the oddesey of homer

Title: The Odyssey Of Homer

Author: Henry L. Christ

Publisher: Globe Book Company

Copyright date: N/A

April 26, 2012

Main Characters:
Odysseus: The main character, he is on a journey determined to get back home with his wife and son.
Athena: Friend of Odysseus, Goddess of wisdom.
Ino: A goddess of the sea, who pitied Odysseus in the storm.
Laertes: Father of Odysseus.
Penelope: Wife of Odysseus.
Telemachus: Son of Odysseus.
Theoclymenus: A prophet, who prophesied the return of Odysseus.
Zues: Ruler of gods and men.
Setting/Duration:
This Story takes place after the Trojan War is over. It starts off in Troy where the war was held. He is then in many different locations, until he finally gets home to Ithica.
Type of story: This Story is based upon Greek Mythology, science fiction.
Definition Words:
Voyage: a course of travel or passage, especially a long journey by water to a distant place.

Phantom: an appearance or illusion without material substance, as a dream image, mirage, or optical illusion.
Swineherds: a person who tends swine.
Suitors: a man who courts or woos a woman.
Palace: the official residence of a king, queen, bishop, or other sovereign or exalted personage.
Gratitude: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful: He expressed his gratitude to everyone on the staff.
Boasters: a person who boasts or brags.
Insolent: boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent insulting.
Rascals: a base, dishonest, or unscrupulous person.
Harpist: a person who plays the harp, especially professionally.
Neglect: to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight: The public neglected his genius for many years.
Furies: unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like: The gods unleashed their fury on the offending mortal.
Shabbily: impaired by wear, use, etc.; worn: shabby clothes.
Tumult: violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob; uproar
Cunning: skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile.
Goatherd: a person who tends goats.
Gritted: abrasive particles or granules, as of sand or other small, coarse impurities found in the air, food, water, etc.
Barbarians: a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.
Indignant: feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base.
Thrust: to push forcibly; shove; put or drive with force.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Greeks tricked the enemy into bringing a colossal wooden horse within the walls of Troy. Here begins the tale of the Odyssey. "Oh Goddess of Inspiration, help me sing of wily Odysseus, that master of schemes!" So begins the epic, though the hero has not begun his journey. Urged on by Athena, the goddess of war, they decide that Odysseus has been marooned too long on the island of the nymph Calypso. Meanwhile, the mansion of Odysseus is infested with suitors for the hand of his wife Penelope. Everyone assumes Odysseus is dead. His son Telemachus calls an assembly to ask for help, and Zeus sends an omen of the suitors' doom. Afterwards Telemachus sets sail for the mainland to seek news of his father.
Telemachus consults King Nestor, who led a squadron in the Trojan War. Nestor tells what he knows of the Greeks' return from Troy: "It started out badly because of Athena's anger. Half the army, your father included, stayed behind at Troy to try to appease her. The rest of us made it home safely -- all except Menelaus, who was blown off course to Egypt, where he remained for seven years. Seek advice from Menelaus. I'll lend you a chariot to travel to his kingdom." Menelaus tells what he learned of Odysseus while stranded in Egypt after the war. He was advised by a goddess to disguise himself and three members of his crew in seal pelts and then pounce on the Old Man of the Sea. If they could hold him down while he transformed himself into various animals and shapes, he would send them on their homeward way and give news of their companions. Menelaus did as instructed and was informed that Odysseus was presently being held against his will by the nymph Calypso.

