The epic tale of Odysseus' extraordinary ten-year voyage home after the Trojan War. The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus's reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. This edition includes: -A concise introduction that gives readers important background information -A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context -An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations -Detailed explanatory notes -Critical analysis and modern perspectives on the work -Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction -A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. They are composed in a literary type of Greek, Ionic in basis with Aeolic admixtures. Ranked among the great works of Western literature, these two poems together constitute the prototype for all subsequent Western epic poetry. Modern scholars are generally agreed that there was a poet named Homer who lived before 700 B.C., probably in Asia Minor. The Odyssey By Homer Pocket Books Copyright © 2005 Homer All right reserved. ISBN: 9781416500360 Chapter One Book I To the Muse. * The anger of Poseidon. * In Poseidon's absence, a gathering of the gods in Zeus' halls on Olympus. Athena's plea for help for the stranded Odysseus; Zeus' consent. * Athena in the guise of Méntës visits Ithaca. Her advice to Telémachus: he is to confront the Ithacan elders with the problem of the suitors and to leave Ithaca to search for news of his father. * Penelope's appearance among the suitors. Her silencing of Phémius the singer. Telémachus and the suitors: their sharp exchange. * Nightfall: Telémachus and his old nurse, Eurycle*¯¯a. Muse, tell me of the man of many wiles,* the man who wandered many paths of exile* after he sacked Troy's sacred citadel.* He saw the cities-mapped the minds-of many;* and on the sea, his spirit suffered every* adversity-to keep his life intact;* to bring his comrades back. In that last task,* his will was firm and fast, and yet he failed:* he could not save his comrades. Fools, they foiled* themselves: they ate the oxen of the Sun,* the herd of Hélios Hypérion;* the lord of light requited their transgression-* he took away the day of their return.* Muse, tell us of these matters. Daughter of Zeus,* my starting point is any point you choose.* All other Greeks who had been spared the steep* descent to death had reached their homes-released* from war and waves. One man alone was left,* still longing for his home, his wife, his rest.* For the commanding nymph, the brightest goddess,* Calypso, held him in her hollow grottoes:* she wanted him as husband. Even when* the wheel of years drew near his destined time-* the time the gods designed for his return* to Ithaca-he still could not depend* upon fair fortune or unfailing friends.* While other gods took pity on him, one-* Poseidon-still pursued: he preyed upon* divine Odysseus until the end,* until the exile found his own dear land.* But now Poseidon was away-his hosts,* the Ethiopians, the most remote* of men (they live in two divided parts-* half, where the sun-god sets; half, where he starts).* Poseidon, visiting the east, received* the roasted thighs of bulls and sheep. The feast* delighted him. And there he sat. But all* his fellow gods were gathered in the halls* of Zeus upon Olympus; there the father* of men and gods spoke first. His mind upon* the versatile Aegísthus-whom the son* of Agamemnon, famed Oréstes, killed-* he shared this musing with the deathless ones:* "Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say* that we devise their misery. But they* themselves-in their depravity-design* grief greater than the griefs that fate assigns.* So did Aegísthus act when he transgressed* the boundaries that fate and reason set.* He took the lawful wife of Agamemnon;* and when the son of Átreus had come back,* Aegísthus murdered him-although he knew* how steep was that descent. For we'd sent Hermes,* our swiftest, our most keen-eyed emissary,* to warn against that murder and adultery:* 'Oréstes will avenge his father when,* his manhood come, he claims his rightful land.'* Hermes had warned him as one warns a friend.* And yet Aegísthus' will could not be swayed.* Now, in one stroke, all that he