Odysseus

Odysseus is the king of Ithaca in Homer, the man of many wiles who takes twenty years to get home from Troy. He gives his own name and address in the Odyssey, in the hall of the Phaeacians: 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, and he wakes on his own beach without recognising it.

In short

Odysseus names himself to the Phaeacians as 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, and 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, which has two headlands at its mouth and holds ships unmoored inside.
At the head of that harbour stands a long-leafed olive, and beside it a cave sacred to the Naiads, with stone mixing bowls, stone looms where the nymphs weave purple, and ever-flowing springs.
The cave has two doors: the one to the north is for men to go down by, and the one to the south is sacred, the way of the immortals, which no man may enter.

The stranger finally gives his name

Odysseus has eaten in the Phaeacian king’s hall and heard a singer perform the story of Troy, yet nobody knows who is weeping at the song. He has concealed his identity for eight books. Now he gives it formally: Odysseus, son of Laertes, known among men for every kind of cunning, with a fame that reaches heaven.

His next words are an address. He lives on clear-seen Ithaca. The order matters. Odysseus defines himself first by the skill that kept him alive and then by the island he has failed for years to reach. His intelligence wins him out of danger, but it cannot shorten the distance home.

The Ithaca he carries in speech

Odysseus describes the island with unusual geographical care. Forested Mount Neriton rises conspicuously upon it. Dulichium, Same and wooded Zacynthus lie nearby, while Ithaca itself sits closest to the mainland and furthest towards 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 more fertile, yet neither persuades him to exchange his country for theirs. He can imagine nothing sweeter than his own land. The speech tells the Phaeacians where to carry him, but it also states what all his evasions serve: not wandering itself, but the end of wandering.

The harbour prepared for his return

The Phaeacians know the harbour of Phorcys and row straight into it. Two headlands guard the mouth, steep on the seaward face and sloping within, so ships need no mooring once they enter. A long-leafed olive stands at the head of the water. Beside it opens a cave sacred to the Naiads, furnished with stone jars and mixing bowls, stone looms where nymphs weave purple cloth, and springs that never fail.

The cave has two entrances. Mortals descend through the northern door; the southern opening belongs to the gods and no human being passes through it. Homer makes the boundary exact before Odysseus knows he has crossed it. The sailors lift him ashore asleep, place his wealth beside the olive and leave without waking him.

Why he cannot recognise home

Odysseus wakes on the beach he has spent twenty years trying to reach and believes the Phaeacians have deceived him. The harbour, olive and cave are present, but Athena has drawn mist over the land. She needs him unrecognised while he learns what has happened in his palace and prepares the suitors’ deaths.

The concealment places a limit on the quality for which he has just claimed fame. Odysseus can invent names, test strangers and escape creatures by controlling what others see. On Ithaca, a goddess controls his sight instead. His first act at home is not recognition but suspicion.

Athena then names the harbour, Mount Neriton and the cave of the Naiads until he accepts the ground. Odysseus kisses the earth and hides his Phaeacian treasure inside the cave. The island described so confidently in another king’s hall becomes his home again only when a goddess gives its features back one by one.

Even then he cannot walk openly to the palace. Athena changes his appearance into that of an old beggar so that recognition will happen on controlled terms. Arrival ends the voyage across the sea; it begins a second passage through his own household, where every person must decide what to do with a stranger.

Where to stand

Ithaca

Ionian

Ithaca is the island Odysseus names as his own in the Odyssey, 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 and a cave sacred to the Naiads opens beside it, with one door for men and one, to the south, that only the immortals use.
Ithaca