Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey

by Alberto Manguel

  Book III

  The two armies meet on the plain outside Troy and settle on a truce, while Paris and Menelaus agree to fight for Helen. High on the ramparts of Troy, Helen points out the Greek warriors to Priam. Aphrodite saves Paris from being killed and transports him back into the city.

  Book IV

  The gods intervene again. Hera demands that the truce be broken. Athena persuades Pandarus, fighting on the Trojan side, to shoot at Menelaus, who is wounded.

  Book V

  Helped by Athena, Diomedes attacks the Trojans, and even attacks Aphrodite, as she tries to help Aeneas, and the god of war Ares himself as he is rallying the Trojans.

  Book VI

  On the battlefield, the Greek Diomedes meets Glaucus, a Lycean fighting on the Trojan side, and they become friends and refuse to fight. Hector goes back to Troy to sacrifice to Athena. He speaks to Helen and to his wife Andromache, and rebukes Paris for not being out on the field. Paris follows Hector’s advice and joins the battle.

  Book VII

  Paris and Hector return to the fight. Hector challenges Ajax to a duel, but the outcome isn’t clear. The Trojans propose a truce so that both camps can bury the dead. In the meantime, following old Nestor’s advice, the Greeks fortify the camp.

  Book VIII

  Zeus encourages the Trojans, but also forbids the other gods to take part in the fighting. The Greeks withdraw to their camp and the Trojans set themselves up outside their city walls.

  Book IX

  Worried about the advance of the Trojans, Nestor suggests that Agamemnon send Ajax, together with Phoenix (the old tutor of Ulysses and Achilles), to convince Achilles to join the troops again. In spite of being offered Briseis back, as well as Agamemnon’s daughter’s hand in marriage, he refuses.

  Book X

  Nestor now suggests that Diomedes and Ulysses go during the night to spy on the Trojans. They capture Dolon, an enemy scout and, based on his information, succeed in killing several Trojans.

  Book XI

  Led by Hector, the Trojans succeed in pushing the Greeks back to their ships, wounding Agamemnon, Diomedes and Ulysses. Achilles sends Patroclus to find out about one of the wounded whose body he sees being carried away. Nestor asks Patroclus to join the battle himself, and to borrow Achilles’ armour in order to frighten the enemy.

  Book XII

  Before Patroclus can return, Hector opens a breach in the Greek camp wall and passes through with his soldiers.

  Book XIII

  The armies fight on the beach while the Trojans try to reach the Greek ship. Poseidon encourages the Greeks to fight back. Hector’s advance is stopped by Ajax.

  Book XIV

  Hera lulls Zeus to sleep so that Poseidon can continue to rouse the Greek army. Ajax gives Hector a stunning blow.

  Book XV

  Zeus wakes and speaks sternly to Hera, who then takes his message to the gods, ordering Poseidon to withdraw and Apollo to heal Hector. Once again, the Trojans drive the Greeks back to their ships.

  Book XVI

  Patroclus returns to Achilles and borrows his friend’s armour. In the meantime, Hector and the Trojans force Ajax and the Greeks back again and set fire to the first Greek ship. Dressed in Achilles’ armour, Patroclus repulses the Trojans. Ignoring Achilles’ warning not to drive them too far back, Patroclus reaches the walls of Troy and is stunned and disarmed by Apollo himself. The Trojan Euphorbus wounds him and Hector kills him.

  Book XVII

  Hector removes Patroclus’ armour while the Greeks manage to carry his body back to camp. The fighting continues, led by Menelaus and Ajax on the Greek side, Hector and Aeneas on that of the Trojans.

  Book XVIII

  Achilles hears that Patroclus has been killed. Full of rage and grief, he decides to avenge his friend in battle. Thetis promises him that Hephaestus will make him a new armour, but warns him that his own death must follow Hector’s. Patroclus’ body is brought into the Greek camp. Hephaestus makes Achilles new arms and a splendid new shield.

  Book XIX

  Ulysses instigates a reconciliation between Agamemnon and Achilles. Achilles puts on his new armour. His faithful horse Xanthus foretells his death.

  Book XX

  Zeus reverses his decision, and allows the gods to intervene. Achilles begins a furious attack on the Trojans. Aeneas is rescued by Poseidon, Hector by Apollo. The Trojans retreat.

