The OdysseyLeeftijdsaangepaste versie

Sing to me, Muse, of that clever man Odysseus, who wandered far and wide after helping to bring down the mighty city of Troy. He saw many cities and came to know the ways of many peoples. He suffered terribly on the sea, struggling to save his own life and bring his comrades home. But save them he could not, no matter how much he wanted to. They brought ruin upon themselves through their own foolishness, when they slaughtered the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. And so they never saw their homeland again.

All the other Greeks who survived the war and the sea had reached their homes long ago. Only Odysseus remained missing. He longed for the island of Ithaka, for his house, for his old father, for the son he had barely watched grow up, and for Penelope, the wife who waited for him. But the nymph Kalypso kept him captive on her distant island of Ogygia. She wanted him to stay with her forever and become her husband.

One day the gods gathered with Zeus on Mount Olympos. Poseidon, god of the sea, was not there. He was still furious at Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyfemos. But Athene, the wise goddess, spoke up for Odysseus.

"Father Zeus," she said, "you must not forget that man. He has always honored the gods, and now he sits alone on an island, weeping by the shore. Kalypso tries to make him forget Ithaka, but all he wants is to see the smoke rising from his own house."

Zeus answered that he had not forgotten Odysseus. "Poseidon pursues him," he said. "But now the time has come. Hermes shall go to Kalypso and tell her that Odysseus must be allowed to leave. And you, Athene, shall go to Ithaka. Give courage to his son Telemakos. Make him seek news of his father."

Athene flew down to Ithaka disguised as a foreign prince. At the gate of Odysseus' house she found a crowd of young men sitting on ox hides, playing games, drinking wine, and waiting for dinner. They were the suitors. For years they had camped in the house, demanding that Penelope choose a new husband. Every day they slaughtered Odysseus' animals, drank his wine, and behaved as though the house already belonged to them.

Telemakos sat among them, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He was no longer a small child, though he often felt like one. He thought of his father, who had gone to Troy when Telemakos was a baby. If Odysseus suddenly returned, he thought, the suitors would flee from the house like frightened birds. Then he noticed the stranger standing at the door. He felt ashamed that no one had welcomed a guest, and he went over at once.

"Welcome," he said. "Come in. Eat first, and later tell us who you are."

He led Athene inside, placed her spear among his father's many weapons, and seated her far from the suitors' noise. Servants washed their hands, set out bread, meat, and wine, and soon the singer Phemios began to play for the suitors.

Telemakos leaned toward his guest. "This house should belong to my father," he whispered. "If he had died with honor at Troy, the Greeks could have raised a grave mound for him, and I could have carried his name with pride. But now no one knows whether he lives or is dead. The suitors are destroying everything. My mother will not marry, but she cannot drive them away either."

Athene answered in a warm voice: "Odysseus was a man who always found a way out. Even if he were bound in iron, he would think his way to freedom. But you too must do your part. Call the people together tomorrow. Tell the suitors to go home and eat their own food. Then you shall sail to Nestor at Pylos and to Menelaos at Sparta. Perhaps they know something of your father. If you hear that he is dead, you can mourn him and let your mother marry. But if he lives, you must hold on. And remember—one day you must find a way to stop the suitors."

Telemakos promised to follow her advice. Athene vanished like a bird, and he understood that his guest had been a goddess.

When Phemios sang about the Greeks' difficult journey home from Troy, Penelope came down from her room. She held a veil before her face and wept. "Phemios," she said, "sing another song. This one tears my heart apart."

But Telemakos answered, with surprising firmness: "Mother, let the singer sing what he wishes. It is not he who created this sorrow. Many went to Troy and never came home, not just my father. Go upstairs and tend to your weaving and your work. Speech belongs to the men of this house—and I am its master now."

Penelope looked at him in wonder. He was still her son, but something had changed. She returned to her room, while the suitors muttered and laughed. Telemakos told them they would meet in assembly the next morning. Antinous, the most arrogant of them, mocked him.

"Perhaps you think you will be king over us?" he said.

"I do not know who will rule Ithaka," Telemakos replied. "But I will rule my own house."

The next day Telemakos rose early. He put on his sandals, strapped his sword at his shoulder, and walked with his spear in hand to the meeting place. Two dogs followed him. The people gathered, for no assembly had been held since Odysseus left for Troy.

An old man named Aigyptios asked who had called them together. Telemakos rose and took the floor. At first his voice trembled a little, but then it grew clear.

"I have two sorrows," he said. "One is that my father is gone. The other is that your sons are destroying his house. They eat our cattle, our sheep, and our goats. They drink our wine. They want my mother, but they will not ask her father to choose a husband for her in the proper way. They live here like robbers. Help me, or be ashamed that you let this happen."

He threw his staff to the ground and began to weep. Many felt pity for him, but no one dared to stop the suitors.

Antinous rose. "The blame lies with Penelope," he said. "She has deceived us for years. She said she must first weave a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus' old father. By day she wove before our eyes, but by night she unraveled everything she had done. That is how she tricked us for three years. Now she must choose a husband, or we will stay here forever."

Telemakos answered: "How can I drive away my own mother? She gave me life, and this is her home. If you want to eat, then eat at your own houses. But if you stay here and keep plundering us, Zeus will one day demand payment."

At that moment two eagles flew over the assembly. They circled above the people, beat their wings, and clawed at each other before flying off to the right over the city. The old prophet Halitherses read the sign.

"Odysseus is closer than you think," he said. "He will soon return and punish the suitors. I said before the Trojan War that he would suffer much, lose all his men, and come home in the twentieth year, unrecognized. That time is now drawing near."

Eurymakos, another of the suitors, laughed at him. "Old man, go home and prophesy to your own children. Birds fly around the sky all the time. Odysseus is dead. We fear neither Telemakos nor your signs."

The assembly broke up without help for Telemakos. He walked down to the sea, washed his hands in the waves, and prayed to Athene for aid. She came to him in the shape of Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.

