The Odyssey Homer ‘ion abot very little guthent« information eae [ he period aurl vhicl Homer #8 available The pet os iy be anytime betweer 200 BL rtain. Some assume it 10° r 850 ferature is incom ae 350 B.C Western classic '" rature eericie b 1 creat Greek ep! e Iliad and ference to the two great and wa is a war epic (at Trojan Warten 1 warriors voyage ref Odysse; the latter, a seq! home after the war ¢ and moral endurance the authorship of these two € syeral other poems have od Homeric Hymns, a sal scription Of 4 srious tests of both physical scholars ascribe y, The forme? 7 vel, is the ae ncountering Vé Based on ev idences spics to Homer Besides these also been attributed to him works, Sé tirical poem called Margites, the so-calle and a collection of epigrams. than twelve thousand lines in twenty-four book Spanning more The Odyssey ‘ells the story of one of the greatest heroes of z ; rs z Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin). The legendary the Trojan War, Greek warrior spends ten years fighting at the battle of Troy and another ten years to reach his kingdom, Ithac: The po and his arrival home and other predicaments th Hs has to face and solve, are the themes of The Odyss ie Odysseus’ absence from Ithaca, unruly sui. ore wife Penelope for her hand Pei the :. yudiors cppronaa TM Ba Penclops; gill bo ley even plot to kill his son, Od MER domme oH ‘et and clever, hopes that The uninvited suitors [Se does not yield to the suitors. in the palace of Be pine the wealth by remaining Ithaca, Telemachus vis 5S ortly before Odysseus reaches sparta and hears from Menelaus (the husban Shand of Helen) r < that Odys . soon. After Ody, dysseus is ali ‘ SSCUS’ Arr Sis alive and will retur! Odysseus revea leis arrival, Telemachus oe Odysseus enters his focal to his son. Disguis al, es Angee Palace and meets the a Mise a a beggar, suitors and conversesIn Book Sixteen of The Odyssey, following Athena's t of the swineherd instruction, Telemachus reaches the I Eumaeus. A man of noble birth who was brought to Ithaca b Laertes, Odysseus’s father, Eumaeus is a loyal and devoted In the hut, Telemachus finds friend to Odysseus and far the swineherd talking with a beg (Odysseus in d T h a beg sguise) Eumaeus narrates Odysseus’s story and requests Tel machus to take the beggar with him to the palace. But the prince shares his helplessness and fear about confronting the suitors (who wish to kill him). The man against the suitors. But Telemachus describes the situation of his kingdom which is plundered by the egar urges Telemachus to fight like a brave pathetic mighty suitors and says that he does not have an army or any strong brother with him to defeat them. Telemachus gives instruction to Eumaeus to go to the palace and convey the news of his safe return only to Penelope. He says that this news can be revealed to Odysseus’ ailing father too, through Eurycleia. In the absence of.Eumaeus, Athena appears to Odysseus and calls him outside the hut. Odysseus is transformed to his former self leaving Telemachus ‘in wonder as he mistakes the heroic figure for a god. But Odysseus reveals the truth that he is not a god but the father of Telemachus. Before Eumaeus can meet Penelope in secret, a messenger from the ship reaches the palace well in advance and discloses to all that Telemachus is back. Hearing this, the suitors make another plot to kill Telemachus leaving Penelope worried about the safety of her son. The following lines (113-189) of Book Sixteen are exceptional for the literary features like dramatic irony and anagnorisis and prominent for depicting the inevitable necessity of gods’ intervention in the lives of men and the reverence shown bya prince for his elders. This scene of reunion of a king and a prince in a swineherd’s hut reaffirms these mens humane qualities depicting them as sensitive individuals with inner lives.the Classics Revisiting le story } you the whole ; med aga er, sople have turne I] our pec e any Oro : T mo have 1: a showdown Ne ; i n trust to fight beside ly blood-feud rages , line of only sons Je our line ly one son, La Arcesius had only one s¢ ny ynly one son, Odysseus, us’ only son. He fa and from me and Laertes had ¢ and I am Odysse' he left me behind at home, plagued by swarms of e So now our house 1s AJI the nobles who rule the islands round abo Dulichion, and Same, and wooded Zacynthus too, and all who lord it in rocky Ithaca as well down to the last man they court my mother, they lay waste my house! And mother . she neither rejects a marriage she despises nor can she bear to bring the courting to an end while they continue to bleed my household white. Soon— you wait — they’Il grind me down as well! But all lies in the lap of the great gods. Eumaeus, 00d old friend, 80, quickly, to wise Penelope @ her ’'m home from Pylos safe and a a on right here, But you come eck i a x “ Ve told the news to her alone. ‘aean must hear all too MANY plot to take my life,”The Odyssey a “T know,” you assured your prince, Eumaeus, loyal swineherd “] see your point there’s sense in this old head. One thing more, and make your orders clear. On the same trip do I go and give the news to King Laertes too? For many years, poor man heartsick for his son, he’d always keep an eye on the farm and take his meals with the hired hands whenever he felt the urge to. Now, from the day you sailed away to Pylos, not a sip or a bite he’s touched, they say, not as he did before, and his eyes are shut to all the farmyard labors. Huddled over, groaning in grief and tears, he wastes away — the man’s all skin and bones.” “So much the worse,” Telemachus answered firmly. “Leave him alone; though it hurts us now, we must. If men could have all they want, free for the taking, I’d take first my father’s journey home. So, you go and give the message, then come back, no roaming over the fields to find Laertes. Tell my mother to send her housekeeper, fast as she can, in secret she can give the poor old man the news.” That roused Eumaeus. The swineherd grasped his sandals, strapped them onto his feet and made for town. His exit did not escape Athena’s notice ... Approaching, closer, now she appeared a woman, beautifull, tall and skilled at weaving lovely things.the Classics revisiting he stopped yr shi or's doe se her there 1» gheltet Faoreee her, sense ao pula = sry man alive ale »s to every mé Jemacht themselve tc *¢ shoW » barking now js don t » dogs; ne dis dor ) did the dog : ror through the yarq g saw Ren away in ter Odysse* ered, cringing * )dysseus caught j they whimpe th her brows. Od) on Wi igh stockade —} nt and past the h Athena urged him on he wel ft : of goddess out : enod before the and stood b cLaertes, OdYSSCUS, old camps Foon oF Lacrtes i aye! son ° w tell your son the truth e, ne ) the time, ee now back, so the two of you can plot pack, id nothing : Bid os d then set out for town suitors’ doom an the behind you long I myself won't lag e Py I’m blazing for a battle! Athena stroked him with her golden wand. First she made the cloak and shirt on his body fresh and clean, then made him taller, supple, young, his ruddy tan came back, the cut of his jawline firmed and the dark beard clustered black around his chin. Her work complete, she went her w ay once more and Odysseus returned to the lodge. His own son gazed at him, wonderstruck, terrified too, turning his eyes away, suddenly — this must be some god — ai y Wi f ; a he let fly with a burst of exclamations: “Friend, you're anew hy n / fc Ah Ww man — not what | saw before! Our clothes, they’Ve cha; d, ev i ee ged, even your skin has changed — Some god wh i : 0 rules the vy, skies! Ohbe ki © vaulting skies! nd, and we Will giy