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In your opinion, what are the central messages conveyed in the Odyssey? Justify your opinion by including analysis of Homer's Odyssey. You may support your answer with reference to any of the four Strands on your course.

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Use the summaries, texts, and videos to write out short summaries/bulletpoints highlighting the key events from each book of the Odyssey.

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Key themes from the Odyssey are:
Hospitality, Family, Loyalty, Gods, Justice, Travel, Home, War, Honour, Chastity, Marriage, Women...

Key Homeric Values are:
Xenia, Kleos, Timé, Arete, Aristeia, Aidos, Love, Gods, Law...

Create Mind-Maps/Brain-Dumps for each of these themes/values and explore relevant evidence from the key events that connect to them.

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Looking back over the key events, explore their visual representation in the visual sources - modern and ancient.

Describe/outline with bulletpoints the similarities and differences between text and picture.

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Use the Source Book to refocus on the key pieces of text from the Odyssey as studied in class.

Write notes on the following:
characters, plot, themes, & style - epithets, ring composition, similes, digressions, repetition, narrative, bias, etc.

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A complete English translation with hyper-linked index and illustrations by Theodoor van Thulden (Dutch, 1606-1669) courtesy of the Rijksmuseum

I will endure it, owning a heart within inured to suffering.

For I have suffered much, and laboured much,

in war and on the seas: add this then to the sum.

Homer, 'The Odyssey' Bk V:192-261.

Book I: Athene visits Telemachus

Book II: Debate in Ithaca

Book III: Telemachus in Pylos

Book IV: Telemachus in Lacedaemon

Book V: Odysseus and Calypso

Book VI: Odysseus and Nausicaa

Book VII: Odysseus meets Alcinous

Book VIII: The Games in Phaeacia

Book IX: Polyphemus the Cyclops

Book X: Odysseus and Circe

Book XI: Odysseus in the Underworld

Book XII : Scylla and Charybdis

Book XIII: Odysseus in Ithaca

Book XIV: Odysseus and Eumaeus

Book XV: Telemachus Returns

Book XVI: Odysseus and Telemachus

Book XVII: Odysseus in the palace

Book XVIII: Irus the beggar

Book XIX: Odysseus and Eurycleia

Book XX: Preparations for revenge

Book XXI: The archery contest

Book XXII: The fight in the palace

Book XXIII: Odysseus and Penelope

Book XXIV : Athene makes peace

The Text is fully hyper-linked to the index and vice versa.

Each Book is arranged in paragraphs, with each paragraph headed by the corresponding line reference in the Greek text.

About This Work

The Odyssey, the second of the epic texts attributed to Homer, and also a major founding work of European literature, is usually dated to around the 8th century BC. It is an epic poem, effectively a sequel to the Iliad, written in Ancient Greek but assumed to be derived from earlier oral sources, telling the story of Odysseus' wanderings and his eventual return from the Trojan War to his home island of Ithaca. The cultural background to the poem indicates a Bronze Age setting around 400 to 500 years before the Homeric literary period itself. The poem contains elements of myth and legend as well as sheer literary invention, and covers the ten years of its hero's adventures from the destruction of Troy to his return to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. Of particular interest is the role of women in the Bronze Age culture described, represented in a sense by Odysseus' guardian deity, Athene, the goddess of mind. Odysseus is an archetype of the person of intellect who uses brains and eloquence rather than brawn to outwit opponents and impress peers, and therefore sets the scene for later Greek Classical culture.

About the Author

The true authorship and dating of the Odyssey and the other great poem attributed to Homer, the Iliad, has been much disputed. The consistency of language and treatment lends itself to the view that a single author Homer created, or at least consolidated and edited, the literary material. This was the view of ancient Greek authorities, though they differ widely on the question of who Homer was, and at what period he lived. Many mythical elements gathered around the name Homer, until the image of a blind bard from the island of Chios gained prominence, despite there being no evidence of his blindness or his bardic wanderings, and despite many places claiming to have been his birthplace or residence. Equally there is no absolutely definitive text rather the currently accepted text is the result of the work of many editors over a long period of time, from at least the 3rd century BC to modern times. There is much fascinating and erudite scholarship concerning the Homeric ethos, involving literary, linguistic, cultural, archaeological, and other evidence, and debate is ongoing. However the issue of literary authorship in no way detracts from the power and integrity of the epic poems themselves.

