True Odyssey
written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon
Odysseus is known worldwide from Homer’s Odyssey and his book ” Iliad”. A single-minded person who represents the average Greek in intelligence, resourcefulness, ingenuity, love of the sea and fighting spirit. Son of Sisyphus or Laertes and raised in Ithaca where his father’s kingdom was. [Modern historical researchers claim that Homer’s Ithaca was Cephalonia and not Ithaca, and the dispute continues].
He was raised by Eurycleia, an excellent educator. When he came of age he visited his grandfather Autolycus on Parnassus to receive gifts, who had built up a fortune there and had taken part in the Argonauts’ expedition. He is said to have given him
the name, as was customary. He went out with Autolycus’ sons to hunt wild boars and was bitten in the leg by a boar. His wound was healed by Eurycleia’s care, but the scar on his leg remained as a mark. He ruled the Ionian islands plus the coast of Acarnania except Corfu. Odysseus, while his father was alive, ruled Zakynthos, Lefkada, Cephalonia, which was then called Samos (today Sami is the name of the port connected to Kyllini in Elis), as well as the coast of Acarnania and the surrounding islands. All the subjects of his kingdom. Homer named the Cephalenes after Cephalus [Note. Cephalus was the ancestor of the Attic clan of the Cephalids. Various traditions state that Cephalus was the son of the king of Phocis, Dioneus or Dioneus. Aided by Amphitryon, he expelled the Teleboeans from Cephalonia, where he settled with his people and gave it his name, which it bears to this day.] He also came to the assembly of Helen’s suitors, gave his advice about the oath to Tyndareus and took Penelope as his wife. There he showed the first fruit of his cunning and treachery. After the suitors had sworn an oath, when the ships were gathering for the campaign, he broke his oath and did not want to campaign, because he loved Penelope and the oracle he received said that he would return after twenty years naked and unhappy after wandering and suffering. Then Agamemnon, Menelaus and Palamedes came to Ithaca to persuade him. But he pretended to be mad and yoked an ox and a donkey or a horse to the plow to show his madness. But the wise Palamedes put the then infant Telemachus in front of the plow and realized his lie, as when the plow reached the infant he lifted it up so as not to harm it. Following this and his oath he was forced to join the army by force with twelve (12) ships, but he freed Palamedes from them. He deceived Clytemnestra and took Iphigenia. When the fleet was preparing in Aulis, he was also sent to Skyros and discovered Achilles’ pretense. Then he came to Mycenae with forged letters and deceived Clytemnestra and took Iphigenia. Finally, he was sent as an ambassador to Troy to ask for Helen but returned empty-handed. When the expeditionary force arrived in Troas, he cunningly killed the wise Palamedes, conspired against Ajax the Telamonian and almost had him stoned because he accused him of raping Cassandra in the temple of Athena, but he also brought misfortune to Philoctetes, that is, to the most heroic fighters of the Greeks. He almost killed Diomedes with his own hand with treachery, despite the fact that he was his foremost friend. So they rightly called him the destroyer of heroes and the enemy of the best. His cunning, treachery, eloquence, and persuasion played more role in the fall of Troy than the bravery and strategies of the heroic fighters. He was the man who stole the victory with his plans and cunning, as the captured Trojans confessed regarding who was entitled to the weapons of Achilles. However, he was also a worthy fighter, having killed twelve (12) enemy officers with his own hands. [Cyranus, Noemon, Alastor, Chronius, Alexander, Alius, Iphitis, Prytanus, Charsidamas, Charopa, Thoas and Eunomius] He built the Trojan Horse. Finally, the construction of the Trojan Horse was his own work, and he entered it last and closed the door on himself. HIS RETURN On his return, a storm threw him into Ismarus, a city of the Cikonians in Thrace, and after capturing it, his companions found food and plenty of wine in the city and ate and drank carefree on the shore and did not want to leave. Then the Cikoneans, rushing at them by surprise, killed seventy of them, six from each ship, and then they departed in safety. Then they encountered contrary winds and went out to some coast without naming it, where they remained three days. From there, departing, they arrived at Malea at the end of the Peloponnese, full of joy that they would soon reach Ithaca. However, a sudden north wind went to the Ionian Sea, they passed to the left of Kythera and, having been astray for nine days, on the tenth day they arrived at Sicily. to the land