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Odysseus' ordinary world is "on the peaked se-mark of Ithaca" (Homer 21). He lives there with his wife and his newborn son up until he was called to battle.

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When the Trojan War had started, the king, Odysseus, was called to join his men in battle, although he did not want to participate. Luckily, Athena had convinced him to sail to Troy and us his intelligence to defeat the Trojans. Recalling his long adventure, he questioned, "What of my sailing, then, from Troy?" (Homer Line 38). After the war, he and his men began a 20 year long journey home.

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Aiding Odysseus in battle as well as his journey home, Athena is one of his mentors who "As for my change of skin, that is a charm Athena... uses as she will" (Homer Lines 1052-1054).
Even though he is blind, another mentor of Odysseus is the prophet, Tiresias. He tells Odysseus his way home, although "anguish lies ahead; the god who thunders on the land prepares it" (Homer Lines 633-634).
The third mentor of Odysseus who leads him to Tiresias is Circe, the sorceress-goddess. After a rough meeting between the two, Circe "informs him that in order to reach home he must journey to the land of the dead, Hades" (Homer 576).

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Although only mentioned by Odysseus, one of his tests is the Battle of the Cicones. Odysseus and his men uphold the value of death by honoring the fallen, ", although violating hospitality by storming the island, and killing "the men who fought... and we enslaved the women" (Homer Lines 43-44). Furious of their actions, Zeus brought "our evil days" and helped an army that ran Odysseus and his men off the island (Homer Line 56).

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Another test that Odysseus and his men went through was The Lotus Eaters. Odysseus had shown leadership after a few of his men had eaten the lotus flower. When they ate the lotus flower, they wanted to never leave the island, so Odysseus tied those who had eaten the flower to the ship as they left.

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Traveling from the island of the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus and his men arrived at the island of the Cyclops. On this island, they met Polyphemus, a cyclops who does not honor the value of hospitality through eating some of his guests. Using his intelligence and wit to get out of the situation, Odysseus and his men get the cyclops drunk, and while the cyclops is asleep, they proceed to stab him in the eye, blinding him. Since Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, he calls upon his father to curse Odysseus- after Odysseus exhibits excessive pride -in which "the god heard him" (Homer Line 494).

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After the endeavors with the cyclops, Odysseus and his men sail to the island of Aeolia. On this island, the king of the winds, Aeolus, "sends Odysseus on his way with a gift: a sack containing all the winds except the favorable west wind" (Homer 576). When Odysseus and his crew near home, his men decide to open the sack, which lets loose a storm that brings them back to Aeolia, i which they promptly are cast out to the land of the Laestrygonians.

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Arriving at the land of the Laestrygonians, Odysseus and his men are not welcomed by their hosts, violating the value of hospitality. Their hosts are, in fact, cannibals who "destroy all of Odysseus' ships except for the one he is sailing in" (Homer 576).

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Odysseus and his reduced crew flee from the Laestrygonians and arrive at Aeaea, an "island ruled by the sorceress-goddess Circe" (Homer 576), in which she proceeds to transform half Odysseus' men into swine. Protected by a magic herb provided by Hermes, Odysseus demands that she transform his men back into human form and, after one year on the island, he and his men finally depart from the island. But just before they set off, Circe informs Odysseus that in order to return home, he must journey to Hades and consult Tiresias, the blind prophet.

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Crossing The Threshold: Land of the Dead

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Crossing The Threshold: Land of the Dead

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In the hero's journey, there is a point in which the hero crosses the threshold into the new world, and in Odysseus' case, that is quite literal. The point where Odysseus crosses the threshold is where he literally travels to the Land of the Dead, Hades. Odysseus decided to use his best heffer as a sacrifice in order to travel into hell, where he shows the character flaw of fear while hearing the cries of the damned. He meets three people there, one of his crew, Elpenor, his mother, and finally Tiresias. The last and most interesting, Tiresias, proceeded to inform Odysseus about his destiny, in which all of his crew shall meet their peril, and that they should not feast on the Sun God, Helios', cattle, which of course they follow.

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After receiving an oracle from Tiresias, Odysseus learns that his men are soon to encounter sirens, which trick sailors towards sailing to their demise. Odysseus was told by Circe that he should be the only one to hear their song, so he proceeded to apply wax upon his men's ears so they would not hear the song. They were aided by "Helios, lord of high noon" through being provided warmth while applying the wax (Homer Line 711). Odysseus is tied up as to not follow the sirens' commands, and when he tells his men to untie him, they do not listen, thus following his orders from earlier and passing one of their tests.

