The Odyssey by Homer | Book 1 Summary and Analysis

Book 1 of the Odyssey begins at the top of Mount Olympus, where Zeus, the god of gods, consults with his favorite daughter, Athena, about whether or not she and Hermes should get involved in Odysseus's life, meaning that has left their families stranded in Ithaca and terrible things have happened to them. and they're deciding whether or not they should intercede or get involved and help them and a really important theme is established: the gods are looking out for us. After a long discussion, it is finally decided that Athena and Hermes will get involved to help Odysseus. Coming home and advising your family about what is happening in Ithaca is not so nice.

Basically, Penelope Odysseus is an estranged wife who refuses to give up hope that her husband will not return home, meanwhile, these suitors, around one hundred and eight of them, including her servants and the family's traitor servants have settled in. his palace, drinking all the wine, eating all the food, and generally causing chaos. They say: Hey, Penelope's royalty, she's available and we're going to wait until she chooses one of us, that's hospitality and that's the custom now. Telemachus. who has not seen his father since he was a baby is 20 years old now Odysseus left home 20 years ago to fight in the Trojan War and ten years ago he began his journey home now disguised Athena comes down and meets Telemachus but with but abroad he confers with the suitors telling them it's time for them to leave, it's finally time for him to step up and take a stand to move forward, get these suitors out of the house, find his father, bring him Meanwhile, Penelope, locked in her room, is working on a shroud for Odysseus's elderly father, Laertes, she clings to that little bit of Hope, another important theme in the

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to May the return home happen, so that justice is restored and things return to the way they were. where she works on this shroud but she undoes her work every night because the custom is that when the shroud is finished she needs to choose one of the suitors and the suitors hope that that will happen.

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sets up some really important themes. not only about the state and the gods and about parents and children, but also about hospitality, that these suitors are allowed to simply come as friends and generally live in the palace doing whatever they want because they are guests and it also establishes another theme of justice, we see that so many things have gone wrong and Odysseus will have to return home to fix it.