great epic ancient Greece came to us in the form of two works by Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey. Both poems are devoted to events of approximately the same time: and its consequences. The war has just ended. Odysseus proved to be an excellent warrior, an intelligent strategist. Thanks to his cunning decisions, more than one battle was won. This is evidenced by his own story in the poem, more precisely, his summary. Homer's Odyssey (and his second poem, the Iliad) not only beautifully portray historical events, but also has a great artistic presentation. The facts are decorated with rich imagination of the author. It is thanks to this that history has gone beyond the usual annals or chronicles and has become the property of world literature.

Homer's poem "The Odyssey". Summary

After the war, Odysseus went home to his native Ithaca, where he was the ruler. There his old father Laertes, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus are waiting for him. Along the way, Odysseus is captured by the nymph Calypso. Spends several years there. And at this time in his kingdom there is a struggle for the throne. There are many contenders for the place of Odysseus. They live in his palace and convince Penelope that her husband is dead and will not return, and she must decide who she will marry again. But Penelope is faithful to Odysseus and is ready to wait for him for many years. To cool the pretenders to the throne and her hand, she comes up with various tricks. For example, she knits a shroud for old Laertes, promising to make a decision as soon as the work is done. And at night she dissolves the already connected. Meanwhile, Telemachus had matured. One day a stranger came to him and advised him to equip a ship and go in search of his father. In the form of a wanderer, She herself was hiding and patronized Odysseus. Telemachus followed her advice. He ends up in Pylos with Nestor. The elder says that Odysseus is alive and is with Calypso. Telemachus decides to return home, to please his mother with good news and to drive away annoying applicants for the royal place. The events of the poem convey a brief summary. Odyssey Homer draws like fairy tale hero who went through terrible trials. Zeus, at the request of Athena, sends Hermes to Calypso and orders Odysseus to be released. He builds himself a raft and sets sail. But Poseidon again interferes with him: in a storm, the logs of the raft are broken. But Athena saves him again and brings him to the kingdom of Alcinous. He is received as a guest, and at the feast Odysseus recounts his adventures. Nine fantasy stories creates Homer. The Odyssey (summary and conveys these stories) is a fabulous frame of real historical events.

Adventures of Odysseus

First, Odysseus and his companions ended up on an island with a magical lotus that deprives memory. locals, lotophages, treated the guests with a lotus, and they forgot about their Ithaca. Odysseus hardly led them to the ship and went on. The second adventure is a meeting with the Cyclopes. With difficulty, the sailors manage to blind the main Cyclops Polyphemus and, hiding under the skins of sheep, exit the cave and escape from the island. You can find out about further events by reading the summary. Homer's "Odyssey" leads the reader after his hero, covers a long period of time - about twenty years. After the island of the Cyclopes, Odysseus ended up on the island to Aeolus, who gave the guest one fair wind and hid three more winds in a bag, tied it up and warned that it was only possible to untie the bag in Ithaca. But Odysseus's friends untied the sack while he slept, and the winds brought their ship back to Aeolus. Then there was a collision with cannibal giants, and Odysseus miraculously managed to escape. Then the travelers visited Queen Kirka, who turned everyone into animals, in the kingdom of the dead, by cunning they managed to get past the seductive Sirens, swim in the strait between the monsters on the island of the Sun. This is the poem, its summary. Homer returns the Odyssey to his homeland, and he, together with Telemachus, expels all the "suitors" of Penelope. Peace reigns in Ithaca. The ancient poem is of interest to modern reader And How historical work, and as classical fiction.

Odyssey (Odysseia) - Epic poem

The Trojan War was started by the gods so that the time of heroes would end and the present, human, iron age would come. Who did not die at the walls of Troy, he had to die on the way back.

Most of the surviving Greek leaders sailed to their homeland, as they sailed to Troy - in a common fleet through the Aegean Sea. When they were halfway there, the sea god Poseidon broke out in a storm, the ships were swept away, people drowned in the waves and crashed on the rocks. Only the chosen ones were destined to be saved. But even those were not easy. Perhaps only the wise old Nestor managed to calmly reach his kingdom in the city of Pylos. The supreme king Agamemnon overcame the storm, but only to die even more terrible death- in his native Argos, he was killed by his own wife and her avenging lover; the poet Aeschylus will later write a tragedy about this. Menelaus, with Helen returned to him, was carried by the winds far into Egypt, and it took him a very long time to get to his Sparta. But the longest and most difficult of all was the path of the cunning king Odysseus, whom the sea carried around the world for ten years. About his fate, Homer composed his second poem: "Muse, tell me about that highly experienced husband who, / Wandering long from the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him, / Visited many people of the city and saw customs, / Endured much grief on the seas caring about salvation ... "

The Iliad is a heroic poem, its action takes place on a battlefield and in a military camp. "Odyssey" is a fabulous and everyday poem, its action takes place, on the one hand, in the magical lands of giants and monsters, where Odysseus wandered, on the other hand, in his small kingdom on the island of Ithaca and in its environs, where Odysseus was waiting for his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. As in the Iliad, only one episode, "the wrath of Achilles", is chosen for the narrative, so in the "Odyssey" - only the very end of his wanderings, the last two stages, from the far western edge of the earth to his native Ithaca. About everything that happened before, Odysseus tells at the feast in the middle of the poem, and tells very briefly: all these fabulous adventures the poem accounts for fifty pages out of three hundred. In the Odyssey, the fairy tale sets off life, and not vice versa, although readers, both ancient and modern, were more willing to re-read and recall the fairy tale.

In the Trojan War, Odysseus did a lot for the Greeks - especially where they needed not strength, but intelligence. It was he who guessed to bind Elena's suitors with an oath to help her chosen one against any offender, and without this the army would never have gathered on a campaign. It was he who attracted the young Achilles to the campaign, and without this the victory would have been impossible. It was he, when, at the beginning of the Iliad, the Greek army, after a general meeting, almost rushed from Troy on the way back, managed to stop him. It was he who persuaded Achilles, when he quarreled with Agamemnon, to return to the battle. When, after the death of Achilles, the armor of the slain was to receive best warrior Greek camp, they were received by Odysseus, not Ajax. When Troy could not be taken by siege, it was Odysseus who came up with the idea of ​​​​building a wooden horse, in which the bravest Greek leaders hid and thus penetrated into Troy - and he is one of them. The goddess Athena, the patroness of the Greeks, loved Odysseus the most of them and helped him at every step. But the god Poseidon hated him - we will soon find out why - and it was Poseidon who, with his storms, did not allow him to reach his homeland for ten years. Ten years under Troy, ten years in wanderings - and only in the twentieth year of his trials does the action of the Odyssey begin.

It begins, as in the Iliad, Zeus' will. The gods hold a council, and Athena intercedes with Zeus for Odysseus. He is a prisoner of the nymph Calypso, who is in love with him, on an island in the very middle of a wide sea, and languishes, in vain wishing "to see at least smoke rising from his native shores in the distance." And in his kingdom, on the island of Ithaca, everyone already considers him dead, and the surrounding nobles demand that Queen Penelope choose a new husband from among them, and a new king for the island. There are more than a hundred of them, they live in the Odysseus Palace, feast and drink wildly, ruining the Odysseus economy, and have fun with the Odysseus slaves. Penelope tried to deceive them: she said that she had made a vow to announce her decision not before weaving a shroud for old Laertes, Odysseus's father, who was about to die. During the day she wove in front of everyone, and at night she secretly unraveled what was woven. But the servants betrayed her cunning, and it became more and more difficult for her to resist the insistence of the suitors. With her is her son Telemachus, whom Odysseus left as a baby; but he is young and is not considered.

