BOOK I

A quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon ensues over the return of Chryseis to her
father. Athene dissuades Achilles from rash action, but he swears he will not fight again.
He calls his mother Thetis from the depths of the sea and asks her to obtain from Zeus
some gratification of his resentment. Thetis agrees to do so when the gods shall have
returned from their twelve day banquet among the Ethiopians. Meanwhile Odysseus
has returned Chryseis to her father, who placates the god towards the Greeks. Thetis
lays her request before Zeus, who nods assent. His intentions are kept secret from all,
including Hera, despite her bitter complaints. It is left for the cupbearer Hephaestus--
lame and the butt of everyone's joke--to bring back the laughter which should
accompany the feasts of the immortals.

BOOK XIII
Despite the commands of Zeus, the gods who favour the Achaeans can remain
onlookers of their peril no longer. Poseidon, in the guise of Calchas, encourages them
to fight bravely: later, in the shape now of Thoas, he is further grieved to see his
grandson Amphimachus slain by Hector. In the long drawnout battle that follows, in
which Idomeneus, king of Crete, plays a dominating part, Achaean resistance grows
stiffer. Polydamas calls for a concentration of the Trojan force and in a council of war
warns Hector that Achilles will not remain idle much longer. Hector accepts the advice
to call his men together, but disregards the reference to Achilles. The battle goes on.
BOOK II
Zeus sends a dream commanding Agamemnon to attack Troy. The king tells the elders
and assembles the army. It is now near the end of the ninth year, and it seems
advisable to sound the feelings of the warriors. Agamemnon pretends a desire to return
home, and the idea is more popular than he had thought. The attitude of the army
delays the joining of battle, but Odysseus and Nestor rally the ranks for war: Thersites
rails against the leaders, but is put to silence. A succession of highly wrought similes
now describes the marshalling of the army: then follows a fresh invocation of the Muses
to give an accurate account of Greek strength in the Catalogue of Ships, which is
followed by a shorter catalogue of the Trojan Forces.

BOOK XIV

Nestor now leaves Machaon, whom he has been tending in his pavilion, to find how the
battle is going. He meets Diomede, Odysseus and Agamemnon, all returning wounded
from the fray. For the third time Agamemnon speaks of withdrawal, now in terms of flight
under cover of darkness. Odysseus and Diomede disagree: Poseidon encourages the
king, and his voice puts heart into the army. Female cunning now enters the lists: Hera
borrows Aphrodite's enchanted saltire and rouses Zeus' passion on Mount Ida, where
he soon enough falls asleep. Her helper Hypnus hastens to the plain to tell Poseidon
that he can now help the Greeks without thought of Zeus. The god vigorously
encourages them, and soon a stone from Ajax lays Hector low. He is long senseless,
and meanwhile the Trojans suffer other setbacks.