  Book XXI

  But the retreat is hampered by the river Scamander. As Achilles fills the body with corpses, the river rises angrily against him, but Hephaestus checks the swell with his fire. The gods begin to fight among themselves: Athena wounds Ares and Aphrodite. The gods now retreat to Olympus, but Apollo distracts Achilles, allowing the Trojans to take refuge behind the walls of their city.

  Book XXII

  Achilles finds Hector alone outside the walls, waiting for him. As Achilles approaches, Hector tries to run away from him. The gods intervene once more: Apollo withdraws his help and Athena induces Hector to fight and Achilles kills him. He then ties Hector’s body to a chariot and drags it behind him into the camp of the Greeks. Priam and his family watch in horror.

  Book XXIII

  During the night, Achilles is visited by the ghost of Patroclus, who demands a swift burial. The next day, Achilles gives his friend a magnificent funeral, followed by athletic games.

  Book XXIV

  For eleven days, Hector’s body has lain unburied. Following advice from the gods, Priam visits the Greek camp and offers Achilles a ransom for his son’s body. Achilles at length accepts and, after a shared meal, Priam returns to Troy with Hector’s remains. The poem ends with the funeral of Hector, while the Trojan women, led by Andromache, weep and lament their dead.

  The Odyssey

  The poem starts ten years after the fall of Troy. During the sack of the city, the disrespectful behaviour of some of the Greeks annoyed the gods, especially Athena who, having favoured the Greek side throughout the war, now has raised terrible storms to hinder their return. Though Athena is still well disposed towards Ulysses, he has not been allowed to return to Ithaca, where his faithful wife Penelope has been trying for seven years to ward off a crowd of suitors. Poseidon and the sun-god have sought to punish Ulysses (who, during his travels, has blinded Poseidon’s son Polyphemus and whose companions have slaughtered the sun-god’s cattle for food). He is now stranded on a faraway island, the prisoner of the nymph Calypso who has chosen him as her lover.

  Book I

  At a gathering of the gods, Athena asks Zeus why he has forgotten Ulysses. Zeus answers that it is Poseidon’s anger that has prevented Ulysses from returning to Ithaca, but that now, since Poseidon is away visiting the Ethiopians, Ulysses can begin the journey home. Athena disguises herself as Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and visits Ulysses’ son Telemachus in Ithaca, telling him to take action against his mother’s suitors. She instructs him to seek news of his father from King Nestor in Pylos and from King Menelaus in Sparta.

  Book II

  Telemachus calls an assembly to denounce the suitors. Speeches are made but public opinion is not sufficiently roused against them. As a result, Telemachus leaves for Pylos in secret, accompanied by Athena, who disguises herself this time as Mentor, a friend of Ulysses.

  Book III

  King Nestor tells Telemachus about the return of other Greek heroes who fought at Troy, such as Menelaus and Agamemnon, but can give him no news of Ulysses. He orders his son Pisistratus to accompany Telemachus to Sparta.

  Book IV

  At the court of Menelaus, Telemachus and his companions are entertained by the king and by his wife Helen, now restored to her throne. Menelaus tells them that, during his voyage back from Troy, the Old Man of the Sea informed him that Ulysses was being held captive by the nymph Calypso. Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, the suitors and Penelope learn of Telemachus’ departure. The suitors plan to ambush him on his return and kill him.

  Book V

  At a gathering of the god
s, Hermes is sent to tell Calypso that she must release Ulysses. Calypso then, sorrowfully, provides him with wood to build a boat. Ulysses sails away but, after only seventeen days, Poseidon discovers him and wrecks the boat in a storm. Naked and wounded, Ulysses manages to reach the land of the Phaeacians.

  Book VI

  Ulysses is discovered by Princess Nausicaa and her maids who are washing clothes and playing ball on the beach. Ulysses begs her for hospitality; she gives him something to wear and tells him to go to her father’s palace.

  Book VII

  Ulysses asks Nausicaa’s parents, King Alcinous and Queen Arete, to help him. Without revealing his identity, he tells them only part of his story. The king suggests that he stay and marry Nausicaa.

  Book VIII

  King Alcinous offers his guest a lavish party. The blind bard Demodocus sings about Ulysses and his quarrel with Achilles, and later about the ploy of the wooden horse. Ulysses weeps at the memory. During an athletics exhibition, he is taunted and forced to demonstrate his strength.