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Past the sirens, Odysseus and his men encounter two sea monsters: Scylla and Charybdis. Warned beforehand by Circe about "the sea monster Scylla" and "the whirlpool Scylla," Odysseus weighs his options on how to proceed (Homer 580). He realizes that Scylla can only kill six of his men while Charybdis can kill the entire crew including himself, so he sticks near Scylla, loses six men, and passes another test.

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Odysseus and his men reach the island of Thrinakia, where they encounter the cattle of Helios, the sun god. Informed by Tiresias, Odysseus tell his men that "the cattle here are not for our provision" (Homer Line 839). While making a sacrifice for the gods, "the gods... only closed my eyes under slow drops of sleep" (Homer Lines 860-861). While Odysseus is asleep, his men violate hospitality and "cut out the noblest of these cattle" (Homer Line 868). In this episode, we are given insight on the gods activities, and Zeus tells Helios that "they have killed your kine," in which Helios replies "punish Odysseus' men!" (Homer Lines 905-909). The punishment that Zeus had in store for the crew killed all of Odysseus' men, destroyed the ship, and left Odysseus back with Scylla and Charybdis. After determining that the punishment was enough, the gods "kept me from [Scylla's] eyes," finally providing Odysseus some support (Homer Line 988).

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Arriving on Ogygia Isle, Odysseus encounters "the dangerous nymph Calypso" (Homer Lines 991-992). He proceeded to be put under a spell that kept him trapped there for 7 years, and after breaking free from her spell, he finds the Phaecians.

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Odysseus has gained some allies upon his journeys, and most notably: The Phaecians, Telemachus, and Eumaeus.
The Phaecians, after having Odysseus tell his story about his adventures, they "conduct him home by ship," with him arriving home after 20 years (Homer 595).
Another ally of Odysseus' is his son, Telemachus. After seeing him all grown up after 20 years, Odysseus and his son "kill all the suitors" going for his wife's hand in marriage (Homer 612).
Furthermore, another ally of Odysseus is Eumaeus, a herdsman. He was quick to stand by Odysseus' side during the battle against the suitors, and was even given "outfits to Eumaeus and this cowherd" in order to further help Odysseus in the fight.

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In order to journey back home, Odysseus is told to retell the story of his journeys to King Alcinous in order to receive safe passage home. He tells them all about his journey, and on one occasion he backtracks and while leading back into the story, he says "why tell the same tale that I told last night in hall to you and your lady?" (Homer Lines 993-995). Upon arriving to his homeland, he is still not truly home until he dealt with the problem of the suitors. They barrade him on multiple occasions, especially Antinous, who throws a chair at the disguised Odysseus, who later reveals himself to them, proceeding to slaughter them all.

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When Odysseus arrives home, he finds a sorry sight: suitors having invaded his home in search of courting his wife, Penelope. He disguises himself as a beggar, and is attacked while at his house, especially by one of the suitors, Antinous, who "threw a stool, and banged his shoulder!" (Homer Line 1278).

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When Odysseus reveals himself to the suitors, he is "aided by Athena," who helps Odysseus and the others defeat the unruly suitors. The suitors do not uphold the value of death by trying to cheat it, saying "Antinous was the ringleader, he whipped us on to do these things" (Homer Lines 1453-1455). In the end, they are defeated, and Odysseus is given one last test that he passes with ease, gaining his life and his family back.

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Upon defeating the suitors, he is given a test by his wife Penelope. He is told that his bed shall be moved out to the corridor, which upsets him as he and his wife's bed is a part of a tree, although only he and his wife knew that, so he passes that test. Before that, Athena makes him "taller, and massive, too," which further plays into the idea of his reward being his family and becoming utterly massive.

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Odysseus is considered to be an epic hero due to his heroic traits. He is intelligent by outwitting Polphemus by saying "my name is Nohbdy," a play on nobody (Homer Line 315). He shows leadership by telling his men "friends, have we never been in danger before this?" (Homer Lines 766-767). He is brave by overcoming his fears even when he "grew sick with fear" at the sight of Hades (Homer Line 570). Finally, he remained persistent during 20 long years to return home, telling his wife "he returned to her from years of trouble" (Homer Line 1557).