Book 24: Warriors, Farewell

Agammemnon
Hermes led the suitors down to the underworld where Akhilles and I were talking. I was telling him about what happened on the front after he died. His mother and all of the sea nymphs came to mourn him and brought many gifts from the gods. We finally burned him after days of mourning and sacrifice. I told him that he would always be remembered. When the suitors arrived, I was surprised that so many young men had died. I asked them what had happened and they recounted the whole story (of Odysseus’s return as a beggar, deceit, the contest and his final slaughter.) They might have expected sympathy but they got no such pleasure from me. As horrible as it is, I somewhat rejoiced in their deaths. It was news of Odysseus’s safe return home and that Penelope had remained faithful to him through all the adversity. I was so happy to hear all women weren’t adulterers like my wife.

We somehow managed to make peace.

Odysseus
There is something in my nature that makes me feel I have to test others. I don’t know what it is! I went to see my dear father after all these years and I couldn’t go to him and tell him I was his son. Was it from all these years of never knowing who is my friend? Did I even have the right to withhold my identity from him? I had to make him suffer before I told him who I truly was. Maybe I just needed reassurance that he still loved me and wanted me to come home. Unlike with Penelope, I never had any fear my father would kill me; he would have no reason. His grief got to me, awakened my compassion, and I had to tell him I was Odysseus. I threw my arms around him and we cried. Then, he bathed and dressed in new clothes and we sat down to lunch with Telemakhos, the swineherds and the workers. I snapped at one of the workers because (after realizing it was me) he asked if we should send a messenger to tell Penelope. I must’ve just been defensive because of the suitors or something… When the people of Ithaka discovered the suitors’ deaths, many took arms and set off to kill us. We were just finishing lunch when they came down the path. Everyone got ready for battle, but before we could actually fight, Mentor came and told my father to throw his spear at Eupeithes. Telemakhos and I then moved in to finish up the work and we would have killed them all, but Athena told us to stop and make peace. And we did. Telemakhos didn’t get to prove himself in this battle, but he was ready; I know he was. I could have fought and killed them easily but Athena (who may just be a part of me) told me to stop. “[I] yielded to her, and [my] heart was glad” (Odyssey 462).

Book 23: The Trunk of the Olive Tree

Odysseus
I told Eurykleia to go fetch Penelope and tell her I was home. When they came downstairs, Penelope sat as far away from me as possible. Telemakhos scolded her for being so skeptical that it was me but I guess I couldn’t really blame her. I was caked with dirt and blood; how could I expect her to recognize me? I took a bath, perhaps hoping that would reassure her but she still didn’t believe it was me. She saw my person in front of her but it just wasn’t enough. Penelope began to test me. She told Eurykleia to pile our bed with linens and let me sleep there, outside the bedchamber I had built. I was enraged by the thought of someone moving our bed! And then I realized that was the sign. We two knew that our room had been built around the trunk of an olive tree. Penelope came to me and apologized for having to test me and being so coldhearted. I cried when she was in my arms, but I don’t like to talk about that. I told her about my mission to go inland and make sacrifices. We went to bed and talked for hours before finally falling asleep, together at last.

Penelope
I’m not sure if Odysseus truly understood why I couldn’t go to him. I’m not even sure if I really understand. It’s like my dream, with the geese. I was sad to see them go, but I didn’t know why. If the geese were the suitors, why would I be sad they were gone? Could it just be that after all these years of hurt and false hope I couldn’t bear to let myself actually believe in something? Or did I really not want him to come back? No, that can’t be it; I love him! Of course I wanted him to come back. It must havbe just been I didn’t want to get hurt again. Eurykleia woke me up from my peaceful sleep to tell me Odysseus had returned! But I was content to stay there in sweet sleep rather than cross the potentially painful frontier of Odysseus’s return. I had become accustomed to numb pain, maybe I just didn’t want the wound to open up again.