of the Lotus Eaters. He sent two men and a herald to spy out the land of the Lotus Eaters, but they ate lotus and stayed there. He went and found them and tied them to the ship so that they would not leave and immediately departed so that the others would not leave either. From there he came at night to a small island of the Cyclopes, desert, which had many wild goats and stayed there at night. The next day they hunted and caught one hundred and eighteen wild goats and ate them all day. At night they saw a fire in the land of the Cyclopes and heard some faint voices. The next day he went there alone with his ship and hid it on the shore in a secret place. He, with twelve men and Maroneian wine and some food, entered Polyphemus’ cave, while he was tending the sheep outside. The men said to eat milk and cheese, take as many sheep as they could and leave. But Odysseus wanted to see Polyphemus and his ethos. That is why they hid in the corners of the cave, waiting for Polyphemus to arrive. He returned in the evening and lit the fire, then he saw them and asked who they were. Where did they come from and where is their ship? Odysseus replied that they were from the army of Agamemnon who fought in Troy and were shipwrecked with their ship and are seeking asylum to stay in the name of Xenios Zeus. Then Polyphemus told him that the Cyclopes neither worship nor fear the gods, because they are stronger than them, and he ate two of them at his evening meal and two more in the morning. Then he took the sheep out to pasture and closed the cave and the prisoners together. Seeing the great danger because the rock at the exit of the cave was massive and immovable, Odysseus decided to blind the Cyclops. Inside the cave there was a tree that Polyphemus used as a staff. They chopped and thinned it all day and after hiding it in the manure they rested. When he came at dusk he ate two more and then Odysseus gave him wine from Maroneia. He drank two or three times and asked him what his name was, giving thanks for the wine. Odysseus said his name was “Utis”. Polyphemus replied “Utis I will eat last” and the others first and fell asleep. Upon hearing the news, Odysseus burned the tip of the club and stuck it in his eye and blinded him. Then he began to scream, crying out about the evil that had befallen him so that his neighbors would come to his aid. When they asked him what had happened to him, he replied, “Utis killed me deceitfully.” After this, they left because they thought he was furious. In the morning, he opened the door and scolded the sheep before they came out from under his legs to catch their murderers. But they chose the large hairy goats hanging under their bellies, went out, grabbed some sheep and went to the ship. As they left, Odysseus cursed him shouting. Then he grabbed a large boulder and threw it into the sea and created a violent wave that threw the ship to the ground. As they moved away, everyone told him not to shout again and irritate the wild and bestial beast, but he said in a stentorian voice: “Oh! Cyclops, Odysseus of Laertes has blinded you.” Then he remembered the seer Telemon, who had prophesied this misfortune to him. Invoking his father Poseidon as revenge, he threw a large stone at the ship, which was in danger of sinking. Finally, they came to the other ships and found them crying waiting for them. They slaughtered Polyphemus’ sheep and having dined, they slept there that night. The next day they rowed to the island of Aeolus and stayed for a whole month, being guests and telling the stories of the military exploits in Troy. From there they took the winds in their bag and set sail and after ten days of sailing they reached a point where they could see Ithaca. But because he fell asleep and someone opened the bag, a storm occurred and turned them back to the island of Aeolus, but he did not receive them. They departed from there rowing because Aeolus closed the winds in the sack on the seventh day they came to Laistrygonia, where the Laistrygonians destroyed the eleven ships. Only Odysseus remained with one ship and forty-five men. They departed from there and came with fear and terror to the island of Circe and, having gone out to land, they remained fasting for two days and nights And saddened by the loss of their companions. On the third day, Odysseus reconnoitered the area and saw the kingdoms of Circe. For this purpose he divided their men into two groups of 22 men, and appointed commanders to each group, the lot fell to Eurylochus as commander of one group and himself of the other. Eurylochus undertook to reconnoiter the location, and he and the others remained on the ship, which was now their only consolation. They kissed their companions, probably for the last time, and, weeping and wailing, they came to the kingdoms of Circe.
