Odysseus

Odysseus is the king of Ithaca in Homer, a man famous for his cunning, who takes 20 years to get home from Troy. In the Odyssey he tells the Phaeacians who he is and where he lives: Ithaca, with the wooded mountain Neriton on it, a rugged island but a good nurse of young men. The Phaeacians land him asleep at the harbour of Phorcys. He wakes on his own beach and does not recognise it.

In short

Odysseus tells the Phaeacians he is the son of Laertes, known among men for all manner of wiles, and says his fame reaches to heaven.
He describes Ithaca as clear-seen, with the forested mountain Neriton on it. He names Dulichium, Same and wooded Zacynthus as the islands lying round it.
He calls Ithaca a rugged isle but a good nurse of young men, and says he can see nothing sweeter than his own land.
The Phaeacians put him ashore at the harbour of Phorcys. Two headlands stand at its mouth, and ships inside need no mooring.
At the head of that harbour stands a long-leafed olive. Beside it is a cave sacred to the Naiads, a kind of nymph, with stone mixing bowls, stone looms where the nymphs weave purple, and springs that never run dry.
The cave has two doors. The north door is for men to go down by. The south door is sacred, the way of the immortals, and no man may enter it.

The stranger gives his name

Odysseus has spent years trying to get home from the war at Troy. In the Odyssey, Homer’s poem about his journey, he reaches the hall of the king of the Phaeacians, a people of sailors. He eats there and hears a singer perform the story of Troy. He weeps at the song, yet nobody knows who he is. He has hidden his name for eight books of the poem.

Now he gives it formally. He is Odysseus, son of Laertes, known among men for every kind of cunning, and his fame reaches heaven.

His next words are an address. He lives on clear-seen Ithaca. He names first the skill that has kept him alive, then the island he has failed for years to reach. His cleverness gets him out of danger. It cannot shorten the distance home.

Ithaca in his own words

Odysseus describes his island with unusual care. The forested Mount Neriton rises high on it. Dulichium, Same and wooded Zacynthus lie nearby. Ithaca sits closest to the mainland and furthest towards the darkness. The other islands face the dawn and the sun.

It is rugged ground, he admits, but a good nurse of young men. Calypso and Circe may be divine, and their islands richer, yet neither of them persuades him to give up his country for theirs. He can imagine nothing sweeter than his own land.

The speech tells the Phaeacians where to carry him. It also says what all his tricks and disguises have been for. He has never wanted to wander. He wants the wandering to end.

The harbour of Phorcys

The Phaeacians know the harbour of Phorcys and row straight into it. Two headlands guard its mouth. They are steep on the side facing the sea and slope down on the inside, so ships need no mooring once they enter.

A long-leafed olive tree stands at the head of the harbour. Beside it is a cave sacred to the Naiads, a kind of nymph. Inside are stone jars and mixing bowls, stone looms where the nymphs weave purple cloth, and springs that never run dry.

The cave has two entrances. Mortals go down through the north door. The south door belongs to the gods, and no human being passes through it. Homer sets out this boundary exactly before Odysseus knows he has crossed it. The sailors lift him ashore asleep, put his treasure beside the olive and leave without waking him.

Home, and he does not know it

Odysseus wakes on the beach he has spent 20 years trying to reach. He thinks the Phaeacians have tricked him. The harbour, the olive and the cave are all there, but the goddess Athena has spread a mist over the land. She needs him to stay unrecognised while he learns what has happened in his palace and prepares the deaths of the suitors there.

The mist limits the very quality he has just claimed fame for. Odysseus can invent names, test strangers and escape creatures by controlling what others see. On Ithaca, a goddess controls what he sees. At home, he begins with suspicion, and recognition comes later.

The goddess gives the island back

Athena names the harbour, Mount Neriton and the cave of the Naiads one by one, until he accepts the ground. Odysseus kisses the earth and hides his Phaeacian treasure inside the cave. He described the island with confidence in another king’s hall. It becomes his home again only when a goddess gives each place back to him.

Even then he cannot walk openly to his palace. Athena changes his appearance into that of an old beggar, so that he is recognised only when the time is right. The sea voyage is over. A second journey begins, through his own household, where every person must decide what to do with a stranger.

Places to visit

Ithaca

Ionian

In the Odyssey, Odysseus names Ithaca as his own island, with the wooded mountain Neriton on it and Dulichium, Same and Zacynthus lying round it. The Phaeacians put him ashore asleep at the harbour of Phorcys, where a long-leafed olive stands at the head of the water beside a cave sacred to the Naiads, with one door for men and one, to the south, that only the immortals use.
Ithaca