Odysseus speaks these words to the Phaeacians after he recounts his epic tale.
The Odyssey: Book 11, Line 330.


Odysseus

Homer, one of the most acclaimed authors of the history of the world, is a man shrouded in mystery. Scholars often speculate whether such a man even existed. No one knows if the blind poet known to later ages as Homer existed or if he actually ever wrote the epics, The Iliad and the Odyssey; or did a group of bards after hundreds of years of reciting the Greek tales, decide to write them down? Whatever is the case, the man known as Homer has clearly been one of the most influential writers of all time. The two works are timeless. The Iliad and The Odyssey are still studied and analyzed by students and scholars worldwide, 2,700 years after their composition. To this day, the feats of characters such as Achilles, Paris, Agamemnon, and Odysseus continue to inspire and intrigue people throughout the world.

 

Odysseus and Nausicaa

The Odyssey

The Odyssey is a historical fiction epic about Odysseus' travels and adventures on his 20 year journey to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War ends. It is a story about fidelity, faith, perseverence, and love. The epic begins in medias res with Odysseus being held captive on the island of Calypso. After his release, he builds a raft to continue his journey home, but Poseidon causes a great storm which pummels both him and his raft on the sea. Some time later, Odysseus washes up exhausted and naked on the shores of Phaeacia, a great but isolated civilization. There at a great banquet held in Odysseus' honor, he recounts his great adventures. He describes his participation in the Trojan War and the fall of Troy, his departure with all his men from Ilium, his wily escape from the cyclops, his captivity on Calypso's island, and finally his arrival at Phaeacia. After Odysseus finishes his tale, he concludes with the line, "And now it is time to sleep." After his epic story, long travels, and great feats, Odysseus states that there should be time for recuperation and rest, even for a heroic and quasi-immortal figures such as he.

 

J. Camarda, St. Paul's School, 2003