BOOK III
Despite these elaborate preliminaries, general battle is not yet to be joined. A new
delaying device holds up the increasing pressure of events. Paris declares himself
ready to settle the issue by single combat with Menelaus, and at the last minute an
armistice is declared. Iris takes human form, speaks to Helen, and the latter goes up to
the wall over the Scaean gate, where Priam and the elders are gazing onto the plain. At
the king's request she names and points out the greatest warriors of the Achaeans.
Priam is then called into the field to swear that he will abide by the issue of the single
combat. Menelaus' sword breaks on Paris' helmet: he seizes him by the chinstrap and
drags him towards the Achaean lines. Paris' fate seems sealed, but Aphrodite makes
the strap break, and rescues Paris in a cloud, taking him back to his own house. Then,
taking the shape of an old woman, she bullies Helen and drives her into Paris' arms.
This striking deliverance of Aphrodite's favourite has created an ambiguous situation:
Paris is dallying with Helen, while Menelaus rages over the field seeking him.
Agamemnon claims victory for his brother and the return of Helen and the booty: the
war, he declares, is at an end.
BOOK XV
The Trojans have been driven back over the ditch when Zeus wakes up and sees how
he has been deceived. Hera has to obey his command and send Iris and Apollo to him.
Now for the first time she fully learns his plan: Iris is to summon Poseidon from the field;
Hector, strengthened by Apollo, will drive the Greeks back to the ships of Achilles,
whereupon the latter will send Patroclus into battle. Patroclus will have many successes
- he will even slay Sarpedon - but in the end he will fall by Hector's hand. In revenge
Achilles will kill Hector, and from then on the fate of the Trojans will be sealed. In the
end their city will be overthrown by a device of Athene's (the wooden horse). Hera
conveys the commands of Zeus to Olympus, where Athene restrains Ares from a rash
intervention in the battle. Poseidon unwillingly obeys the command brought by Iris, and
Hector with renewed strength drives the Greeks back into their camp. Apollo himself
levels the ditch and breaches the wall: the Greeks are panicstricken as he shakes the
aegis. As the Trojans enter, Patroclus leaves the wounded Eurypylus and runs to
Achilles. Already the Trojans bearing firebrands are approaching the nearest ships, and
only Ajax still offers effective resistance.
BOOK IV
The Achaean king may be in earnest in this view, but in the ensuing scene in Olympus
Zeus propounds it only to anger Hera and Athene. Both demand the destruction of Troy;
but we are not yet told the cause of their hatred. At Hera's request Zeus agrees there is
no other way of keeping his promise to Thetis to send Athene to the Trojan field, where
she provokes Pandarus to break the armistice by shooting at Menelaus. The latter is
wounded, but speedily healed by Machaon, son of Asclepius and physician to the army.
Fighting is to be renewed: Agamemnon urges on the heroes with words of praise or
censure. Last to be addressed is Diomedes, whom Agamemnon singles out for
reproach. Unlike Achilles, Diomedes takes rebuke patiently; but Sthenelus retorts
sharply.
BOOK XVI

Patroclus' tearful entreaties are wasted on Achilles, who still cannot forget the injustice
done him and has no time for Achaean self-pity. Nevertheless he sends Patroclus with
the Myrmidons and lends him his own armour, telling him to repel the Trojans from the
ships, but to go no further, lest he diminish Achilles' reputation or meet some god who
favours the Trojans. Ajax is now exhausted, and Achilles urges Patroclus to make
haste, praying to Zeus of Dodona to grant him a safe return. Patroclus drives back the
Trojans from the ships and performs prodigies of velour. Sarpedon falls by his hand, the
son of Zeus himself. The battle rages around his body; Zeus allows Apollo to shield it,
and Sleep and Death convey it to Lycia. Patroclus forgets his friend's warning and
attacks the very walls of Troy. He is repulsed by Apollo, who takes the form of Asius
and summons Hector to fight him. As the sun sinks, the god himself comes behind
Patroclus and strikes him between the shoulders, so that his arms fall from him.
Euphorbus wounds him from behind with a spear, and Hector transfixes him with his
lance.

BOOK V
Diomedes is now to the fore: Pandarus' arrow cannot hurt him; Athene strengthens him;
his prowess is not content with mortal adversaries. He wounds Aphrodite in the hand as
she intervenes to protect her son Aeneas: she flies to Olympus to be comforted by her
mother Dione. Next Apollo protects Aeneas: Diomedes prepares to attack him too, but
the god's warning voice keeps him back. With the encouragement and support of Ares
the Trojans attack boldly. Hera and Athene plunge into the fray the latter even serves as
Diomedes' charioteer. With their help he wounds Ares, who flees to Olympus, and the
goddesses also withdraw.
BOOK XVII
A furious battle rages round the corpse. Menelaus slays Euphorbus, but retreats before
Hector, who strips Achilles' armour from Patroclus' body and puts it on. The Achaeans
defend the body, stoutly led by Ajax. Thick darkness overtakes the combatants. Achilles'
divine steeds, mourning for Patroclus, are given fresh heart by Zeus. Athene and Apollo
add further fury to the fight around the corpse. At the prayer of Ajax, Zeus takes away
the darkness: now Menelaus can look for Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and send him to
Achilles with the fatal tidings. Victory inclines towards the Trojans, but Menelaus and
Meriones drag away the body, while the two Ajaxes defend them from the angry
onslaughts of the enemy.
BOOK VI

