay with him and be an immortal husband to her. She was ordered to release him and she eventually did. However, Circe wanted Odysseus for herself. She lured Odysseus and his men with her beauty, she then poisoned them and kept Odysseus for herself. He gave in to the temptation. “So she spoke to them, and the rest gave voice, and called her and at once she opened the shining doors, and came out, and invited them in, and all in their innocence entered; only Eurylochos waited outside, for he suspected treachery. She brought them inside and seated them on chairs and benches, and mixed them a potion, with barley and cheese and pale honey added to Pramneian wine, but put into the mixture malignant drugs, to make them forgetful of their own country. When she had given them this and they had drunk it down, next thing she struck them with her wand and drove them into her pig pens, and they took on the look of pigs, with the heads and voices and bristles of pigs, but the minds within them stayed as they had been before.” (Homer, 1994-2009)

First, Odysseus and his men must sail past the Sirens, however, hearing their song leads any sailor to his doom. Circe herself tells Odysseus that “the Sirens will sing his mind away on that sweet meadow lolling.” (678 ll. 666-667) How does Odysseus overcome this adversary? He simply follows Circe’s orders to “plug your oars men's ears with beeswax….” (678 ll. 670-671) Although, she urges Odysseus to listen to the song of the Sirens alone. So, to prevent himself from becoming an issue, he orders his men to tie him up “plumb, amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast….” (681 ll. 746-747) This solution was also given to Odysseus via word of Circe. Thus, if Odysseus had not clearly followed Circe’s instructions, from plugging his men’s ears with beeswax to ordering his men to tie him to the mast, he and his crew would have met a fatal end. Much like soldiers in real life, Odysseus and his crew had to comply and obey orders in order to guarantee success on a mission. Circe’s advice allowed Odysseus to overcome the deadly Sirens without any loss, however, his whole journey did not go as smoothly.

As Odysseus drew his sword about (pretending) to strike Circe, these were her words, “Who are you? From what family? What city? You drank my drugs, but you were not entranced. No other man has ever passed that test; for once that potion’s passed their teeth, the rest have fallen prey: you have within your chest a heart that can defeat my sorcery. You surely are the man of many wiles, Odysseus, he whom I was warned against by Hermes of the golden wand: he said that you would come from Troy in a black ship. But now put back your blade within that sheath and let us lie together on my bed: in loving,

Chapter 12- Odysseus’s story continues with Odysseus burying Elpenor, where Circe tells him what to do. Then, he goes through the Sirens song and Scylla with his crew. Afterwards, the Sun makes Zeus punish Odysseus, which he does, by destroying his ship. Odysseus ends the story with him reaching Ogygia.