1) Telemachus visits Nestor in Pylos and Menelaus in Sparta to ask about his father Odysseus, who has been missing since the Trojan War. 2) Nestor tells Telemachus he has no news of Odysseus but warns him about the suitors in Ithaca. Menelaus then shares his story of getting home, including being helped by a sea goddess, and reveals that Odysseus is trapped on an island by the goddess Calypso. 3) Meanwhile, back in Ithaca the suitors plot to ambush Telemachus when he returns, unaware that Athena is protecting him. Penelope grieves for her son's safety.

1. The Odyssey
Homer
Book I

3. The poet begins with an invocation to the
muse and a question—what has happened
to Odysseus since the Trojan war?

4. His men died because they consumed
Hyperion’s cattle

5. Odysseus himself
was waylaid by
the nymph
Calypso.

6. And Poseidon was his sworn enemy

7. We visit the gods on Mt. Olympus

8. Zeus is discussing the folly of humans
by recounting the fate of Aegisthus

9. Despite the
fact that Zeus sent
Hermes to warn him
against it, Aegisthus
got involved
with Agamemnon’s
wife Clytemnestra.

10. When Agamemnon returned home from
Troy, Aegisthus and/or Clytemnestra
murdered him

11. Agamemnon’s son
Orestes, who had
been exiled, came
home.

12. Orestes avenged his father’s murder by
killing his mother and his uncle Aegisthus

13. Orestes’
heroism was
the talk of
heaven and
earth.

14. Athena interrupts on
behalf of Odysseus.

15. Athena reminds Zeus that Odysseus suffers
on Calypso’s island and deserves to go
home

16. Zeus reminds us that it
is Poseidon who
delays Odysseus,
because Odysseus
blinded his son
Polyphemus.

17. Athena
tells Zeus
to send
Hermes to
Calypso
and order
her to let
Odysseus
go.

18. Hermes is the offspring of Zeus and Maia, the 'rich
tressed nymph' whose abode was deep within a
shady cave. Zeus laid with Maia while his wife Hera
was 'bound in the arms of sleep.' That is, he is born
of a deception. And already, there is in his origin the
mark of Zeus' phallic need to penetrate wherever
and whomever he could, whether it be by trickery
or by straightforward approach.
Hermes' older brother is Apollo, god of Science and
Reason. Hermes was a guardian at crossroads, an
inhabitant of dark places, a thief at the gate, a
bringer of dreams, a guide to the Underworld. He
was the carrier of the caduceus, the staff of healing,
which today is the symbol of the art of medicine.

20. Meanwhile, Athena will go to Ithaca

21. There, she will
encourage
Odysseus’ son to
challenge his
mother’s suitors.

22. She will also convince Telemachus to visit
Pylos and Sparta

23. Athena comes
to Ithaca
disguised as
Mentes.

24. Telemachus treats his guest with great
hospitality

25. But all is not well in Ithaca, Odysseus’ rocky
kingdom
Odysseus' Family Tree
Chione + Hermes
|
|
Chalcomedusa + Arcisius Neaera + Autolycus
| |
| |
Laertes + Anticlea Periboea + Icarius
| |
| |
Odysseus + Penelope
|
|
Telemachus

26. Odysseus, the king, has been gone for
almost twenty years

27. Penelope has waited faithfully, but yearns
for word of him

28. Meanwhile, suitors from all around have
gathered in Ithaca

29. They hang out at the palace every day,
eating and drinking and carrying on

31. The suitors want Penelope to choose a new
husband

32. If widowed, it is her duty to marry
again, but she hopes Odysseus is alive

33. Meanwhile the suitors eat and drink and
fool around with the maids

34. Odysseus’
mother is
dead.

35. His father,
Laertes, lives like
a hermit out in
the fields.

36. Telemechus is not even convinced
Odysseus IS his father, but wishes he had
died a hero’s death

37. Athena tells Telemachus to call a council
and castigate the suitors

38. She tells him he should enquire of his
father of Nestor and Menelaus

39. When Athena leaves, Telemachus realizes
her true identity

40. Meanwhile
the suitors ask
Phemius, the
house singer,
for a song.

41. Phemius sings of the returns of heroes
from Troy

42. Penelope comes
downstairs and
asks Phemius not
to sing of
homecomings, for
such songs make
her long for her
husband.

43. Telemachus
scolds his
mother, telling
her Odysseus is
dead.

44. Telemachus informs the suitors he will be
master in his own house

45. The suitors leave the palace, and
Telemachus goes to bed, assisted by the
old nurse Eurycleia

46. Odyssey Book II

47. Next morning, Telemachus gets up and
calls an assembly

48. Athena buffs him up

49. Telemachus complains about the suitors who, instead
of going to Penelope’s father to seek her hand, hang
about the palace and consume everything in sight

50. But the suitor Antinoos blames Penelope

51. To stall the suitors, Penelope had told them she had
to weave a burial shroud for her father-in-law before
she could marry again

52. But what she
wove at her
loom each day,
she unwove at
night.

53. Penelope was betrayed to the suitors by a
maid

55. She had tricked them for three years

56. The suitors hugely admired her mind; she had
spoiled them for other women. However, her
trick allowed them to blame her, they thought.