The Trojans' danger grows greater. The seer Helenus calls on Hector and Aeneas to
rally the ranks; then he sends Hector into the city, where the women are to propitiate
Athene with offerings and vows. Meanwhile Glaucus and Diomedes meet on the field of
battle, recognize each other as guest friends, and exchange armour the Lycian's gold
against the Argive's bronze. This encounter in the midst of the fighting serves as an
example of knightly courtesy: it has another function also: to hold up the swift
development of the action in the fifth book and to let us see what is happening in Troy.
Hector hastens to his mother, and the Trojan women fall to their ineffective prayers. He
next looks for Paris, to recall him to the field: he wishes to bid farewell to his wife and
child, but they are not at home. He finds them by the Scaean gate, to which
Andromache's fears have driven her. There is a conversation between husband and
wife, full of love and grief, as if Hector were never more to return home. Andromache
goes back to the house and mourns him as if he were already dead. Paris now joins
Hector, and they return to the battle.

BOOK XVIII
Achilles is seized with such violent grief that Thetis and the Nereids come from the sea
to comfort him. His mother offers him new arms, but says that Hector's death must
shortly be followed by his own. The body of Patroclus is still in the gravest danger, and
Achilles, directed by Iris and endowed with fearful stature by Athene, runs to the ditch,
where his war-cry appals the Trojans. Hera hastily makes the sun set, and the battle
ends. Polydamas repeats his warning, but Hector makes the Trojans camp in the field
so as to renew the battle next day. Achilles bewails his dead friend, while Hephaestus at
Thetis' entreaty makes new arms for him, in particular a wondrous shield with metal
inlays displaying all the scenes of human life.
BOOK VII
Fighting now flares up again; but Athene and Apollo agree that it has gone far enough
for the day, and that Hector should challenge one of the Achaeans to single combat.
The seer Helenus transmits their decision, and Hector sends out his challenge. Ajax is
chosen by lot to be his opponent. At the approach of night the combatants are
separated by heralds, and the day ends as indecisively as it began. The Greeks decide
to bury their dead next morning and to build a wall round their ships. The Trojans for
their part ask for the return of the bodies of the fallen, and are willing, since Paris will not
give up Helen, to return at all events the treasure. The Greeks reject the overture, but
next morning the dead are collected and burned. The wall round the ships is built in the
course of the next day
BOOK XIX
At dawn Thetis brings these arms to her son, and preserves Patroclus' body with
ambrosia. Achilles calls for a meeting of the host, briefly renouncing his resentment,
while Agamemnon in a long speech laments the folly that Zeus had sent upon him and
promises reparation. He also swears that he has never touched Briseis. Achilles'
impatience will hardly brook delay while the army eats. The forces are marshalled and
Achilles arms himself. His horse speaks, prophesying his death.
BOOK VIII
Zeus forbids the gods to take part in the battle, which he surveys from the summit of
Ida. The fighting begins with the dawn, and at midday Zeus weighs the lots of the
opposing armies: the scales decide for the Trojans. In the varying fortunes of the battle
Diomedes remains the mainstay of the Achaeans, while Hector, confident of ultimate
victory, is the champion of the Trojans. Hera is obstinate in her determination to break
the commands of Zeus: she tries unsuccessfully to persuade Poseidon to intervene in
the fighting, and gives fresh courage to Agamemnon, who prevails upon Zeus to spare
the hard-pressed Achaean host. Hera tries to help them, but Iris brings her a
peremptory command from Zeus. Now the Thunderer himself comes and explains his
plan for the future: the next day is to bring even more misfortune to the Greeks, and
Hector will remain unchecked until Achilles takes the field in defence of the ships and
fighting rages round the corpse of Patroclus. Night ends the still indecisive battle, and
Hector camps with his followers on the plain.
BOOK XX
For the last battle, the most ferocious of all in the Iliad, Zeus leaves the gods free to do
what they will. As they enter the lists, Zeus thunders, Poseidon sends an earthquake;
but as yet they are spectators. Achilles first meets Aeneas, whom Poseidon rescues.
Hector also is once more saved from death by Apollo. Achilles rages like a forest fire in
dry woods.
BOOK IX
In his despondency Agamemnon now inclines to the counsel which in Book II he had
proposed only to test reactions - to break off the war and go home. He is vigorously
opposed by Diomedes: in a council of the princes Nestor suggests an appeal to
Achilles. Agamemnon is willing to provide the necessary gifts for an embassy to
Achilles, and Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix set out to his tent. They are well received,
and make speeches to win him over. Odysseus speaks with skill and address; Phoenix
is more human and emotional, with well-chosen examples; the speech of Ajax is brief
and soldierly. They move Achilles' feelings, but his resentment still cannot be assuaged:
he will fight when Hector artacks his ships, not before. The ambassadors return with
their bad news, but Diomedes urges all to be calm and confident.
BOOK XXI
The battle beside the river is on a level of elemental savagery. Achilles fills the
Scamander with corpses, and takes twelve youths prisoner to be sacrificed for
Patroclus. Lycaon, Priam's son, pleads in vain for his life: he too is slain and thrown into
the river. The river god protests, Achilles rages on unheeding, and Scamander now
threatens him with his waters. The gods now take a hand; Hephaestus with his fire dries
up the plain and defeats the river. By now the gods are fighting after their various
fashions: Athene wounds Ares with a stone, but Apollo declines to fight with Poseidon
over mortal men. Artemis is more bellicose, until Hera breaks her bow and arrows over
her head. All the gods now return to Olympus. Agenor posts himself before the gate to
withstand Achilles' assault, but Apollo rescues him, takes his shape, and lures Achilles
away, so that the fleeing Trojans can withdraw within the walls.
BOOK X
Everyone is asleep except Agamemnon and Menelaus, who wander anxiously about
the camp. Meeting each other outside, near the sentinels, they decide to send
Odysseus and Diomedes to reconnoitre. Hector also has sent out a spy, Dolon,
promising him the horses of Achilles. He falls in with the two Greeks, who find out all
that he knows and then despatch him, having thus learned of the arrival of the Thracian
king Rhesus with his splendid horses. They kill Rhesus and twelve of his followers, and
ride back to camp with the horses.

