The Oath of Tyndareus

When Helen was to be married, many SUITORS came from the whole of Hellas, wishing to win her hand, and among them came Odysseus. King Tyndareus of Sparta, Helen's father or stepfather, feared then that the preference of one suitor might provoke the enmity of the others, and so Odysseus promised him that, if Tyndareus would help him to win the hand of Penelope, he would suggest a way by which there would be no dispute among the SUITORS. When Tyndareus agreed, promising to help him, Odysseus told him to exact an oath from all the SUITORS OF HELEN that they would defend the favored bridegroom against any wrong that might be done him in respect of his marriage. So when Menelaus won the hand of Helen, all accepted it in virtue of the oath, and thus Odysseus married Penelope, who was the prize of such a wise advice. But later the seducer Paris abducted Helen; and so the kings of Hellas, being bound by The Oath of Tyndareus, were forced, after being summoned by Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, to join the alliance that sailed to Troy with the purpose of obtaining, either peacefully or by force, the restoration of Helen and the property. This is how Odysseus, thanks to the the oath, won Penelope. But when war threatened, he was forced, on account of the same oath, to join the coalition that gathered in the harbor of Aulis in Boeotia under the command of Agamemnon. And since Odysseus was one of those who prefer quiet life at home to any glory that war might give, he was reluctant to join the army.

Palamedes forces Odysseus, and Odysseus Achilles

This reluctance was defeated by Palamedes, the envoy of Agamemnon, who appeared in Ithaca to remind Odysseus of the oath. On the occasion Odysseus feigned madness to avoid joining the coalition, but Palamedes, by threatening to kill Odysseus' son Telemachus with his sword, forced him to confess that his madness was pretended, and he consented to go to war. Having thus been forced to join the army, Odysseus in turn forced Achilles, who disguised as a girl was hiding in Scyros (the island in the Aegean Sea northeast of Euboea), to do the same. For that purpose, he used a trumpet, reasoning that a girl would not react to its sound as a man does.

Death of Palamedes

Odysseus neither forgot nor forgave the envoy's trick, and having plotted against Palamedes when they were at Troy, he had him stoned to death by the army. This is what he did: when a Trojan was made prisoner, Odysseus compelled him to write a letter of treasonable purport which seemed to be sent by King Priam ₁ to Palamedes. Then he buried gold in the quarters of Palamedes, and dropped the letter in the camp. And when, as expected, the letter was read and the gold was found, Agamemnon delivered up Palamedes to be stoned as a traitor. Others have said, however, that Palamedes was drowned while fishing, by Odysseus and Diomedes ₂.

Embassies

Odysseus was one of the ambassadors who came to Troy to demand the peaceful restoration of Helen and the property. This embassy failed when the Trojans, who had summoned an assembly, not only refused to give anyone nor anything back, but also threatened to kill the envoys, who were saved by the intervention of Antenor ₁. During the war, Odysseus was among those who came to beg Achilles to return to the fight, promising him, on behalf of Agamemnon, the seven tripods, the seven women, the seven cities, and all the other gifts, including Achilles' sweetheart Briseis, that the king offered Achilles, should he left his wrath aside. This embassy, like the first, also failed.

Fetches the Bow and Arrows of Heracles ₁

When after the death of Achilles and Hector ₁, Troy still could not be taken, new prophecies were uttered concerning the fall of the city, and the seer Calchas declared to the Achaeans that they would not be successful unless they had the bow and arrows of Heracles ₁ fighting on their side. To have this oracle fulfilled, Odysseus and Diomedes ₂ (but some say Neoptolemus) sailed to Lemnos where Philoctetes had been abandoned, and having by craft or cunning got possession of the bow, they persuaded him to sail back with them to Troy.

Helenus ₁ forced to "sing"

But since the city was still impregnable, Calchas issued a new prophecy, saying that the Trojan seer Helenus ₁ was the only one who knew the oracles that protected the city. Odysseus then, helped by certain circumstances, captured him, and having brought him to the camp, the Achaeans made him disclose the oracles. It was Odysseus again, who following them, brought Neoptolemus to Troy, and stole the Palladium from the city.

Dispute with Ajax ₁

After the death of Achilles, Ajax ₁ and Odysseus competed for his arms, that were offered as a prize to the bravest. Odysseus was then preferred by the judges, and Ajax ₁, some say, planned an attack on the army to calm his bitterness. However, Athena drove him mad, and he slaughtered the cattle with the herdsmen, taking them for the Achaeans. When he later came to his senses, he slew himself.