"Do not be afraid," she said. "If you have something of your father's cleverness and your mother's strength, your journey will succeed. Prepare your ship. Get wine, water, and barley meal. I will find men who will sail with you."

Telemakos went home and asked the old nurse Eurykleia to fill twelve jars with the best wine and pack barley meal in leather bags. She began to cry when she heard he was going to sea.

"My child," she said, "your father is gone, and now these men will kill you as soon as you leave Ithaka."

"Do not be afraid," said Telemakos. "This is the gods' counsel. But promise me you will not tell my mother anything until I have been gone many days."

Eurykleia swore. In the evening Athene made the suitors heavy with sleep and wine. She found a ship, and Telemakos went aboard with twenty young men. The sail filled with a gentle west wind, and the ship vanished over the dark sea.

When the sun rose, they reached Pylos. On the beach stood hundreds of men sacrificing black bulls to Poseidon. Telemakos felt unsure of himself. "How shall I dare to speak with the old king Nestor?" he asked Mentor.

"Some things you will think of yourself," Athene answered. "And some things the gods will put into your heart."

Nestor's son welcomed them and gave them places at the sacrificial feast. After they had eaten, Nestor asked who they were. Telemakos told him that he was Odysseus' son and begged for the truth.

Nestor looked at him for a long time. "You speak just like your father," he said. "No one was wiser than Odysseus when we made our plans at Troy. But after the city fell, the Greeks became divided. Agamemnon and Menelaos quarreled. Some went one way, some another. I sailed home early and know little of Odysseus. But I do know that Agamemnon was murdered by Aigisthos when he came home, and that his son Orestes took revenge. Remember that, Telemakos. A son can carry on his father's name."

Athene, still disguised as Mentor, said that the gods could help even those who hoped for little. Nestor was struck by how divine the stranger seemed. When Athene flew away as an eagle, he understood who she was. He sacrificed to her and sent his son Peisistratos to accompany Telemakos on to Sparta.

In Sparta they came to the splendid house of Menelaos. A wedding feast was being held for his children. Gold, silver, ivory, and bronze gleamed everywhere. Telemakos stared at the riches, but Menelaos said: "No mortal can compare with Zeus. I have seen many lands and gathered much, but I would rather have less wealth if all those who died at Troy were alive."

He spoke especially of Odysseus, and when tears filled Telemakos' eyes, Helen recognized him. "He resembles Odysseus," she said. "The hands, the eyes, the shape of the head."

Peisistratos explained who he was. Menelaos took Telemakos' hand. "Son of my dear friend," he said. "If Odysseus had come home, I would have given him land and a house near my own. But the gods have kept him away."

Everyone began to weep. Helen mixed a herb into the wine, a herb that stilled sorrow for a while. Then she told them about Odysseus at Troy. Once he had disguised himself as a beggar, beaten himself bloody, and entered the city as a spy. Helen had recognized him, but after he made her swear silence, she did not betray him.

Menelaos also told of the great wooden horse. When the Greeks sat hidden inside it, Helen walked around it, calling to them with the voices of their wives. Several men wanted to answer, but Odysseus held his hand over the mouth of one who almost revealed them all.

The next morning Telemakos told why he had come. Menelaos grew furious at the suitors. "They behave as though a doe had laid her young in a lion's den," he said. "When the lion comes home, he will make short work of them."

Then he told what the sea god Proteus had said to him in Egypt. Menelaos had been stranded on an island without wind. Proteus' daughter had taught him to hide among the seals and hold fast to the old sea god while he changed into lion, serpent, water, and tree. At last Proteus had to speak the truth.

"I saw Odysseus alive," Proteus had said. "He weeps on an island with Kalypso. She keeps him there, and he has no ship."

Telemakos accepted Menelaos' gifts but did not want to stay long. He was anxious about home. On the way back, Athene warned him in a dream that the suitors were plotting to kill him. He should sail past the island where they waited in ambush and go straight to the swineherd Eumaios when he reached Ithaka.

Ithaka was full of unrest while Telemakos was away. The suitors learned that he had sailed, and Antinous grew furious. "Let us wait for him between Ithaka and Samos," he said. "When he comes home, we will kill him."

A servant overheard the plan and told Penelope. When she learned that her son was in danger, she sank down in grief. "First I lost my husband," she said to her women. "Now my only son is at sea, and I did not even know he had gone."

Eurykleia then confessed that she had helped Telemakos, but she tried to comfort Penelope. "Athene can save him, even from death," she said.

Penelope prayed to Athene and at last fell asleep. In her dream a figure that resembled her sister appeared. "Do not grieve so bitterly," the figure said. "A goddess watches over Telemakos."

"But Odysseus?" Penelope asked. "Does he live?"

The dream image did not answer. It vanished quietly through the door, and Penelope woke with a faint comfort in her heart.

Far away on Ogygia, Odysseus sat by the sea. Every day he gazed out over the waves. Kalypso had a beautiful cave with forests, vineyards, springs, and flowery meadows. She offered him immortality, youth, and a life without fear. But Odysseus still longed for Ithaka.

Hermes came to the island with Zeus' message. Kalypso received him but grew angry when she heard what he wanted.

"You gods are always jealous when a goddess loves a mortal man," she said. "I found him alone on a piece of wreckage after Zeus had shattered his ship. I saved him. I wanted to make him immortal. But I cannot fight against Zeus."

She went to Odysseus at the shore. "You may go," she said. "Cut trees and build a raft. I will give you food, water, wine, and a good wind."

Odysseus looked at her with suspicion. "You must be planning something new," he said. "No man can cross such a great sea on a raft."

Kalypso swore by the Styx, the holiest oath of the gods, that she would not harm him. Then Odysseus began his work. He cut twenty trees, shaped them with axe and drill, and built a broad raft with a deck, mast, and sail. For four days he worked, and on the fifth Kalypso let him go.

For seventeen days he sailed. On the eighteenth day he caught sight of the mountains of the island Scheria, where the Phaiakians lived. But Poseidon returned from a feast and saw him on the sea. He struck the water with his trident. The storm answered. Waves shattered the raft, and Odysseus was thrown from the plank he clung to.

