9-12 Summary

Odysseus starts telling the story of what happened all those years ago on his way home from the war before he was taken by Kalypso. He and his men killed all the Kikonians and enslaved the women. They get to Lotus Island and some people eat the Lotus and stay there forever, so Odysseus takes his remaining men and leaves. Then they are on the cyclops island and saw this cave that they wanted to steal from but Odysseus said No. The men are trapped in the cave by a giant boulder that only the cyclops can move. The monster eats Odysseus's men and asks where his ship is, but Odysseus is smart and lies about it. They poke its out eye out after they get it drunk. To escape the men are all tied to its rams so they get out in the morning when it herds sheep. Odysseus taunts the cyclops when they get away which is bad and its father is Poseidon which is not good. Next they are on the Aiolia island where they tell Aiolos wind god, about the trojan war. The God gives them a bag of storm winds when they leave so the remaining winds can blow them home to Ithaka. His men open the bag which releases the winds and blow the ship back. Odysseus is so upset he wants to kill himself but he sails back and asks for my storm wind bags. Odysseus is cursed by the gods. They sail to the island that Circe is on and they stay there for a year, she promises not use magic against Odysseus if he sleeps with her. So he does. Circe tells him he cant get back to Ithaka until he visits the underworld to see the prophet Teiresias. Odysseus's man Elpenor falls off the roof and dies. Odysseus goes to the underworld and uses the ram head as a sacrifice and the ghosts drink up blood to talk to him. There Teiresias tells him that he is being punished for poking out Poseidon's son's eye. Odysseus sees his mother, whom he believed to be alive. She informs him of what is happening in Ithaka. More ghosts start showing up which scares him so they all leave. Everyone goes back to Circe's and gives Elpenor a proper burial, then Circe tells Odysseus how he can prepare for the other parts of his journey. A month long storm sets them back and they survive off provisions they have left, until the men die. Zeus sends a thunderbolt to the ship and everyone but Odysseus dies. He drifts on the ocean before Kalypso rescues him and keeps him prisoner for 7 years.


Characters: Circe, Elpenor, Teiresias, Kalypso, Aiolos

Theme: hospitality - odysseus wants to play into this when dealing with the cyclops