Matthew Jankowski’s Reviews > The Odyssey > Status Update

Peace: Agamemnon tells Achilles of his own awesome funeral. Hermes leads the suitors to the underworld. Amphimedon relates how all the suitors died. Awesome. Odysseus meets his father, laertes. The suitors families, warned by the bard and the sewer, seek Odysseus, seek his death. A battle starts and is quickly ended by Athena. The gods willed peace. Awesome.

The Great Rooted Bed: unbelieving Penelope learns the stranger is Odysseus. Joyously reunited, Odysseus asks all to dance and sing, so Ithaca believes all is well. Penelope regrets not recognizing Odysseus. Athena delays the suns rising, having orchestrated so much already. Odysseus tells the story of the great bed. He tells her of all his trials and travels. The four men leave town under Pallas Athena's watchful eye

Slaughter in the Hall: name says it all. Treacherous Melithius the goatherd gets strung up only to be tortured later. All the suitors save the bard and one other die. Antonius is first to go. Eurymachus offers pentane, but is turned down. Odysseus roams the halls killing all. The treacherous maids are brought in to do the cleaning. Then they are strung up. Odysseus then purifies the house with fire.

Odysseus strings his bow: Weeping Penelope fetches Odysseus's bow. One he was given as a gift. The suitor attempt to string the bow to no avail. The cowherd philoetius and Swineherd eumaeus are recruited by Odysseus. His only two honest men. Odysseus asks to try. The bow. The suitors object. Telemachus takes command, impressing Penelope. Eumaeus brings the bow to Odysseus, with hesitation. The S and c lock the doors.

Portents: Odysseus sleeps by the door, watching the serving maids going to the suitors. Clenching his teeth. He wakes to a thunderclap from Zeus, a benign portent. The herdsman arrive, Eumaeus and another ally as well as the unfriendly one, they eat. Ctesippius from same throws a ox hoof at Odysseus. Odysseus ducks. The suitors laugh almost to years. The seer predicts their doom.

Penelope and her Guest: telemachus and odysseus take the extra weapons to the storeroom. Guided bu athena. Melantho, eurymachus's lover, seals her fate. Odysseus visits with Penelope. Tests her. Eurycleia, recognizes the scar onodysseus's thigh. She swears silence. Night falls.

The Beggar King of Ithaca: Odysseus fights Irus, ithacas town beggar. Amphinomus talks with Odysseus,who gives him a chance to leave and save his life. Penelope addresses the suitors, demands gifts. Eurymachus and his lover draw Odysseus's wrath.

Stranger at the Gates: Telemachus greets eurycleia, his old nurse. Penelope chides him about pylos. Euremous brings the stranger to Odysseus's castle. Antonius makes an ass of himself throwing a stool at a poor old beggar. Penelope summons the beggar to her.

Father and Son: Telemachus visits the Swineherd. He treats disguised Odysseus kindly and tells the Swineherd to go to Penelope. Pallas Athena undisguised Odysseus and father and son meet at last. They plot revenge on the suitors. Swineherd returns, Pallas redisguises Odysseus. Antonius and eurymachus plot Telemachus death. Amphinomus dissents. Penelope overhears and chides the suitors.

The Prince Sets Sail for Home: Telemachus sets sail for home. Theoclemuts some sort of seer, joins him. He pulls into Ithaca sending the seer with a friend. Odysseus readies to return home. Eumaeus relates the sad story of how he came to Ithaca.