He swam for two days and nights. The sea dashed him against cliffs, but the sea nymph Ino gave him a magical veil that kept him afloat. At last he came to the mouth of a river. He crawled up onto the land, covered himself with leaves, and slept deeply.

Athene went to the city of the Phaiakians. There slept the daughter of King Alkinos, Nausikaa. The goddess came to her in a dream as a friend and said: "You should wash your clothes. Soon you will be married, and you and your family will need fine garments."

The next morning Nausikaa asked her father for a wagon and mules. She took her maids, the laundry, food, and oil down to the river. They washed the clothes, spread them to dry on the stones, bathed, and ate. Then they began to play with a ball.

A ball fell into the water, and the girls cried out. The sound woke Odysseus. He was naked, covered with salt and grime, but he broke off a leafy branch to hide himself. When he came out of the woods, most of the girls ran away. Only Nausikaa stood her ground. Athene had given her courage.

Odysseus did not want to frighten her by coming too close. He bowed at a distance. "Are you a goddess?" he asked. "If you are mortal, your parents are happy to have such a daughter. But I am a shipwrecked man. Give me clothes and show me the way to the city."

Nausikaa answered kindly. "Strangers are under Zeus' protection. You girls, give him food and drink. Let him wash himself."

Odysseus bathed in the river and anointed himself with oil. Athene made him taller, stronger, and more handsome. When he returned, Nausikaa looked at him with wonder.

"Perhaps the gods have sent him," she said. "Give him food."

She explained that he should not enter the city with her, because people might gossip. He should wait at Athene's poplar grove outside the city. Then he could find the king's house and ask Queen Arete for help. "If she becomes well-disposed toward you," Nausikaa said, "you may hope to reach your home."

Athene hid Odysseus in mist as he walked through Scheria. She met him as a young girl carrying a water jar and showed him the way to the palace. It was a marvelous place, with bronze walls, golden gates, and watchdogs of gold and silver. In the garden grew pears, apples, figs, pomegranates, and grapes all year round. Two springs ran through it.

Odysseus entered while the leading men of the city were pouring wine offerings to Hermes before the night. He went straight to Queen Arete, laid his hands on her knees, and begged for help to get home. The mist around him vanished, and everyone fell silent in surprise.

King Alkinos let him rise from the ashes by the hearth and eat. "Tomorrow," the king said, "we shall gather the people and make a ship ready. The Phaiakians shall carry you home, even if your land lies far away."

Arete looked at the clothes Odysseus had received from Nausikaa and asked where he came from. He told of Kalypso, the raft, Poseidon's storm, and the meeting with Nausikaa. Alkinos even offered him Nausikaa as a wife if he would stay, but Odysseus only wanted home.

The next day the Phaiakians held athletic games. They ran, wrestled, jumped, and threw the discus. A young man mocked Odysseus because he did not want to compete.

"You look more like a merchant than an athlete," he said.

Odysseus grew angry. He picked up a discus, far heavier than the ones the others had used, and threw it so far that everyone was struck dumb. Athene marked the spot where it landed.

"None of you will come near this throw," she said.

Odysseus offered to compete in boxing, wrestling, javelin, and archery. King Alkinos calmed the mood and asked the men to dance. The blind singer Demodokos sang of gods, heroes, and Troy. When he sang of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles, Odysseus hid his face in his cloak and wept. Alkinos noticed.

Later Odysseus asked Demodokos to sing of the wooden horse. The singer's voice filled the hall, and again the stranger wept. Then Alkinos asked him to tell who he was and why the song of Troy made him so sad.

Odysseus rose. "I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, from Ithaka," he said. "I will tell you why I have not come home until now."

He told how, after the fall of Troy, he had first reached the land of the Kikonians. His men plundered a city but would not leave in time. Kikonians from the interior came with many warriors, and six men from each ship were killed before the Greeks escaped.

Then a storm drove them to the land of the Lotus Eaters. Those who tasted the lotus forgot their home and only wanted to sit and eat more. Odysseus dragged them weeping back to the ships and bound them under the benches before more could taste.

Then they came to the land of the Cyclopes. On a green island near the coast they hunted wild goats. Then Odysseus took twelve men to the mainland to see who lived there. They found an enormous cave filled with cheese, milk, and sheep. The men wanted to steal the food and leave, but Odysseus wanted to meet the owner, hoping for guest gifts.

The owner was Polyfemos, a one-eyed giant. He came home with his sheep, rolled a stone as huge as a mountain before the entrance, and discovered the Greeks by the fire.

"Who are you?" he roared. "Are you merchants or pirates?"

Odysseus said they were Greeks on their way home from Troy and asked for hospitality. Polyfemos laughed.

"Cyclopes do not care about Zeus or any other gods," he said. "We are stronger than them."

Then he seized two of the men, dashed them against the floor, and ate them. Odysseus thought of killing him with his sword while he slept, but realized that none of them could move the stone at the door. The next morning Polyfemos ate two more.

Odysseus made a plan. He cut a great piece from the Cyclops' olive-wood club and had his men sharpen it and hide it in the dung. When the giant returned in the evening and had eaten two more men, Odysseus gave him strong wine.

"What is your name?" Polyfemos asked after three great bowls.

"Nobody," Odysseus answered. "My name is Nobody."

"Then I will eat Nobody last," the Cyclops said with satisfaction. "That will be my gift to you."

When he slept, they heated the stake in the fire. Five men drove the glowing point into his eye and twisted it. Polyfemos screamed so loudly that the mountain shook. The other Cyclopes called from outside:

"Who is hurting you?"

"Nobody is hurting me!" Polyfemos roared.

"If nobody is hurting you, you must be sick," they answered. "Pray to Poseidon." And they went away.

The blinded giant moved the stone and sat in the entrance, so that he could feel the sheep as they went out. But Odysseus tied his men under the bellies of the great rams, three together. He himself hung under the largest ram. Polyfemos stroked the ram's back and wondered why it came out last.

