The Odyssey - Estimated Read Time = 9 hours
This Article - Estimated Read Time = 15 minutes
Time This Article Saves You = 8 hours and 45 minutes
*Most books need to be read twice before they can really be understood. This article saves you time & effort by helping you reach a solid understanding with just one read.
Recommended Cocktail | The Wine-Dark Sea
How do you introduce The Odyssey? It’s a work that needs no introduction, and yet, here’s one anyways.
It’s one of two ancient Greek epic poems that survived through multiple civilizations across several thousand years. Legend is there were upwards of a dozen epic poems originally, but The Iliad and The Odyssey were the only ones that endured.
The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War, in which Ajax, Odysseus, Hector, and Achilles all fought. The Odyssey tells of Odysseus’s journey home afterward, back to his island kingdom, Ithaca.
Tradition attributes both works to the blind poet, Homer, of whom we know basically nothing (including whether he was actually blind). Regardless, he’s credited with the creation of two of history’s most influential stories ever told.
The Odyssey deals with so many themes it’s difficult to narrow in on any particular interpretation. Treachery and justice, curiosity and ambition, the desire for home and family, and even the transition from childhood to adulthood—these are all on the table.
It’s one of the few works that has always been considered worth reading again and again because each encounter yields new findings and insight. My most recent read was my third in total, and I was struck more by the story of Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, than by the hero himself.
His transition from boyhood into manhood required him to leave home; it took crossing the sea. For Odysseus, the sea presents an obvious obstacle on his return home.
The sum of these is that Homer’s “wine-dark sea” symbolizes a separation from home. One that can bolster a transition from childhood into adulthood, or one that causes acute pain because it separates you from everything you love most.
Story Recap . Spoiler Alert!
Since it’s so old, The Odyssey is a window into ancient story structure. Admittedly, it doesn’t possess a built-in structure beyond its 24 books (chapters). Yet, the story is communicated in three clear pieces.
I. The Telemachy - Books 1-4
The opening provides a brief summary of Odysseus’s current situation: he’s trapped on the island of the goddess Calypso, kept as her lover, while he pines for his home and family.
It’s been nearly twenty years since he left his home, the island kingdom of Ithaca, for the Trojan War. Calypso wants to make him immortal. He refuses because his only desire is to go home.
After this brief summary, the narrative transitions to Ithaca itself and centers on Odysseus’s son, Telemachus.
He’s in dire straights. Unruly suitors are attempting to win the hand of his mother, so they can assume the throne of Ithaca themselves. She resists them, but in the meantime, the suitors drink and feast every day, literally devouring Telemachus’s inheritance.
Through the intervention of the goddess Athena, Telemachus decided to leave Ithaca. He sails away, traveling to nearby kingdoms, asking former friends of his father for any news they might have concerning him. In doing so, he builds a reputation for himself.
This opening section is often seen as depicting a boy’s transition into manhood. This change in Telemachus is evidenced by his own changed behavior when he returns to Ithaca, later in the story.
II. Odysseus’s Tale - Books 5-12
Here the narrative refocuses on Odysseus.
He constructs a raft and leaves Calypso’s island, taking his chances upon the sea. Poseidon notices him and swirls a massive sea storm into being, threatening Odysseus’s life. Finally, he washes up on the shore of the Phaeacians, a people known for their skill in navigation.
Odysseus then relays his story to the Phaeacians, explaining his adventures since the close of the Trojan War. This is where so many of the iconic beasts of the Odyssey factor in—the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Cattle of the Sun, and even the Cyclops. It’s also revealed why Poseidon has beef with Odysseus.
In order to escape the Cyclop’s cave, Odysseus blinded him, driving a massive stake into one eye. It turns out, this particular cyclops happened to be Poseidon’s son. In vengeance for his son, Poseidon continues to frustrate Odysseus’s every attempt at returning home. This is why ten years after he left Troy, he’s still struggling to reach Ithaca.
The Phaeacian King displays kindness to Odysseus and sails him home. However, Odysseus doesn’t return with pomp and circumstance; he makes his return quietly and even under disguise.
III. Odysseus’s Return - Books 13-24
Odysseus has finally returned home, but he understands that his trials are far from over. Primarily because his homecoming is not good news for everyone. Many would attempt to slay him if they discovered his presence.
So, he makes a slow investigation of his kingdom, learning about his son, his wife, his former servants, and the suitors. He takes note of who he can trust and who he can’t. Then, he begins revealing himself, Telemachus being one of the first to learn of his father’s return.
The two form a plan to overthrow the suitors and win back Ithaca. And in a horribly bloody closing battle, they do exactly that. They kill every single suitor and many of the servants as well who faltered in their loyalty.
Odysseus is reunited with his wife, father, son, and kingdom—his home. The story closes with both he and Ithaca at peace.
An Interpretation . Tending the Fires
Interpreting The Odyssey, a story that has captured humanity’s attention for some 3,000 years, is no small thing. Partly because it impacts each listener differently depending on their circumstances. This is true of all stories, but even more so with those as dense in meaning as The Odyssey.
That being established, I’d like to offer this—The Odyssey offers a narrative commentary on the roles of curiosity and ambition in adulthood.
