1、The Odyssey is Homers second epic poem,deal with the return of Odysseus after the Trojan war to his island of Ithaca The Odyssey is the most famous example of Greek mythology. It tells the story of Odysseus, who fought long and hard for Greece during the Trojan War. The Odyssey is about his attempt

2、to return home to his wife, Penelope, and to the Greek island of Ithaca, where he is king. But his trip turns into a nightmare, a series of tests for the hero that puts him in one crisis after another. What should have been a two-week trip from Troy to Ithaca ends up taking 10 years. Troubles start

3、early for Odysseus and his crew. When they land on the island of Cyclops in search of food, they become food themselves. Cyclops, the son of Poseidon (god of the sea) promised to eat them all. When he slept though, Odysseus stabbed him in his only eye, blinding him. But when they are leaving, Odysse

4、us cant help dragging, “the one who has blinding you, I am Odysseus, sacker of cities, King of Ithaca!”Big mistake!The god of the sea, Poseidon, was angry with Odysseus for blinding his son and vowed to make the rest of his journey particularly testingThe next island is home of the witch Circe. Circ

5、e gave the crew a potion to drink, which turned them into pigs, although they still had the minds of humans. Odysseus used a special herb to counter the effects of the potion, and remained unchanged. Impressed by this, the witch promptly fell in love with him, and she offered directions to the Under

6、world and explained to Odysseus how he could communicate with the dead. Odysseus spoke to many dead Greeks in Hades, the Underworld. Then he knows that his palace was being abused to possible suitors of his wife, Penelope, who had remained faithful. Other dead kings advised him on future aspects of

7、his journey, namely they perils of the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis. Armed with this knowledge, the ship set sail again. Soon enough they encountered the Sirens, mermaids whose beautiful voices charmed the crew into stopping to listen. The Sirens, though had an unhealthy appetite for human flesh

8、. Odysseus ordered his crew to put wax in their ears, so they would be unable to hear the Sirens voices. His curiosity got the better of him though, and he ordered the crew to tie him to the mast. Upon hearing the Sirens enchanting voices, Odysseus begged to be released, but the crew ignored him and

9、 they sailed safely by. The ship next had to sail through a narrow strait, and a dilemma faced them. On one side was the six-headed monster Scylla, on the other the whirlpool Charybdis. If he takes the whirlpool, the whole ship is most likely to be destroyed, sucked down into the terrible Charybdis.

10、 On the other hand, he knows that if he goes past Scylla, he will lose six men. So he decides not to tell his man so, because he realize that if they know that six of them would die, they would stop rowing in that direction. Of course he tries to fight Scylla, but it is impossible to succeed he has

11、been told so. Scylla takes six of his man and eaten them up in the mouth of her cave. This is the most horrible sight hes ever seen. Nothing is more painful than to lose his faithful friends.But at length, he gets throughThen they arrive at the island of Hyperion, the sun god. They had been warned b

12、y the dead of the Underworld not to eat any cattle on the island, but after nearly starving, several of the crew did so. Upon discovering this, Hyperion destroyed Odysseus boat and Odysseus was the only survivor. He was washed ashore on the island of the nymph, Calypso. There he is forced to live fo

13、r seven years because she is in love with him. Calypso loved him so much that she offeres him immortality if he stayed, but Odysseus yearns to see his wife and son once more. Zeus eventually free him, and set sail for home in a small boat. Again though, it was destroyed Poseidon had still not forgiv

14、en him. After recovering on the island of the Phaeacians, Odysseus reaches Ithaca. As Tiresias had told him, his wife had remained faithful, but young men in Ithaca were consuming his cattle, ransacking his home and taking his household. They want Penelope to give up on her husband and remarry. Pene

15、lope proposes a contest to her suitors, she agrees to marry the man who can string Odysseus bow and shoot an arrow through a dozen axes. The only man who can do it, of course, is Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar.After 20 years (between the Trojan War and the sea voyage ), he and Penelope are together again. A hero like Odysseus proves his mettle when faced with the opposition of the gods. Odysseus is shrewd, tough, clear-sighted, experienced, and like a