Odysseus has been away from home for twenty years. A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home to his family. The journey included Poseidon’s shipwreck and seven-year imprisonment by Calypso.
Detailed answer:
Homer’s second epic poem, The Odyssey, tells about Odysseus’ wandering in the seas. The hero wanders for ten years and struggles to return home from the Trojan War. The hero’s journey is one filled with bloody duels, vicious fights with Gods, and years of isolation on the island. Odysseus left Ithaca to help the Greeks win the Trojan War. He left behind his family – wife Penelope and son Telemachus. Nevertheless, Odysseus managed to return home even though it took him a long twenty years to do so.
During the Trojan war, Odysseus experienced many difficulties. He had dangerous adventures accompanying him for ten years. The goddess Athena highly favored the hero. She praised him for intelligence and ingenuity in developing smart plans. After all, the mastermind plan idea to build a wooden horse was proposed and developed by Odysseus. The horse would hide the Greek soldiers inside it. This invention subsequently ended the long war, bringing Greeks the victory. To reward such intellect, Athena would sometimes help Odysseus in time of scrutiny.
After ten years of combat, Odysseus proceeds to return home. However, it would take him another decade to finally step into his homeland. Within the ten years of wandering, he experienced confinement and encountered danger. At the beginning of the journey, the hero’s wittiness played a wicked game with him. Amid the fight against Polyphemus, the Cyclops, Odysseus was met by the fury of Poseidon. Hero’s intelligence helped him defeat the Cyclops. Yet, the mighty God did not honor the hero’s intelligence. Due to such resentment, the God of the oceans caused a storm to befall Odysseus’s ship. It made the trip more challenging and arduous, where he lost all the companions.
After the shipwreck, Odysseus’ journey did not end. The hero landed on an island Ogygia, where a nymph Calypso lived. She fell in love with the warrior and decided to capture him. She wanted to keep Odysseus as an immortal husband. The singing of Calypso is what managed to keep the king for seven years before he escaped imprisonment. Athena again came to help the man. She asked Zeus to demand the nymph to release Odysseus. Calypso listened to the mighty, set the hero free giving him wine, bread, and a raft to get home safely.
The end of Odysseus’ journey was near. However, he had to prove to the wife Penelope his identity. Athena disguised the hero as a beggar. The disguise provided him safety. There were hostile people outside the castle urging to take the reign. Yet, Penelope did not need much proof. She instantly felt the presence of her beloved. Even after 20 years of separation, the lovers found each other after all. In that way, after many arduous adventures and with Athena’s help, Odysseus finally returns home. He can lay claim to his family and kingdom once again.
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