📜 THE ODYSSEY
PAGE 1 OF 5 · FROM TROY TO THE WINE COLOURED SEA
FLEET
KING OF ITHACA · A VERY LONG WAY HOME
When the Trojan War ended, Odysseus only wanted to sail home to Ithaca and his wife Penelope. The gods sent storms, wrong turns, and a furious Poseidon because Odysseus had blinded Polyphemus, the one eyed Cyclops who was Poseidon's child. The poem is really a survival story about keeping your crew alive, remembering who you are, and never giving up on home.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
Ancient Greek had no single word that means "book" the way we use it. People heard the Odyssey out loud at feasts and markets instead of reading it quietly alone.
SAIL!
CREW
⛵ Greek fighting ships were coated in black tar so seawater rolled off the wood. Many oars dipped together in rhythm so the hull surged forward like one big living creature.
🧭 Odysseus wins by pausing to think. He tells stories, wears disguises, and waits for the right moment instead of charging straight at every danger.
🧭 Odysseus wins by pausing to think. He tells stories, wears disguises, and waits for the right moment instead of charging straight at every danger.
PENELOPE
🧵 Penelope told noisy suitors she would pick a husband when her funeral shroud for her father in law Laertes was finished. Each night she quietly picked the threads apart so the cloth never got done.
💎 She acted as if her husband might still walk through the door, even when others said he was gone forever.
💎 She acted as if her husband might still walk through the door, even when others said he was gone forever.