BOOK XXII

Hector remains in the field, despite the prayers of Priam and Hecuba that he should
take refuge in the city. He recalls now how he was thrice warned by Polydamas and
how he led his countrymen to destruction. Achilles approaches, and he flees from him
three times round the walls of the city. Zeus weighs the fatal lots: that of Hector sinks.
Apollo now deserts his favourite, and Athene checks his flight by appearing in the form
of Deiphobus and promising help. Hector falls at the hand of Achilles. As in his anger,
so in his revenge Achilles knows no bounds. The dying Hector had begged that his
body be given back for burial: Achilles drags the corpse to the ships behind his chariot.
Priam, Hecuba and Andromache break into wild lamentation.

BOOK XI

The next day's fighting (the description of which lasts until book 18) begins with the
aristeia of Agamemnon. His arms are described in great detail. Once again the
expected development of the action is held up: Agamemnon's prowess seems likely to
unsettle Zeus' plan for the discomfiture of the Achaeans, but the god knows what he is
about. He sends Iris to Hector, telling him to hold back while Agamemnon is fighting: his
time will come when Agamemnon is wounded and leaves the field. So it comes to pass,
but Odysseus and Diomedes maintain the battle on equal terms. The wounding of
Diomedes leaves Odysseus in sore straits, and even Ajax now gives ground before the
numbers of the enemy. Nestor takes the wounded Machaon onto his chariot: Achilles,
viewing the battle from the prow of his ship, wants to know whom Nestor is rescuing,
and sends Patroclus to find out. The old man holds Patroclus long in conversation and
urges him to persuade Achilles to fight, or alternatively to give his arms to Patroclus and
send him into the fray. Patroclus, moved by this appeal, hurries back: on his way he
meets the wounded Eurypylus, who needs medical help and gives but a poor account of
Greek prospects.

