Volleys of spears are exchanged, and Odysseus and his men kill several suitors while receiving only superficial wounds themselves. Finally, Athena joins the battle, which then ends swiftly. Odysseus spares only the minstrel Phemius and the herald Medon, unwilling participants in the suitors’ profligacy.

Odysseus wants revenge on the suitors. They have wasted a lot of his wealth, by living at his expense during his absence. More importantly, by taking advantage of his absence, the suitors have insulted Odysseus and damaged his reputation.

Odysseus’ Revenge is the story of Odysseus coming home to his kingdom, only to find his son and daughter being tortured (not literally), by suitors. Suitors keep trying to ask for Odysseus’ wife, Penelopes’ hand, and they try to kill the younger son, Telemachus.

Odysseus takes his revenge on the Cyclops by stabbing out the Cyclops’ eye. To add insult to injury, Odysseus then taunts the blind brute, bringing on the Cyclops’ wrath who calls out to his father Poseidon to avenge his eye.

Although there are many suitors, three are particularly important to the narrative of the epic.

• Antinous. Antinous, son of Eupheithes, is the first of the suitors to speak in the epic and the first to die upon Odysseus’ return.
• Eurymachus.
• Amphinomus.

Presumably, it is because he is one of the two leaders of the suitors and Odysseus wants him out of the way. After Odysseus kills Antinous, Eurymachus tries to make a deal with him. Eurymachus tells him that the suitors will make amends for what they have done.

Penelope is being compared to an island which shipwrecked sailors finally find: “…his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms, longed for as the sun-warmed earth is longed for by a swimmer spent in rough water where his ship went down under Poseidon’s blows…” (B. 23, lns. 83-87).

What worries do Odysseus and Penelope still have to face? Penelope and Odysseus both have trouble sleeping that night. Odysseus worries that he and Telemachus will never be able to conquer so many suitors, but Athena reassures him that through the gods all things are possible.

In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus is justified in sleeping with the sweet nymph Calypso and the witch Circe. When Odysseus lands on Calypso’s island, Calypso takes him prisoner. She made promises to Odysseus of immortality, she had a seductive voice, and like all Greek goddesses, she could claim beauty beyond compare.

Aphrodite

Of whom is Calypso seemingly jealous? Penelope Odysseus’ wife. How does Odysseus regard his wife Penelope? He loves her tremendously.

Why does Odysseus start crying when he looks around his home? Odysseus is lying to the swineherd. Athena is complimenting Odysseus’s imagination.