Why does Odysseus visits the underworld?

Answer 1

In Homers Odyssey, the protagonist Odysseus is captured by the nymph Calypso on his way home from the battle of Troy. For seven years he is unable to leave the island, before Athene makes Zeus intervene by the hand of Hermes. Calypso frees Odysseus and by different circumstances he ends up in the company of Circe, daughter of Helios. Odysseus asks her how he can return home. Circe cannot give him the answer, but suggests that he seeks the advice of a prophet called Tiresias. Tiresias is dead, but Circe provides Odysseus with instructions on how to cross the river Styx, and enter Hades, the underworld. And that is the reason why Odysseus visited the underworld.