And now an unfamiliar wanderer comes to Telemachus, calls himself an old friend of Odysseus and gives him advice: "Finish the ship, go around the surrounding lands, collect news about the missing Odysseus; if you hear that he is alive, you will tell the suitors to wait another year; if you hear that he is dead - you will say that you will celebrate the wake and persuade your mother to marry. He advised and disappeared - for Athena herself appeared in his image. So Telemachus did. The suitors resisted, but Telemachus managed to leave and board the ship unnoticed - for the same Athena helped him in this,

Telemachus sails to the mainland - first to Pylos to the decrepit Nestor, then to Sparta to the newly returned Menelaus and Elena. The talkative Nestor tells how the heroes sailed from under Troy and drowned in a storm, how Agamemnon later died in Argos and how his son Orestes avenged the murderer; but he knows nothing about the fate of Odysseus. The hospitable Menelaus tells how he, Menelaus, getting lost in his wanderings, on the Egyptian coast, waylaid the prophetic sea elder, the seal shepherd Proteus, who knew how to turn into a lion, and a boar, and a leopard, and a snake, and into water, and into tree; how he fought with Proteus, and overcame him, and learned from him the way back; and at the same time he learned that Odysseus was alive and suffering in the middle of the wide sea on the island of the nymph Calypso. Delighted by this news, Telemachus is about to return to Ithaca, but then Homer interrupts his story about him and turns to the fate of Odysseus.

The intercession of Athena helped: Zeus sends the messenger of the gods Hermes to Calypso: the time has come, it's time to let Odysseus go. The nymph grieves: "Did I save him from the sea, did I want to give him immortality?" - but dare not disobey. Odysseus does not have a ship - you need to put together a raft. For four days he works with an ax and a drill, on the fifth - the raft is lowered. For seventeen days he sails, ruling over the stars, on the eighteenth a storm breaks out. It was Poseidon, seeing the hero escaping from him, that swept the abyss with four winds, the logs of the raft scattered like straw. "Oh, why didn't I die near Troy!" cried Odysseus. Two goddesses helped Odysseus: a kind sea nymph threw him a magical veil that saved him from drowning, and faithful Athena calmed three winds, leaving the fourth to carry him by swimming to the near shore. For two days and two nights he swims without closing his eyes, and on the third wave they throw him onto land. Naked, tired, helpless, he buries himself in a pile of leaves and falls into a dead sleep.

It was the land of the blessed feacs, over which the good king Alcinus ruled in a high palace: copper walls, golden doors, embroidered fabrics on the benches, ripe fruits on the branches, eternal summer over the garden. The king had a young daughter, Nausicaa; At night, Athena appeared to her and said: “Soon you will be married, but your clothes have not been washed; gather the maids, take the chariot, go to the sea, wash your dresses.” They left, washed, dried, began to play ball; the ball flew into the sea, the girls screamed loudly, their cry woke up Odysseus. He rises from the bushes, terrible, covered with dried sea mud, and prays: "Whether you are a nymph or a mortal, help me: let me cover my nakedness, show me the way to people, and may the gods send you good husband". He washes, anoints himself, dresses, and Nausicaa, admiring, thinks: "Oh, if the gods would give me such a husband." Alkinoi promises that the Phaeacian ships will take him wherever he asks.

Odysseus sits at the Alkinoic feast, and the wise blind singer Demodocus entertains the feasters with songs. "Sing about the Trojan War!" - asks Odysseus; and Demodocus sings about the wooden horse of Odysseus and the capture of Troy. Odysseus has tears in his eyes. "Why are you crying?" says Alkinoy. "That's why the gods send death to the heroes, so that the descendants sing glory to them. Is it true that someone close to you fell near Troy?" And then Odysseus opens: "I am Odysseus, the son of Laertes, the king of Ithaca, small, stony, but dear to the heart ..." - and begins the story of his wanderings. There are nine adventures in this story.

The first adventure is with the lotophages. The storm took the Odyssey ships from under Troy to the far south, where the lotus grows - a magical fruit, after tasting which, a person forgets about everything and does not want anything in life except the lotus. The lotus-eaters treated the Odyssey companions to the lotus, and they forgot about their native Ithaca and refused to sail further. By force of them, weeping, they took them to the ship and set off.

The second adventure is with the Cyclopes. They were monstrous giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads; they herded sheep and goats and did not know wine. Chief among them was Polyphemus, the son of the sea Poseidon. Odysseus wandered into his empty cave with a dozen companions. In the evening, Polyphemus came, huge as a mountain, drove a herd into the cave, blocked the exit with a block, asked: "Who are you?" - "Wanderers, Zeus is our guardian, we ask you to help us." - "I'm not afraid of Zeus!" - and the Cyclops grabbed two, smashed them against the wall, ate them with bones and snored. In the morning he left with the herd, again blocking the entrance; and then Odysseus came up with a trick. He and his comrades took a Cyclops club, as big as a mast, sharpened it, burned it on fire, hid it; and when the villain came and devoured two more comrades, he brought him wine to put him to sleep. The monster liked the wine. "What is your name?" - he asked. "Nobody!" Odysseus answered. "For such a treat, I'll eat you, Nobody, last!" - and drunken cyclops snored. Then Odysseus and his companions took a club, approached, swung it and plunged it into the single giant's eye. The blinded ogre roared, other Cyclops ran: "Who offended you, Polyphemus?" - "Nobody!" - "Well, if no one, then there is nothing to make noise" - and dispersed. And in order to get out of the cave, Odysseus tied his comrades under the belly of the Cyclopean rams so that he would not grope them, and so, together with the herd, they left the cave in the morning. But, already sailing away, Odysseus could not stand it and shouted:

"Here's an execution from me, Odysseus from Ithaca, for offending the guests!" And the Cyclops furiously prayed to his father Poseidon: "Don't let Odysseus swim to Ithaca - and if it's destined to do so, then let him swim a long time, alone, on a strange ship!" And God heard his prayer.

The third adventure is on the island of the wind god Eol. God sent them a fair wind, and tied the rest in a leather bag and gave Odysseus: "When you swim - let go." But when Ithaca was already visible, the tired Odysseus fell asleep, and his companions untied the bag ahead of time; a hurricane arose, they rushed back to Aeolus. "So the gods are against you!" - Eol said angrily and refused to help the disobedient.

The fourth adventure is with the lestrigons, wild cannibal giants. They ran to the shore and brought down huge rocks on the Odysseus ships; eleven of the twelve ships perished, Odysseus and a few comrades escaped on the last.