Translated by A. S. Kline © Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved

This work may be freely reproduced, stored and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose. Conditions and Exceptions apply.

Last Modified 8 December 2004

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A complete English translation with hyper-linked index and illustrations by Theodoor van Thulden (Dutch, 1606-1669) courtesy of the Rijksmuseum I will endure it, owning a heart within inured to suffering. For I have suffered much, and laboured much, in war and on the seas: add this then to the sum.

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The Odyssey is Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. While Odysseus battles mystical creatures and faces the wrath of the gods, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus stave off suitors vying for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's throne long enough for Odysseus to return. The Odyssey ends as Odysseus wins a contest to prove his identity, slaughters the suitors, and retakes the throne of Ithaca.

Type of Work: epic poem

First Published: probably around 700 B.C.

Setting: The sea and Ithaca

Main Characters: Odysseus; Penelope; Telemachus; Athena (Pallas); Polyphemus (the Cyclops) and King Alcinous; Circe and Calypso

Major Thematic Topics: hospitality; loyalty; perseverance; vengeance; appearance versus reality; spiritual growth

Motifs: mythology; love; disguises

Major Symbols: Laertes' shroud; Odysseus' bow; the sea; Ithaca

The three most important aspects of The Odyssey:

The Odyssey is an epic, a very long poem on a single subject. Some epics were composed in order to be performed from memory, and so they include poetic devices to make them more memorable. And many epics, probably including The Odyssey, were written to be performed to musical accompaniment.

The journey of Odysseus from Troy to Ithaca takes ten years - the same amount of time that the Trojan War itself lasted. The extraordinary length of Odysseus' return trip, which should take a matter of weeks, is due to his many antagonists, including the god Poseidon, the many mythical creatures he encounters, and Odysseus' often greedy and lazy crewmen.

Odysseus's most memorable quality is not his bravery or strength - though he is brave and strong - but rather his cleverness. In fact, Homer refers to his protagonist throughout the epic as "wily Odysseus."

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The Odyssey is Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. While Odysseus battles mystical creatures and faces the wrath of the gods, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus stave off suitors vying for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's throne long enough for Odysseus to return.

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The Odyssey by Homer | Summary & Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 1 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 2 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 3-4 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 5 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 6-7 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 8 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 9 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 10 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 11 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 12 Summary & Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 13-14 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 15–16 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 17-18 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Books 19-20 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 21 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 22 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 23 Summary and Analysis

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The Odyssey by Homer | Book 24 Summary and Analysis

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Describe the moments in the Odyssey that were important in shaping Telemachus' sense of identity in his development from boy to man. You may write from the perspective of Telemachus or another character.

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In your opinion, what are the central themes in Homer's Odyssey? Justify your answer with analysis of Homer's Odyssey.

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Describe the moments in the Odyssey that are central to shaping Penelope's sense of identity.

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Do you consider Odysseus a "good" leader? Justify your answer with analysis of Homer's Odyssey.

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Heroes in Ancient Greece are often motivated differently from the heroes depicted in fiction today. Discuss this point of view with analysis of Homer's Odyssey.

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Would you consider Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid as anti-war poems? Justify your answer with analysis of both poems.

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In the end, Odysseus and Aeneas were very different types of heroes. Do you agree? Justify your answer with analysis of both heroes' actions.

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Create a mindmap/brain dump of all the ways we could read Homer's Odyssey as an Anti-War poem.

Include references to specific evidence from the text.

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(a) Describe the ways Homer portrays the non-combatant characters such as slaves, women, children, or the elderly.
(b) How does this compare the the depiction of the warriors, male and female? Support your answer with an analysis of Homer's Odyssey.

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Create a bank of relevant evidence to describe these kinds of characters found in the Odyssey:

- The Male Hero/Leader - The Combatant
- The Male Youth - Non-Combatant
- The Male Elder - Non-Combatant
- The Male Slave - Non-Combatant

- The Female Wife
- The Independent Female
- The Immortal Female
- The Female Slave (Old and Young)
- The Warrior Female

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The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece