The Odyssey — Chronicle
Ordered by book. No event in this book could be dated from the text, so it is not dated — no anchor, no chronology; a date is never inferred. Time expressions are copied from the text as written. Every event links back to one sentence of the original.
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159 events · no event could be dated from the text
Undated
BOOK I · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · as years went by
but as years went by, there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to Ithaca;
BOOK I · 📍 [[Ithaca]]
With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever about his father.
BOOK I · 📍 [[Ithaca]]
it has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all you tell me;
BOOK I · 📍 [[Ithaca]]
Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for speech is man’s matter, and mine above all others
BOOK I · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · in the morning
Telemachus Antinous Eurymachus
but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you formal notice to depart, and feast at one another’s houses, turn and turn about, at your own cost.
BOOK II · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared
He at once sent the criers round to call the people in assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon
BOOK II
If I can hear of him as alive and on his way home I will put up with the waste you suitors will make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand I hear of his death, I will return at once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a barrow to his memory, and make my mother marry again.
BOOK II · this evening
Let me have twelve jars, and see that they all have lids; also fill me some well-sewn leathern bags with barley meal—about twenty measures in all.
BOOK II · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · when the sun had set and darkness was over all the land
She went also to Noemon son of Phronius, and asked him to let her have a ship—which he was very ready to do.
BOOK II · 📍 [[the house of Ulysses]]
Minerva Antinous Eurymachus Leiocritus
Furthermore she went to the house of Ulysses, and threw the suitors into a deep slumber.
BOOK II · through the watches of the night from dark till dawn
Then the men loosed the hawsers and took their places on the benches.
BOOK III · 📍 [[Sunium]] · When we got to Sunium
Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis the steersman of Menelaus’ ship (and never man knew better how to handle a vessel in rough weather) so that he died then and there with the helm in his hand, and Menelaus, though very anxious to press forward, had to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him his due funeral rites.
BOOK III · 📍 [[Pylos]] · all that day
Then Telemachus got into the chariot, while Pisistratus gathered up the reins and took his seat beside him. He lashed the horses on and they flew forward nothing loth into the open country, leaving the high citadel of Pylos behind them.
BOOK IV · 📍 [[Lacedaemon]]
Menelaus Helen Telemachus Pisistratus
Then Pisistratus said, “Menelaus, son of Atreus, you are right in thinking that this young man is Telemachus
BOOK IV · 📍 [[Asteris]]
Antinous Eurymachus Telemachus
Meantime the suitors went on board and sailed their ways over the sea, intent on murdering Telemachus. Now there is a rocky islet called Asteris
BOOK IV
They are going to try and murder Telemachus as he is coming home from Pylos and Lacedaemon, where he has been to get news of his father.”
BOOK IV · 📍 [[the house of Ulysses]]
Your son has done them no wrong, so he will yet come back to you.”
BOOK V · when the third day broke
By and by, as he swam on, he came to the mouth of a river, and here he thought would be the best place, for there were no rocks, and it afforded shelter from the wind.
BOOK VI · 📍 [[Scheria]]
so their king Nausithous moved them thence and settled them in Scheria, far from all other people.
BOOK VI · 📍 [[Scheria]]
but he was dead and gone to the house of Hades, and King Alcinous, whose counsels were inspired of heaven, was now reigning.
BOOK VI
Then they stood on one side and went to tell the girl, while Ulysses washed himself in the stream and scrubbed the brine from his back and from his broad shoulders. When he had thoroughly washed himself, and had got the brine out of his hair, he anointed himself with oil, and put on the clothes which the girl had given him;
BOOK VII · 📍 [[the Ogygian island]] · when the eighth year came round
but at last when the eighth year came round she bade me depart of her own free will, either because Jove had told her she must, or because she had changed her mind. She sent me from her island on a raft, which she provisioned with abundance of bread and wine.
BOOK VII · 📍 [[the house of Alcinous]]
He went straight through the court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness in which Minerva had enveloped him, till he reached Arete and King Alcinous; then he laid his hands upon the knees of the queen, and at that moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him and he became visible.
BOOK VIII · when they got there
The fifty-two picked oarsmen went to the sea shore as they had been told, and when they got there they drew the ship into the water, got her mast and sails inside her, bound the oars to the thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather, all in due course, and spread the white sails aloft. They moored the vessel a little way out from land, and then came on shore and went to the house of King Alcinous.
BOOK VIII · when they had all been diverted with the games
Then, swinging it back, he threw it from his brawny hand, and it made a humming sound in the air as he did so. The Phaeacians quailed beneath the rushing of its flight as it sped gracefully from his hand, and flew beyond any mark that had been made yet.
