Paris breaches the hospitality of King Menalaus when he runs off with - or steals - Menelaus' wife, Helen, and takes her back to Troy with him.) In The Odyssey, the reader first sees hospitality exploited by Penelope's suitors. (In fact, this concept was also the reason for the Trojan War in The Iliad. The social concept of hospitality is essential to both major plots in The Odyssey. When Athena (in disguise) visits Ithaca, she first receives a hospitable welcome from Telemachus (1.144-46) and then gets the usual barrage of questions that strangers face throughout the epic (1.197-204), which are designed to elicit indications of reputation. Athena, whose curse initially caused Odysseus' wanderings, now wants to forgive and bring him home. Apparently all the gods, except for vengeful Poseidon, hold Odysseus in high regard. Zeus himself affirms Odysseus' character (1.78-80). One's reputation is determined by how others view him, assessing his character, values, and behavior according to the prevailing social standards and mores. In the world of Odysseus, one's most treasured possession is his good reputation. Throughout, people are responsible for their choices but always susceptible to intervention by the gods. These include hospitality, reputation, revenge, and power. Homer also introduces several themes that will recur throughout the epic. The other is centered in Ithaca where Odysseus' wife, Penelope, struggles to ward off a number of suitors and hopes for reliable word from or about her husband. One is the story of Odysseus who is held captive on Ogygia by Calypso.

Almost immediately, he delineates two plots that eventually will merge. Homer uses the epic's opening to introduce the plot, the theme, and the characters of the work. She predicts that his father will return and insists that the prince must stand up to the suitors and seek more information about Odysseus. She suggests that Zeus dispatch Hermes to liberate Odysseus from Calypso while Athena visits Ithaca to advise King Odysseus' son, Telemachus.ĭisguised as Mentes, an old friend of Odysseus, Athena counsels Telemachus. Meanwhile, Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is besieged by suitors at his home in Ithaca.Īt a divine council on Mount Olympus, Athena pleads with her father, Zeus, to take pity on Odysseus and allow him to return home. Odysseus has incurred the wrath of Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son Polyphemus the Cyclops. He is being held captive on the island Ogygia by the 'bewitching nymph' (1.17) Calypso who wants him for her husband. Odysseus, the reader is told, is the only Greek survivor of the Trojan War who has not yet returned home or died trying. Homer opens The Odyssey with an invocation to the Muse of epic poetry and asks for her guidance in telling the story of a man who has experienced many twists and turns of fate and has suffered many hardships.

The odyssey by homer