"Are you grieving for your master who has lost his eye?" he said to the animal. "If you could speak, you would tell me where Nobody is hiding."

When they were far enough away, the Greeks ran to the ship with the sheep. But Odysseus made a mistake. He shouted back: "Cyclops! It was not Nobody who blinded you. It was Odysseus of Ithaka!"

Polyfemos raised his hands to the sky. "Father Poseidon," he prayed, "let Odysseus come home late, alone and tormented, after losing all his men. Let him find sorrow in his own house."

Poseidon heard the prayer.

Odysseus continued his story. He told of the wind god Aiolos, who received him kindly. Aiolos gave him a bag containing all the dangerous winds, while a gentle wind was to carry the ships home. After nine days they saw the coast of Ithaka and the smoke of fires on the island. Odysseus fell asleep from exhaustion. His men thought the bag contained gold and silver, opened it, and released the winds. The storm drove them all the way back to Aiolos.

When Aiolos saw them again, he would not help. "The gods hate you," he said. "Go away."

After six hard days they reached the land of the Laistrygonians. Most of the ships sailed into a narrow harbor between cliffs. Odysseus kept his own ship outside. The Laistrygonians were giants. They threw stones at the ships, speared the men like fish, and ate them. All the ships were destroyed, except Odysseus' own, which escaped to open sea.

The last ship reached the island Aiaia, where the enchantress Kirke lived. Odysseus divided his men into two groups. Eurylochos took one group to Kirke's house. Around the house wandered tame lions and wolves. They came to the door and heard a beautiful woman singing at her loom. Kirke invited them in. Only Eurylochos stayed outside, for he sensed danger.

Kirke mixed cheese, honey, meal, and wine with a spell. When the men drank, she struck them with her staff and turned them into pigs. They kept their human minds and remembered everything, but they grunted and were trapped in a pigsty.

Eurylochos ran back and told what he had seen. Odysseus took his sword and bow and went alone to Kirke's house. On the way he met Hermes, who gave him a plant with a black root and a milky white flower.

"This is moly," said Hermes. "Kirke will not be able to enchant you if you have this. When she strikes you with her staff, draw your sword. She will beg for peace, but make her swear first that she will not harm you."

Everything happened as Hermes had said. Kirke gave Odysseus a drink, but it did not work. When she struck him with her staff, he sprang at her with his sword.

"Who are you?" she cried, falling at his knees. "You must be Odysseus. Hermes said you would come one day."

Odysseus forced her to swear. Only then did he agree to be her guest. But he refused to eat until she turned his men back into humans. Kirke opened the pigsty, anointed the men with another salve, and the bristles fell off. They became human again, younger and more handsome than before. When they recognized Odysseus, they wept for joy.

Kirke let them stay with her for a whole year. They ate well and rested, but at last the men begged to go home. Kirke said they must first journey to the land of the dead and ask the blind prophet Teiresias for counsel.

Odysseus was afraid. "How can a ship find its way there?" he asked.

Kirke explained what he must do. He should sail to the farthest edge of the world, sacrifice a black ram and a black ewe, dig a pit, and fill it with honey and milk, wine and water. The dead would come to the blood. He must hold them back with his sword until Teiresias came.

Before they left, a tragedy occurred. Young Elpenor had drunk too much, fallen asleep on the roof, and tumbled off when he woke. He broke his neck. They had to leave his body behind, for they must quickly set out on the dark journey.

By the river that encircles the world, Odysseus did as Kirke had said. The shadows came streaming: young men, old women, warriors in blood-stained armor, brides, and grieving people. The first he saw was Elpenor.

"Do not sail from Aiaia without burying me," Elpenor begged. "Burn my body and my weapons. Raise a grave mound by the sea and plant my oar on top, so that someone may remember me."

Then came Odysseus' mother, Antikleia. He was overcome with grief to see her among the dead, but he would not let her drink until Teiresias had come.

At last the blind prophet came with his golden staff. He drank the blood and said: "Poseidon will make your journey home hard. But you can reach Ithaka if you and your men leave the sun god's cattle alone on the island Thrinakia. If you harm them, your ship and all your men will be destroyed. You yourself will come home alone and late, and your house will be full of wicked men.

You will kill them. Later you must go far inland carrying an oar on your shoulder, until you find a man who thinks the oar is a winnowing fan for grain. There you shall plant the oar in the earth and sacrifice to Poseidon. Then death will come to you gently in your old age."

Odysseus let his mother drink. She recognized him and wept. She told him that Penelope still waited and grieved, that Telemakos was growing up and holding the house together, and that Laertes lived alone in the countryside. She herself had died of longing for her son.

Three times Odysseus tried to embrace her, but she slipped through his arms like smoke. "Such is the way of the dead," she said. "Flesh and bone are gone. Only the soul flutters about like a dream."

Odysseus saw many famous shadows. Agamemnon told how Aigisthos and Klytaimnestra had murdered him at a banquet. "Do not trust too easily," he warned. "But Penelope is wise and faithful."

Achilles said he would rather be a poor laborer among the living than king among the dead. But when Odysseus told him of his brave son Neoptolemos, Achilles brightened and walked away proudly over the asphodel meadow.

Odysseus also saw Tantalos, standing in water that he could not drink, and Sisyphos, forever pushing a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll down again. At last, frightened by all the shadows, he sailed back to Aiaia.

There he buried Elpenor as he had promised. Kirke returned and told him of the dangers ahead. First they would meet the Sirens, who sang so beautifully that sailors forgot everything and sailed toward death. The men must plug their ears with wax. Odysseus could hear the song, but he must be bound to the mast. No matter how much he begged, they must bind him tighter.

Then they must pass through a narrow strait. On one side lived Skylla, a monster with six long necks and six mouths full of teeth. On the other side was the whirlpool Kharybdis, which three times a day sucked the sea down into the deep and threw it up again. "Sail close to Skylla," Kirke said. "You will lose six men, but otherwise you will lose your whole ship."