BOOK XXIII

Two corpses now await the purifying flames. Three times the Myrmidons march round
the corpse of Patroclus; finally they hold the funeral feast. His shade appears to Achilles
and prays for speedy cremation. Next morning the pyre is made ready: the flames are
fed with sumptuous offerings - among them the twelve Trojan captives. The next day
the bones of Patroclus are gathered together, and elaborate funeral games with costly
prizes are celebrated. In the various contests Odysseus and Ajax are pitted against
each other - craft against strength. The indecisive wrestling-match is a foretaste of the
later 'judgment of arms' - a theme probably known to Homer. It is significant that
Achilles, not hitherto noted for temperance of emotion or expression, plays the part of
the peacemaker in a dispute over the chariot-race. Here we have an anticipation of the
Achilles of the ransom scenes.

BOOK XII

The first verses of book 12 begin a new section - lasting until the end of 15 - of the great
battle. At the start we find the Achaeans fighting to defend the wall round their ships,
although their retreat from the battlefield has not been described. In fact, by a technique
unusual in epic, it has taken place while Patroclus has his scenes with Nestor and
Eurypylus. By the end of 15 Hector is about to set fire to the Greek ships. The
intervening four books contain a sequence - only substantially interrupted by the
machinations of Hera in 14 - of fluctuating fortune in general and individual encounter,
deeds of heroes and deaths of lesser mortals, clearly composed as an artistic whole.
After the retreat of the Achaeans to their ships, the Trojans try to storm the wall.
Hector's first proposal, to drive at it headlong in their chariots, is opposed by
Polydamas, who more wisely wishes to leave the chariots at the edge of the ditch. This
is his first appearance as adviser and amender of Hector's counsels - a role which he
sustains up till book 18. The fate of Asius, who assaults the wall singlehanded in his
chariot, shows that Polydamas cannot be disregarded with impunity. The Trojans,
attacking in five companies, are appalled by an evil omen, and Polydamas counsels
withdrawal. Hector rejects the warning and renews the attack. Sarpedon breaks down
part of the palisade, and Hector shatters one of the gates with a great stone.

BOOK XXIV

The anger and grief of Achilles are far from assuaged. Every day he drags Hector's
body three times round Patroclus' grave. On the twelfth day the gods intervene. Against
the wishes of the gods who hate the Trojans - it is here that we are first told of the
judgment of Parisl as the cause of Hera's and Athene's hatred - Thetis is sent to
Achilles to ask him to return the body of Hector. Iris persuades Priam to face a visit to
the Greek camp. By night he sets out with rich gifts for the man who slew the noblest of
his sons. Achilles thinks of his own father: both men weep and dismiss their anger and
resentment. The angry and implacable Achilles has learned to open his heart to
another's grief. Priam returns with Hector's body and the promise of an armistice of
twelve days. Andromache, Hecuba and Helen bewail Hector. For nine days the Trojans
gather wood; then Hector's pyre is kindled and his burial mound is built.
Exposition

The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not
returned home from the war. Odysseus' son Telemachus is twenty and is sharing his absent
father’s house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous
young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade Penelope to marry one of them, all the while
enjoying the hospitality of Odysseus' household and eating up his wealth.

Odysseus’ protectress, the goddess Athena, discusses his fate with Zeus, king of the gods, at a
moment when Odysseus' enemy, the god of the sea Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus.
Then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to
search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality; they observe the Suitors dining rowdily
while the bard Phemius performs a narrative poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius'
theme, the "Return from Troy"[4] because it reminds her of her missing husband, but Telemachus
rebuts her objections.

That night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true Telemachus. The
next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done
with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena (now disguised as his friend Mentor), he departs for
the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy,
now at home in Pylos. From there, Telemachus rides overland, accompanied by Nestor's
son,Peisistratus, to Sparta, where he finds Menelaus and Helen, now reconciled. He is told that
they returned to Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt; there, on the island of Pharos,
Menelaus encountered the old sea-god Proteus, who told him that Odysseus was a captive of the
nymph Calypso. Incidentally, Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon,
king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks at Troy: murdered on his return home by his wife
Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.

Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä

Escape to the Phaeacians

Then the story of Odysseus is told. He has spent seven years in captivity on Calypso's island. She
is persuaded to release him by the messenger god Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in
response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food and drink by
Calypso. The raft is wrecked by Poseidon, but Odysseus swims ashore on the island of Scherie,
the home of the Phaeacians, where, naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls
asleep. The next morning, awakened by the laughter of girls, he sees the young Nausicaa, who
has gone to the seashore with her maids to wash clothes, after Athena appeared to her in a dream
and told her to. He appeals to her for help. She encourages him to seek the hospitality of her
parents, Arete and Alcinous. Odysseus is welcomed and is not at first asked for his name. He
remains for several days, takes part in a pentathlon, and hears the blind singer Demodocus
perform two narrative poems. The first is an otherwise obscure incident of the Trojan War, the
"Quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles"; the second is the amusing tale of a love affair between two
Olympian gods, Ares and Aphrodite. Finally, Odysseus asks Demodocus to return to the Trojan
War theme and tell of the Trojan Horse, a stratagem in which Odysseus had played a leading
role. Unable to hide his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his identity.
He then begins to tell the story of his return from Troy.

Odysseus' account of his adventures

After a piratical raid on Ismaros in the land of the Cicones, he and his twelve ships were driven
off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters who gave two of his men their fruit
which caused them to forget their homecoming, and then were captured by the Cyclops
Polyphemus, only escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping,
however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father,
Poseidon, who had blinded him. They stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds; he gave
Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have
ensured a safe return home. However, the sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept,
thinking that it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships
back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight.

After pleading in vain with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embarked and encountered the
cannibalistic Laestrygonians. Odysseus’s ship was the only one to escape. He sailed on and
visited the witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese
and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called moly, a
resistance to Circe’s magic. Circe, being attracted to Odysseus' resistance, fell in love with him
and released his men. Odysseus and his crew remained with her on the island for one year, while
they feasted and drank. Finally, Odysseus' men convinced Odysseus that it was time to leave for
Ithaca. Guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a
harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead and summoned
the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias to advise him. Next Odysseus met the spirit of his own
mother, who had died of grief during his long absence; from her, he learned for the first time
news of his own household, threatened by the greed of the suitors. Here, too, he met the spirits of
famous women and famous men; notably he encountered the spirit of Agamemnon, of whose
murder he now learned, who also warned him about the dangers of women (for Odysseus'
encounter with the dead, see also Nekuia).

Returning to Circe’s island, they were advised by her on the remaining stages of the journey.
They skirted the land of the Sirens, passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the
whirlpool Charybdis, and landed on the island of Thrinacia. There, Odysseus’ men ignored the
warnings of Tiresias and Circe, and hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. This
sacrilege was punished by a shipwreck in which all but Odysseus drowned. He was washed
ashore on the island of Calypso, where she compelled him to remain as her lover for seven years
before he escaped.

[edit] Return to Ithaca

Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians, who are skilled mariners, agree
to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbor
on Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own former slaves, the swineherd Eumaeus.
Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar in order to learn how things stand in his
household. After dinner, he tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself: he was born in
Crete, had led a party of Cretans to fight alongside other Greeks in the Trojan War, and had then
spent seven years at the court of the king of Egypt; finally he had been shipwrecked in
Thesprotia and crossed from there to Ithaca.

Meanwhile, Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set by the suitors. He
disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and makes for Eumaeus’s hut. Father and son meet; Odysseus
identifies himself to Telemachus (but still not to Eumaeus) and they determine that the suitors
must be killed. Telemachus gets home first. Accompanied by Eumaeus, Odysseus now returns to
his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He experiences the suitors’ rowdy behavior and
plans their death. He meets Penelope and tests her intentions with an invented story of his birth
in Crete, where, he says, he once met Odysseus. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently
been in Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus’s recent wanderings.

Odysseus’s identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, as she is washing his feet and
discovers an old scar Odysseus had received during a boar hunt. He'd received the scar when he
was hunting with the sons of Autolycus. They had been told to go boar hunting so that they could
prepare a meal with the meat. The three climbed Mount Parnassus and eventually came across a
boar in a large and deep meadow. Because of the meadow's depth, the three hunters were
ambushed by the seemingly invisible boar and when Odysseus first saw the animal, he rushed at
it but the animal was too fast and slashed him in the right thigh. Despite being gored by the boar,
Odysseus still hit his mark and stabbed the boar through the shoulder. Odysseus' bleeding was
staunched by a spell that was chanted by the sons of Autolycus and he received great glory and
treasure for his bravery.[5] Having seen this scar, Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about Odysseus'
true identity, but Athena makes sure that Penelope cannot hear Eurycleia. Meanwhile Odysseus
swears her to secrecy, threatening to kill her if she tells anyone.