The fifth adventure is with the sorceress Kirka, the queen of the West, who turned all aliens into animals. She brought wine, honey, cheese and flour with a poisonous potion to the Odyssey messengers - and they turned into pigs, and she drove them into a barn. He escaped alone and in horror told Odysseus about this; he took a bow and went to help his comrades, not hoping for anything. But Hermes, the messenger of the gods, gave him a divine plant: a black root, a white flower, and the spell was powerless against Odysseus. Threatening with a sword, he forced the sorceress to return the human form to his friends and demanded: "Get us back to Ithaca!" - "Ask the way of the prophetic Tiresias, the prophet of the prophets," said the sorceress. "But he's dead!" - "Ask the dead!" And she told me how to do it.

The sixth adventure is the most terrible: the descent into the realm of the dead. The entrance to it is at the end of the world, in the country of eternal night. The souls of the dead in it are incorporeal, insensible and thoughtless, but after drinking the sacrificial blood, they acquire speech and reason. On the doorstep realms of the dead Odysseus slaughtered a black ram and a black sheep as a sacrifice; souls of the dead flocked to the smell of blood, but Odysseus drove them away with a sword until the prophetic Tiresias appeared before him. After drinking blood, he said:

“Your troubles are for insulting Poseidon; your salvation is if you don’t offend the Sun-Helios; if you offend, you will return to Ithaca, but alone, on a strange ship, and not soon. and you will have a long kingdom and a peaceful old age." After that, Odysseus allowed other ghosts to the sacrificial blood. The shadow of his mother told how she died of longing for her son; he wanted to hug her, but under his arms there was only empty air. Agamemnon told how he died from his wife: "Be careful, Odysseus, it's dangerous to rely on wives." Achilles said to him:

"I'd rather be a laborer on earth than a king among the dead." Only Ajax did not say anything, not forgiving that Odysseus, and not he, got the armor of Achilles. From afar I saw Odysseus and the infernal judge My-nos, and the eternally executed proud Tantalus, the cunning Sisyphus, the impudent Titius; but then horror seized him, and he hurried away, towards the white light.

The seventh adventure was Sirens - predators, seductive singing luring sailors to death. Odysseus outwitted them: he sealed the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast and not let go, no matter what. So they sailed past, unharmed, and Odysseus also heard singing, the sweetest of which is none.

The eighth adventure was the strait between the monsters Skilla and Charybdis: Skilla - about six heads, each with three rows of teeth, and twelve paws; Charybdis - about one larynx, but such that in one gulp it drags the whole ship. Odysseus preferred Skilla Charybdis - and he was right: she grabbed six of his comrades from the ship and ate six of his comrades with six mouths, but the ship remained intact.

The ninth adventure was the island of the Sun-Helios, where his sacred herds grazed - seven herds of red bulls, seven herds of white rams. Odysseus, mindful of the covenant of Tiresias, took a terrible oath from his comrades not to touch them; but opposite winds blew, the ship stopped, the satellites were hungry, and when Odysseus fell asleep, they slaughtered and ate the best bulls. It was scary: the flayed skins moved, and the meat on the skewers lowed. The Sun-Helios, who sees everything, hears everything, knows everything, prayed to Zeus: "Punish the offenders, otherwise I will go to underworld and I will shine among the dead. "And then, as the winds subsided and the ship sailed from the shore, Zeus raised a storm, struck with lightning, the ship crumbled, the satellites drowned in a whirlpool, and Odysseus, alone on a fragment of a log, rushed across the sea for nine days, until he was thrown out on the coast of Calypso Island.

This is how Odysseus ends his story.

King Alkina fulfilled his promise: Odysseus boarded the Phaeacian ship, plunged into an enchanted dream, and woke up already on the foggy coast of Ithaca. Here he is met by the patroness Athena. “The time has come for your cunning,” she says, “hide, beware of suitors and wait for your son Telemachus!” She touches him, and he becomes unrecognizable: old, bald, poor, with a staff and a bag. In this form, he goes deep into the island - to ask for shelter from the good old swineherd Evmey. He tells Eumeus that he comes from Crete, fought near Troy, knew Odysseus, sailed to Egypt, fell into slavery, was with pirates and barely escaped. Eumeus calls him to the hut, puts him to the hearth, treats him, grieves for the missing Odysseus, complains about violent suitors, pities Queen Penelope and Prince Telemachus. The next day, Telemachus himself comes, having returned from his wandering - of course, Athena herself also sent him here. In front of him, Athena returns Odysseus his true appearance, mighty and proud. "Are you a god?" - asks Telemachus. "No, I am your father," Odysseus replies, and they, embracing, cry with happiness,

The end is near. Telemachus goes to the city, to the palace; behind him wander Eumeus and Odysseus, again in the form of a beggar. At the palace threshold, the first recognition is made: the decrepit Odysseus dog, who for twenty years has not forgotten the voice of the owner, raises his ears, from last strength creeps up to him and dies at his feet. Odysseus enters the house, goes around the room, asks the suitors for alms, suffers ridicule and beatings. Suitors pit him against another beggar, younger and stronger; Odysseus, unexpectedly for everyone, knocks him over with one blow. The grooms laugh: "Let Zeus send you what you want for this!" - and do not know that Odysseus wishes them a speedy death. Penelope calls the stranger to her: has he heard the news of Odysseus? "I heard," says Odysseus, "he is in a distant land and will soon arrive." Penelope can't believe it, but she is grateful for the guest. She tells the old maid to wash the wanderer's dusty feet before going to bed, and invites him to be in the palace at tomorrow's feast. And here the second recognition takes place: the maid brings in the basin, touches the guest's legs and feels the scar on her lower leg, which Odysseus had after hunting the boar in his younger years. Her hands trembled, her leg slipped out: "You are Odysseus!" Odysseus clamps her mouth: "Yes, it's me, but be quiet - otherwise you will ruin the whole thing!"

The last day is coming. Penelope calls the suitors to the banquet room: "Here is the bow of my dead Odysseus; whoever pulls it and shoots an arrow through twelve rings on twelve axes in a row will become my husband!" One after another, one hundred and twenty suitors try on the bow - not a single one can even pull the bowstring. They already want to postpone the competition until tomorrow - but then Odysseus gets up in his impoverished form: "Let me try too: after all, I was once strong!" The suitors are indignant, but Telemachus stands up for the guest:

"I am the heir of this bow, to whom I want - I give; and you, mother, go to your women's affairs". Odysseus takes up the bow, bends it easily, rings the bowstring, the arrow flies through twelve rings and pierces the wall. Zeus rattles thunder over the house, Odysseus straightens up to his full heroic height, next to him is Telemachus with a sword and a spear. "No, not I forgot how to shoot: now I'll try another target!" And the second arrow strikes the most arrogant and violent of the suitors. "Ah, you thought that Odysseus was dead? no, he is alive for truth and retribution!" The suitors grab their swords, Odysseus strikes them with arrows, and when the arrows run out - with spears that the faithful Eumeus brings. fall one by one. dead bodies piled up in the middle of the house, faithful slaves and slaves crowd around and rejoice, seeing the master.

Penelope did not hear anything: Athena sent her in her chamber deep dream. The old maid runs to her with good news:

Odysseus is back. Odysseus punished the suitors! She does not believe: no, yesterday's beggar is not at all like Odysseus, as he was twenty years ago; and the suitors were probably punished by angry gods. "Well," says Odysseus, "if the queen has such an unkind heart, let them make a bed for me alone." And here the third, main recognition takes place. "Well," says Penelope to the maid, "take the guest to his rest the bed from the king's bedroom." “What are you saying, woman?” Odysseus exclaims, “this bed cannot be moved, instead of legs it has an olive stump, I myself once knocked it together and adjusted it.” And in response, Penelope weeps with joy and rushes to her husband: it was a secret, they alone knew a sign.

It's a victory, but it's not peace yet. The fallen suitors have relatives left, and they are ready to take revenge. With an armed crowd, they go to Odysseus, he comes forward to meet them with Telemachus and several henchmen. The first blows are already thundering, the first blood is shed - but Zeus's will puts an end to the brewing discord. Lightning flashes, striking the ground between the fighters, thunder rumbles, Athena appears with a loud cry: "... Do not shed blood in vain and stop the evil enmity!" - and the frightened avengers retreat. And then:

"With a sacrifice and an oath, the union between the king and the people was sealed / The bright daughter of the Thunderer, the goddess Pallas Athena."

With these words, the Odyssey ends.

Homer

"Odyssey"

The Trojan War was started by the gods so that the time of heroes would end and the present, human, iron age would come. Who did not die at the walls of Troy, he had to die on the way back.

Most of the surviving Greek leaders sailed to their homeland, as they sailed to Troy - in a common fleet through the Aegean Sea. When they were halfway there, the sea god Poseidon broke out in a storm, the ships were swept away, people drowned in the waves and crashed on the rocks. Only the chosen ones were destined to be saved. But even those were not easy. Perhaps only the wise old Nestor managed to calmly reach his kingdom in the city of Pylos. The supreme king Agamemnon overcame the storm, but only to die an even more terrible death - in his native Argos he was killed by his own wife and her avenging lover; the poet Aeschylus will later write a tragedy about this. Menelaus, with Helen returned to him, was carried by the winds far into Egypt, and it took him a very long time to get to his Sparta. But the longest and most difficult of all was the path of the cunning king Odysseus, whom the sea carried around the world for ten years. About his fate, Homer composed his second poem: “Muse, tell me about that highly experienced husband who, / Wandering long since the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him, / Visited many people of the city and saw customs, / Endured much grief on the seas caring about salvation ... "

The Iliad is a heroic poem, its action takes place on the battlefield and in the military camp. "Odyssey" is a fabulous and everyday poem, its action takes place, on the one hand, in the magical lands of giants and monsters, where Odysseus wandered, on the other hand, in his small kingdom on the island of Ithaca and in its environs, where Odysseus was waiting for his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. As in the Iliad, only one episode, “the wrath of Achilles”, is chosen for the narrative, so in the Odyssey - only the very end of his wanderings, the last two stages, from the far western edge of the earth to his native Ithaca. About everything that happened before, Odysseus tells at the feast in the middle of the poem, and tells very briefly: all these fabulous adventures in the poem account for fifty pages out of three hundred. In the Odyssey, the fairy tale sets off life, and not vice versa, although readers, both ancient and modern, were more willing to re-read and recall the fairy tale.

In the Trojan War, Odysseus did a lot for the Greeks - especially where they needed not strength, but intelligence. It was he who guessed to bind Elena's suitors with an oath to help her chosen one against any offender, and without this the army would never have gathered on a campaign. It was he who attracted the young Achilles to the campaign, and without this the victory would have been impossible. It was he, when, at the beginning of the Iliad, the Greek army, after a general meeting, almost rushed from Troy on the way back, managed to stop him. It was he who persuaded Achilles, when he quarreled with Agamemnon, to return to the battle. When, after the death of Achilles, the best warrior of the Greek camp was to receive the armor of the slain, Odysseus received them, and not Ajax. When Troy could not be taken by siege, it was Odysseus who came up with the idea of ​​building a wooden horse, in which the bravest Greek leaders hid and thus entered Troy, and he was one of them. The goddess Athena, the patroness of the Greeks, loved Odysseus the most of them and helped him at every step. But the god Poseidon hated him - we will soon find out why - and it was Poseidon who, with his storms, did not allow him to reach his homeland for ten years. Ten years under Troy, ten years in wanderings - and only in the twentieth year of his trials does the action of the Odyssey begin.

It begins, as in the Iliad, Zeus' Will. The gods hold a council, and Athena intercedes with Zeus for Odysseus. He is a prisoner of the nymph Calypso, who is in love with him, on an island in the very middle of the wide sea, and languishes, in vain wishing "to see at least smoke rising from his native shores in the distance." And in his kingdom, on the island of Ithaca, everyone already considers him dead, and the surrounding nobles demand that Queen Penelope choose a new husband from among them, and a new king for the island. There are more than a hundred of them, they live in the Odysseus Palace, feast and drink wildly, ruining the Odysseus economy, and have fun with the Odysseus slaves. Penelope tried to deceive them: she said that she made a vow to announce her decision no earlier than weaving a shroud for old Laertes, Odysseus's father, who was about to die. During the day, she wove in front of everyone, and at night she secretly unraveled what was woven. But the servants betrayed her cunning, and it became more and more difficult for her to resist the insistence of the suitors. With her is her son Telemachus, whom Odysseus left as a baby; but he is young and is not considered.

And now an unfamiliar wanderer comes to Telemachus, calls himself an old friend of Odysseus and gives him advice: “Fix a ship, go around the surrounding lands, collect news about the missing Odysseus; if you hear that he is alive, you will tell the suitors to wait another year; if you hear that you are dead, you will say that you will celebrate the wake and persuade your mother to marry. He advised and disappeared - for Athena herself appeared in his image. So Telemachus did. The suitors resisted, but Telemachus managed to leave and board the ship unnoticed - for the same Athena helped him in this.

Telemachus sails to the mainland - first to Pylos to the decrepit Nestor, then to Sparta to the newly returned Menelaus and Elena. The talkative Nestor tells how the heroes sailed from under Troy and drowned in a storm, how Agamemnon later died in Argos and how his son Orestes avenged the murderer; but he knows nothing about the fate of Odysseus. The hospitable Menelaus tells how he, Menelaus, getting lost in his wanderings, on the Egyptian coast, waylaid the prophetic sea elder, the seal shepherd Proteus, who knew how to turn into a lion, and a boar, and a leopard, and a snake, and into water, and into tree; how he fought with Proteus, and overcame him, and learned from him the way back; and at the same time he learned that Odysseus was alive and suffering in the middle of the wide sea on the island of the nymph Calypso. Delighted by this news, Telemachus is about to return to Ithaca, but then Homer interrupts his story about him and turns to the fate of Odysseus.

The intercession of Athena helped: Zeus sends the messenger of the gods Hermes to Calypso: the time has come, it's time to let Odysseus go. The nymph grieves: “Did I save him from the sea, did I want to give him immortality?” but dare not disobey. Odysseus does not have a ship - he needs to put together a raft. For four days he works with an ax and a drill, on the fifth day he lowers the raft. For seventeen days he sails, ruling on the stars, on the eighteenth a storm breaks out. It was Poseidon, seeing the hero eluding him, who swept the abyss with four winds, the logs of the raft scattered like straw. “Oh, why didn’t I die near Troy!” cried Odysseus. Two goddesses helped Odysseus: a kind sea nymph threw him a magical blanket that saved him from drowning, and faithful Athena calmed three winds, leaving the fourth to carry him by swimming to the near shore. For two days and two nights he swims without closing his eyes, and on the third wave they throw him onto land. Naked, tired, helpless, he buries himself in a pile of leaves and falls into a dead sleep.