Finally they would reach Thrinakia. There grazed the sun god's sacred cattle. "Do not touch them," Kirke said. "That is the most important thing of all."

Odysseus told his men about the Sirens and had them bind him to the mast. As they neared the island, the sea grew calm. The Sirens sang:

"Come here, famous Odysseus. Hear our song. We know everything that happened at Troy and everything that happens on earth."

Odysseus wanted so much to hear more that he frowned and begged his men to release him. But they bound him tighter, as he had commanded. Only when the Sirens were far behind did they take the wax from their ears and free him.

Then they came to Skylla and Kharybdis. Odysseus said nothing about Skylla, because he feared the men would stop rowing. When Kharybdis roared and sucked the water down, everyone was seized with panic. At that same moment Skylla struck from the cliff and took six of Odysseus' best men. He saw them high in the air, kicking and calling his name, before the monster devoured them in her den.

At last they reached Thrinakia. Odysseus heard the cattle bellowing and remembered Teiresias and Kirke. "We must sail past," he said.

But Eurylochos protested. "You are made of iron," he said. "We are exhausted. Let us go ashore, eat, and sleep. We will leave tomorrow."

Odysseus forced them to swear they would not touch the cattle. A storm kept them on the island for a whole month. When the food ran out, the men caught birds and fish. One day Odysseus went apart to pray to the gods and fell asleep. Eurylochos persuaded the others.

"It is better to die quickly at sea than to starve to death," he said. "Let us sacrifice the best of the cattle. If we reach home, we can build a great temple to the sun god."

They slaughtered the cattle. When Odysseus returned, he smelled roasted meat and knew what had happened. The sun god demanded vengeance from Zeus. "If they do not pay for my cattle," he said, "I will shine among the dead instead of in the sky."

Zeus promised to shatter the ship.

For six days the men feasted on the sacred meat. On the seventh day the storm died down. They sailed out, but Zeus sent a lightning bolt. The mast snapped and killed the helmsman. The ship caught fire, broke apart, and sank. All the men fell into the sea and drowned.

Odysseus bound the mast and keel together and clung to them. For nine days he drifted on the sea. On the tenth day he was sucked back toward Kharybdis. He grabbed the branch of a fig tree over the whirlpool and hung there like a bat until the wreckage came up again. He dropped down, grabbed his raft, and drifted on. At last he reached Kalypso's island.

When Odysseus had finished his story, the Phaiakians sent him home. They loaded a ship with gold, bronze, clothing, and gifts. Odysseus slept heavily throughout the voyage. At dawn the ship put in at a safe harbor on Ithaka, by an olive tree and a cave sacred to the nymphs. The Phaiakians carried him sleeping ashore and laid the gifts by the tree.

Poseidon saw that they had helped him and grew angry. On the way back he turned their ship to stone just off Scheria. The Phaiakians were afraid, for an old prophecy had said this would happen.

When Odysseus woke on Ithaka, he did not recognize the land. Athene had wrapped everything in mist. He feared the Phaiakians had tricked him. Athene came to him as a young shepherd and let him first tell a made-up story about being a fugitive from Crete. Then she laughed.

"No mortal can surpass you in cunning," she said, and showed herself in her true form. "You are on Ithaka. But do not go home yet. The suitors are dangerous. I will make you unrecognizable. Go to Eumaios, the faithful swineherd. I will bring Telemakos home from Sparta."

She made Odysseus old, bent, and ragged. His skin grew wrinkled, his hair gray, his eyes dim. He took a staff and a beggar's bag and walked up toward the pig farm.

Eumaios had built good sties for the pigs with his own hands, even though the suitors kept taking the best animals. When the guard dogs saw the stranger, they sprang forward to tear him apart. Odysseus sat down quickly and dropped his staff. Eumaios rushed out, drove the dogs away with stones, and invited the old man in.

"You almost made me lose a guest," he said. "I already have enough sorrow. My good master Odysseus is gone. I tend pigs that other men eat. But come in, get some food, and tell me about yourself."

He laid skins and straw on the floor, roasted young pigs, and divided the food fairly. He told the stranger how much he missed Odysseus.

"He was good to me," Eumaios said. "He would have given me a house, land, and a wife if he had grown old at home. Now people think he is dead. The suitors fear neither gods nor shame."

Odysseus said that his master would soon come home. Eumaios shook his head. "Many beggars come with lies to get a cloak or a meal. I no longer believe them."

Odysseus told a long lying story about Crete, Egypt, Phoenicians, and a meeting with a king who claimed Odysseus was alive. Eumaios listened politely but said: "I do not feed you because I believe your story. I feed you because strangers are under Zeus' protection."

That evening Odysseus tested Eumaios' goodness. He told of an icy night at Troy when the clever Odysseus had gotten him a cloak by pretending to dream of reinforcements. Eumaios understood the hint and gave his guest his own warm cloak. Odysseus slept by the fire, while Eumaios slept outside with the pigs to guard them.

Telemachos reached Ithaka without being caught by the suitors' ship. He brought with him a seer named Theoklymenos and went straight to Eumaios. The dogs wagged their tails when they heard him coming. Eumaios sprang up, kissed Telemachos on the head, and wept for joy.

"You have come home, light of my eyes," he said. "I never thought I would see you again."

Telemachos sat down beside the old beggar. He asked Eumaios to go to Penelope in secret and tell her he was home. When Eumaios had gone, Athene came to Odysseus. She made him young and proud again, with dark hair and broad shoulders.

Telemachos stared at him. "You must be a god," he said.

"I am no god," Odysseus answered. "I am your father."

Telemachos did not believe him at first. "A god must be deceiving me," he said. "No man can become old and young like that."

"Athene does with me what she wishes," said Odysseus. "But there is no other Odysseus. I have come home after twenty years."

Then Telemachos threw himself into his father's arms. Both wept aloud, like birds of prey that have lost their young. Afterwards they made their plan. Telemachos told him the suitors were many: fifty-two from Doulichion, twenty-four from Same, twenty from Zakynthos, and twelve from Ithaka itself, besides servants and the singer.

