Riley Odyssey

Troy and the Island of Cicones

1204 BCE

During the Trojan War Odysseus won. After their victory at Troy, Odysseus and his men begin their journey home, but after they left Troy, they stopped to raid the island for supplies. Odysseus lost 72 of his men when the Cicones attacked them.

Odysseus and his Men Arrive at the Land of the Lotus Eaters.

1200 BCE

When Odysseus and his men enter the Land of the Lotus Eaters the natives kindly offer them lotus fruits. However, As soon as they eat the fruit, they lose all thoughts of home and desire to stay there eating more fruit.

Odysseus and his Men Meets the Cyclops/Polyphemus in his Cave.

1199 BCE

During a dark night Odysseus and his men sail to the land of the Cyclopes. At first, Polyphemus gives the impression that he is friendly, but turns malicious and evil. He soon eats two of Odysseus’ men alive and detains Odysseus and his crew in his cave so he can eat them later. Odysseus' intentions are to kill the Cyclops. Odysseus then tells the Cyclops that his name is “Nohbdy.” His plan was when Cyclops calls for help, the others will think that the gods caused the pain upon Polyphemus.

Aiolos Gives Odysseus the Bag of Winds.

1197 BCE

Odysseus doesn't tell his men what's in the bag, and just takes care of steering the ship by himself for nine days. Once Odysseus falls asleep his men thought that the bag that was has secretly given Odysseus contained a fortune in gold and silver, tear the bag open.The moment they open the bag all the storm winds rage out and blow the ship backwards, setting them back nine days of sailing nine days of sailing.

Odysseus and his Men Arrive at Circe's Home.

1194 BCE

Odysseus' and his are looking for a place to live and they come across the home of Circe. Circe drugs Odysseus’s men and turns them into pigs. With the help of Hermes and an herb called moly; he helped Odysseus protect himself from Circe’s drug and overpowered Circe and forced her to change his men back to human.

Odysseus's ship comes in contact with the Sirens.

1187 BCE

Before Odysseus leave Circe's island she tells him he will come to the island of sirens and he will be lured in by their song. When they approach the island of the lovely Sirens, and Odysseus, as instructed by Circe, plugs his men's ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship. He was the only one who hears their song flowing from the island, promising to reveal the future.

The Two Evils: Scylla and Charybdis

1186 BCE

Scylla is a six-headed monster and Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow Odysseus' entire ship. It is impossible to avoid both of them, Circe advises Odysseus to steer closer to Scylla than to Charybdis, "since it its better to mourn six men than your whole crew." Once the ship passes Scylla she swallows one sailor for each head.

Helios Revenge Against Odysseus

1185 BCE

The God of the sun and master of cattle that no one was allowed to touch.When Odysseus' men kill his cattle,Helios demands revenge by holding his breath until Zeus punishes the companions of Odysseus.Odysseus is sensible,but Eurylochus is disobedient and convinced the men to eat the Cattle of the Sun.Helios orders the gods to take vengeance on Odysseus' men.He threatens that if they do not pay him full atonement for the cattle,he will take the sun to the Underworld and shine it among the dead.

The Suitors Invasion

1184 BCE

When Odysseus' return, disguised as a beggar, he finds Penelope has been loyal, but there are suitors in his home. Eurykleia comes to Penelope with the news that Odysseus is back and has killed all the suitors. She tricks her suitors, whoever could string Odysseus' bow and fire an arrow through the axe handles would be able to marry her. Penelope even test who she thinks to be Odysseus; asking one of the servants to move the bed, but Odysseus knows that the bed can not be moved.