BOOK VIII · towards sundown
As he spoke he placed the sword in the hands of Ulysses and said, “Good luck to you, father stranger; if anything has been said amiss may the winds blow it away with them, and may heaven grant you a safe return, for I understand you have been long away from home, and have gone through much hardship.”
BOOK IX · 📍 [[Ithaca]]
I am Ulysses son of Laertes, renowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my fame ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca
BOOK IX · 📍 [[Ismarus]] · in the morning
There I sacked the town and put the people to the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we divided equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain. I then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very foolishly would not obey me, so they staid there drinking much wine and killing great numbers of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the Cicons cried out for help to other Cicons who lived inland. These were more in number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of war, for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as leaves and bloom in summer, and the hand of heaven was against us, so that we were hard pressed. ... we lost half a dozen men from every ship we had; so we got away with those that were left.
BOOK IX · 📍 [[land of the Lotus-eaters]] · on the tenth day
those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus77 with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches.
BOOK IX
with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood. Then he tore them limb from limb and supped upon them.
BOOK IX
We drove the sharp end of the beam into the monster’s eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight I kept turning it round and round as though I were boring a hole in a ship’s plank with an auger
BOOK IX · when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared
when we were a little way out from the cave and yards, I first got from under the ram’s belly, and then freed my comrades; as for the sheep, which were very fat, by constantly heading them in the right direction we managed to drive them down to the ship.
BOOK IX
Hear me, great Neptune; if I am indeed your own true begotten son, grant that Ulysses may never reach his home alive; or if he must get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in sore plight after losing all his men
BOOK X · On the tenth day
They loosed the sack, whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm that carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country.
BOOK X · 📍 [[Telepylus]] · on the seventh day
As for the others there was not one of them left.
BOOK X · 📍 [[Circe’s house]]
she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her pig-styes.
BOOK X · 📍 [[Circe’s house]] · by day-break
he tumbled right off the roof and broke his neck, and his soul went down to the house of Hades.
BOOK XI · 📍 [[Circe’s house]]
I was lying asleep on the top of Circe’s house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase but fell right off the roof and broke my neck
BOOK XI
my longing to know what you were doing and the force of my affection for you—this it was that was the death of me.
BOOK XI · 📍 [[Hades]]
He married her after having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief for the spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house of the mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief
BOOK XI · 📍 [[house of Aegisthus]]
Agamemnon Aegisthus Clytemnestra Cassandra
Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably
BOOK XII · 📍 [[Aeaean island]] · when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared
We cut firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and after we had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral rites. When his body and armour had been burned to ashes, we raised a cairn, set a stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed the oar that he had been used to row with.
BOOK XII · 📍 [[island of the two Sirens]]
but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens’ voices.
BOOK XII · 📍 [[Straits]]
Scylla pounced down suddenly upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking at once after both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as Scylla was carrying them off, and I heard them call out my name in one last despairing cry.
BOOK XII · 📍 [[Thrinacian island]]
They all swore as I bade them, and when they had completed their oath we made the ship fast in a harbour that was near a stream of fresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers.
BOOK XII · 📍 [[Thrinacian island]] · One day
Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. Now the cattle, so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the ship; the men, therefore, drove in the best of them, and they all stood round them saying their prayers, and using young oak-shoots instead of barley-meal, for there was no barley left. When they had done praying they killed the cows and dressed their carcasses;
BOOK XII · 📍 [[Thrinacian island]] · Meanwhile
Meanwhile Lampetie went straight off to the sun and told him we had been killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great rage, and said to the immortals, ‘Father Jove, and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Ulysses’ ship: they have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the one thing I loved to look upon, whether I was going up heaven or down again. If they do not square accounts with me about my cows, I will go down to Hades and shine there among the dead.’ “‘Sun,’ said Jove, ‘go on shining upon us gods and upon mankind over the fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into little pieces with a bolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to sea.’
BOOK XII · As soon as we were well away from the island
Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts, and the ship went round and round, and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men all fell into the sea; they were carried about in the water round the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again.
BOOK XIII · 📍 [[Scheria]]
When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went to Scheria where the Phaeacians live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making rapid way, had got close in. Then he went up to it, turned it into stone, and drove it down with the flat of his hand so as to root it in the ground. After this he went away.