"We are only two," he said.

"We are not only two," Odysseus answered. "Athene and Zeus stand with us."

They decided that Telemachos should go home the next morning and act as if nothing had happened. Odysseus would come later as a beggar. When the time came, Telemachos should remove all the weapons from the hall. If the suitors asked, he should say that smoke had damaged them and that weapons could lead to trouble when men drink. Only two swords, two spears, and two shields should remain for Odysseus and Telemachos. No one, not even Penelope, must know the truth yet.

When Eumaios returned, Athene had again made Odysseus the old beggar.

The next morning Telemachos went to the city. Penelope saw him coming and ran to him weeping. She kissed his face and asked about his journey. He told her of Nestor, Menelaos, and Proteus' words that Odysseus was alive with Kalypso. Theoklymenos said: "Odysseus is already on Ithaka. He is planning punishment for the suitors."

Meanwhile Odysseus and Eumaios walked toward the city. At a spring they met the goatherd Melanthios, who served the suitors. He mocked Eumaios and kicked Odysseus in the hip.

"Look at you two," he said. "A swineherd and a beggar. This old one could maybe get work shoveling dung."

Odysseus wanted to strike him down, but he kept his anger inside. Eumaios prayed to the nymphs that Odysseus would come home and stop such men.

At the entrance to the house lay an old dog on a dung heap. It was covered with fleas, thin and weak. It was Argos, the dog Odysseus himself had trained before he left for Troy. When the dog saw his master, he lifted his head, wagged his tail weakly, and laid his ears back. He could not walk over to him.

Odysseus turned his face away and wiped a tear so Eumaios would not see it. "What a fine dog he must have been," he said.

"He was the best hunting dog," Eumaios answered. "But now his master is gone, and no one cares for him."

Argos died then, having seen Odysseus one last time.

Inside the hall, Odysseus sat at the threshold and begged. Telemachos gave him bread and meat. Most of the suitors gave him small gifts, but Antinous refused.

"Give me something," said Odysseus. "I too was rich once. I know that those who have much should help those who have nothing."

Antinous seized a footstool and threw it hard at him. It struck Odysseus on the shoulder. Odysseus stood firm as a rock.

"You suitors," he said, "a man can bear blows when he fights for his sheep or his property. But Antinous struck me because my belly is empty. If the poor have avenging gods, I hope Antinous dies before he can marry."

Telemachos had to hide his own anger. He looked at his father but said nothing. Penelope heard about the blow and was furious. She asked Eumaios to bring the beggar after sunset, so that she could question him about Odysseus.

Later the beggar Irus arrived. He was big but lazy and greedy, and he wanted the begging spot at the door for himself. "Get out of here," he said to Odysseus. "Or I will drag you out."

The suitors were delighted at the prospect of a fight. Antinous promised the winner a large blood sausage and free access to their meals. Odysseus pretended to be afraid, but he made them swear that no one would help Irus.

When he rolled up his rags, the suitors saw that the old man had strong arms and thighs. Athene gave him even more strength. Irus turned pale but had to fight. He struck Odysseus on the shoulder. Odysseus hit him under the ear. Irus fell with blood pouring from his mouth, and the suitors laughed as Odysseus dragged him out to the gate.

Amphinomos, one of the more decent suitors, gave Odysseus bread and wine. Odysseus warned him.

"You seem wise," he said. "But no man should think he is always safe. I have seen wealth and power disappear. Go home before Odysseus comes, for when he is here, blood will flow."

Amphinomos grew dark in the face, but he did not leave. Athene had decided that he too would fall.

Penelope came down among the suitors, more beautiful than ever because Athene had given her radiance. She said that suitors usually gave gifts to the woman they wished to marry, instead of eating her property. The suitors hurried to fetch expensive jewelry, clothes, and gold. Odysseus secretly rejoiced at Penelope's cleverness.

At night one of Penelope's maids, Melantho, mocked him. She had been raised by Penelope but was now friendly with Eurymachos and laughed at the beggar.

"Go sleep in the smithy," she said. "You talk too much."

Odysseus answered: "Be careful. I was rich once. Zeus took everything from me. He can also take away what you are proud of."

Eurymachos also mocked him, but Odysseus answered that he would beat any of them in work or combat if they met as equals. Eurymachos threw a stool at him but missed and hit a servant. Telemachos said sternly that the feast must end. The suitors finally went home.

After they had gone, Odysseus and Telemachos began to remove the weapons from the walls. Eurykleia locked the women inside. Athene walked before father and son with a golden lamp, and the whole hall glowed as if with fire.

"Father," Telemachos whispered, "I see a wonder. The roof and walls are shining."

"Quiet," said Odysseus. "Do not ask. That is how the gods act."

Penelope came down to meet the beggar. She told him about her weaving and how she had kept the suitors away for three years. Then she asked where he came from. Odysseus again told a carefully crafted lie about being a Cretan man who had hosted Odysseus before the Trojan War.

Penelope tested him. "Tell me how my husband was dressed."

Odysseus described the purple cloak, the golden brooch with a dog and a fawn, and the fine tunic. He also described Odysseus' servant Eurybates. Penelope wept, for she knew the description was true.

Odysseus told her he had heard that Odysseus was near Ithaka. He swore that he would come within the month. Penelope wanted to believe him but answered quietly: "I do not think my husband will come home. But you shall have food, clothes, and a safe place to sleep."

She asked Eurykleia to wash the stranger's feet. Odysseus tried to stay in the shadows, but the old nurse recognized the scar on his leg at once, a scar from a boar hunt in his youth. She gasped and wanted to cry out to Penelope, but Odysseus clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Say nothing," he whispered. "If you love me, keep the secret."

Eurykleia nodded with tears in her eyes.

Penelope told the beggar about a dream. She had twenty geese feeding by the house. A great eagle came and killed them all, but told her in the dream: "I am your husband, and the geese are the suitors."

Odysseus answered: "The dream means what it says. Odysseus will come and kill the suitors."

