Odyssey (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Homer
- First Published: 725
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Type of Plot: Epic
- Time of Work: Years immediately following the Trojan War
- Genres: Poetry, Epic, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Husbands, Wives, Africa or Africans, Traveling or travelers, Voyages, Mythology or myths, Poetry or poets, War, Legends, Folklore, Gods or goddesses, Reading, Sea or seafaring life, Egypt or Egyptians, Adventure, Heroes or heroism, Life and death, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Antarctica, Fables, Trojan War
- Locales: Sparta, ancient, Greece, ancient, Mediterranean, Argos, ancient, Mount Olympus (mythic), Ithaca, ancient
Places Discussed
*Ithaca. Odysseus’s home, a mountainous island to the west of mainland Greece, and the primary setting of the first two and last twelve books of the twenty-four-book poem. The two key locations on Ithaca are the palace of Odysseus and the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus. Odysseus’s twenty-year absence has finally resulted in the palace being overrun by 108 suitors for the hand of his wife and supposed widow, Penelope. Ironically, while the greedy and disrespectful suitors have turned the formerly noble palace into a place of lawlessness and disorder, the...
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