BOOK XIII · 📍 [[Scheria]] · now
Now therefore let us all do as I say; in the first place we must leave off giving people escorts when they come here, and in the next let us sacrifice twelve picked bulls to Neptune that he may have mercy upon us, and not bury our city under the high mountain.”
BOOK XIII
Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safest hiding places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold, bronze, and good clothing which the Phaeacians had given him. They stowed everything carefully away, and Minerva set a stone against the door of the cave.
BOOK XIII
As she spoke Minerva touched him with her wand and covered him with wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the flesh over his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about him, and a tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; she also gave him an undressed deer skin as an outer garment, and furnished him with a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for him to sling it over his shoulder.
BOOK XIII
The suitors have put out to sea and are lying in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can get home.
BOOK XIV · 📍 [[Pylos]]
he has gone off to Pylos to try and get news of his father, and the suitors are lying in wait for him as he is coming home
BOOK XIV
When, however, death took him to the house of Hades, his sons divided his estate and cast lots for their shares, but to me they gave a holding and little else
BOOK XIV · 📍 [[Troy]]
the people required me and Idomeneus to lead their ships to Troy, and there was no way out of it, for they insisted on our doing so. There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth we sacked the city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us.
BOOK XIV · 📍 [[Egypt]]
I took off my helmet and shield and dropped my spear from my hand; then I went straight up to the king’s chariot, clasped his knees and kissed them, whereon he spared my life
BOOK XIV · 📍 [[Phoenicia]] · for a whole twelve months
Ulysses Phoenician
he set me on board a ship bound for Libya, on a pretence that I was to take a cargo along with him to that place, but really that he might sell me as a slave and take the money I fetched.
BOOK XV · 📍 [[Lacedaemon]]
The chief men among the suitors are lying in wait for you in the Strait128 between Ithaca and Samos, and they mean to kill you before you can reach home.
BOOK XV · 📍 [[Lacedaemon]] · as he spoke
As he spoke he lashed his horses and they started off at full speed through the town towards the open country.
BOOK XV · 📍 [[Pylos]]
I too,” answered Theoclymenus, “am an exile, for I have killed a man of my own race.
BOOK XV · 📍 [[Pylos]]
I will not refuse you,” replied Telemachus, “if you wish to join us. Come, therefore, and in Ithaca we will treat you hospitably according to what we have.” On this he received Theoclymenus’ spear and laid it down on the deck of the ship.
BOOK XV · as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink
Take the ship on to the town, but leave me here, for I want to look after the herdsmen on one of my farms.
BOOK XVI
Eumaeus went close up to Penelope, and said privately all that her son had bidden him tell her.
BOOK XVI · 📍 [[hut]]
And Ulysses said, “I am no god, why should you take me for one? I am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at the hands of lawless men.”
BOOK XVI · 📍 [[hut]]
These two,” continued Ulysses, “will not keep long out of the fray, when the suitors and we join fight in my house.
BOOK XVI
Antinous Eurymachus Telemachus
Let us try and lay hold of him either on his farm away from the town, or on the road hither. Then we can divide up his property amongst us
BOOK XVI
I am not in favour of killing Telemachus. It is a heinous thing to kill one who is of noble blood.
BOOK XVI
She knew of the plot against Telemachus, for the servant Medon had overheard their counsels and had told her
BOOK XVII · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · even now
Ulysses himself is even now in Ithaca, and, either going about the country or staying in one place, is enquiring into all these evil deeds and preparing a day of reckoning for the suitors.
BOOK XVII · On this
On this, as he passed, he gave Ulysses a kick on the hip out of pure wantonness, but Ulysses stood firm, and did not budge from the path.
BOOK XVIII · 📍 [[Ithaca]]
Then they began to fight, and Irus hit Ulysses on the right shoulder; but Ulysses gave Irus a blow on the neck under the ear that broke in the bones of his skull, and the blood came gushing out of his mouth; he fell groaning in the dust, gnashing his teeth and kicking on the ground, but the suitors threw up their hands and nearly died of laughter, as Ulysses caught hold of him by the foot and dragged him into the outer court as far as the gate-house.
BOOK XVIII
Nay, he will be here soon; may heaven send you home quietly first that you may not meet with him in the day of his coming, for once he is here the suitors and he will not part bloodlessly.
BOOK XVIII
Penelope Antinous Eurymachus Eurydamas Pisander
The others applauded what Antinous had said, and each one sent his servant to bring his present.
BOOK XVIII
With this he caught hold of a footstool, but Ulysses sought protection at the knees of Amphinomus of Dulichium, for he was afraid. The stool hit the cupbearer on his right hand and knocked him down: the man fell with a cry flat on his back, and his wine-jug fell ringing to the ground.