  Book IX

  At last, Ulysses reveals his name and tells his full story: how he and his companions left Troy on twelve ships, raided the Trojan allies in Thrace, reached the land of the lotus-eaters, and finally landed on the island of the Cyclops where they were captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus and kept in his cave to be eaten one by one. Ulysses explains how he succeeded in blinding Polyphemus, how he told his victim that his name was ‘Nobody’ and how he escaped from the cave holding onto the belly of a ram. When, before leaving, he revealed his real name, Polyphemus swore that he would ask his father Poseidon to avenge him.

  Book X

  Ulysses continues his story: he and his companions reached the floating island of the god Aeolus, who gave them a bag containing all the winds except the west wind, to help them on their course. While Ulysses slept, his companions opened the bags and their ships were blown back to the god’s island, who refused to assist them again. They reached the land of the giant Laestrygonians, who destroyed eleven of their ships. On the surviving ship, Ulysses and his companions arrived at the island of the enchantress Circe who turned some of the men into swine and took Ulysses as her lover. After a year on the island, Ulysses asked to be allowed to leave. Circe explained to him that he had first to travel to the Underworld and ask the ghost of the seer Tiresias for instructions.

  Book XI

  Ulysses tells of his visit to the Underworld: after he and his companions had conjured up the dead, the ghost of Tiresias told him that, even after reaching Ithaca, he would continue to travel. Among the ghosts, Ulysses spoke to his dead mother, to King Agamemnon, to Achilles and to Hercules.

  Book XII

  Ulysses concludes his story: after having lost some of the men to the monster Scylla, and after passing the whirlpool Charybdis and sailing past the luring sirens, Ulysses and his companions reached the island where the sun-god kept his cattle. Though they had been told not to touch the herd, hunger forced the men to kill and eat a few. The god complained to Zeus who, as a punishment, destroyed their ships with a thunderbolt. Ulysses was the only one to survive. On a beam from his ship, he drifted for nine days until, at last, he reached Calypso’s island. The rest of the story, the king knows.

  Book XIII

  King Alcinous sends Ulysses off laden with rich gifts. Ulysses falls asleep and the Phaeacian sailors deposit him on the shore of Ithaca. Athena appears, disguised as a young man, and though he tries to hide his identity, she tells him that she knows who he is and that she will help him against the suitors. Athena dresses Ulysses up as an old beggar.

  Book XIV

  Ulysses in disguise is greeted by the swineherd Eumaeus, and makes up stories about himself to entertain his host.

  Book XV

  Telemachus leaves Menelaus and Helen, and returns home. He brings with him the seer Theoclymenus. Back in Ithaca, Eumaeus tells Ulysses the story of his life. Telemachus avoids falling into the hands of the suitors.

  Book XVI

  Telemachus comes to the swineherd’s hut and Ulysses reveals himself to him. He explains that they must be careful if they are to succeed against the suitors. The suitors sail back from their pursuit of Telemachus, and discuss what to do next.

  Book XVII

  Telemachus returns to the palace and speaks with Penelope. In the meantime, the goatherd Melanthius, an ally of the suitors, seeing Ulysses with Eumaeus, insults the man he takes to be a beggar. As they approach the palace, Ulysses’ dog Argos recognizes his master and dies of a broken heart. Ulysses begs the suitors for food; one of their leaders, Antinous, throws a stool at him instead.

  Book XVIII

  Irus, a professional beggar, taunts Ulysses, who knocks him out in a boxing match. Penelope appears and receives gifts from the suitors. One of the maids mocks Ulysses who threatens to tell Telemachus of her behaviour. Another of the leading suitors, Eurymachus, insults Ulysses. When Ulysses answers back, Eurymachus throws a stool at him but hits the wine-steward instead.

  Book XIX

  Led by Athena, Ulysses and Telemachus remove the weapons from the hall. The maid insults Ulysses again. Ulysses tells Penelope that he once entertained her husband and that he is now not far away. The old nurse Eurycleia washes his feet and recognizes him because of a scar. Ulysses begs her not to tell. Penelope explains that, on the following night, she will allow the suitors to try shooting with Ulysses’ bow.