It was the land of the blessed feacs, over which the good king Alkinos ruled in a high palace: copper walls, golden doors, embroidered fabrics on the benches, ripe fruits on the branches, eternal summer over the garden. The king had a young daughter, Nausicaa; Athena appeared to her at night and said: “Soon you will be married, but your clothes have not been washed; gather the maids, take the chariot, go to the sea, wash your dresses.” They left, washed, dried, began to play ball; the ball flew into the sea, the girls screamed loudly, their cry woke up Odysseus. He rises from the bushes, terrible, covered with dried sea mud, and prays: “Whether you are a nymph or a mortal, help me: let me cover my nakedness, show me the way to people, and may the gods send you a good husband.” He bathes, anoints himself, dresses, and Nausicaa, admiring, thinks: "Ah, if only the gods would give me such a husband." He goes to the city, enters Tsar Alcinous, tells him about his misfortune, but does not name himself; touched by Alkina, he promises that the Phaeacian ships will take him wherever he asks.

Odysseus sits at the Alkinoic feast, and the wise blind singer Demodocus entertains the feasters with songs. "Sing about the Trojan War!" asks Odysseus; and Demodocus sings about the wooden horse of Odysseus and the capture of Troy. Odysseus has tears in his eyes. Why are you crying? Alkina says. “That’s why the gods send death to heroes, so that their descendants sing glory to them. Is it true that one of your relatives fell near Troy? And then Odysseus opens: “I am Odysseus, the son of Laertes, the king of Ithaca, small, rocky, but dear to the heart ...” - and begins the story of his wanderings. There are nine adventures in this story.

The first adventure is with the lotophages. The storm carried the Odyssey ships from under Troy to the far south, where the lotus grows - a magical fruit, after tasting which, a person forgets about everything and does not want anything in life except the lotus. The lotus-eaters treated the Odyssey companions to the lotus, and they forgot about their native Ithaca and refused to sail further. By force of them, weeping, they took them to the ship and set off.

The second adventure is with the Cyclopes. They were monstrous giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads; they herded sheep and goats and did not know wine. Chief among them was Polyphemus, the son of the sea Poseidon. Odysseus wandered into his empty cave with a dozen companions. In the evening, Polyphemus came, huge as a mountain, drove a herd into the cave, blocked the exit with a block, asked: “Who are you?” - "Wanderers, Zeus is our guardian, we ask you to help us." “I am not afraid of Zeus!” - and the Cyclops grabbed two, smashed them against the wall, ate them with bones and snored. In the morning he left with the herd, again blocking the entrance; and then Odysseus came up with a trick. He and his comrades took a Cyclops club, large as a mast, sharpened it, burned it on fire, hid it; and when the villain came and devoured two more comrades, he brought him wine to put him to sleep. The monster liked the wine. "What is your name?" - he asked. "Nobody!" Odysseus replied. “For such a treat, I will eat you last, Nobody!” and the drunken cyclops began to snore. Then Odysseus and his companions took a club, approached, swung it and plunged it into the single giant's eye. The blinded ogre roared, other Cyclopes came running: “Who offended you, Polyphemus?” - "Nobody!" - "Well, if no one, then there is nothing to make noise" - and dispersed. And in order to get out of the cave, Odysseus tied his comrades under the belly of the Cyclops rams so that he would not grope them, and so, together with the herd, they left the cave in the morning. But, already sailing away, Odysseus could not stand it and shouted:

“Here you are, for insulting the guests, execution from me, Odysseus from Ithaca!” And the Cyclops furiously prayed to his father Poseidon: “Don’t let Odysseus swim to Ithaca - and if it’s destined to do so, then let him swim not soon, alone, on a strange ship!” And God heard his prayer.

The third adventure is on the island of the wind god Eol. God sent them a fair wind, and tied the rest in a leather bag and gave Odysseus: "When you swim, let go." But when Ithaca was already visible, the tired Odysseus fell asleep, and his companions untied the bag ahead of time; a hurricane arose, they rushed back to Aeolus. "So the gods are against you!" Eol said angrily and refused to help the disobedient.

The fourth adventure is with the Laestrigons, wild cannibal giants. They ran to the shore and brought down huge rocks on the Odysseus ships; eleven of the twelve ships perished, Odysseus and a few comrades escaped on the last.

The fifth adventure is with the sorceress Kirka, the queen of the West, who turned all aliens into animals. She brought wine, honey, cheese and flour with a poisonous potion to the Odyssey messengers - and they turned into pigs, and she drove them into a barn. He escaped alone and in horror told Odysseus about this; he took a bow and went to help his comrades, not hoping for anything. But Hermes, the messenger of the gods, gave him a divine plant: a black root, a white flower, and the spell was powerless against Odysseus. Threatening with a sword, he forced the sorceress to return the human form to his friends and demanded: "Get us back to Ithaca!" “Ask the way of the prophetic Tiresias, the prophet of the prophets,” said the sorceress. "But he's dead!" "Ask the dead!" And she told me how to do it.

The sixth adventure is the most terrible: the descent into the realm of the dead. The entrance to it is at the end of the world, in the country of eternal night. The souls of the dead in it are incorporeal, insensible and thoughtless, but after drinking the sacrificial blood, they acquire speech and reason. On the threshold of the kingdom of the dead, Odysseus slaughtered a black ram and a black sheep as a sacrifice; the souls of the dead flocked to the smell of blood, but Odysseus drove them away with a sword until the prophetic Tiresias appeared before him. After drinking blood, he said:

“Your troubles are for insulting Poseidon; your salvation - if you do not also offend the Sun-Helios; if you offend, you will return to Ithaca, but alone, on a strange ship, and not soon. Your house is ruined by suitors of Penelope; but you will overcome them, and you will have a long kingdom and a peaceful old age.” After that, Odysseus allowed other ghosts to the sacrificial blood. The shadow of his mother told how she died of longing for her son; he wanted to hug her, but under his arms there was only empty air. Agamemnon told how he died from his wife: “Be careful, Odysseus, it’s dangerous to rely on wives.” Achilles said to him:

“Better for me to be a laborer on earth than a king among the dead.” Only Ajax did not say anything, not forgiving that Odysseus, and not he, got the armor of Achilles. From afar I saw Odysseus and the infernal judge Minos, and the eternally executed proud Tantalus, the cunning Sisyphus, the insolent Tityus; but then horror seized him, and he hurried away, towards the white light.

The seventh adventure was Sirens - predators, seductive singing luring sailors to death. Odysseus outwitted them: he sealed the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast and not let go, no matter what. So they sailed past, unharmed, and Odysseus also heard singing, the sweetest of which is none.

The eighth adventure was the strait between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis: Scylla has six heads, each with three rows of teeth, and twelve paws; Charybdis is about one larynx, but such that in one gulp it draws in the whole ship. Odysseus preferred Scylla to Charybdis - and he was right: she grabbed six of his comrades from the ship and ate with six mouths, but the ship remained intact.