Zeus, the King of the Gods, sends his messenger Hermes skimming over the waves on magic sandals to Calypso's island. Though the goddess isn't happy about it, she agrees to let Odysseus go. Odysseus barely escapes with his life and washes ashore days later, half-drowned. He staggers into an olive thicket and falls asleep.
Odysseus awakens to the sound of maidens laughing. Princess Nausicaa of the Phaeacians has come down to the riverside to wash her wedding dress. Odysseus approaches as a suppliant, and she is kind enough to instruct him how to get the king's help to return home. Odysseus follows her into town.
Odysseus stops on the palace thresh hold, confused. The very walls are covered in shining bronze and trimmed with lapis lazuli. Odysseus goes right up to the queen and puts his case to her as a suppliant. The king knows better than to refuse hospitality to a decent petitioner. He invites Odysseus to the banquet, which is in progress and promises him safe passage home after he has been suitably entertained. The king the asked Odysseus who he was, Odysseus replied, "My name is Odysseus of Ithaca, and here is my tale since setting out from Troy. We sacked a city first off, but then reinforcements arrived and we lost many comrades. Next we visited the Lotus Eaters, and three of my crew tasted this strange plant. They lost all desire to return home and had to be carried off by force. On another island we investigated a cave full of goat pens. The herdsman turned out to be as big as a barn, with a single glaring eye in his forehead. This Cyclops promptly ate two of my men for dinner. We were trapped in the cave by a boulder in the doorway that only the Cyclops could budge, so we couldn't kill him while he slept.
Instead we sharpened a pole and used it to gouge out his eye. We escaped his groping by clinging to the undersides of his goats.”
Now in Hades, land of the dead, 'at the furthest edge of Ocean's stream is the land to which all journey when they die. Here their spirits endure a fleshless existence. They can't even talk unless re-animated with blood.' Accordingly, he did as Circe instructed, bleeding a sacrificed lamb into a pit. Tiresias, the blind prophet who had accompanied us to Troy, was the soul he had to talk to. So he held all the other shades at bay with my sword until he had drunk from the pit. He gave him warnings about my journey home and told him what he must do to ensure a happy death when his time came.
"At sea once more we had to pass the Sirens, whose sweet singing lures sailors to their doom. I had stopped up the ears of my crew with wax, and I alone listened while lashed to the mast, powerless to steer toward shipwreck. Next came Charybdis, who swallows the sea in a whirlpool, then spits it up again. Avoiding this we skirted the cliff where Scylla exacts her toll. Each of her six slavering maws grabbed a sailor and wolfed him down. Finally we were becalmed on the island of the Sun. My men disregarded all warnings and sacrificed his cattle, so back at sea Zeus sent a thunderbolt that smashed the ship. I alone survived, washing up on the island of Calypso."
When Odysseus has finished his tale, the king orders him sped to Ithaca. The sailors put him down on the beach asleep. Athena casts a protective mist about him that keeps him from recognizing his homeland. Finally the goddess reveals herself and undoes the mist. In joy Odysseus kisses the ground. Athena transforms him into an old
Man as a disguise. Clad in a filthy tunic, he goes off to find his faithful swineherd, as instructed by the goddess.
Athena summons Telemachus home and tells him how to avoid an ambush by the suitors. Telemachus evades the suitors' ambush. Following Athena's instructions, he proceeds to the farmstead of Eumaeus. Athena restores Odysseus' normal appearance, enhancing it so that Telemachus takes him for a god. "No god am I," Odysseus assures him, "but your own father, returned after these twenty years." They fall into each other's arms. Later they plot the suitors' doom. Concerned that the odds are fifty-to-one, Telemachus suggests that they might need reinforcements. "Aren't Zeus and Athena reinforcement enough?" asks Odysseus. Disguised once more as an old beggar, Odysseus journeys to town. At his castle gate, an old dog recognizes the hero that he raised as a pup. Having seen his master again, the old hound dies. At Athena's urging Odysseus begs food from the suitors. One man, Antinous, berates him and refuses so much as a crust. This makes even the other suitors nervous, for sometimes the gods masquerade as mortals to test their righteousness.
Odysseus has a long talk with his queen Penelope but does not reveal his identity. Penelope takes kindly to the stranger and orders her maid Eurycleia to bathe his feet and apply oil. Eurycleia, who was Odysseus' nurse when he was a child, notices a scar above the hero's knee. The maid recognizes her master at once, and her hand goes out to his chin. But Odysseus silences her lest she give away his plot prematurely.
The next morning Odysseus asks for a sign, and Zeus sends a clap of thunder out of the clear blue sky. A servant recognizes it as a portent and prays that this day be the last of the suitors' abuse. A prophet shares a vision with the suitors: "I see the walls of this mansion dripping with your blood." The suitors respond with gales of laughter. Antinous, ringleader of the suitors is just lifting a drinking cup when Odysseus puts an arrow through his throat. The goatherd sneaks out and comes back with shields and spears for the suitors, but now Athena appears. She sends the suitors' spear thrusts wide, as Odysseus, Telemachus and the two faithful herdsmen strike with volley after volley of lances. They finish off the work with swords. The neck in the courtyard hangs those of the housemaids who helped with the suitors, while the treacherous goatherd is chopped to bits.
The mansion is purged with fire and brimstone. Odysseus tells everyone to dress in their finest and dance, so that passers-by won't suspect what's happened. Even Odysseus could not hold vengeful kinfolk at bay. Penelope still won't accept that it's truly her husband without some secret sign. She tells a servant to make up his bed in the hall. "Who had the craft to move my bed?" storms Odysseus. "I carved the bedpost myself from the living trunk of an olive tree and built the bedroom around it." Penelope rushes into his arms. The next morning Odysseus goes upcountry to the vineyard where his father, old King Laertes, labors like a peasant. Odysseus, his father and Telemachus meet the challenge. Laertes casts a lance through the helmet of Antinous' father, who falls to the ground in a clatter of armor and the fighting stops right there. Athena tells the contending parties to live together in peace down through the years to come.
The Story of Odysseus, or The Odyssey of Homer by Henry L. Christ is a thrilling story with many unexpected twists. What made me like the story is, the main character Odysseus. My opinion on the main character Odysseus is he is a brilliant and strong willed man. His ability to think on his feet helped him get through many tight situations, like the one with the Cyclops. Following him in his incredible journey to return to his land (Ithica) his wife (Penelope), and his son (Telemachus). To me, the most exciting part of the story is the climax and the resolution. The moment when you knew he was going to start his rampage. When the suitor and his wife learn that the king Odysseus is still alive. Then he slaughters everyone in his house who ever betrayed him, including the suitors. This is my favorite part, on the account of, the way he comes out to get his revenge on the freeloading suitors, who ate his food, who spent his money, and who tried to take his wife. He comes out with such determination, fury, and dedication to get what was once is his. The initial vocabulary is not difficult; the difficulty in this book is to keep up with names and places. The different Greek names and places sound alike. There are some places that have the same name as a person. After halfway through the book, the reader starts to catch on to the names of everything and makes the book easier. If I where to change the book in any way, I would change Odysseus being trapped in the Nymph Calypso for eight years and had more nerve wrecking journeys. All in all, The Odyssey of Homer is a great book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Greek mythology.