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NAVIGATION
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Timeline of Odysseus' Journey From Troy to Ithaka
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The information provided on this website has been taken directly from 'The Odyssey of Homer' translated by Robert Fitzgerald
This website will detail Odysseus' journey from Troy to Ithaka with the information about every substantial intervening stop and obstacle; the name of each location Odysseus stopped at; the names of eatch person or monster that he encounters; the length of his stay; a summary of events of what happened at each location including number of men and ships lost; the decisions that Odysseus made that helped and or hurt the crew during the trip
List of Stops in Chronoligcal Order:
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The people are called Kykones
Odysseus met Maron and the Kykones
He stayed there for one day
He lost 72 men; 0 ships
Total lost 72 men; 0 ships
Summary of Events:
Odysseus decided to raid Ismaros, where Maron gave him many gallons of wine. When Odysseus told his men to pull out, they mutinied and refused. This gave the Kykones time to recuperate their losses and they in return, attacked Odysseus' men. After substantial time of fighting, the men finally pulled back and left, then attempted to travel to Malea (three days). But the winds blew him off course and instead he landed in the land of the Lotos Eaters after ten days of storm.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Odysseus decided to raid the Ismaros and pull out quickly, which in itself was not a bad idea, but overall, harmed his progress in returning to Ithaka. Although his decision was a wise one, he should have thought about the greedy nature of human kind, and factored that information into his decision.
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The people are called Lotos Eaters
Odysseus met no inhabitants
He stayed there for one day
He lost 0 men; 0 ships
Total lost 72 men; 0 ships
Summary of Events:
After spending a large amount of time on sea, Odysseus came desperately to the land of the Lotos Eaters. He sent three men out to get the information of the inhabitants of the odd island. When they came back, it was apparent that they had eaten the lotos flowers and that they had no will to return to Ithaka. Immediately, Odysseus tied the affected men up and told his crew to get right back on the ship for fear of losing hope for home.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Odysseus decided to immediately reboard the men after he found out what the lotoses did to his them. If he hadn't made the decision to leave immediately, the rest of his men, once they left, would have stayed on the island forever until death arrived at their feet. This could have lead to either mass mutiny and or loss of his men in the hundreds. Overall, this decision greatly helped the process of returning to Ithaka.
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The people are called Kyklopes
Odysseus met Polyphemos
He stayed there for four days
He lost 6 men; 0 ships
Total lost 78 men; 0 ships
Summary of Events:
Odysseus and his men landed on the island of Hyperia where the Kyklopes dwelled. For two days they feasted and on the third day, Odyssues decided enter a cave where he saw Polyphemos discover if he was friend or foe. Odysseus took 12 men with him and they feasted on food until Polyphemos returned. Polyphemos ate two of Odysseus' men. Then Odysseus decided not to kill Polyphemos in his sleep but to drug him with Maron's wine and merely blind him, but before this plan of action could occur, Polyphemos ate another four men. After the plan was complete, Odysseus told Polyphemos that his name was Nohbody, so that when the other Kyklopes came wondering why Polyphemos was screaming, he would say, "Nobody hurt me." The remaining 6 men then hid underneath Polyphemos' giant sheep and escaped, then took the sheep for their own. As they were sailing out Odysseus taunted Polyphemos and almost got his ship destroyed, he then did this again and still managed to escape.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Odysseus made many bad decisions in the part of the tale. First, he decided to 'get to know' the obviously gigantic men, then upon leaving he decided to taunt Polyphemos--then after that he still hadn't learned his lesson and taunted him yet again, causing Polyphemos to put the men in jeopardy by throwing hilltops at the ships.
However, depite this, he made two very good decisions that saved his life and life the life of his crew, afterall, where would a crew be without the captain? Odysseus decided that he would not kill Polyphemos, but merely blind him because only Polyphemos could open the stone blocking the cave from the outer world. He also came up with the idea to hide under the sheep as an escape route. Without this idea, the crew would be minus a dozen crew mates and their witty leader Odysseus, and probably doomed.
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The people are called there are only 13 people (Aiolos Hipptades and his 6 lusty sons and 6 daughters)
Odysseus met Aiolis Hippotades
He stayed there for one day
He lost 0 men; 0 ships
Total lost 78 men; 0 ships
Summary of Events:
Odysseus and the men travel to Aiolos where they meet Aiolos Hippotades, the warden of winds. Aiolos gave Odysseus a bag of all the winds, except for the West Wind which would guide him to Ithaka. Odysseus didn't tell his men the contents ofthe bag and for nine days guarded it and they had perfect sail until Odysseus let his guard off and his men opened the bag, unleashing a storm that blew them all the way back to Aiolia. When Odysseus again asked Aiolos for help, Aiolos turned the men away because they were cursed by the gods.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Odysseus decided not to tell his men the contents of the bag for what reasons I know not, and by this he spurred their curiosity so that they opened the bag and unleashed the winds. He should have told the men the truth, but he feared mutiny so he ended up getting incredibly close to Ithaka, but blown back to Aiolia.
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Laistrygonia (stronghold of Lamos)
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The people are called Laistrygonians
Odysseus met Artakia, Antiphates, Laistrygonians
He stayed there for one day
He lost 1 man; 11 ships
Total lost 79 men; 11 ships
Summary of Events:
Odysseus and his men upon the island of Laistrygonia where he and a few other men in his exploration group came upon a girl (Artakia) who promised them fresh water, but instead lead them to her lord (Antiphates) who ate one of his men. All the men then tried to flee but only one could escape because of the fact that all 12 ships were lodged inside a canyon. The rest were crushed by boulders the Lasitrygonians threw.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Once again, Odysseus makes the same mistake for the third time, although his intentions were correct, the gods just weren't on his side. So his first mistake was that he even tried to get to know the people. His second was for parking all 12 of his ships in a narrow canyon with no escape route.
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Odysseus met Kirke, Hermes
He stayed there for one year
He lost 1 men; 0 ships
Total lost 80 men; 11 ships
Summary of Events:
Odysseus decided not to explore the new island, but Eurylokhos (second captain) wanted to, so they sent 20 men to explore. When this group neared the house of Kirke, Eurylokhos took the hint of tame mountain lions as a sign of witchery and told his men not to go in, they refused and were turned into pigs. Hermes came to Odysseus and told him to eat a flower that would make him invincible to Kirke's magic and then to be her lover for a year. After Odysseus did this he told Kirke that it was time for him to return home and she told him to see Teiresias in Erebos for information on how to get back to Ithaka. On the day of leaving, the drunk Elpenor fell of the roof and broke his neck.
Decisions Odysseus Made:
Odysseus decided to listen to Hermes advice and carry out the plan which lead them to Erebos where they got a lot of useful information which would help them in their journey to Ithaka
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©2004 Olivia Jeffers
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