The ninth adventure was the island of the Sun-Helios, where his sacred herds grazed - seven herds of red bulls, seven herds of white rams. Odysseus, mindful of the covenant of Tiresias, took a terrible oath from his comrades not to touch them; but opposite winds blew, the ship stopped, the satellites were hungry, and when Odysseus fell asleep, they slaughtered and ate the best bulls. It was scary: the flayed skins moved, and the meat on the skewers lowed. The Sun-Helios, who sees everything, hears everything, knows everything, prayed to Zeus: “Punish the offenders, otherwise I will descend into the underworld and will shine among the dead.” And then, as the winds subsided and the ship sailed from the shore, Zeus raised a storm, struck with lightning, the ship crumbled, the satellites drowned in a whirlpool, and Odysseus, alone on a fragment of a log, rushed across the sea for nine days, until he was thrown ashore on the island of Calypso.

This is how Odysseus ends his story.

King Alkina fulfilled his promise: Odysseus boarded the Phaeacian ship, plunged into an enchanted dream, and woke up already on the foggy coast of Ithaca. Here he is met by the patroness Athena. “The time has come for your cunning,” she says, “hide, beware of suitors and wait for your son Telemachus!” She touches him, and he becomes unrecognizable: old, bald, poor, with a staff and a bag. In this form, he goes deep into the island - to ask for shelter from the good old swineherd Evmey. He tells Eumeus that he comes from Crete, fought near Troy, knew Odysseus, sailed to Egypt, fell into slavery, was with pirates and barely escaped. Eumeus calls him to the hut, puts him to the hearth, treats him, grieves for the missing Odysseus, complains about violent suitors, pities Queen Penelope and Prince Telemachus. The next day, Telemachus himself comes, returning from his wanderings - of course, Athena herself also sent him here. In front of him, Athena returns Odysseus to his true appearance, mighty and proud. "Are you a god?" Telemachus asks. “No, I am your father,” Odysseus replies, and they, embracing, cry with happiness.

The end is near. Telemachus goes to the city, to the palace; behind him wander Eumeus and Odysseus, again in the form of a beggar. At the palace threshold, the first recognition is made: the decrepit Odysseus dog, having not forgotten the owner’s voice for twenty years, raises his ears, crawls up to him with his last strength and dies at his feet. Odysseus enters the house, goes around the room, asks the suitors for alms, suffers ridicule and beatings. Suitors pit him against another beggar, younger and stronger; Odysseus, unexpectedly for everyone, knocks him over with one blow. The suitors laugh: “Let Zeus send you whatever you want!” - and do not know that Odysseus wishes them a speedy death. Penelope calls the stranger to her: has he heard the news of Odysseus? “I heard,” says Odysseus, “he is in a nearby region and will soon arrive.” Penelope can't believe it, but she is grateful for the guest. She tells the old maid to wash the wanderer's dusty feet before going to bed, and invites him to be in the palace at tomorrow's feast. And here the second recognition takes place: the maid brings in the basin, touches the guest's legs and feels the scar on her lower leg, which Odysseus had after hunting the boar in his younger years. Her hands trembled, her leg slipped out: “You are Odysseus!” Odysseus clamps her mouth shut: “Yes, it’s me, but be quiet - otherwise you will ruin the whole thing!”

The last day is coming. Penelope calls the suitors to the banquet room: “Here is the bow of my dead Odysseus; whoever pulls it and shoots an arrow through twelve rings on twelve axes in a row, he will become my husband! One after another, one hundred and twenty suitors try on the bow - not a single one can even pull the bowstring. They already want to postpone the competition until tomorrow - but then Odysseus gets up in his impoverished form: “Let me try too: after all, I was once strong!” The suitors are indignant, but Telemachus stands up for the guest:

“I am the heir of this bow, to whom I want, I give; and you, mother, go to your women's affairs. Odysseus takes up the bow, easily bends it, rings the bowstring, the arrow flies through the twelve rings and pierces the wall. Zeus thunders over the house, Odysseus straightens up to his full heroic height, next to him is Telemachus with a sword and a spear. “No, I haven’t forgotten how to shoot: now I’ll try another target!” And the second arrow hits the most impudent and violent of suitors. “Oh, you thought Odysseus was dead? no, he lives for truth and retribution!” The suitors grab their swords, Odysseus strikes them with arrows, and when the arrows run out, with spears that the faithful Eumeus brings. The suitors rush about the ward, the invisible Athena darkens their minds and diverts their blows from Odysseus, they fall one by one. A pile of dead bodies piles up in the middle of the house, faithful slaves and slaves crowd around and rejoice when they see their master.

Penelope did not hear anything: Athena sent a deep sleep to her in her chamber. The old maid runs to her with good news: Odysseus has returned. Odysseus punished the suitors! She does not believe: no, yesterday's beggar is not at all like Odysseus, as he was twenty years ago; and the suitors were probably punished by angry gods. “Well,” says Odysseus, “if the queen has such an unkind heart, let them make a bed for me alone.” And here the third, main recognition takes place. “Well,” says Penelope to the maid, “take the guest to his rest from the royal bedroom.” “What are you saying, woman? - exclaims Odysseus, - this bed cannot be moved, instead of legs it has an olive tree stump, I once knocked it together on it and adjusted it. And in response, Penelope weeps with joy and rushes to her husband: it was a secret, they alone knew a sign.

It's a victory, but it's not peace yet. The fallen suitors have relatives left, and they are ready to take revenge. With an armed crowd, they go to Odysseus, he comes forward to meet them with Telemachus and several henchmen. The first blows are already thundering, the first blood is shed, but Zeus's will puts an end to the brewing strife. Lightning flashes, striking the ground between the fighters, thunder rumbles, Athena appears with a loud cry: “... Do not shed blood in vain and stop the evil enmity!” - and the frightened avengers retreat. And then:

“With a sacrifice and an oath, the union between the king and the people was sealed / The bright daughter of the Thunderer, the goddess Pallas Athena.”

With these words, the Odyssey ends.

The story begins with a meeting of the gods, at which Athena asks Zeus to help Odysseus, captivated by the enamored nymph Calypso.

At this time, Penelope, his wife, is overcome by nobles, demanding that she choose a new husband for herself. The woman, as she can, delays her decision. Son Telemachus tries to help his mother and goes in search of his father. He meets with many companions of Odysseus, from whom he learns that he is alive.

Then Homer tells about the fate of Odysseus himself. By order of Zeus, the nymph releases the prisoner. He sets off, but after 17 days, the storm of Poseidon breaks his raft. A sea nymph and Athena come to the rescue - they save the man and carry him to the shore, where he falls asleep in a dead sleep.

This was the land of Alcinous. On the advice of the same Athena, his daughter Nausicaa, together with the servants, goes to the sea to wash dresses. There they find Odysseus. The girls give him clothes. Odysseus comes to the king and, without revealing his identity, talks about the misfortunes that he happened to endure. The king promises to help him get home.

At the feast, hearing Demodoc's song about the Trojan horse, Odysseus burst into tears. He confesses: "I am Odysseus, the son of Laertes, the king of Ithaca, small, rocky, but dear to the heart ...". He also talks about his adventures.