Penelope said that the next day she would set out Odysseus' bow and twelve axes. Whoever could string the bow and shoot an arrow through the holes in all the axe heads would be the man she would marry.

Odysseus slept in the hall. He lay awake and heard the maids slipping out to the suitors. His heart growled with anger, but he told himself: "Endure. You endured when the Cyclops ate your comrades. Endure a little longer."

Athene came and promised him help. Penelope woke and prayed to Artemis to let her die rather than marry another man. Odysseus heard her weeping and prayed to Zeus for a sign. Zeus thundered from a clear sky. At the same moment, a weary woman at the mill said: "Let this be the last day the suitors feast in Odysseus' house." Odysseus rejoiced at the signs.

The next day Eumaios brought pigs to the feast. Another faithful servant, the cowherd Philoitios, came with a heifer and goats. He looked at the beggar and said he reminded him of Odysseus.

"If my master came home," said Philoitios, "I would fight for him."

Odysseus answered quietly: "He will come home before you leave this place."

The suitors mocked Telemachos and the beggar. A man named Ktesippos threw an ox foot at Odysseus, but he ducked his head and let it hit the wall. Telemachos rose.

"If you had hit the guest," he said, "I would have killed you with my spear. I am no longer a child. Let no one here strike or mock him anymore."

Then the suitors laughed in a strange, forced way. Theoklymenos looked at them and grew pale. "Darkness covers you," he said. "Blood drips from the walls and ceiling. I see shadows moving toward the land of the dead."

They laughed at him and drove him out. But he answered: "I go of my own accord. You cannot escape what is coming."

Penelope fetched the key to the treasure chamber. There hung Odysseus' great bow, a gift from his friend Iphitos. She took it down with trembling hands, sat down, and wept. Then she went down to the hall with the bow and the quiver. The maids carried the axes.

"Suitors," she said, "you say you wish to marry me. Here is Odysseus' bow. Whoever strings it most easily and shoots through all twelve axe heads, I will follow as my husband."

Eumaios began to weep as he carried the bow forward. Philoitios wept too. Antinous scolded them.

"Why are you crying?" he said. "This is just a bow."

Telemachos set up the axes in a row, with the holes in perfect alignment. He tried first himself. Three times he pulled at the bowstring, and three times he could not string it. On the fourth try he nearly did, but Odysseus gave him a sign. Telemachos set the bow down.

"I am perhaps too young," he said. "Try it, the rest of you."

Leiodes, the priest among the suitors, took the bow. He was the one who often disapproved of the others' wickedness. But his hands went weak, and he could not do it. "This bow will bring many men to their deaths," he said. "Better to give up than to live on after such a defeat."

Antinous grew angry and had them warm the bow by the fire and grease it with fat. No one succeeded. Eurymachos tried for a long time, but the bow would not bend. He was dismayed, not only because he might lose Penelope, but because he could not bear being weaker than Odysseus.

Antinous said it was Apollo's holy day and that they should wait until tomorrow. Then Odysseus, still as the beggar, said: "Let me try the bow. I want to see if my arms have any strength left."

The suitors shouted in anger. Antinous called him a drunken beggar and threatened to send him to the cruel king Echetos. But Penelope said: "If he manages to string the bow, he cannot think he will marry me. Just give him the bow. If he succeeds, I will give him a cloak, a tunic, sandals, a sword, and let him travel wherever he wishes."

Telemachos said: "This bow belongs to my house. No one will stop me from giving it to whomever I wish. Mother, go up to your room. The bow is a matter for men, and especially for me."

Penelope went up. Eumaios took the bow to give it to Odysseus, but the suitors shouted at him to put it down. Telemachos shouted louder: "Carry the bow to the guest, Eumaios. I am master here."

Eumaios gave the bow to Odysseus. Philoitios and Eumaios went out with him, and Odysseus said: "If Odysseus came home now, whose side would you take? His, or the suitors'?"

Both answered that they would fight for their master. Then Odysseus showed them the scar on his thigh.

"I am Odysseus," he said. "If the gods grant me victory, you shall have houses, land, and wives. You shall be like brothers to Telemachos."

They wept and embraced him. He gave them quick orders. Eumaios was to lock the women inside. Philoitios was to lock the gate of the courtyard. No one must be allowed out.

Odysseus went back inside. He examined the bow carefully, like a singer examining the strings of his lyre. Then he strung it easily. The string sang out clear as a swallow. The suitors turned pale. Zeus thundered.

Odysseus took an arrow, set it on the string, and shot. The arrow flew through all twelve axe heads. He looked at Telemachos.

"Your guest has not disgraced you," he said. "Now it is time for another kind of feast."

Telemachos seized his sword and spear and stood beside his father.

Odysseus tore off his beggar's rags, sprang onto the broad floor with the bow in his hand, and let the arrows fall at his feet. Antinous sat holding a golden cup, about to drink. He had no idea death was so near.

Odysseus shot him in the throat. The arrow went through, the cup fell, and blood streamed. Antinous kicked the table over as he died.

The suitors sprang up in panic. They looked for weapons, but the walls were bare.

"You will die for this!" they shouted. "Antinous was the foremost man in Ithaka."

Odysseus stood straight and answered: "Dogs! Did you think I would never come home? You have eaten my property, forced my maids, and tried to marry my wife while I lived. You feared neither gods nor men. Now there is no escape."

Eurymachos tried to save himself. "Antinous was guilty," he said. "It was he who wanted to kill Telemachos and rule Ithaka. Spare us, and we will pay back everything with gold, bronze, and cattle."

"Even if you gave me all you own," Odysseus answered, "I would not stop until you have paid for everything."

Eurymachos drew his sword and charged. Odysseus shot him through the chest. He fell over the table and died. Amphinomos attacked too, but Telemachos struck him from behind with his spear.

"Bring weapons," Odysseus said to his son. "I am almost out of arrows."

Telemachos brought shields, spears, and helmets for himself, Eumaios, and Philoitios. The four stood together at the entrance. But Melanthios had discovered the way to the weapons store and smuggled out shields and spears for the suitors. When Odysseus saw them arming themselves, he understood that someone was helping them.

