Summary of the Homer's Odyssey. Odyssey is one of the best examples of ancient literature

The summary of Homer's "Odyssey" is an amazing story of the long wanderings of the Greek king of Ithaca, the brave Odyssey, and his return to his beloved wife Penelope. If in the Iliad Homer focuses all the action in Troy and its surroundings, then in the Odyssey the place of action is dynamic. The reader, along with the characters, is transferred from Troy to Egypt, then - to North Africa and the Peloponnese, is in Ithaca and on the western shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Life of the heroes after the capture of Troy

The plot begins ten years after the victory of the Greeks in the Trojan War. The angry gods did not allow Odysseus to return unhindered to their native places at once. For some time the hero lives on a distant western violet island with a marine nymph Calypso. For a long time, the eternal intercessor of Odyssey Athena is trying to get permission from Zeus to rescue the man, and, finally, she succeeds. Athena in someone else's appearance is on Ithaca, where Penelope and her son named Telemachus are besieged by suitors on all sides. More than a hundred people convince the queen to choose one of them for their husbands, referring to the fact that Odysseus died. However, Penelope continues to hope for the return of her husband. Athena speaks with Telemachus and urges him to go on the road to learn some information about the fate of his father. Almost immediately Telemachus sails to the direction of Pylos (on the western edge of the Peloponnese), to the city of Nestor.

The beginning of the wanderings of Telemachus

Nestor gives Telemachus a warm welcome. He allows the young man to spend the night in his palace, and in the evening he tells about what challenges some Greek leaders encountered on the way back from Troy. With the first rays of the sun Telemach goes on a chariot to Sparta, where Menelaus and Elena again live in love and harmony. Outlining the brief content of the "Odyssey" of Homer, it is worth mentioning that they arranged a luxurious feast in honor of Telemachus, as well as tell a famous story with a wooden horse, the construction of which the Greeks had told Odysseus. However, they can not help a young man with the search for a father.

The long-awaited liberation of Odysseus

At the same time in Ithaca, Penelope's bridegrooms decide to make Telemachus ambush and kill him. Athene again begins to talk about the liberation of Odysseus. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, at the instigation of Zeus, goes to Calypso with the demand that she let go of the hero. Immediately Odysseus begins to build a raft, and then sails to the side of Ithaca. But the ruler of the seas Poseidon is still angry with him for the fact that the hero deprived the view of the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of God. Therefore Poseidon sends a merciless storm to Odysseus, the raft of the hero is shattered, and only with the help of Athena he manages to reach the shore.

The path of Odysseus to the house was not simple

Next, a brief summary of Homer's Odyssey tells us about the events of the next morning. The hero wakes up from the sound of girlish voices. This is the princess of Scheria named Navsikaya and her faithful servants. Odysseus asks Nawsikai for help, and she is supportive of the hero-she gives him food and clothing, and in parallel she narrates about herself and her royal parents. Serving the same Navsikaya says that this is the person he wants to see as his wife. The Queen directs Odysseus to the capital, where the one left to himself admires the magnificent palace and the amazing garden of the king of the phoenicians. In the main hall he is met by the Tsar Alkina and his wife Aretha - they give the hero a very kind welcome and listen to his request to help him return to his homeland.

The next day in the capital of the phoenicians started a grand feast. A talented singer Demodok recites several old legends about gods and heroes. Alkina asks Odysseus to tell the people of the creatures about himself and the adventures that have happened to him. The fabulous, striking story of Odysseus lasts until the night, and the fairies listen with pleasure. The good-natured people generously give their guest, and then give him a fleet ship and send Odysseus home. The hero himself sinks at this time into a deep sleep. Waking up, he sees that he found himself in Ithaca, where he was not nearly twenty years old.

Return to Ithaca and a meeting with my son

At this point, Athena re-enters the brief content of Homer's Odyssey. She has long been waiting for the hero and immediately warns that in the palace he is in danger. Enraged and tired of waiting, the bridegrooms are ready even to kill the king, if he openly appears in his house. Therefore, Athena transforms Odysseus into a beggar, and she is sent to find Telemachus wandering along the mainland Greece. Odysseus at this time stops at a swineherd named Eumei. Although he did not recognize his master, he treated him very graciously and amiably. Telemachus returns, and Athena helps the young man to know his father.

What is Homer talking about? "Odyssey," the content of which we are studying, continues. After a happy meeting between father and son, they together are working out a plan for how to ruin Penelope's suitors. Telemachus goes to the side of the palace, and Odysseus, without changing the face to the present one, leaves there after a while. Some bridegrooms and servants are rude to him, and the professional beggar Ir even challenges Odysseus to a duel. Odyssey is able to talk with Penelope and enter it with his fiction into error. However, to outwit Eureka, his old nanny, he does not succeed: the woman recognizes the pupil according to the old scar on her leg. Odysseus urges Eureka to keep the secret of his return. Penelope, never realizing who is standing in front of her, tells Odysseus about the strange dream she dreamed this night, and about her intention to arrange a match for the grooms, after which she will determine which of them will become her husband.

Revenge of Odysseus and the accession of the world

Finally, the day of the competition comes. Penelope's husband should be the one who can bend the bow of Odysseus, tighten the bowstring, and then shoot the arrow so that it flies through a dozen rings - the holes for the handle in axes, displayed in a row. Many of the suitors failed, and the beggar (under the guise of which Odysseus was hiding) manages to do it. He throws off his rags, becomes with Telemachus at the entrance to the hall and with the help of two faithful slaves, the son and father exterminate all the suitors. Penelope at first suits Odysseus to make sure that before her is really her husband, and then happily accepts her husband after a long separation.

The story that Homer described in his poem is drawing to a close. "Odyssey," a very brief summary of which is given in this article, ends with the hero going to see Laertes, his elderly father. In pursuit of him for the purpose of revenge the relatives of the grooms are allowed to go. Together with several faithful servants, son and father, Odyssey manages to repel their onslaught. And then Athena intervenes with the permission of Zeus and helps to restore peace and prosperity to the vastness of Ithaca.