1) Troy- After a victory Odysseus and his men begin their
journey home from here.
2) Island of the Cicones- After leaving Troy they stopped
to raid this island for supplies the Cicones attack on
horseback, and Odysseus lost 72 of his men.
3) The Island of the Lotus Eaters- Odysseus sends his men
out to search for food, and has to recover them when
they eat the Lotus flower.
4) The Island of the Cyclopes- Here, Odysseus and his
men find a Cyclops’ cave, lured by his cheese and wine.
The Cyclops, Polyphemus, traps them inside the cave.
Odysseus and his men blind the Cyclops and then
sneak out under his heard of sheep.
5) The Island of Aeolus- Aeolus, the god of the winds,
gives Odysseus all of the bad winds, so he can safely
sail home. Odysseus’ men go against his orders and
open the bag, and all of the winds escape.
6) The Island of the Laestrygonians: The Laestrygonians, a
race of cannibals, eat the Greeks. Only the men of
Odysseus’ ship and himself survive.
7) Circe's Island- Circe turns Odysseus' men to swine, but
Odysseus is protected from her magic with the help of
Hermes, who gave him a magical herb called Moly.
Odysseus ends up staying there for what seems like a
short time, but ended up being a couple years. Before
Odysseus departs, Circe finally tells him that he needs
to find the blind prophet Teiresias in the Underworld.
8) The Underworld- Odysseus consults the prophet
Teiresias to ask how he can get home, and finds his
mother there, who has committed suicide in
depression.
9) The Island of the Sirens- Odysseus and his men pass
here, an island with women singing their luring songs,
trying to reel in sailors. So they do not hear, Odysseus
fills his men’s ears with beeswax, and he has them tie
him to the mast.
10) Scylla and Charybdis- Odysseus chooses to sail for
Scylla, a six-headed sea serpent, rather than Charybdis,
a giant whirlpool. He did this because he knew that if
he went to Charybdis, the whole ship would be
destroyed. However, if he went towards Scylla, six men
would die. A sacrifice the brave Odysseus decided to
make.
11) The Island of Helios- They stop here, and Odysseus
falls asleep praying to Athena. While sleeping, his men
once again go against his orders and eat Helios' cattle.
This outrages the god, and he threatens never to rise
again. As a punishment, Zeus throws a bolt of lightning
at the ship, and turns it to splinters. Only Odysseus
survives.
12) Ogygia (Calypso's Island)- Odysseus finds this island
after drifting in the sea. It is a island of women, with a
nymph named Calypso, with whom Odysseus has a
seven-year affair with. After the seven years, Hermes
convinces Calypso to let Odysseus build a new ship so
he could sail home.
13) The Island of the Phaecians- The Phaecians accept
Odysseus, and he explains his ten year journey to them
during a feast. They happily give him a ride home on
one of their magical ships.
14) Ithaca- Odysseus finally arrives home, and sees his
son, Telemachus, for the first time in 15 years. He and
Telemachus kill all of the suitors, and Odysseus takes
his place as king, once again, alongside his wife
Penelope.