The Odyssey Timeline

By: Delaney Walsh, Morgan Long, Alaina Marant, and Brandi Corkern

Homer prays to Muses for inspiration

• Homer ask the Muses to help him tell the story of the king of Ithaca Odysseus son of Laertes

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.”

Trojan War

Odysseus and his army of Greeks fought a ten year war against Troy over a womannamed Helen who was deemedthe most beautiful woman in the world. Although a long battle,the Greeks won in the end andstarted their journey home.

Battle at Ismarus

The next stop for Odysseus and his men was the island of Ismarus where the Cicones, allies of the Trojans, lived. Odysseus’s army raided the Cicones’ land robbing and killing people until their army came and killed 72 of Odysseus’s men. The Greeks left and continued on their journey.

Lotus Eaters After the Battle of Ismarus, Odysseus driftedAt sea for ten days and landed on the land ofThe Lotus Eaters who lived off of the LotusFlower. They were friendly people and Odysseus sent two men to find out how the Lotus Eaters lived. They gave the men the Lotus flowerto eat and the men who ate it didn’t goback with the others because the lotusplant made them forget home. Odysseus drags the men back to the ship and they leave.

Cyclops

Odysseus and his men then found themselves on the land of the Cyclops. The men observed that they are not kind to one another, or other people. They don’t take care of their land and live in caves. Odysseus took his twelve best men to the island and also twelve jars of wine. When they reached the cave of a Cyclops, he isn’t there but he has cheese, lambs and kids, and whey.

CyclopsSince the Cyclops wasn’t in his cave Odysseus decided to wait for him to return. When he did, the Cyclops put a huge rock to cover the entrance. The Cyclops does not treat the warriors with the hospitality like they thought he would. That night the Cyclops ate two of Odysseus’s men and doesn’t kill the rest because there was no way for them to escape. The next morning the

Cyclops eats another two men and Odysseus comes up with a plan for them to escape.

Cyclops Odysseus’s plan is to makes a spear from wood that is over six feet tall and jab it into the eye of the Cyclops. That evening the Cyclops eats two more men and drinks some wine. Odysseus puts his plan into action, he puts the spike into the fire and jams it into the Cyclops’s eyes while he’s sleeping. Odysseus finds out that the Cyclops’s name is Polyphemus and his father is Poseidon.

Odysseus and his men get out of the cave under large purple sheep and they get back to their ship

Cyclops

When Odysseus and his remaining men are back at sea, he yells to Polyphemus who reacts by throwing a top of a hill at him. Then Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name, who his father is, and where he lives. Polyphemus prays that Odysseus never gets home, and if he does that he will have no companions and family problems.

Lord Helios

The sun god was angry with Odysseus’s men and killed them because they ate his

cow

Calypso’s Entrapment

The goddess Calypso held Odysseus captive for seven

years

Meets the Phaeacians

Odysseus travels to Pheacia where he meets King Alconouious who holds a banquet for Odysseus as is Greek custom. Odysseus tells the king and the rest of the Pheacians of his travels and retells his story as a flashback.

Return to Ithaca

After twenty years away, Odysseus

finally returns home