Slaying of the suitors

The next day, at Athena’s prompting, Penelope maneuvers the suitors into competing for her
hand with an archery competition using Odysseus' bow. The man who can string the bow and
shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition himself:
he alone is strong enough to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making
him the winner. He then turns his arrows on the suitors and with the help of Athena, Telemachus,
Eumaeus and Philoteus the cowherd, he kills all the suitors. Odysseus and Telemachus hang
twelve of their household maids, who had betrayed Penelope or had sex with the suitors, or both;
they mutilate and kill the goatherd Melanthius, who had mocked and abused Odysseus. Now at
last, Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She is hesitant, but accepts him when he mentions
that their bed was made from an olive tree still rooted to the ground. Many modern and ancient
scholars take this to be the original ending of the Odyssey, and the rest to be an interpolation.

The next day he and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laertes, who likewise
accepts his identity only when Odysseus correctly describes the orchard that Laertes had
previously given him.

The citizens of Ithaca have followed Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge the killing of the
suitors, their sons. Their leader points out that Odysseus has now caused the deaths of two
generations of the men of Ithaca: his sailors, not one of whom survived; and the suitors, whom
he has now executed. The goddess Athena intervenes and persuades both sides to give up the
vendetta. After this, Ithaca is at peace once more, concluding the Odyssey.

The Danish king Hrothgar was enjoying a great reign when he begins having trouble in his
kingdom with a monster Grendel that has invaded his mead hall. The mead hall is the gathering
place of the Danes where they sing and feast, yet Grendel occupies it nightly devouring any
Dane who enters. For twelve years Grendel prevents anybody from entering the mead hall
causing Hrothgar to be miserable.

From across the sea the Geats hear of the Danes terrible problem with Grendel and rush Beowulf
and a group of his men to aid the Danes. The men arrive and immediately prepare to take on
Grendel at night. They camp out in the mead hall and wait for Grendel. When he comes they are
all asleep but Beowulf who is only pretending. Grendel snatches up one soldier and eats him.
Next he reaches to eat Beowulf, who grabs Grendel's arm and rips it off. Grendel fleas leaving a
long trace of blood, and Beowulf and his men rejoice knowing Grendel is dead. Beowulf hangs
the arm from the rafters of the mead hall.

Later that night Grendel's mother comes to the mead hall to avenge her son's death and snatches
up one soldier quickly while also picking up her son's arm. She fleas quickly
however because she does not have the strength to battle like her son.

Beowulf and his men are enraged so they follow her to her home under a lake. Beowulf dives
into the lake and finds her lair. He struggles with her and eventually finds a sword that is shining
from the light of God, he takes and uses it to behead her. He later chops the head off of the dead
Grendel and takes it to the surface. He comes out of the water and his men are all joyful as they
go to give the great news to Hrothgar. Hroghgar is ecstatic and gives gifts to the men.

50 years later Beowulf is the king of the Danes, a Dragon is terrorizing the people. Beowulf by
then is old and yet he still goes to fight the Dragon and takes a group of men with him. When
they arrive all but one of them flea, Wiglaf, he helps kill the Dragon, who slashed at Beowulf's
throat causing him to die. Beowulf did make a speech before dying saying that Wiglaf was the
last true warrior. Wiglaf later yelled at the other men for running away. And when all was said
and done the Danes built Beowulf a funeral pyre to honor him.

In the end it is obvious that Beowulf was a legend to the Danes and his legacy lived on for
thousands of years. Wiglaf's bravery at the end to help Beowulf defeat the dragon makes
Beowulf proud and is in the tradition of great warriors like Beowulf. This story has a great plot
that develops because of the three problems that Beowulf encounters. It is very easy to follow
and very good reading once the summary and general idea is given off to the reader.