The Odyssey

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The Odyssey by Homer details Odysseus' return trip to Ithaca following his 10 years of fighting in the Trojan War. It takes Odysseus an additional 10 year to return home. Odysseus' travels in the Odyssey are outlined below.

Book I: Invocation to the Muse of Poetry; Council of the gods; Athena visits Telemachus and suggests he go in search of Odysseus; The suitors feast in the palace in Ithaca
Book II: An assembly in Ithaca; Telemachus requests that the suitors return to their homes; Telemachus and Athena secretly leave Ithaca
Book III: Athena and Telemachus arrive in Pylos; Nestor and his family entertain Telemachus; Telemachus and Peisistratos go to Sparta to search for Odysseus
Book IV: Telemachus and Peisistratos arrive in Sparta; Menelaos and Helen entertain Telemachus and Peisistratos; Description of Menelaos' wanderings; Telemachus hears a report that Odysseus is on Calypso's island; The suitors in Ithaca learn that Telemachus has left and prepare to slay him upon his return home
Book V: Council of the gods; Hermes tells Calypso to release Odysseus; Odysseus sails off Calypso's island but is shipwrecked by Poseidon; Odysseus swims to Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians
Book VI: Odysseus meets Nausicaa, princess of Phaeacians, who is washing clothes on the shore; Odysseus is granted protection by Nausicaa, and is treated as a guest by her father, King Alcinous
Book VII: The king Alcinous, and his queen, Arete, have a reception for Odysseus
Book VIII: Odysseus attends Phaeacian games Odysseus is asked to tell his story and his name
Book IX: The wanderings of Odysseus; The raid on the Cicones; The island of the Lotus-Eaters; The encounter and blinding of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus (son of Poseidon)
Book X: The wanderings of Odysseus; Aeolus, the god of winds, tries to aid Odysseus with a bag of winds; Odysseus sees Ithaca, but is blown back to sea when a crew member opens the bag from Aeolus; The Laestrygonians, cannibals who devour members of Odysseus' crew; Circe's island and the transformation into swine; Advice from Circe, visit to Tiresias in Hades
Book XI: The wanderings of Odysseus; The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis; Helius' cattle; Odysseus loses his last ship and all of his crew members; Calypso rescues Odysseus; Odysseus ends his storytelling to the Phaeacians
Book XII: Alcinous provides Odysseus with a ship and crew to return to Ithaca; Odysseus reaches Ithaca; Phaeacians receive Poseidon's wrath on their return voyage; Athena comes to Odysseus and gives him advice, information, and a disguise as a beggar
Book XIV: Odysseus meets his swineherd, Eumaeus, and tells him a false story about his life
Book XV: Athena tells Telemachus to leave Sparta and to return to Ithaca; Telemachus successfully avoids the suitors' ambush
Book XVI: Odysseus reveals his identity to Telemachus; Odysseus and Telemachus plan for the suitors' demise
Book XVII: Telemachus returns to the palace; Odysseus, in his beggar disguise, begs from the suitors
Book XVIII: Odysseus and another beggar, Iros, fight; Penelope briefly addresses the suitors
Book XIX: Odysseus (still disguised) and Penelope speak; Odysseus' nurse, Euryclea, recognizes him by a scar on his thigh; Penelope devises a test to choose a husband from the suitors--the test of the bow
Book XX: Everyone gathers in the palace to prepare for the test
Book XXI: The test of the bow; The suitors fail the test; Odysseus asks to try in his beggar disguise, and succeeds
Book XXII: Odysseus reveals himself to the suitors; The killing of the suitors; The punishment of the unfaithful maids and staff members
Book XXIII: Penelope tests Odysseus to be sure it is her husband; Reunion of Penelope and Odysseus; Odysseus visits his father, Laertes
Book XXIV: In Hades, the ghosts of the suitors tell the heroes of Troy about Odysseus' actions; Odysseus reveals his identity to Laertes; The families of the suitors bury the dead and plot revenge; Athena intervenes and imposes peace between Odysseus and the suitors' families

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