  Book XX

  Ulysses lies awake impatiently. The loyal cowherd Philoetius appears. Another of the suitors, Ctesippus, flings an ox-foot at Ulysses to mock him. Seeing the suitors overcome by wild laughter, Theoclymenus tells them they are all marked for death.

  Book XXI

  Penelope brings out Ulysses’ bow and announces the test: they are to bend the bow and shoot an arrow through several axes. All the suitors try and fail, except Antinous, who postpones his turn. Ulysses reveals himself to Eumaeus and Philoetius. As Penelope leaves the hall, he grabs hold of the bow and shoots through the axes.

  Book XXII

  Ulysses shoots Antinous and reveals his identity to the suitors. Helped by Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoetius, the slaughter of the suitors begins. The treacherous Melanthius brings several coats of armour for the suitors, but is caught. Ulysses runs out of arrows, puts on an armour, and finishes off the suitors with spears. In a grisly ending, Melanthius is tortured to death and twelve of the maids are hanged.

  Book XXIII

  Penelope, told by Eurycleia of Ulysses’ return, refuses to believe it. She tests him by telling Eurycleia to move their bed out of their room, knowing that it is too heavy for anyone to budge it. Ulysses becomes angry and, at last, Penelope recognizes her husband. The couple go to bed and tell each other their stories.

  Book XXIV

  Hermes leads the souls of the suitors into the Underworld where they meet with the ghosts of Agamemnon, Ajax, Patroclus and Achilles. In the meantime, Ulysses visits his father, Laertes, who has retired to a farm and, after some delay, reveals himself to him. The relatives of the suitors plan revenge, but after lending Laertes the strength to kill one of the relatives, Athena, still disguised as Mentor, imposes a lasting peace on Ithaca.

  CHAPTER 2

  A Life of Homer?

  Homer, or another Greek of the same name…

  Oscar Wilde, Oscariana, 1910 (post.)

  Homer (the overwhelming presence we call ‘Homer’) is a shadowy figure whose first biographers (or inventors) believed had been born not long after the Sack of Troy, traditionally dated in 1184 BC.1 Eratosthenes of Cyrene, librarian of Alexandria, who among other achievements quite accurately calculated the circumference of the earth, stated in his Chronographiae that Homer was a near contemporary of Hector and Achilles. For the ancient Greeks, there was no question about the reality of Homer. He was simply the greatest of poets, a man of flesh and blood who, in some remote age, had composed the works on which all Greek culture was based; not only the Iliad and the Odyssey but also a number of
other hymns and epics: a poem on Amphiaraus’ expedition against Thebes, the so-called Small Iliad, the Phoceis, the Cercopes, the Battle of the Frogs and Mice, most of which are now lost and many long discredited. In the fifth century BC, the historian Herodotus doubted the attribution of some of these works to Homer, but never the existence of the man himself.2 A few decades earlier, Aeschylus, none of whose plays is (as far as we know) based on either the Iliad or the Odyssey, stated that they were all ‘slices from the great banquets of Homer’,3 thereby implying that there were other Homeric poems that had served him as inspiration; if so, they have not come down to us. His fame certainly has. A celebrated allegorical marble relief, carved by Archelaos of Priene in the late second century, depicts Homer being crowned by Time and Space (‘Oikoumene’, the ‘Inhabited World’) and acclaimed by the Muses of History, Tragedy, Comedy and Poetry, while his ‘children’, the Iliad and the Odyssey, kneel by his side. Above the poet’s apotheosis, in the upper section of the relief, Zeus appears in the Pantheon, honoured by the other gods. Zeus, ‘Father of the Gods’, is reflected by Homer, ‘Father of Humankind’.4

  ‘Father of Humankind’ implied the role of father of human history. Each of Homer’s two great poems begins after a period of ten years: the Iliad, a decade after the commencement of the siege of Troy; the Odyssey, a decade after the city’s fall. For the Greeks, these ten-year periods may have possessed a magical or legendary quality, marking the dividing line between the time of the gods and the time of humans; Greek history began, in their reckoning, the year of the destruction of Troy. Earlier dates were known and recorded (an inscribed slab known as the Parian marble, now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, notes what would be for us the year 1582 BC as the first date in Greek history), but the fall of the fabled city was regarded as the conventional startingpoint of witnessed events. The epic of Gilgamesh and the stories of the ancient Egyptians stir in our prehistory, but Homer and his poems are the beginning of all our stories.