57. The suitors tell Telemachus that until he sends
his mother back to her father, they will stay

58. Telemachus refuses to kick his
mom out of the house; he
asks for a ship and men to
search out proof of his father’s
death.

59. The suitors jeered at him, though some feared he might go off
and return with friends, and others hoped he would perish at
sea

60. But Telemachus went home and arranged
provisions for his trip

61. He ordered Eurycleia NOT to tell his
mother about his trip

62. Meanwhile, Athena got a ship and a crew

63. Telemachus and Athena sailed to Pylos

64. Book III

65. The ship reaches Pylos, home of Nestor

66. The sacrifice of bulls to Poseidon is taking
place on the beach

67. Nestor’s son, Pisistratus, invites them to
eat and drink

68. A libation is poured to the gods

69. At Nestor’s palace, Telemachus introduces
himself and asks for news of his father

72. Nestor explains that after the sack of Troy,
the groups argued and split up. He has no
news of Odysseus.

73. Nestor tells Telemachus to beware the
suitors

74. Nestor tells the
story of
Agamemnon’s
murder, and
praises the young
Orestes.

75. Nestor invites them to sleep in his
house; Athene flies back to the ship

76. Nestor quickly makes an offering to the
goddess

77. Telemachus leaves for Sparta with
Pisistratus in a chariot

78. Odyssey
Book IV

79. Telemachus arrives in Sparta

80. At the palace of Menelaus, wedding
celebrations are taking place

82. Daughter Hermione is to wed
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles

83. Megapenthes, son of Menelaus and Tereis,
is also marrying

84. When a servant
hesitates about
letting the
strangers in,
Menelaus scolds
him and treats
the young men
like royalty.

85. As they share a meal, Telemachus remarks on
the wealth of the palace

86. Menelaus explains that he was forced to travel for a
long time after leaving Troy, visited many places, and
amassed great wealth

87. But while he was away, his brother Agamemnon
was murdered, and he could do nothing to
prevent or avenge his brother’s death

88. When Menelaus
says the person he
misses most is his
friend the great
hero Odysseus,
Telemachus weeps.

89. As Menelaus talks with the
two young men, Helen
comes in and immediately
identifies Telemachus as
the son of Odysseus.

90. Pisistratus makes
the introductions,
and they prepare
to eat.

91. To end the weeping, Helen slips a drug into
the wine

92. They all get a good night’s sleep

93. Next morning, Telemachus tells Menelaus the
situation on Ithaca and asks for news of his father

94. Menelaus tells a wonderful story

95. Trying to get
home, Menelaus
was stuck on the
island of Pharos
with no wind.

96. The goddess Idothea helps him

97. She is the daughter of Proteus, the old man
of the sea

98. To get information, Menelaus must capture
Proteus and hold him tight

99. Proteus can take many forms

100. Idothea tells Menelaus that each day at noon,
Proteus comes ashore to nap with seals

101. Menelaus is to pick his three best men and
meet Idothea

102. Idothea told the men to lie down in pits she had
dug; then she covered them with seal skins

103. When Proteus came ashore, the men
sprang up and held him

104. Proteus changed form many times

105. But the men held on

106. Proteus tells Menelaus he must go back to
Egypt and sacrifice to Zeus

107. Proteus relates the story of Agamemnon’s
murder

108. He also reveals that Odysseus is being held
captive by Calypso

109. Menelaus invites Telemachus to stay for 12 days,
and offers gifts of a chariot and horses

110. Telemachus
explains that
horses would not
do well on rocky
Ithaca, so
Menelaus
substitutes a silver
bowl.

111. Meanwhile, the
suitors were
playing at sports
back in Ithaca.

112. When the suitors learn that
Telemachus had sailed for Pylos, they
plot an ambush when he returns

113. Servant Medon reports the plot to
Penelope, who grieves for her son

114. Antinous and 23 men set sail

115. Athene sends a vision of Iphthime,
Penelope’s sister, to comfort Penelope in a
dream