The Odyssey Summary
The Odyssey is a long epic poem from ancient Greece, traditionally credited to the poet Homer. It tells the adventures of Odysseus, king of the island of Ithaca, on his way home after the Greeks win the Trojan War. The war takes ten years and the journey home takes ten more, so the heart of the story is one man's return to his family after twenty years away.
Odysseus leaves Troy with twelve ships. At Ismarus, a town of the Cicones people, his men are hit by a counterattack. Next they pass through the land of the lotus, a fruit that makes anyone who eats it lose all wish to go home. Then they are trapped in the cave of Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant. Odysseus outwits the giant by calling himself "Nobody," but at the last moment he shouts out his real name, and that earns him the anger of Polyphemus's father, Poseidon, god of the sea.
After that, Aeolus, the keeper of the winds, gives Odysseus a bag holding the winds, but his crew opens it and the ships are blown back just as home comes into sight. Then the Laestrygonians, a race of giants, destroy eleven of the ships. On the island where the last ship lands, the enchantress Circe turns the crew into pigs. In the Underworld, the prophet Tiresias tells Odysseus how to get home, and he sails past the singing Sirens with himself tied to the mast.
The manga opens and closes with Penelope, Odysseus's wife, weaving at her loom at home as she waits for him.
Story summary
Episode 1The Fruit That Makes You Forget Home — The Lotus-Eaters
In the mangaOdysseus won the Trojan War with the trick of the wooden horse. Now his crew won't stop feasting ("just one more cup!"), and he himself gave the order to raid a city. Between the two, seventy-two of his men are lost. Then a storm drives the fleet to a land of sweet fruit that makes anyone who eats it stop wanting to go home.
In the original mythThe Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem traditionally credited to Homer. It tells how Odysseus, king of the island of Ithaca, spent ten years trying to get home after the Trojan War. In Book 9 he is a guest of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, a seafaring people who have taken him in. There he finally reveals his name and tells his own story in the first person, starting from the day he left Troy.
Episode 2The Man Who Said His Name Was Nobody — The Cyclops Polyphemus
In the mangaTrapped in the cave of a one-eyed giant, Odysseus survives by giving up his own name. But once safe aboard his ship, he shouts his real name back at the shore — and brings the sea god's curse down on himself.
In the original mythThe Cyclops episode comes from Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic about the hero Odysseus and his long voyage home after the Trojan War. Unusually, Odysseus tells this part himself: he is a guest at the palace of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, and he recounts his adventures as a first-person story. His twelve ships reach the land of the Cyclopes, giants who hold no assemblies, keep no laws, never…
Episode 3He Could See Home. Then He Fell Asleep. — Aeolus and the Bag of Winds
In the mangaEpisode 3 of the series. Aeolus, keeper of the winds, gives Odysseus an oxhide bag with every contrary wind sealed inside. For nine nights Odysseus never sleeps and never lets go of the sail rope, until the fires of home come into view. Then one moment of sleep and a little suspicion among his crew tear the bag open, and in a harbor of giants he loses nearly his whole fleet.
In the original mythIn Homer's Odyssey, this adventure is not told by an outside narrator. Odysseus tells it himself, years later, as a guest at the court of the Phaeacians. After escaping the Cyclops, his ships reach Aeolia, a floating island ringed by an unbreakable wall of bronze and sheer cliffs. Its ruler is Aeolus, son of Hippotes, who lives there with his wife and their twelve children, six sons and six daughters, feasting day…
Episode 4Pigs on the Outside, Still Men Inside — Circe
In the mangaDeep in a forest stands a beautiful mansion, and the scouts who go there are turned into pigs by the goddess Circe. Odysseus walks in alone. With a white flower from the messenger of the gods and the nerve to stand his ground, he wins the witch over. But after a year of peace, she tells him something he never wanted to hear: "First, you must go to the Land of the Dead."
In the original mythAfter the cannibal Laestrygonians destroy every ship but his own, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, lands on the island of Aeaea with one crew. For two days the men lie on the beach, worn out and grieving. On the third day Odysseus climbs a high point and sees smoke rising from a house deep in the woods. On the way back to the ship he kills a huge stag, and the crew feast on it until nightfall. The next morning he admits…
Episode 5What the Greatest Hero Said After Death — The Nekyia — Journey to the Underworld
In the mangaAt the lightless edge of the world, Odysseus summons the dead—yet even when his own mother appears, he keeps his sword raised so the prophet can drink the blood first. Three times her shade slips through his arms, and the heroes of Troy speak their hearts. Odysseus learns what it truly means to come home alive.
In the original mythThe Nekyia is the name given to Book 11 of Homer's Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic usually dated to around the 8th century BCE. The word comes from Greek nekys, "corpse," and refers to a rite for calling up the dead. Odysseus tells this story himself, years later, as a guest in the hall of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians. It belongs to his long flashback in Books 9–12.
Episode 6He Wanted to Hear the Song That Kills — The Sirens
In the mangaOdysseus wants to hear the Sirens' song, which promises to answer any question. Knowing from the start that he'll lose to it, he has his crew tie him to the mast. When the song takes hold and he screams, "Untie me!", his men, their ears stuffed with wax, only pull the ropes tighter. The promise he made before the song began is what saves him.
In the original mythThe Sirens episode comes from Book 12 of Homer's Odyssey, an ancient Greek epic poem usually dated to around the 8th century BCE (the exact date is debated). Odysseus, the Greek hero trying to get home after the Trojan War, tells the whole adventure himself, years later, to King Alcinous and his court on the island of the Phaeacians.
Episode 7Sacrifice Six, or Sink Them All — Scylla and Charybdis
In the mangaOn one side, a whirlpool that swallows whole ships. On the other, an undying monster that always takes six men. Odysseus alone knows the truth. He keeps it from his crew and just keeps shouting "Row!" Then the hands reach out to him, calling his name, and there is nothing he can do.
In the original mythThe story of Scylla and Charybdis comes from Homer's Odyssey, an ancient Greek epic poem usually dated to around the 8th century BCE. It appears in Book 12, inside a long flashback. Odysseus, the hero trying to sail home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is a guest at the court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians (a seafaring people who take him in), and he tells his own adventures in the first person. So everything…