Monday, April 20, 2009

The Trunk of the Olive Tree


Lucius:


Penelope, Odysseus' wife, has a hard time believing that Odysseus is truly alive and so she tells the maid to move the bed to the hall in order to test if it really is Odysseus. He realizes the bed can't be moved because it is made from a living Olive tree and can not be moved. She realizes than that it must be her real husband. In happiness they rejoice, hug ,and kiss. They then live together forever. They live happily ever after.

Death in the Great Hall


Lucius:


Odysseus locks the doors of the Great Halls and has the women stay in their rooms. With the help of Athena he then kills all of the suitors because of their betrayal. Odysseus chose to kill Antinous first because he was one of the most disrespectful especially to the servants and most importantly his wife.

The Test of the Bow


Lucius (now a ghost):


King Alcinous helps Odysseus find his way home. When he gets home he finds his palace over run by many suitors who believe Odysseus is dead and have the desire to marry Penelope and take over his fortune. Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar, and is reunites himself with his son. Penelope has proposed a contest to determine who she shall marry. In order to marry her one must string Odysseus bow and shoot it through twelve axeheads. Many men try and fail and than Odysseus still dressed as a beggar is given the chance to string the bow. After he does so he shoots the arrow cleanly through the axeheads. After surprising everyone he takes off his disguise.

Sea Perils And Defeat


Lucius :


After visiting the Underworld and speaking with the prophet Tiresias and Odysseus' mother, we returned to Circe's island. Circe warned Odysseus about the perils ahead. We will have to pass the Sirens and resist their song and then we have a choice, brave the Prowling Rocks and have everyone be destroyed or lose six men to Scylla and sail quickly past Charybdis. The decision Odysseus makes is to lose six of our men to Scylla. In order to pass by the Sirens safely Odysseus puts beeswax in all of our ears so we won't be tempted to steer toward the Sirens Island, and he then ties himself to the mast of ship so he can hear the song but not harm himself or us. To our delight the plan worked. Then we entered the rocky water and avoided that by steering towards Scylla's cave. She ate six of our men and then we booked it safely past Charybdis. Against Odysseus' wishes we landed on the Island of the sun god Helios, and we ate his cattle. Helios becomes angered and Zeus sends a thunderbolt to sink Odysseus' ship to compensate for Helios' loss. Odysseus survives and drifts to the home of Calypso and remains there for seven years.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Grace of the Witch


Lucius:

After escaping the Cyclops island we landed on the island of Aelous, a king. He gave us a fair west wind to blow us to Ithaca and a bag of storm winds. We thought the bag was full of treasure so we opened it against Odysseus' wishes and we were blown back to the island. Aelous refuses to help us again because he believes our voyage has been cursed by the gods. It was than that we went to the island of Laestrygones. There we were bombarded with boulders by cannibals. Only Odysseus and his crew survive the attack. We than sailed to Aeaea, home of the goddess Circe. Some of the men went to explore and the rest of the men, including Odysseus stayed behind. They found Circe's palace and all but Eurylochus,who was very cautious, got turned into pigs by her. Eurylochus went back to the ship and told us that the rest of the men had become squealing game. When we arrived at the palace Circe fell in love with Odysseus and enticed us to stay and enjoy ourselves completely. We spent a long year on that island, enjoying life to the fullest. But soon we longed for home. Before we left Circe made us visit the Underworld to see Tiresias and see what lies ahead of them.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

New Coast and Poseidon's Son


Lucius(Odysseus' sidekick):




After leaving Troy, Odysseus and his men landed near the city of the Cicones who are allies of the Trojans and so they are our enemies. We raided the city, killing and robbing, until the Cicones army drove us back to the sea. To our misfortune, we landed on the island of the Lotus Eaters. Some of the men ate the plant and soon lost hope of their homeland. Odysseus had to drag them back to the boat. We then had the misfortune of landing on the Cyclops' island, great brutes with a single eye upon their visage. We went inside the Cyclop's cave upon Odysseus' request. We were trapped by the Cyclops who put a boulder blocking the entrance to the cave. We persuaded him to drink potent wine until he was passed out. It was than that we took a spear and poked out his eye, making him blind. We tied ourselves to the underside of the sheep in the cave in order to be unfelt by the Clyclops. To our excitement our plan worked and we were free from the Cyclops possession. The Cyclops got angry and told us he would send his father, Poseidon, to get revenge on us.

Friday, March 27, 2009

A goddess Intervenes


Lucius (Odysseus' sidekick):

We were all innocently sitting on the boat drinking when found ourselves upon Calypso's island. As we ventured off our vessel we encountered Calypso the goddess. After a long struggle and being held captive for seven years Athena helped us escape the clutches of Calypso. Odysseus washes up on the land of Phaeacians, where Alcinous is king. At a banquet in honor of Odysseus he is asked to recount his adventures up to that time.