The WOODEN HORSE

It was not before Odysseus conceived the stratagem of the WOODEN HORSE that Troy could be taken. For thanks to it, the warriors that hid inside the treacherous device (among which Odysseus himself), could enter the city and open the gates to the rest of the army.

The Ciconians

After the war Odysseus wandered for ten years. He went first to the land of the Ciconians in Thrace where he pillaged the city of Ismarus, not sparing anyone except a priest of Apollo called Maron ₁, son of Evanthes ₁, who reigned in Marioneia.

The Lotus-eaters

Having lef the country of the Ciconians, he landed in that of the Lotus-eaters. The Lotus was a sweet fruit which caused him who tasted it to forget everything. And as some of the crew ate from the fruit, Odysseus had to force them back to the ships; for those who tasted the Lotus preferred to stay with the lotus-eaters, forgetting all about returning home.

The Cyclops Polyphemus ₂

Later Odysseus and his men arrived to the land of the Cyclopes, who resemble the CYCLOPES but are not quite the same. There, he and part of his crew were trapped by the Cyclops Polyphemus ₂, who devoured some of his comrades, and promised Odysseus to eat him last as a reward for the wine he had received from him. However, when the Cyclops, being drunk, was asleep, Odysseus and his men blinded his single eye. Polyphemus ₂ in despair cried to the other Cyclopes for help. But when they came and asked who was hurting him, he told them that Nobody had hurt him (for Odysseus had told him that he was called so), and the Cyclopes retired. This is how Odysseus and his comrades could escape the cave of Polyphemus ₂. But while sailing away Odysseus teased the Cyclops and was cursed by him, who called upon his father Poseidon. And to avenge his son, the god decided to make Odysseus' journey even harder.

Happy Aeolus ₂

Thence Odysseus sailed to the Aeolian Islands, which were ruled by happy Aeolus ₂, whom Zeus appointed keeper of the winds. This Aeolus ₂ is a favorite of the gods, and that is the reason why his daily life consists just of merry banquets in the company of his wife and children. He generously entertained Odysseus, and for his voyage gave him a bag in which he had bound fast the winds.

Careless captain and greedy crew

However, when they were near Ithaca and could already see the island, Odysseus fell asleep, and his comrades, thinking he carried gold from Troy in the bag that Aeolus ₂ had given him, loosed it and unwittingly let the winds go free. In this way the careless captain and his greedy crew were driven back to the Aeolian Islands where Odysseus, in the course of an embarrassing interview with Aeolus ₂, was denied the fair wind he asked, being immediately expelled from the island.

The Laestrygonians

After the Aeolian Islands, Odysseus and his men came to the land of the Laestrygonians, a cannibal people ruled by Antiphates ₂. In this strange land, nightfall and morning are so close to each other that shepherds bringing in their flocks at night are met by other shepherds driving out their flocks at dawn. Ignoring the gastronomic customs of this nation, all captains, except Odysseus, put their ships in a cove that was surrounded on all sides by a ring of cliffs, with two headlands facing each other at the mouth, leaving just a narrow channel in between. Having caught sight of a wisp of smoke rising up from the countryside, they sent three messengers, only to discover that the inhabitants intended to eat them for supper. When Odysseus and their men realised their plight, they tried to escape. But the Laestrygonians, who now appeared in great numbers, began pelting the fleet with huge rocks, and harpooning the men. Only Odysseus' ship and his crew could escape for having brought the ship to rest outside the cove. This is how the largest part of Odysseus' army and fleet was destroyed.

Circe

Afterwards, Odysseus and his crew came to the island of Aeaea where the witch Circe lived. Some time ago she had purified the ARGONAUTS for the murder of Apsyrtus. But now, when Odysseus arrived, Circe touched his comrades with a wand and turned them into wolves, swine, asses, and lions, their minds remaining unchanged. Others say that she gave Odysseus' comrades a potion, and when they had drunk it off, she touched them with her wand, and having turned them into swine, put them in the sties. In any case Odysseus threatened her with his sword, forcing the witch to restore his comrades. And having assumed a more amicable disposition, Circe helped him to find the way down to Hades, where he should get instructions from the seer Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca and his future fate.

ODYSSEUS IN HADES

Having descended to Hades, Odysseus made a blood offering in order to attract the souls of the dead, not letting anyone approach the blood of the animals he had sacrificed before he had talked with Tiresias. Any soul having access to the blood could hold a rational speech with Odysseus, but those who were denied the blood would leave him alone and disappear. Tiresias, whose mind was unchanged since Persephone had granted him to keep his wits in Hades, warned Odysseus of the wrath of Poseidon, and advised Odysseus not to harm the cattle of Helius in Thrinacia (Sicily). He also informed him about what was taking place in Ithaca, where many SUITORS, wishing to marry his wife, lived at his expenses. Finally Tiresias prophesied that Odysseus' death would come in his Old Age, far from the sea and in a gentle way (see also ODYSSEUS IN HADES, and "The Cattle of Helius" at Charybdis).

