Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von The Odyssey
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love myth, travel and clever heroes, and anyone drawn to the foundation story of Western adventure. Gods, monsters and a family holding on at home give this journey its stakes.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Odyssey is a Greek epic poem in twenty-four books, credited to Homer. It took shape around the eighth or seventh century BC, in a tradition of singers who performed long stories from memory, and it was later written down. It tells of Odysseus, king of the island of Ithaca, who fought for ten years at Troy and then spends another ten years trying to get home.
While he is gone, his wife Penelope and his young son Telemachus hold on in a house crowded with men who want her hand and his wealth. Along the way the poem gives you a one-eyed giant, a sorceress who turns men into pigs, singing women on a rock, a trip to the land of the dead, and a hero who survives mostly by thinking faster than everyone else. Gods take sides in his fate, and one of them hates him.
The poem is also a quiet study of what a long absence costs, and of what it means to have a home and a name. In this summary you will follow the story in order, up to the edge of the ending, and then look at what the poem is about and how it is built. We begin not with the wanderer but with the house he left, where he is missing and yet in everyone's thoughts.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A House Full of Unwelcome GuestsFree
- 2A Son Goes Looking for News
- 3The Hero Appears, in Tears
- 4The Cyclops and the Name of Nobody
- 5Winds, Giants, and a Sorceress
- 6The Dead, the Sirens, and the Cattle of the Sun
- 7Home at Last, but Not Yet Himself
- 8What the Poem Says About Home and Welcome
- 9How the Story Is Told
Punkt 1 von 9
A House Full of Unwelcome Guests
The poem opens in the tenth year after Troy, and Odysseus is not on the stage. He is held on a faraway island, while the gods meet on Mount Olympus. Athena, who loves him for his wit, argues that his suffering has gone on long enough. Zeus agrees, because the only god still angry is Poseidon, and Poseidon is away visiting the Ethiopians.
Then the poem turns to Ithaca. In the palace of Odysseus, more than a hundred young nobles from the island and its neighbors have moved in. They feast on his cattle, drink his wine and sleep with his maidservants. They all want to marry his wife Penelope, and so become king by marriage. They treat the house as their own.
Penelope is the center of the trouble. She fears her husband is dead, yet she cannot bring herself to give up hope. She has found ways to delay the suitors, and the best known is the weaving of a burial shroud for Odysseus's old father Laertes. She tells the men she will choose a husband when it is finished. By day she weaves, and by night she secretly unpicks the work.
Telemachus is about twenty and does not yet know how to be a man in this house. He sits among the suitors, helpless and angry, imagining his father coming back through the door. Athena visits him in the shape of a family friend named Mentes. She urges him to call an assembly, to speak out against the suitors, and to sail in search of news about his father.
The assembly is the first public test of the young man. He speaks well, but the suitors laugh at him, and their leaders Antinous and Eurymachus refuse to leave. Still, he now has a plan and a goal. In the dark, with Athena beside him in disguise, he slips out to sea. Already the poem has said something about itself, that a home can be lost even while its walls stand.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Who’s who
- Odysseus
- King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus, he struggles to return from Troy.
- Penelope
- Odysseus's resourceful wife waits in Ithaca, resisting suitors who seek her hand and her husband's wealth.
- Telemachus
- The young son of Odysseus and Penelope seeks news of his father while confronting unwelcome suitors.
- Athena
- Goddess of wisdom and Odysseus's divine protector, she supports both him and his son Telemachus.
- Poseidon
- God of the sea and father of the Cyclops, he opposes Odysseus and obstructs his voyage.
- Calypso
- A nymph who loves Odysseus, she keeps him on Ogygia and offers him life without death.
- Circe
- A sorceress living on Aeaea, she threatens Odysseus's companions with her power to turn men into animals.
- Eumaeus
- Odysseus's loyal swineherd remains devoted to his absent master and offers hospitality at his humble hut.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 131,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 45 min
- Listening time14 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about The Odyssey
What is the Odyssey about?
It follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he struggles to get home after the Trojan War. It also follows his wife Penelope and son Telemachus, who defend his house against men who want his wife and his wealth.
Who wrote the Odyssey and when?
Tradition credits Homer, and scholars place the poem around the eighth or seventh century BC. It grew from a long oral tradition of singers, and many details of the poet's life are not known.
Is the Odyssey a true story?
No. It is a poem based on myth and legend, with gods and monsters. It draws on stories about the Trojan War, which later Greeks treated as part of their past, but it is not a record of real events.
Do I need to read the Iliad before the Odyssey?
No. The Odyssey stands alone, and its characters refer to the Trojan War as a past event. Knowing the Iliad adds background, but a reader can enjoy the Odyssey with no earlier preparation.
Is the Odyssey hard to read?
A modern prose or verse translation is quite readable. The story is clear and moves among adventures that are easy to follow.