Odysseus

After the war, his adventurous journey home took 10 years. The story of that journey is told in the Odyssey. As him and his soldiers begin to go home, storms send them to an island full of Lotus Eaters and then they go to Sicily where they find the Cyclops Polyphemos who eats six crew members until Odysseus gives the cyclops a barrel of wine. The drunk cyclops asks Odysseus for his name, and Odysseus says "nobody" and the giant falls asleep. The rest of the crew and Odysseus stab Polyphemos in his eye which makes him ask the other giants for help, saying "nobody" has stabbed him, and the other giants tell him to pray since they think the gods have hurt him. Odysseus escapes the cave with his men and then shouts his name to the giant, who then prays that Poseidon kills Odysseus.

The group then travels to the home of the wind master Aeolus, who gives them a bag full of all the winds which will get them home. However, the group thinks the bag is full of treasure, and when they are close to Ithaca, they open it while Odysseus is asleep. The storm sends them to Telepylos, home of the Laestrygonians, a race of giants who eat people. He sends two of his men to check it out, and one of the two come back followed by a group of giants who destroy all the boats except one and kill hundreds of men. Odysseus and one ship manage to escape.

The group docks on Aeaea, where Odysseus and his friend and sister's husband Eurylochus argue over who'll scout out the island. Eurylochus is chosen and the group finds a palace where they find the sorceress Circe. The scouts go inside of Circe's palace, but Eurylochus is suspicious and stays outside. Circe serves them food which is mixed with potions which turn the group into pigs. Eurylochus runs back to Odysseus, and tries to tell Odysseus to leave the others, but the two stay instead. Hermes comes to help Odysseus and gives him a herb called moly which protects him from Circe's magic. Odysseus convinces her to let them go, which she does. When they return, Eurylochus insults Odysseus, so the Ithacan king tries to kill him but decides against it. The crew spend one year on Aeaea and the two have many children, whose names are disputed. They are either Cassiphone (daughter), Telegonus Nausithous, andNausinous (sons) or Telegonus, Agrius, and Latinus (sometimes, Telegonus is called son of Odysseus and Calypso). Circe gives Odysseus advice and the group leaves Aeaea.

Odysseus goes to the Underworld where he finds dead crew member Elpenor, his mother Anticlea, Greek heroes Achilles and Agamemnon, and most importantly, the blind prophet Tiresias. The prophet tells him not to eat the sacred cattle of Helios, the Greek sun god. They pass by the Sirens, and eventually make it to Scylla, who kills six of the crew members. The group mutiny against Odysseus and then kill and eat the cows of Helios. The sun god tells Zeus that if Odysseus' men aren't punished, he'll take the sun to the Underworld. Zeus then sends a storm which kills everyone except for Odysseus since he didn't eat the cows.

Odysseus washes up on Ogygia where he meets the nymph Calypso. The two had children, who are either the two brothers Nausithous, Nausinous, the king of the Latins, Latinus, or Telegonus. Calypso keeps Odysseus with her for 7 years until Athena tells Zeus to let Odysseus go, and Zeus sends Hermes to stop Calypso from keeping Odysseus with her. Odysseus leaves and Calypso either eternally waits for his return or killed herself.

Odysseus crashes in the kingdom of Alcinous, a king. The king smuggles him to Ithaca, where Athena disguises him as a beggar. Penelope tells the 108 suitors to string Odysseus' old bow to become to new king. None of them string it, but the disguised Odysseus strings the bow. Then, him, Telemachos, and two servants kill Antinous and the other 107 suitors. Penelope doesn't think that its Odysseus, so she asks him to move their wedding bed. Odysseus says it can't be done since one of the legs is made from an olive tree, something only the real Odysseus would know. She finally believes that its him.

The death of Odysseus changes from different stories. In one version, Circe tells her son Telegonus to go find his father. He crashes on Ithaca, thinking its Corfu and raids the countryside. Telemachos and Odysseus go to fight this invader, Odysseus is killed with a poisoned lance. Then Telemachos marries Circe and Telegonus marries Penelope. In another story, Telegonus kills Odysseus and brings Penelope and Telemachos to Aeaea and Circe resurrects Odysseus, who marries Telemachos to Cassiphone, his half-sister. Then Telemachos kills Circe so Cassiphone kills him as revenge. Odysseus dies of grief in this version.