There they stayed for a year and Circe told Odysseus that it was impossible for him to return to Ithaca unless he went down to Hades to ask about the soul of Tiresias. Then she advised him of the place and the way to go down. While he was getting ready, a man named Elpinor, being drunk, fell and was killed. They left him unburied due to violence and departed. When they reached the Hesperian and Cimmerian Oceans, from there they went down to Hades where Odysseus dug a pit and sacrificed a ram and a sheep and called the souls to drink the blood. He saw the soul of Elpinor coming first and, marveling at her, asked her how she came first before him while she was coming on foot? She begged him to bury her body when he returned. Then came the soul of his mother Anticleia. But he drew his sword and prevented them from drinking blood before asking the soul of Tiresias. She came and drank blood from the pit and told him all the future. Then all the souls came and drank blood and each one told who she was, what happened to her in the world and how she died. Finally, afraid that Medusa would come too, he returned to Circe and buried Elpinor. After being informed by Circe about her return route, the dangers she would face and after providing himself, he departed from there. The first danger he encountered was the melody of the Sirens. He tried to avoid them by passing between Scylla and Charybdis, but Scylla snatched six (6) of his companions, while the others were saved. After a short rowing trip they reached the island of Thrinakia, where the cows of Helios were. There they stayed thirty-nine (39) days. Eurylochus and Perimedes tied Odysseus to the mast while sailing past the Sirens. Odysseus, following the advice of Tiresias and Circe, did not want to go to this island, but the crew and especially Eurylochus prevailed, saying that it was necessary to rest a little on land. After this, Odysseus adjured them not to harm the cows of Helios, because it would be bad for everyone. Because a strong wind was blowing, they stayed there for a month and ate all the provisions that Circe gave them. After this, they lived very poorly from hunting and from the fields and were hungry. When one day Odysseus went to the interior of the island to pray and fell asleep there, Eurylochus persuaded the others to slaughter some cows of the Sun and when they came to Ithaca to build a temple in honor of Helios for the forgiveness of sins. Finally, if Helios and the other gods get angry and drown them, they will die a lighter death than from hunger. When Odysseus arrived, he smelled the smell from afar, but the evil had already happened. They ate richly for six days, while he sat sad and melancholy, foreseeing the evils to come. On the seventh day, the south wind gave out and they set sail. But after a while a very strong Zephyrus (western Punentes) blew, the sea became stormy, huge waves broke the mast and killed the captain. After a while, lightning struck and broke the ship, everyone drowned and only Odysseus escaped, who tied the mast to the stern of the ship, which was tossed about in the waves. At sunrise, he found himself near Charybdis. He was caught by a fig tree in front of the cave of Charybdis, as he entered it with the wave, he caught up and hung himself from the fig tree when Charybdis sucked in the water, and when the water level rose and the wood came out, he sat on it again. He wandered around for nine days and nights, tossing and turning, and on the tenth he came out to Ogygia, the island of Calypso, where he remained for seven years and had a child from her. Calypso tried to keep him, but he refused, and then she gave him tools to build a boat. The construction took four days, and taking supplies that Calypso gave him, he set sail alone on the fifth day. He sailed for seventeen days successfully, and on the eighteenth he saw the island of the Phaeacians, today’s Corfu. Then Poseidon started a storm, taking revenge for Polyphemus, and overturned his boat, and Odysseus fell into the sea. Sinking into the water and coming out again as it spun in the waves, he tried to catch the boat again. Finally he caught it upside down and sat on it and wandered here and there for two days, unruly, drifting with the waves. On the third day, Lefkothea appeared and told him to leave the ship and his clothes and gave him the life jacket to spread across his chest and swim to the island. However, he wanted to stay on the ship, but immediately the waves threw him into the sea and he began to swim. He took a lot of risks but in the end he came out on the island near the river. He climbed up into the coastal forest and fell asleep exhausted after wrapping himself in the leaves. Then by chance Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, went down to the river with her attendants to whiten the dresses, and as they were playing and joking, they woke Odysseus.
He asked them for help, and Nausicaa gave him clothes and food and brought him to her father’s house, where he found a good reception as a stranger and a stranger. After dinner, Arete, the wife of Alcinous, recognized her clothes and asked him where he had found them. Then she told what had happened since his departure from Ogygia, as written in “H” of the Odyssey. After this, Alcinous called the Phaeacians to the Church to consult about the stranger. He prepared a ship to send him wherever he wanted to go and offered him a rich meal with many dishes and magnificence. After the meal, he also organized a discus race in which Odysseus competed with the best Phaeacian athletes. Then the musician Demodocus sang various pieces and poems as well as the introduction of the Trojan Horse to Troad. Upon hearing this, Odysseus wept. Then Alcinous out of curiosity asked him who he was, where he was from and why he was crying. He revealed himself and narrated his wanderings and what happened to him from Troad to Ogygia, which are contained in I, K, L and M of the Odyssey. The Phaeacians gave him valuable gifts and sent him to Ithaca on a ship built for distinguished persons. He fell asleep in the stern and the sailors took him out asleep in the harbor of Forkynos. He deposited the gifts far from the road near an olive tree so that passers-by would not take them. Then they returned and then Poseidon stoned their ship. When Odysseus woke up, he consulted the goddess Athena, hid the gifts in a cave and then came to the housekeeper Eumaeus and found him in the fields unrecognizable as an old beggar. He told him many and sundry things about his house and that of Odysseus. Then Telemachus returned from Pylos and seeing him asked Eumaeus who he was? He told him what Odysseus had told him. Then he sent him to Penelope to announce his return from Pylos. And then Odysseus found the opportunity to reveal himself to Telemachus and they planned the betrothal. Then Telemachus went to his house and in a little while Eumaeus brought Odysseus as a stranger and a beggar. Because only Telemachus knew him and the house dog that he had raised when he entered the suitors’ banquet but no one noticed. Here the lies stop and the Mnesterophony begins (Continued with the Mnesterophony) (20/2/25)
* Amphiktyon the General of the Greek Army Konstantinos Konstantinidis Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers amphiktyon@gmail.com
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