SETTING OF ODDYSSEY CHAPTER 21

Years after the end of the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus still hasn't come home to Ithaka, and many believe him to be dead. In fact, as Homer immediately lets us know, Odysseus is being held captive (for the purposes of sex, believe it or not) on the island of the goddess Kalypso. To make matters worse, Poseidon, the god of the sea, is ticked off at Odysseus, and sees no reason to let him get home.

Back in Ithaka, Odysseus's wife Penelope is getting swarmed by a horde of unwanted suitors. Odysseus and Penelope's son, Telemachos, now a teenager, gets visited by the goddess Athene (who was always chummy with Odysseus). She tells him to go in search of news of his missing father. He takes her advice, first traveling to Pylos to visit King Nestor. Nestor takes him in, feeds him well - and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Once again, he does as he's told.

In Sparta, Telemachos learns from Menelaos that Odysseus is alive and…well, being held captive on Kalypso's island. Menelaos also tells Telemachos about how his brother, King Agamemnon, was killed upon his return home from Troy by his unfaithful wife, Klytaimestra, and her lover, Aigisthos. Agamemnon was avenged by his son Orestes, who killed the murderers in return for their treachery. This isn't important to the plotline as much as it is a thematic point - it raises the question of whether Odysseus will be killed when he gets home, and, if so, whether Telemachos will step up to avenge his father's death. Meanwhile, back in Ithaka, Penelope's suitors plot to ambush and kill Telemachos when he returns home. Oh, the tension!

Up on Mount Olympos, where the gods all hang out, the goddess Athene asks her father, Zeus, the King of the gods, to have mercy on Odysseus and force Kalpyso to release him. Zeus says, "Whatever," and in no time, Odysseus sails off on a makeshift raft. Unfortunately, Poseidon whips up some storms, and instead of getting home, Odysseus washes ashore in the land of the Phaiakians. Fortunately, Athene makes the resident princess, Nausikaa, develop a crush on him. Nausikaa takes him home to meet her parents, the King and Queen of Phaiakia. In return for their hospitality, Odysseus tells them everything that's happened to him since the end of the Trojan War:

Odysseus left Troy with a ship of his Ithakan men. At their first stop, they plundered the locals' stuff. Several storm-tossed days later, they landed on the island of the Lotus-eaters. A few guys ate the lotus flower and forgot their homes and families, and had to be taken back to the ship by force.

Next, Odysseus and his men came to the land of the Cyclopses - giant one-eyed monsters. Odysseus and his men stumbled into a cave, which, unfortunately, belonged to one of these man-eating creatures. The Cyclops sealed the entrance to the cave with a huge boulder and ate a few of the Ithakans. Odysseus kept his cool, though, and told the monster his name was "Nobody." Then he got the Cyclops drunk on wine and stabbed it in the eye with a sharpened log. When the creature - whose name turns out to be Polyphemos - cried out that "Nobody is killing me," the other Cyclopses were like, "Then pipe down, already!" Odysseus is one clever dude.

Next, Odysseus tied his men under the bellies of Polyphemos's flock of sheep. The next morning, when the blinded monster opened the cave to let them out to pasture, he only touched the tops of the sheep to make sure nobody was riding them - and was duped again. The actual "Nobody" made his escape last, clinging to a ram. (Here's a picture of his escape.) The problem is, as Odysseus was sailing away with his men, his ego got the better of him. He taunted the Cyclops, telling him his real name. This was a dumb idea because Polyphemos was the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. He prayed to his father to make Odysseus suffer. And suffer. And lose all his men. And maybe die too. This is why Poseidon hates our hero so much.

Next, Odysseus and his men came to the island of Aiolos, god of the wind. He helped Odysseus out by putting all the winds - except for the west-bound breeze they needed - into a nice little bag. Unfortunately, Odysseus didn't tell his men what's in the bag. On the way home, they opened it up, thinking it was full of treasure. Big mistake. All the winds jumped out and ran riot, thus driving them to the island of Circe, a sorceress. She turned many of the men into pigs. With the help of the gods, Odysseus got his men turned back into humans and had sex with Circe. For a year. Then one of his men said, "Can we get going already?" and Odysseus said, "OK." But then Circe instructed them that they had to go the Underworld and get advice from the prophet Teiresias. So off they went.

Teiresias prophesied that Odysseus would make it home, but not without difficulty. Odysseus spoke to several other famous dead people (like his war buddies Achilleus and Agamemnon). He also met the ghost of his mother, Antikleia, who had died of grief over her son's prolonged absence. Then, after a quick pit stop back at Circe's island, where they got some more directions, Odysseus and his men sailed on.

Soon, they passed by the Sirens, monstrous women with beautiful voices who try to lure sailors to their deaths. Odysseus made his men plug their ears and tie him to the mast so he could listen to the song without chasing after it. In this way, he became the only man to hear the Sirens' song and survive.

Next they met two horrible monsters, also female, named Skylla and Charybdis. As predicted by Circe, Skylla (who has six heads) ate six Ithakans; the rest barely escaped Charybdis (a giant vortex who sucks up the sea and vomits it back out again). After that they landed on the island of Helios, the sun god, where his very special cattle were kept. Despite having been warned by Teiresias and Circe not to eat the cattle, Odysseus's men couldn't control their hunger. Bad call. Not long afterward, everyone died in a storm - except for Odysseus. He wound up on Kalypso's island, where he was held prisoner for seven years.

So, that's it for Odysseus's story to the Phaiakians. They are so moved by his suffering that they load him up with treasure and ferry him back to Ithaka. (Unfortunately, in return for their trouble, the god Poseidon turns them and their ship into stone.) Once Odysseus gets home, Athene disguises him as a beggar so he can scope out the situation. Odysseus then recruits the assistance of the swineherd, Eumaios, who puts him up for the night while Athene flies to Sparta to retrieve Telemachos. When Telemachos gets back, Odysseus reveals himself to his son. Then Odysseus heads to the palace, still disguised as a beggar. Without revealing his true identity, he talks to Penelope and tries to convince her that Odysseus is on his way home. She doesn't believe him. Odysseus uses this opportunity to see which of his servants are still loyal to the household and which have joined the suitors.

At a certain point, Penelope, tired of waiting around, offers the suitors a test: she sets up a contest of physical prowess and declares that she will marry the winner. The deal is, all the men have to try to string Odysseus's old bow and shoot it through the heads of twelve axes. Many suitors try and fail - until the beggar (Odysseus in disguise) asks for a chance to try. He succeeds, drops the disguise, and, with the help of Telemachos, several loyal servants, and Athene's protection, kills all the suitors in a massive and bloody slaughter. Then Odysseus reunites with his wife, and everything seems hunky-dory - except for the detail that he's just killed all the young noblemen of Ithaka and their parents are furious.

The next morning, Odysseus leaves the palace, reunites with his father Laertes, and lays low while the angry moms and dads start looking for vengeance. Just when it looks like more violence is on the way, Athene appears and tells everyone to just quit it already: let's all settle down and get along. This sounds like a good idea to everyone, and peace is restored in Ithaka.

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