Book 22: Death in the Great Hall

Odysseus

It felt so satisfying to finally kill all those suitors! I know I shouldn’t be happy right now (especially since I told Eurykleia not to be) but I really can’t help it! We slaughtered those stupid suitors and Antinoos was the first to go. The others quickly followed, shot down by my bow or brutally killed by Telemakhos or the swineherds. My son went to go fetch more weapons and armor for each of us but he left the door open and Melanthios got weapons for all the suitors. I was horrified when I saw they had armor and for a moment, I doubted whether we’d be able to win. I wondered who had given them the weapons, Melathios or disloyal servants, and Telemakhos took all the blame for it. This was very impressive to me and I thought it really signified Telemakhos’s coming of age and responsibility for himself and his actions. Unfortunately, there was little time in the battle to express such suppressed pride. Melanthios went back to the storeroom for a second load and the swineherd and Telemakhos captured him, bound him, hoisted him into the air and left him there to suffer. I had no mercy for him after what he did to me. Athena came in the form of Mentor (or at least I suspected it was her.) I begged the goddess to side with us and she did, deflecting many a spear from hitting us. I killed a man; one who begged for mercy at my knees, claiming he had never offended me. Mercy never even crossed my mind. However, I did spare Phemios, the minstrel, and Medon, at Telemakhos’s request. When all the killing was done, I told Eurykleia to bring the unfaithful maids to clean up the mess. When they were finished, I ordered them to be killed as well and they were hung in my courtyard. They betrayed me and they got their punishment. Melanthios was brutally tortured and killed as well for his disloyalty.

Telemakhos
I respect my father, I guess, but sometimes I really don’t understand him. He brought about the death of so many men and he was never sorry for it. But when Eurykleia wanted to celebrate, he reminded her it wasn’t pious to be outwardly happy that the suitors were dead. He’s really a hypocrite, how can he say that? He just killed the majority of the suitors, now he’s worrying about being all pious? Does he consider what is loved by the gods to be pious? Athena showed her approval of this plan so does that mean the battle was pious. Certainly reclaiming what is rightfully yours is a pious cause but did Odysseus go about it in the wrong way?

Book 21: The Test of the Bow

Odysseus

There was some really weird stuff going on tonight. First, Penelope went down to get the bow and the axe heads to set up the contest for her hand. I was very surprised when Telemakhos wanted to be the first one to try. He made up some unbelievable excuse that made me question his real motives. Okay, that might be a little bit unfair of me, I guess. I suppose it is sort of believable that he wanted to string the bow in order to see if he was worthy to carry on in my place but he knows I’m already here. Has my son grown up to be so insecure of himself that he needs a solid test to prove himself? Perhaps, but nevertheless, this was not the time for that test to take place. The fact that he wanted to do this during a contest for his mother’s hand worries me a bit. However, I stopped him after his third attempt to string the bow. Telemakhos was very disheartened by this failure; it kind of sent him over the edge. Most of the suitors then took their turns and none of them had more luck than my son. Some thought it impossible to string or shoot the bow. They even heated and greased the bow, hoping that it might somehow string more easily. Meanwhile, I gathered myself allies. I told the swineherds my secret and they swore to help me fight off the suitors. Antinoos, being the coward he is, said that they should postpone the contest for a feast. I know he was just afraid he wouldn’t be able to string the bow. This was when I stepped in and asked for a try. The suitors were completely outraged at the thought that a ragged beggar might string the bow they could not. They tried to stop me, but Penelope and Telemakhos wanted to allow me a try. The suitors found Telemakhos trying to exercise his authority rather funny and somehow in that fit of laughter, I got the bow. After inspecting it (under the mockery of the suitors,) I strung it easily and the arrow flew through all twelve axe heads. The time had come to bring doom upon the suitors.

Book 20: Signs and a Vision

Odysseus
As I went to bed, I saw many of the servants going outside to the suitors’ beds. I was so enraged, I wanted to cut them all down at that moment. I managed to hold in my anger, but I will probably kill them all later anyway. I was enraged that my maids were so unfaithful to me but even more so that Penelope’s prospective suitors didn’t even care enough about her not to sleep with her maids. What pigs! Athena came to me, because I couldn’t sleep, and I told her my doubts about being able to kill the suitors. She reassured me and then rained soft sleep upon my eyes. In the morning, I prayed to Zeus to send a sign and that someone in the house might interpret it. Zeus thundered from the heavens and a servant prayed that I might return. Eurykleia continued with her duties as usual, readying the hall for the suitors’ feast. Philoitios addressed me kindly ans spoke about his concerns that Odysseus might never return. I tried to reassure him, feeling badly that one so loyal felt so little hope. Ktesippos threw a cow’s foot at me later but I dodged it. Telemakhos gave him a severe lashing for this. At the suitors proposal that he hand Penelope off to one of them, Telemakhos said he would never make her do anything against her will. My blood boiled when the suitors laughed at his concern for her.

