Timed Reading — The Iliad and the Odyssey

After Zeus orders Calypso to release Odysseus, she makes one final appeal. She offers him immortality — if he stays with her, he will never age or die. Odysseus refuses. Despite the promise of eternal life on a beautiful island, he chooses his mortal life and his longing for home. Reluctantly, Calypso accepts his decision, helps him build a raft, and sends him across the open sea.

Poseidon, still furious at Odysseus for blinding his son the Cyclops, shipwrecks him with a violent storm. Odysseus is thrown into the sea and barely survives. He eventually washes ashore on the island of Phaeacia. The Phaeacians are a remarkably hospitable people. Their princess, Nausicaa, finds Odysseus on the beach and leads him to the royal palace, where the king and queen feed him, clothe him, and promise to send him home safely.

At a royal feast, Odysseus reveals his identity and begins telling the story of his long journey since leaving Troy. He describes the island of the Lotus Eaters, where several of his men ate the local fruit and became addicted to it. They lost all desire to return home and had to be dragged back to the ships by force.

He also describes his encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus — a giant, one-eyed creature that was cannibalistic and entirely uncivilized. Out of curiosity, Odysseus led his men into the creature’s cave to explore. The Cyclops returned, blocked the entrance with a massive boulder, and began eating the men one by one. Odysseus eventually blinded the creature with a burning stake and escaped by hiding his men under the bellies of the sheep.

After the Cyclops encounter, the fleet was nearly destroyed by the hostile Laestrygonians — a race of violent giants who hurled boulders at the ships. Only Odysseus’s own vessel survived. Later, the wind god Aeolus gave Odysseus a bag containing all the unfavorable winds. His men, who suspected the bag contained gold, opened it while Odysseus slept. The winds escaped and blew the fleet far off course. Aeolus then refused to help them a second time.