The first happened in the land of the Lotus Eaters. His companions tasted the lotus fruit and lost their memory. Odysseus had to take them by force to the ship.

The second adventure is a meeting with the Cyclopes, led by Poseidon's son Polyphemus. The wanderers went into the cave, where he spent the night with a herd of rams, and asked for help, but the cyclops refused and ate two people. The next day, Odysseus figured out how to get out - together with his comrades, he sharpened the giant's club, and then, after giving him wine to drink, pierced his only eye. People came out of the cave, hiding under the belly of the sheep. Finally, the king revealed his real name to Polyphemus. He asks his father to avenge him.

The third adventure takes place on the island of Eola. The god of the winds helps Odysseus by giving a fair wind, and tying the rest in a bag and saying to let them go already in Ithaca. But the king's companions prematurely release the winds, and the ship brings back to Aeolus.

The next adventure is a meeting with the Laestrigons, who brought down the rocks on the ships of Odysseus. Out of 12, only 1 remained.

The fifth adventure took place on the island of the queen of the West - the sorceress Kirka. She turned the envoys of Odysseus into pigs and closed them in a corral, but the king of Ithaca, with the help of Hermes, saved them. And the frightened Kirk said that the dead prophet Tiresias would help him find the way home.

The sixth adventure is a journey to the "realm of the dead". There, Odysseus meets with Tiresias and learns that all his troubles are due to the offense of Poseidon, and salvation is the Sun-Helios.

In the seventh adventure, the king meets the Sirens. Knowing about their magical singing, Odysseus orders to tie himself to the mast, and seal the ears of the rest of his comrades with wax. So they swim past without breaking on the rocks.

During the eighth adventure, it was necessary to go through the strait between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. The first was with six heads, and the second - with a huge throat, in which a whole ship was placed. Odysseus chose Scylla, thanks to which he saved the ship.

The ninth adventure takes place on the island of the Sun-Helios. Hungry, Odysseus' comrades eat the god's best bulls. He asks Zeus to punish the vandals. Zeus sends a storm, in which only Odysseus himself is saved. He swims to the island of Calypso. This is where the story ends.

On the ship of Alcinous, Odysseus gets to Ithaca, in the form of a beggar, sneaks into the palace. Penelope's suitors mock him, and she calls him to her and asks him to tell about her husband. In gratitude, the woman invites him to a feast, where, having regained his appearance, he wins the competition between suitors and kills all of them. But Penelope doesn't see it.

The maid tells the woman that her husband has returned. She does not believe, but Odysseus proves this, saying because of what it is impossible to move the king's bed.

The relatives of the grooms tried to take revenge on Odysseus, but Zeus ordered to stop.

Compositions

The Odyssey became the second poem after the Iliad, the creation of which is attributed to the great ancient Greek poet Homer. According to researchers, the work was written in the 8th century BC, perhaps a little later. The poem is divided into 24 songs and consists of 12110 verses. Presumably, the "Odyssey" was created on the Asia Minor coast of Hellas, where the Ionian tribes lived (currently Turkey is located on this territory).

Probably, the primordial "Odyssey" does not exist. However, many stories and mythological heroes, mentioned in the poem, already existed at the time of the creation of the work. In addition, echoes of Hittite mythology and Minoan culture can be found in the poem. Despite the fact that many researchers find features of various dialects of Greek in the Odyssey, the work does not correspond to any of the regional variants of the language. Perhaps Homer used the Ionian dialect, but a huge amount archaic forms indicates belonging to the Mycenaean era. Elements of the Aeolian dialect are found, the origin of which is unknown. A significant number of inflectional forms used in the poem have never been used in real life. colloquial speech.

Like the Iliad, the Odyssey begins with an appeal to the Muse, whom the author asks to tell about the "experienced husband."

The poem describes the events that took place 10 years after the fall of Troy. The protagonist Odysseus, returning home after the war, was captured by the nymph Calypso, who refuses to let him go. Faithful wife Penelope is waiting for Odysseus in Ithaca. Every day, numerous applicants for a hand and heart woo her. Penelope is sure that Odysseus will return, and refuses everyone. The gods gathered in council decide to make Athena their messenger. The goddess comes to Telemachus, the son of the protagonist, and encourages him to go to Sparta and Pylos to find out about the fate of Odysseus.

Nestor, the king of Pylos, gives Telemachus some information about the Achaean leaders, and then invites him to contact Menelaus in Sparta, from whom the young man learns that his father became a prisoner of Calypso. Upon learning of Telemachus' departure, Penelope's numerous suitors want to ambush and kill him when he returns home.

Through Hermes, the gods give the order to Calypso to release the prisoner. Having received the long-awaited freedom, Odysseus builds a raft and sets sail. Poseidon, with whom main character is in a conflict relationship, raises a storm. However, Odysseus managed to survive and get to the island of Scheria. Phaeacs live here - sailors with fast ships. The protagonist meets Nausicaa, the daughter of the local king Alcinous, who arranges a feast in honor of his guest. During the holiday, Odysseus tells about his adventures that happened to him before he got to the island of Calypso. After listening to the guest's story, the faeacs want to help him return home. However, Poseidon again tries to kill the hated Odysseus and turns the ship of the feacs into a cliff. Athena turned the protagonist into a beggarly old man. Odysseus goes to live with the swineherd Eumeus.

Returning home, Telemachus was able to avoid an ambush set by his mother's suitors. Then the protagonist's son sends Eumea to the swineherd, where he meets his father. Arriving at the palace, Odysseus found that no one recognized him. The servants mock and laugh at him. The protagonist intends to take revenge on his wife's suitors. Penelope decided to arrange a competition between applicants for a hand and a heart: it is necessary to pass an arrow through 12 rings using her husband's bow. Only the true owner of the bow was able to cope with this task. Odysseus tells his wife a secret that was known only to the two of them, thanks to which Penelope finally recognizes her husband. Enraged, Odysseus kills all the servants and suitors of his wife who mocked him. The relatives of the dead rebel, but Odysseus manages to make peace with them.

Despite the fact that the main character trait of Odysseus is heroism, the author does not try to emphasize this trait. Events take place after the end of the war in Troy, that is, the reader does not have the opportunity to evaluate the main character on the battlefield. Instead, the author wants to show completely different qualities of his character.

The image of Odysseus has two dissimilar sides. On the one hand, this is a patriot devoted to his homeland, loving son, spouse and parent. The protagonist is not just a talented military leader, he is well versed in trade, hunting, carpentry and maritime affairs. All actions of the hero are guided by an irresistible desire to return to the family.

The other side of the Odyssey is not as perfect as the first. The author does not hide the fact that the brave warrior and navigator enjoys his adventures and in the depths of his soul wishes that the return home would be delayed. He likes to overcome all sorts of obstacles, pretend and go for tricks. Odysseus is able to show greed and cruelty. He, without hesitation, cheats on his faithful wife, lies for his own benefit. The author points out minor, but very unpleasant details. For example, at a feast, the main character chooses the best piece for himself. At some point, Homer realizes that he "went too far", and rehabilitates Odysseus, forcing him to mourn his dead comrades.

