THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY

• Books 1-4 focus upon Odysseus’ son, Telemachos, his efforts to expel the suitors of his mother,
Penelope, from their house, and his journey to Pylos and Sparta in search of news of his
father.
Books 5 -12 describe Odysseus’ release by Kalypso, and his arrival and reception in the land of the
Phaiakians, an idealized kingdom. There he tells the story of his wanderings
At Athene's urging, Zeus sends the messenger god, Hermes, to the nymph, Kalypso, to tell her to allow Odysseus to
go home. Odysseus makes a raft and sails towards Scheria, the land of the Phaiakians. The sea-god, Poseidon, still
angry at Odysseus, wrecks his raft, but Odysseus reaches shore safely with the help of Athene and the sea nymph,
Ino.
• In books 13 to 16, Odysseus and his son, Telemachos, return separately to Ithaka;
Odysseus reveals himself to his son and plots revenge on the suitors before returning
to his palace.
• In books 17-23, Odysseus returns to his palace, disguised as a beggar, and he is
abused by the suitors. His wife, Penelope, proposes a contest with Odysseus’ bow to
determine which of the suitors she will marry, and, after all fail, the disguised
Odysseus strings the bow, shoots his mark, reveals himself, and attacks the suitors.
All of the suitors are slaughtered, the disloyal servants are punished and Odysseus
and Penelope are reunited.
• BOOK 24 seems to some an odd appendix or epilogue to the text. In it, the scene
shifts to the underworld as Hermes leads the shades of the suitors to the land of the
dead. There, Agamemnon and Achilleus are talking about each other's deaths, and
Agamemnon describes the funeral of Achilleus. The ghosts of the suitors arrive and
describe their fate to the heroes of Troy. Agamemnon praises Odysseus' wife,
Penelope, for her faithfulness, and curses his own wife, Klytaimestra. Meanwhile,
Odysseus goes to the farm of his father, Laertes, and, after telling a false story,
reveals himself. The suitors' relatives plan revenge. After one of them is killed,
Athene intervenes to make peace.
• THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY: the last word
It might seem odd that the shade of Agamemnon recalls the funeral of Achilleus near the
end of the Iliad, but it is consistent with the effort in both the Iliad and the Odyssey to
frame a particular story of one hero within the larger context of the Trojan War and its
aftermath. In the Odyssey, this ending marks the last word in the poet's struggle with the
Iliad: by describing Achilleus' death and funeral, the poet of the Odyssey "completes" the
Iliad. That this final episode is told by the shade of Agamemnon to the shade of Achilleus,
in the land of the dead, only underscores the contrast between Achilleus' choice of a short
life and Odysseus' struggle to survive
• Of course, we might also read a final tribute to the Iliad in the poet's description of the
nine Muses singing a dirge over Achilleus' corpse. We may never be sure what the poet of
the Odyssey's final verdict on the Iliad is, but that, after all, is the conclusion we should
expect from an epic that invites us to compare different stories, to hear different voices,
and to distinguish truth from lies. As Hesiod's Muses would say, "We know enough to
make up lies which are convincing, but we also have the skill, when we've a mind, to
speak the truth." (Theogony 26-28). With this, we look backwards to the world of the
ever-changing oral epic, and forwards to the individual, named poets of the lyric age and
their diverse personae.
• Thanks.