Eumaios and Philoitios caught Melanthios in the store room. They bound his hands and feet behind his back, tied a rope around his body, and hoisted him up to the rafters. "There you can wait," said Eumaios. "Tomorrow you will not be driving goats to the suitors' feast."

Athene came to the hall in the shape of Mentor. The suitors mocked her and said they would kill her too. Athene grew furious, but she still wanted to test Odysseus and his son. She perched high up like a swallow.

The suitors threw their spears. Athene made them miss. Odysseus and his three companions threw back. More suitors fell. Leiodes, the priest, ran forward and threw himself at Odysseus' knees.

"I never encouraged their evil deeds," he begged. "Spare me."

Odysseus answered: "If you were their priest, you must have prayed that I would never come home." He struck him down.

The singer Phemios begged for mercy. He explained that he had sung because the suitors forced him. Telemachos said: "He is innocent, father." Odysseus spared the singer. He also spared the servant Medon, who had warned Penelope about the plot against Telemachos.

When all the suitors were dead, Odysseus ordered Eurykleia to bring the women who had helped them and shared their beds. The old woman rejoiced to see the suitors lying dead, but Odysseus stopped her.

"Do not rejoice over dead men," he said. "The gods' judgment fell upon them."

The guilty maids had to wash the blood from the hall and clear away the bodies. Then they were punished. Odysseus also had Melanthios punished for his treachery. Then they burned sulfur in the house to purify it.

Eurykleia ran up to Penelope. "Wake up," she cried. "Odysseus is home! He has killed the suitors."

Penelope did not believe her. "Have you gone mad, old mother?" she asked. "A god must have punished the suitors, but Odysseus is dead far away."

"I recognized his scar when I washed his feet," Eurykleia said. "He is down by the hearth."

Penelope went down slowly. She was afraid to hope. In the hall Odysseus sat by the fire, washed but still plainly dressed. Telemachos grew impatient.

"Mother," he said, "why do you stand so far away? After twenty years, father has come home."

Penelope answered: "I am so amazed that I do not know what to say. If he is Odysseus, there are signs that only he and I know."

Odysseus smiled. "Let her test me," he said to Telemachos. "She will believe me when she is ready."

To hide the events from the city, Odysseus had the singer play wedding music and the women dance. Outside, people thought Penelope had finally married one of the suitors.

Athene made Odysseus beautiful and strong again. Penelope looked at him, but her doubt ran deep. Then she said to Eurykleia: "Move his bed out of our bedchamber and make it up there."

Odysseus grew angry at once. "Who has moved my bed?" he said. "No mortal man can easily move it. I built the room around a living olive tree. I trimmed the trunk into a bedpost, built the bed around it, and decorated it with gold, silver, and ivory. It stands rooted in the earth. Has someone cut down the olive tree?"

Then Penelope's last doubt broke. She ran to him, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "Forgive me," she wept. "I was afraid someone would deceive me. But now I know you are my husband."

Odysseus wept too. Finding her again was like reaching land after struggling against the sea all night.

They talked long in their room. Penelope told of the years of suitors, the weaving, and her grief. Odysseus told her his whole journey: the Cyclops, Kirke, the land of the dead, the Sirens, Skylla, Kharybdis, the sun god's cattle, Kalypso, and the Phaiakians. At last they fell asleep together in the bed built around the olive tree.

In the morning Odysseus said he must visit Laertes at the farm. He took Telemachos, Eumaios, and Philoitios with him. Penelope was to stay inside and not ask for news, for soon all Ithaka would know the suitors were dead.

At Laertes' farm, Odysseus found his father alone in the vineyard. Laertes was old, dressed in patched clothes, and bent with grief. Odysseus tested him first by pretending to be a stranger who had met Odysseus. When Laertes began to weep over his lost son, Odysseus could not hold back any longer.

"Father," he said, embracing him, "I am Odysseus. I am home."

Laertes asked for a sign. Odysseus showed his scar and reminded him of the trees in the orchard. "You gave me thirteen pear trees, ten apple trees, and forty fig trees," he said. "You promised me fifty rows of vines."

Then Laertes' strength gave way. He fell into his son's arms, but soon he found new courage. Athene gave him strength and made him taller and prouder in appearance. At the house they ate together with Dolius, the old servant, and his sons.

In the city the rumor spread quickly. Fathers and brothers of the dead suitors gathered. Eupeithes, Antinous' father, shouted that they must avenge their sons before Odysseus could escape.

But Medon, who had been in the house, said: "I saw a god standing beside Odysseus. This did not happen without the gods' will." Halitherses also warned them. "You were warned before," he said. "Your sons did wrong. If you attack now, you will bring ruin upon yourselves."

Many went home, but the rest took up their weapons and followed Eupeithes toward Laertes' farm.

On Olympos, Athene asked Zeus what should happen. "Shall they keep fighting?"

"You yourself wished Odysseus to come home and take revenge," Zeus answered. "Now there shall be peace. Let Ithaka forget the dead and accept Odysseus as king."

As the avenging men approached the farm, Odysseus, Telemachos, Laertes, Eumaios, Philoitios, and Dolius' sons armed themselves. Athene came again as Mentor. Laertes prayed to Zeus and Athene, threw his spear, and struck Eupeithes through his helmet. Antinous' father fell dead.

Odysseus and Telemachos sprang forward to attack, but Athene shouted in a voice that made everyone stop:

"Men of Ithaka, stop this terrible war. Shed no more blood."

Fear seized them. The weapons fell from their hands, and they fled toward the city. Odysseus charged after them with a cry like an eagle diving at its prey. Then Zeus sent a lightning bolt that struck the ground before Athene.

"Odysseus," she said, "stop. Or Zeus will be angry."

Odysseus obeyed. Athene made the people of Ithaka and Odysseus swear peace. They were to forget revenge, and he was to rule justly over his land. And so the fighting ended, and peace came back to Ithaka at last.