Telemakhos
Odysseus clearly has some mental problems and he even begins to admit it here. However, when he has his realization, Athena distracts him from the true goal. He begins to doubt whether he, one man, can actually slay all the suitors by himself. Athena stops him from having these doubts and so further allows him to deny the real problems in his life. She enables him to believe that he can just muscle his way through life without facing emotional problems. The internal conflict within Odysseus is similar to that of the conflict with the suitors. He compares his internal and external problems (the suitors) to dogs.

Book 19: Recognitions and a Dream

Odysseus
Telemakhos and I hid all the weapons so the suitors couldn’t get them when we attack. If they miss them, I’ve told my son to tell them that he wanted to move them out of the smoke because they have blackened over the years. An unfaithful maid named Melantho bothered me for the second time today. I plan to kill all the impertinent, disloyal servants when I have my revenge on the suitors. I talked to Penelope and tried to reassure that Odysseus was on his way. She is losing hope fast, though, and she even plans to have a contest to see who she will marry! Not that I am worried, the suitors won’t even be able to lift their bows before I kill them all. I feel somewhat guilty, deep down, for making my wife endure this pain any longer. But what if she is unfaithful? I certainly cannot take the risk of telling her. Is Penelope too clever and kind to ever fall into the trap of disloyalty? I do not know, nor do I want to know the answer if it as I sometimes greatly fear. My stories still brought Penelope great joy and I am now an honored guest in her house. She offered to have me anointed but I said only the oldest, wisest servant could, as they would know all I had been through. Penelope immediately called Euryklea and she saw my true self at once. I tactfully told her that many people thought Odysseus and I were quite alike and avoided having the truth revealed. However, when Euryklea was washing my feet, I realized she would see the scar on my leg and recognize me at once. She did and when she realized I was home at last, she didn’t know what to say. I threatened her, making it clear that if she let slip my true identity, she would die after the suitors, but she promised to keep mum. It was strange that after seeing her for the first time after all these years, our meeting began with hostility. Shortly after, Penelope came to me asking me to interpret a dream she had. There were geese eating feed outside her house and then an eagle swooped down to slaughter them all. Penelope was rather sad that the geese were dead but then the eagle came down and turned into Odysseus. She didn’t believe that this dream actually meant anything; if only she knew how much it actually does mean.

Book 18: Blows and a Queen's Beauty

Odysseus

The beggar Iros rudely tried to take the doorstep from me. He, like the suitors, seemed to want to take food that wasn’t his to begin with, all to himself. People like that bother me so much! The gods smile upon them and give food to feed their bellies but they would never help a man of lesser fortune than themselves (and perhaps that man is even what they were…) I told Iros there was room enough for us both, but he refused my generosity and we decided to fight. Iros was very frightened when he saw my muscular build, but there was no backing down by the time he saw what strength my rags had concealed. Antinoos offered a goat stomach to the winner and when I beat Iros and dragged him outside the gate, he presented it to me. Amphinomos also gave me two brown loaves and some wine in a fine gold cup. Recognizing that he was clear-headed, I warned him that the return of Odysseus was shortcoming. Despite my warning, however, he did not leave because it was Athena’s will that all the suitors be slaughtered.

Guest Blogger Athena
I made Penelope want to be seen among the suitors so that Odysseus would see her beauty. She didn’t want to pretty herself up for it, though, so I did that for her while she was sleeping. She descended the stairs and talked of marriage with the suitors. They hurried to send squires to fetch gifts for her. Odysseus was very amused that she toyed with them in this way, talking of marriage, but the truth may be that she actually is considering it. Only time will tell, because I cannot…