The SIRENS

After having touched again at Circe's island of Aeaea, Odysseus sailed past the SIRENS, as Circe had predicted. Since he wished to hear their lovely song and yet not be trapped by it, he stopped the ears of his comrades with wax, and ordered that he should himself be bound to the mast. And being persuaded by the SIRENS to linger, he begged to be released, but they bound him tighter, until they had sailed past. Some think that this was the end of the SIRENS; for it had been predicted that they would die when a ship passed them unharmed.

Scylla ₁, The Cattle of Helius, and Charybdis

In sailing past the cliff of Scylla ₁, the monster snatched some of his comrades, and gobbled them up, but having nevertheless escaped her, they arrived to the island Thrinacia, where the crew slaughtered The Cattle of Helius (full story at Charybdis). For having done this, Zeus destroyed Odysseus' ship and all his comrades drowned. When the ship broke up, Odysseus clung to the mast and drifted to Charybdis. But when Charybdis sucked down the mast, he was saved by clinging to a fig-tree that grew over the whirlpool. There he waited until he saw the mast drifting again, and he cast himself on it, and was carried away.

Calypso ₃

He then came to the island where Calypso ₃ lived. This goddess kept Odysseus imprisoned in her cave for seven years and offered him immortality, which he refused, wishing above all to come back home to Ithaca and Penelope.

Meets Nausicaa in Phaeacian beach

It was Hermes, who, sent by Zeus, ordered Calypso ₃ to let Odysseus go. He then made a raft and sailed away until he was washed up naked on the shore of the Phaeacians, where Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous, was washing the clothes. When Odysseus begged her protection, she brought him to the king, who entertained him, and sent him away with a convoy to Ithaca, after having heard Odysseus' account of the stories we are now reading.

While Penelope weaves, her SUITORS feast

On arriving to Ithaca, twenty years after his departure, Odysseus found his property and land wasted. For, believing that he was dead, many SUITORS wished to marry his wife, and living in his palace, consumed his herds at their feasts during his absence. Waiting for Odysseus, Penelope was compelled to promise to her suitors that she would wed when the shroud of Laertes was finished. But she wove it for three long years, without ever finishing it, until she was detected weaving it by day and undoing it by night.

Death of the SUITORS

The SUITORS OF PENELOPE were about one hundred, but Odysseus, helped by his son and two servants, managed to kill them all. Many of them he killed with the bow that Iphitus ₁ once had given him. He had inherited it from his father Eurytus ₄ of Oechalia, who in turn had received it from Apollo. This bow Odysseus, when going to war, would never take with him, but let it lay at home. When the disguised Odysseus had already entered the palace, Penelope delivered to her SUITORS the bow, declaring that she would marry whichever among them proved the best at stringing the bow and shooting an arrow. And when none of them could bend it, Odysseus took it and shot down the SUITORS, being helped by his son Telemachus, Eumaeus ₁ (his servant and swineherd) and Philoetius, a master-herdman in Ithaca.

Found to have gone too far

Because of this massacre, Odysseus was accused by the kinfolk of the slain SUITORS, and then he submitted the case to the judgment of King Neoptolemus of Epirus, who condemned him to exile. Some believe that Neoptolemus judged in this way because he wanted to get possession of the island of Cephallenia. After killing the SUITORS OF PENELOPE, Odysseus went to Thesprotia in Epirus, where he offered a sacrifice, following the instructions he received in the Underworld from Tiresias. It is also told that Callidice ₂, queen of the Thesprotians, urged him to stay as king, and that he, having married her, had by her a son Polypoetes ₄, whom he gave the kingdom on his return to Ithaca. Others say that Odysseus went to Aetolia, where he married the daughter of Thoas ₂ (king of Pleuron and Calydon, and former leader of the Aetolians against Troy), having by her a son Leontophonus.

Death at last

When Telegonus ₃ learned from his mother Circe that he was son of Odysseus, he sailed in search of his father. Having come to Ithaca, he drove away some of the cattle, and when Odysseus defended them, Telegonus ₃ wounded him with the spear he had in his hands, which was barbed with the spine of a stingray, and Odysseus died of the wound. Telegonus ₃ then recognised him, and bitterly lamented what he had done. But others say that Odysseus died of Old Age, as Tiresias predicted.