Analysis of the work

Chronology of events

The odyssey itself, that is, the wanderings of the protagonist, took 10 years. Moreover, all the events of the poem fit in 40 days. Researchers from the US National Academy of Sciences, relying on the astronomical signs mentioned in the work, were able to establish that the protagonist returned home on April 16, 1178 BC.

It is assumed that the character of Odysseus appeared long before the creation of the poem. Researchers believe that the main character is a pre-Greek figure, that is, the image was not created by the ancient Greeks themselves, but borrowed. Passing into Greek folklore, Odysseus received a Hellenized name.

The poem contains at least 2 folklore stories. Firstly, this is a story about a son who went in search of his father. Secondly, the plot is about the head of the family, who returns to his homeland after for long years travel for one reason or another. The husband usually returns on the day of his wife's wedding with another man. The wife, considering her first husband dead, tries to arrange her happiness a second time. At first, no one recognizes the Stranger, but then they still manage to identify him by some sign, for example, a scar.

It is possible to draw analogies not only with ancient Greek folklore, but also with famous works world literature. Most a prime example considered the novel "Dead Souls".

Features of the work

The Odyssey has symmetrical composition. This means that both the beginning and the end of the poem are dedicated to the events in Ithaca. compositional center becomes the story of the protagonist about his journey.

Narrative style
The description of wanderings is conducted in the first person, that is, the protagonist speaks directly. The feature is traditional for works this genre. Such a technique is known from Egyptian literature. It was often used in the folklore of seafarers.

In today's lesson, we will get acquainted with Homer's poem "The Odyssey", the main plot of which is the wanderings of Odysseus, the king of the island of Ithaca, who was returning home after the capture of Troy by the Greeks. “There is nothing sweeter than our homeland and our relatives,” Odysseus did not tire of repeating. However, the gods pursued him, for a long ten years he wandered the seas, until he saw the shores of his Ithaca.

Odysseus told how, having lost his way on sea ​​routes, he landed on the island of one-eyed giants-cyclops. By the sea, the Greeks saw big cave and entered it. Soon, along with the herd, the owner of the cave, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of the lord of the seas, the god Poseidon, appeared (Fig. 2).

Having driven a herd of sheep and goats into the cave, Polyphemus blocked the entrance to it with a piece of rock. He greeted the guests warmly.

Horror gripped the Greeks. Then Odysseus untied a leather sack with wine and "bravely offered a full cup to Polyphemus." The giant liked the drink. He invited Odysseus to give his name, promising to give him a gift. The cunning Odysseus said:

“I am called Nobody; I was given this name

Mother and father and comrades all call me that.

With an evil sneer, the cannibal beast-like answered me:

“Know, Nobody, my dear, that you will be the very last

Eaten when I'm done with the others; here's my present."

Then he collapsed on his back completely drunk.

The Greeks found a huge stake in the cave, heated it on a fire and knocked out the cannibal's only eye. Polyphemus howled wildly...

Hearing loud cries, Cyclopes fled from everywhere:

“Who, Polyphemus, is destroying you here by deceit or by force ?!”

He answered them from dark cave desperately wild

With a roar: "No one! .." Cyclopes screamed in their hearts:

“If no one, why are you alone crying like that? ..”

The Cyclopes dispersed to their caves. And in the morning Odysseus tied rams in threes. Under each middle was tied one of the Greeks. Polyphemus moved a huge stone away from the entrance and, feeling the rams from above, released the whole herd. And along with it, the Greeks ... Having reached the ship, they foamed with oars dark waters. Here Odysseus shouted to the Cyclops: “Know, ogre, that Odysseus, the ruler of Ithaca, blinded you!” Hearing the name of his enemy, Polyphemus prayed to Poseidon: “Oh, lord of the seas! My father! May Odysseus never see his homeland. If, by the will of fate, he reaches Ithaca, let him return alone, on a strange ship and find misfortune in his house! Since then, Poseidon began to pursue Odysseus.

Rice. 2. Odysseus and Polyphemus ()

Once Odysseus sailed past the island of the Sirens. They were evil sorceresses, half birds, half women. With their sweet-sounding singing, the sirens lured sailors and devoured them. The whole island was white with the bones of the dead. I really wanted Odysseus magic singing listen and stay alive. He sealed the ears of his comrades with wax and asked to be firmly tied to the mast. The sirens sang beautifully. Odysseus forgot about everything: about his rocky Ithaca, about his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. He tried to break the ropes. But with a vengeance, his faithful companions pressed the oars. And only when the island of the Sirens was out of sight, they untied Odysseus from the mast (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Meeting with sirens ()

Soon, Odysseus and his companions again experienced mortal danger. “In great fear then we passed through a narrow strait,” Odysseus told King Alcinus. From a rocky cave on one side of the strait crawled out a terrible monster - Scylla. It was a huge snake with six dog heads, each of which had the sharpest teeth in three rows. On the other side of the narrow strait, no less than scary monster- Charybdis. Three times a day, she opened her huge mouth, absorbing the black waters, and then vomited them back. Passing between Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus and his companions "in awe fixed their eyes on the threatening death."

After listening to the woeful story of Odysseus, Tsar Alkinoy ordered a ship to be equipped to deliver it to Ithaca.

The curse of the Cyclops came true: on a strange ship, alone, ten years after the death of Troy, Odysseus returned to his homeland. In his house uninvited guests feasted noble youths Ithaca. They considered Odysseus dead, brazenly disposed of his property, wooed his wife Penelope (Fig. 4), mocked their son Telemachus, hoping to deprive him of his father's inheritance.

Penelope did not stop believing that Odysseus was alive, and was waiting for him. She came up with a trick: she promised to choose a new husband as soon as she weaves the funeral cover for Odysseus's father (he was old and was preparing for death). During the day she weaved tirelessly, and at night she unraveled the threads. The deception lasted for three years, on the fourth one of the maids revealed to the suitors the secret of the mistress.

Rice. 4. Penelope ()

Not wanting to be recognized, Odysseus changed into patched clothes and, under the guise of a beggar, entered his house. The riotous suitors ate and drank, forcing Penelope to choose a new husband for herself. Finally, she announced that she would become the wife of the one who won the archery belonging to Odysseus. She herself hoped that no one would even be able to bend a mighty bow. And so it happened. Odysseus asked permission to draw his bow. The suitors decided that the beggar tramp had lost his mind.

Taking your mighty bow, Odysseus, solid in trials,

Instantly he pulled the bowstring, and an arrow flew through the rings ...

Odysseus brutally dealt with the suitors: "In his house he exterminated all the riotous suitors here ...". The relatives of the dead rushed to the palace of Odysseus, calling for revenge. With great difficulty, Odysseus achieved reconciliation with the nobility of Ithaca.

Bibliography

1. A.A. Vigasin, G.I. Goder, I.S. Sventsitskaya. Ancient world history. Grade 5 - M .: Education, 2006.
2. Nemirovsky A.I. History Reading Book ancient world. - M.: Enlightenment, 1991.

1. Lib.ru ()
2. Godsbay.com ()

Homework

1. Why in Odysseus for ten years after graduation Trojan War could not return home?
2. What does popular expression"between Scylla and Charybdis"? In what cases can we use this aphorism?
3. Describe the character of Odysseus. What character's actions do you like? What actions do you condemn?