Resumo de The Odissey

We cannot deal with The Odyssey without making reference to the
work that comes before historically, The Iliad, which is mainly concerned with
the siege of Troy.

Odysseus (Ulysses ? Roman) was one of the main characters in The
Iliad and the central character of The Odyssey.

Odysseus was the King of Ithaca and took part in the Trojan War,
which was caused by the abduction of Helen, Menelaus? wife by Paris. She was
taken to the fortified city of Troy. Menelaus was the brother of
Agamemnon who was the King of Sparta. It was Agamemnon who organized the
Greek expedition to Troy to regain Helen.

Odysseus was part of this expedition and he was one of Agamemnon?s
chief advisors. It was his plan to use a wooden horse to gain access to
the city.

The whole campaign against the Trojans took ten years and in the
end it was cunning that brought victory to the Greeks.

The wooden horse is famous for the old saying, ?Never trust a
Greek bearing gifts? and ?Don?t look a gift horse in the mouth?.

The slaughter and looting of Troy offended the gods, in particular
the goddess Athena who was enraged at the rape of Cassandra within her own
temple.

When the Greek fleet returned home, they were scattered by a great
storm and many ships were lost.

Odysseus was to be the last Greek to return home, and his ten-year
voyage is the subject matter of The Odyssey. Odysseus first sailed to Thrace
where he lost many of his men in a battle. His next port of call was the
Land of the Lotus Eaters where those that consumed this narcotic loose all
memory of family and home.

He then landed on Sicily where lived the Cyclops, a giant race and
Odysseus and his men were captured by Polyphemus, Poseidon?s son. Polyphemus
liked the taste of human flesh and it was only after Odysseus had lost several of
his companions that he managed to escape this Cyclops by putting out his single
eye. This act greatly enraged the sea god Poseidon.

They next landed on the island of Aeolus, who was the ruler of the
winds. Odysseus was given a rare gift ? a sack full of the winds that
would not drive him off course. With this gift, he was able to set sail
for home, and within sight of Ithaca, his men thinking the bag contained gold,
opened it and they were then at the mercy of the winds and were driven far from
home.

Their next encounter was with the Laestrygones, a race of giant
cannibals. Odysseus? squadron of ships was attacked, and only his ship
survived.

Odysseus? ship came under the spell of Circe who turned half of Odysseus?
men into swine. With the aid of Hermes, the messenger of the gods,
Odysseus was able to resist Circe?s spells, and the enchantress then restored
his men to their original form. Circe advised Odysseus that he would never be
able to return home unless he went to see the blind seer Tiresias who dwelt in
the realm of Hades.

Odysseus traveled to the edge of the world and met with many
ghosts of the past including Agamemnon, and his mother. The blind seer
was able to tell him what was happening back in Ithaca and Agamemnon also
warned him to be careful when he returned home. Agamemnon had been murdered by
his wife and her lover in the bathroom.

Odysseus traveled back towards Greece and he still had many
challenges to face.

Firstly there were the Sirens, whose song would drive a man mad.

There was also Scylla, a six-headed monster that resided in a cave
near the great whirlpool Charybdis.

His ship was wrecked and he was washed up on a wondrous island,
which was home to the sea nymph Calypso. There he remained for seven years and
Calypso wished to marry him, but she was forced by the gods to set Odysseus
free.

Odysseus was shipwrecked again, in the land of the Phaeacians
where he was welcomed as an honored guest. They provided him with a
magnificent ship and guided him back to Ithaca.

All this time, his wife Penelope had been waiting patiently for
the return of her husband, twenty years in total. During this time,
suitors had besieged her and she had managed to repel their advances, but time
was now running short. These suitors had also squandered Odysseus? possessions.
Finally Penelope agreed to marry the suitor who could bend and string Odysseus?
great bow and shoot an arrow through ten axes. All who tried, failed. Then a
beggar requested a turn. He succeeded and then he threw off his disguise
to reveal himself as Odysseus.

Odysseus assisted by his son Telemachus and some royal retainers
slaughtered the suitors and hanged the treacherous maidservants.

Odysseus was happily reunited with Penelope and Zeus sent a
thunderbolt signaling the end of Odysseus? trials.

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