BOOK XVIII
Telemachus Eurymachus Antinous
On this Telemachus came forward and said, “Sirs, are you mad? Can you not carry your meat and your liquor decently? Some evil spirit has possessed you. I do not wish to drive any of you away, but you have had your suppers, and the sooner you all go home to bed the better.”
BOOK XIX · 📍 [[store room]]
Then Ulysses and his son made all haste to take the helmets, shields, and spears inside
BOOK XIX · in her fourth year
I fooled them in this way for three years without their finding it out, but as time wore on and I was now in my fourth year, in the waning of moons, and many days had been accomplished, those good for nothing hussies my maids betrayed me to the suitors, who broke in upon me and caught me; they were very angry with me, so I was forced to finish my work whether I would or no.
BOOK XIX · 📍 [[court]] · the coming dawn
I am about to hold a tournament of axes. My husband used to set up twelve axes in the court, one in front of the other, like the stays upon which a ship is built; he would then go back from them and shoot an arrow through the whole twelve. I shall make the suitors try to do the same thing, and whichever of them can string the bow most easily, and send his arrow through all the twelve axes, him will I follow, and quit this house of my lawful husband
BOOK XX · Meanwhile
On this Amphinomus said, “My friends, this plot of ours to murder Telemachus will not succeed; let us go to dinner instead.”
BOOK XX · Meanwhile
Therefore, suitors, keep your hands and your tongues to yourselves, or there will be mischief.”
BOOK XX · Minerva now made the suitors fall to laughing immoderately
Theoclymenus saw this and said, “Unhappy men, what is it that ails you? There is a shroud of darkness drawn over you from head to foot
BOOK XX · 📍 Piraeus · as he spoke
He left the house as he spoke, and went back to Piraeus who gave him welcome
BOOK XXI · 📍 [[cloister]]
No one shall force me one way or the other, not even though I choose to make the stranger a present of the bow outright, and let him take it away with him. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants.
BOOK XXI · 📍 [[outer yard]]
It is I, Ulysses, who am here. I have suffered much, but at last, in the twentieth year, I am come back to my own country.
BOOK XXI · 📍 [[outer court]]
Meanwhile Philoetius slipped quietly out and made fast the gates of the outer court.
BOOK XXI · 📍 [[cloisters]]
Then he took it in his right hand to prove the string, and it sang sweetly under his touch like the twittering of a swallow. The suitors were dismayed, and turned colour as they heard it; at that moment, moreover, Jove thundered loudly as a sign
BOOK XXI · 📍 [[cloisters]] · at that moment
As he spoke he made a sign with his eyebrows, and Telemachus girded on his sword, grasped his spear, and stood armed beside his father’s seat.
BOOK XXII
Ulysses instantly shot an arrow into his breast that caught him by the nipple and fixed itself in his liver. He dropped his sword and fell doubled up over his table.
BOOK XXII
As for Melanthius, they took him through the cloister into the inner court. There they cut off his nose and his ears; they drew out his vitals and gave them to the dogs raw, and then in their fury they cut off his hands and his feet.
BOOK XXII
Ulysses Phemius Medon Telemachus
Fear not; Telemachus has saved your life, that you may know in future, and tell other people, how greatly better good deeds prosper than evil ones. Go, therefore, outside the cloisters into the outer court, and be out of the way of the slaughter—you and the bard—while I finish my work here inside.
BOOK XXII
So saying he made a ship’s cable fast to one of the bearing-posts that supported the roof of the domed room, and secured it all around the building, at a good height, lest any of the women’s feet should touch the ground; and as thrushes or doves beat against a net that has been set for them in a thicket just as they were getting to their nest, and a terrible fate awaits them, even so did the women have to put their heads in nooses one after the other and die most miserably.
BOOK XXIII
Phemius shall then strike up a dance tune on his lyre, so that if people outside hear, or any of the neighbours, or some one going along the street happens to notice it, they may think there is a wedding in the house, and no rumours about the death of the suitors will get about in the town, before we can escape to the woods upon my own land.
BOOK XXIII · It was now daylight
Ulysses Telemachus Philoetius Eumaeus Minerva
It was now daylight, but Minerva nevertheless concealed them in darkness and led them quickly out of the town.
BOOK XXIV · 📍 [[Ithaca]] · after having been away for twenty years
I am he, father, about whom you are asking—I have returned after having been away for twenty years. But cease your sighing and lamentation—we have no time to lose, for I should tell you that I have been killing the suitors in my house, to punish them for their insolence and crimes.