Why does Telemachus go to Pylos and Sparta? How does Odysseus escape Polyphemus? Why does Odysseus kill the suitors? How does Penelope test Odysseus? What is happening at the beginning of The Odyssey? Why does Athena help Odysseus so much? Why does Nestor invite Telemachus to the feast before knowing his identity? Why does Calypso allow Odysseus to leave her island? Why does Odysseus sleep with Circe? Why does Odysseus travel to Hades?
Why does Odysseus fail to reveal his identity to Penelope when they are first reunited? Does Penelope really intend to marry one of her suitors? How do Odysseus and Telemachus defeat the suitors? Summary Book 9.
Summary Reluctantly, Odysseus tells the Phaeacians the sorry tale of his wanderings. Analysis Books 9 through 12 are told as flashbacks, as Odysseus sits in the palace of the Phaeacians telling the story of his wanderings. Previous section Books 7—8 Next section Books 10— When Odysseus goes to rescue them, Hermes approaches him in the form of a young man. When his men finally persuade him to continue the voyage homeward, Odysseus asks Circe for the way back to Ithaca.
She replies he must sail to Hades, the realm of the dead, to speak with the spirit of Tiresias, a blind prophet who will tell him how to get home. The next morning, Odysseus rouses his men for the imminent departure. He discovers, however, that the youngest man in his crew, Elpenor, had gotten drunk the previous night, slept on the roof, and, when he heard the men shouting and marching in the morning, fell from the roof and broke his neck.
Odysseus explains to his men the course that they must take, which they are displeased to learn is rather meandering.
See Important Quotes Explained. Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean in the land of the Cimmerians. There he pours libations and performs sacrifices as Circe earlier instructs him to do to attract the souls of the dead.
Odysseus then speaks with the Theban prophet Tiresias, who reveals that Poseidon is punishing the Achaeans for blinding his son Polyphemus. When Tiresias departs, Odysseus calls other spirits toward him.
He speaks with his mother, Anticleia, who updates him on the affairs of Ithaca and relates how she died of grief waiting for his return. He then meets the spirits of various famous men and heroes and hears the stories of their lives and deaths.
Odysseus now cuts short the tale and asks his Phaeacian hosts to allow him to sleep, but the king and queen urge him to continue, asking if he met any of the Greeks who fell at Troy in Hades. He relates his encounters there: he meets Agamemnon, who tells him of his murder at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra. Next he meets Achilles, who asks about his son, Neoptolemus. Odysseus then tries to speak with Ajax, an Achaean who killed himself after he lost a contest with Odysseus over the arms of Achilles, but Ajax refuses to speak and slips away.
He sees Heracles, King Minos, the hunter Orion, and others. He witnesses the punishment of Sisyphus, struggling eternally to push a boulder over a hill only to have it roll back down whenever it reaches the top. He then sees Tantalus, agonized by hunger and thirst. Tantalus sits in a pool of water overhung by bunches of grapes, but whenever he reaches for the grapes, they rise out of grasp, and whenever he bends down to drink, the water sinks out of reach.
Judgment is once more a crucial problem as the Greeks very nearly get home to Ithaca only to see their goal vanish in a storm. Aeolus is impressed with Odysseus and treats him with classic hospitality. He harnesses all potentially destructive winds, binding them tightly in an ox skin and stowing the ox skin onboard Odysseus' ship. However, as he did following the initial victory over the Cicones, Odysseus loses control of his men. While he sleeps, curiosity and mistrust overcome them.
They suspect that the ox skin contains great treasure, which they feel should be shared. Tragically, they release all the adverse winds and are blown back to Aeolus. The god of the winds refuses to help Odysseus further because he infers that the gods must despise anyone so unlucky. Odysseus understandably despairs as storms blow him away from Ithaca, but he manages to resist the temptation to commit suicide Things only get worse as the flotilla, with no favoring wind from Aeolus, rows to the land of the Laestrygonians.
Odysseus cautiously sends scouts to check out the inhabitants who initially seem hospitable. Suddenly the hosts devour the scouts and attack Odysseus' ships.
They hurl huge boulders, reminiscent of the attack by Cyclops, and spear the seamen like fish. Only Odysseus' cool leadership permits his single ship to row to safety.
Caution and judgment, some of it from the gods, eventually save most of the remaining crew at Circe's island of Aeaea. Odysseus again sends out a scouting party.
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