Sing to me, O Muse, of the resourceful man who wandered far and wide after he had captured the sacred citadel of Troy. He came to know the cities of many peoples and learned the ways of their minds, while upon the sea he endured countless hardships, striving to save his own life and bring his companions safely home.

Yet, despite all his efforts, he could not rescue them. They perished through their own blindness and recklessness—foolish men who slaughtered and feasted upon the sacred cattle of Helios, the Sun God. Because of their offense, the god took from them forever the day of their homecoming.

Of these events, goddess, daughter of Zeus, tell us your tale, beginning wherever you choose.

All the others who had escaped utter destruction had already returned to their homes, safe from both war and sea. Only Odysseus, longing with all his heart for his homeland and his faithful wife, remained captive in the deep caverns of the radiant nymph Calypso, who wished to make him her husband.

And when, with the passing of the seasons, the year arrived that the gods had destined for his return to Ithaca, his trials were still not over. Even among his own people, hardship awaited him.

All the gods pitied him except Poseidon, whose relentless anger pursued the godlike Odysseus until he finally reached the land of his birth.

At that time, however, Poseidon had journeyed to the distant Ethiopians, a people who dwelt at the farthest edges of the world, divided between those who lived where the sun rises and those where it sets. There he received magnificent sacrifices of bulls and rams and joyfully took part in the feast prepared in his honor.

Meanwhile, the other gods had assembled in the halls of Olympian Zeus. The father of gods and men was the first to speak, for his thoughts had turned to noble Aegisthus, who had been slain by the renowned Orestes, son of Agamemnon.

Reflecting on these events, Zeus addressed the immortals:

“How quick mortals are to blame the gods! They claim that all their misfortunes come from us, when in truth they bring upon themselves sufferings far greater than fate has allotted, through their own blindness and reckless deeds.

So it was with Aegisthus. Despite divine warning, he took Agamemnon's wife as his own and murdered the king upon his return from Troy, though he knew that certain destruction awaited him.

We had sent Hermes, the vigilant messenger, to warn him not to kill the king nor seek his wife. He foretold that Orestes, once grown to manhood and returned to his homeland, would avenge his father.

Hermes spoke plainly, yet Aegisthus refused to heed his wise counsel. And now he has paid the full price for all that he did.”

Then bright-eyed Athena replied:

“Father of us all, son of Cronos, supreme ruler above every lord, that man indeed met the fate he deserved; may the same befall anyone who commits such deeds.

Yet my heart grieves for wise Odysseus, that unfortunate hero who has suffered for so many years, far from those he loves, upon an island lost in the encircling sea, almost at the very center of the world.

It is a green and wooded island, where dwells a goddess, daughter of Atlas, the mighty one who knows the depths of every sea and upholds the towering pillars that keep heaven and earth apart.

His daughter holds the sorrowful Odysseus beside her, forever seeking, with gentle and beguiling words, to make him forget Ithaca.

But his longing for home burns so deeply that he would count himself blessed to glimpse only the smoke rising from his native land before he died.

And yet, Olympian Zeus, your heart remains unmoved. Was it not Odysseus who, beside the ships of the Achaeans on the broad plains of Troy, offered you abundant sacrifices? Why, then, have you conceived such enduring anger against him?”