In the Telemachy, these two motivations draw Telemachus into venturing beyond Ithaca. Curiosity, so as to learn his father’s fate. Ambition, to gain a reputation among Ithaca’s neighboring kingdoms. He accomplishes both.
This trip provides him with the liminal space necessary for transitioning from boyhood to manhood. Meaning this could only happen if he left home, and these were the motivations that drove him to do so.
This illustrates how curiosity and ambition are significant factors in any person’s transition from childhood to adulthood.
The same motivations are also at play with Odysseus; yet, in his story, we’re shown their inherent dangers.
Curiosity and ambition led him to leave Ithaca initially for the Trojan War, seeking to win honor and glory. As the crafty one who proposed the strategy that finally won the war—the Trojan horse—he did exactly that.
Yes, on his return journey, the very same desires waylaid him an additional ten years. When they discover the Cyclops’ cave, his men sense something foul and beg him to leave. He refuses because he wants to meet whoever lives there and receive a gift from them. His curiosity is insatiable.
You can imagine his surprise and horror when the Cyclops strolls in, locks the door and begins devouring his men like a fifth grader devours Cheetos. Thankfully, because of his craftiness, Odysseus escapes. Then, his ambition steps in.
As he’s sailing away, Odysseus shouts his real name back to the Cyclops, rubbing his escape in his face, letting him know exactly who bested him. It’s a play motivated entirely by ambition, and it’s his downfall.
What Odysseus doesn’t know is that this Cyclops, Polyphemus, is the son of Poseidon, God of the Sea. In vengeance for his son, Poseidon frustrates and obstructs Odysseus’s journey home at every step of the way, delaying him an additional ten years.
The story reveals the double-sided nature of curiosity and ambition. They’re necessary and their complete absence could prove problematic. They drive us to keep moving forward in life, becoming responsible for ourselves and others, and making the most of the opportunities we’re given.
Yet clearly, they can be taken too far. Unbound curiosity and ambition destroy. They threaten to ruin the quality of our relationships and lives.
For these reasons, 🔥 fire 🔥 provides a helpful metaphor.
Like fire, if these desires are absent, it’s a sign that life has grown cold and dead, lifeless, without motion. There’s something wrong and missing. Yet, it’s possible to overfeed them, to pour too much on them, creating a bonfire that burns out of control and destroys your life.
Part of adulthood is stoking these fires while simultaneously tempering them, keeping curiosity and ambition burning so that life keeps moving forward, but not allowing them to burn away recklessly.
Because of this, perhaps the most helpful question is to ask, what’s the current level of your curiosity and ambition?
Is there a need to put more wood on, to stoke some signs of life back into the fires? Or are things already burning beyond your control?
To put it more concretely, is there anything you’re trying to learn or accomplish that you never have before? If not, the fires may be subsiding and need tending to. Or is ambition already drowning your relationships and consuming your life? If so, they may be burning too hotly already.
The trick is to always keep them alive while not allowing them to threaten our own lives. To enjoy their warmth without suffering their burns. The Odyssey offers wisdom to help us do just that.
Closing Thoughts . Eternal Life
Ancient works often deal with the theme of eternal life.
For example, The Epic of Gilgamesh is about one king’s desperate search for eternal life because he’s frustrated and terrified of death. Ecclesiastes comments on the meaninglessness of life largely because it is so fleeting.
In The Iliad, when Achilles leaves for the Trojan War he knows he will not return. But he’s willing to go because he knows the war will also secure his fame forever. He’s willing to trade his life for eternal fame. However you interpret the work, his initial choice shows he valued something more than life itself.
The blind poet sings upon this theme as well in The Odyssey, making another fascinating contribution to the conversation.
We’re introduced to Odysseus while the offer of eternal life rests before him on a silver spoon. Calypso offers to make him a god, but he refuses. He is not content to live forever in some paradise void of everything that gives his life meaning. So, he refuses, because he desires to be home, in his kingdom, with his family, more than he even desires to avoid death itself.
This illustrates how our desire for eternal life extends beyond avoiding death itself.We are driven to pursue a certain kind of life—one marked by significance, satisfaction, and security. The difficulty is attaining all three.
Gilgamesh desires security beyond all else. For Achilles, significance is topmost. You could say Odysseus values satisfaction most, longing for a finite life with his family and home. The Teacher of Ecclesiastes is restless in his desire for all three.
My question is which piece do you desire most? Significance, Satisfaction, or Security?
I find comfort in the Bible’s description of eternal life that extends far beyond merely living forever. Instead, it’s an offer that matches our desires.
It overcomes the tearful frustration of Gilgamesh by offering security in the face of death. It deals with the significance that Achilles is obsessed with, providing a life of meaning and significance, even in anonymity. Finally, it provides satisfaction, by inviting us into a way of life marked by joyful relationships, with those we’re closest to and also with God. It offers all of it as a gift.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 6:23
For this reason, these old stories that speak to the enduring longing of the human heart provide encouragement. Because in describing the absence our hearts long for—significance, satisfaction, and security—they sculpt for us a better understanding of exactly what’s involved in the biblical offer of eternal life.
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