The Iliad In the tenth year of the Trojan War, tensions are running high among the Achaians

(a super-ancient name for the Ancient Greeks). First, the priest Chryses comes to ask their leader, King Agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom Agamemnon was holding captive. When Agamemnon refuses, the priest prays to the god Apollo to send a plague against the Achaians. After nine days of plague, the Achaians assemble again and demand that Agamemnon give the girl back. Agamemnon eventually agrees, but only if he gets to take Briseis, the girlfriend of Achilleus, the greatest warrior of the Achaians. Even though Achilleus gives her up, he becomes so enraged that he refuses to fight any more. That and he prays to his mother, Thetis, who happens to be a goddess, to pull some strings with the other gods so that the Achaians will start getting defeated in battle and realize how much they depend on him. Achilleus's mom definitely spoils him. She gets Zeus, the king of the gods, to agree to Achilleus's request. Sure enough, the next day the Trojans make a successful counterattack, led by Hektor, their greatest warrior. Several days of violent fighting follow, at the end of which the Trojans have the Achaians pinned against the beach, and are threatening to burn their ships. At this point, Achilleus's best friend Patroklos asks for permission to go into battle in Achilleus's place. Achilleus grants Patroklos's request, and even lets him wear his armor. Patroklos's gambit is successful when the Trojans see him, they think he must be Achilleus and become absolutely terrified. The plan goes off the rails, however, when Hektor kills Patroklos with the help of the god Apollo and a minor Trojan warrior named Euphorbos. Hektor then takes the armor off Patroklos's body. When Achilleus learns of the death of his friend, he experiences terrible grief and swears revenge. He sends his mother, Thetis, to get a new suit of armor made especially for him by the fire-god, Hephaistos. The next day, Achilleus rejoins the battle and kills many Trojans, including Hektor in a one-on-one battle. But Achilleus isn't satisfied. For the next few days, he continually abuses Hektor's body in gruesome ways, even after Patroklos has received a proper funeral. The gods don't like this, and send a message down to Achilleus telling him to give up the body. When the Trojan King Priam Hektor's father comes unarmed, by night, to ask for his son's body, Achilleus agrees. The two men eat together and experience a moment of shared humanity. Achilleus grants the Trojans a grace period to perform their funeral rituals. The poem ends with the funeral of Hektor though we know that soon Achilleus will die and Troy will be captured.

The Odyssey Years after the end of the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus still hasn t come home to Ithaka, and many believe him to be dead. In fact, as Homer immediately lets us know, Odysseus is being held captive (for the purposes of sex, believe it or not) on the island of the goddess Kalypso. To make matters worse, Poseidon, the god of the sea, is ticked off at Odysseus, and sees no reason to let him get home. Back in Ithaka, Odysseus s wife Penelope is getting swarmed by a horde of unwanted suitors. Odysseus and Penelope's son, Telemachos, now a teenager, gets visited by the goddess Athene (who was always chummy with Odysseus). She tells him to go in search of news of his missing father. He takes her advice, first traveling to Pylos to visit King Nestor. Nestor takes him in, feeds him well and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Once again, he does as he s told. In Sparta, Telemachos learns from Menelaos that Odysseus is alive and well, being held captive on Kalypso s island. Menelaos also tells Telemachos about how his brother, King Agamemnon, was killed upon his return home from Troy by his unfaithful wife, Klytaimestra, and her lover, Aigisthos. Agamemnon was avenged by his son Orestes, who killed the murderers in return for their treachery. This isn t important to the plotline as much as it is a thematic point it raises the question of whether Odysseus will be killed when he gets home, and, if so, whether Telemachos will step up to avenge his father s death. Meanwhile, back in Ithaka, Penelope's suitors plot to ambush and kill Telemachos when he returns home. Oh, the tension!

Up on Mount Olympos, where the gods all hang out, the goddess Athene asks her father, Zeus, the King of the gods, to have mercy on Odysseus and force Kalpyso to release him. Zeus says, Whatever, and in no time, Odysseus sails off on a makeshift raft. Unfortunately, Poseidon whips up some storms, and instead of getting home, Odysseus washes ashore in the land of the Phaiakians. Fortunately, Athene makes the resident princess, Nausikaa, develop a crush on him. Nausikaa takes him home to meet her parents, the King and Queen of Phaiakia. In return for their hospitality, Odysseus tells them everything that s happened to him since the end of the Trojan War: Odysseus left Troy with a ship of his Ithakan men. At their first stop, they plundered the locals stuff. Several stormtossed days later, they landed on the island of the Lotus-eaters. A few guys ate the lotus flower and forgot their homes and families, and had to be taken back to the ship by force. Next, Odysseus and his men came to the land of the Cyclopses giant one-eyed monsters. Odysseus and his men stumbled into a cave, which, unfortunately, belonged to one of these man-eating creatures. The Cyclops sealed the entrance to the cave with a huge boulder and ate a few of the Ithakans. Odysseus kept his cool, though, and told the monster his name was Nobody. Then he got the Cyclops drunk on wine and stabbed it in the eye with a sharpened log. When the creature whose name turns out to be Polyphemos cried out that Nobody is killing me, the other Cyclopses were like, Then pipe down, already! Odysseus is one clever dude. Next, Odysseus tied his men under the bellies of Polyphemos s flock of sheep. The next morning, when the blinded monster opened the cave to let them out to pasture, he only touched the tops of the sheep to make sure nobody was riding them and was duped again. The actual Nobody made his escape last, clinging to a ram. The problem is, as Odysseus was sailing away with his men, his ego got the better of him. He taunted the Cyclops, telling him his real name. This was a dumb idea because Polyphemos was the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. He prayed to his father to make Odysseus suffer. And suffer. And lose all his men. And maybe die too. This is why Poseidon hates our hero so much. Next, Odysseus and his men came to the island of Aiolos, god of the wind. He helped Odysseus out by putting all the winds except for the west-bound breeze they needed into a nice little bag. Unfortunately, Odysseus didn t tell his men what s in the bag. On the way home, they opened it up, thinking it was full of treasure. Big mistake. All the winds jumped out and ran riot, thus driving them to the island of Circe, a sorceress. She turned many of the men into pigs. With the help of the gods, Odysseus got his men turned back into humans and had sex with Circe. For a year. Then one of his men said, Can we get going already? and Odysseus said, "OK." But then Circe instructed them that they had to go the Underworld and get advice from the prophet Teiresias. So off they went. Teiresias prophesied that Odysseus would make it home, but not without difficulty. Odysseus spoke to several other famous dead people (like his war buddies Achilleus and Agamemnon). He also met the ghost of his mother, Antikleia, who had died of grief over her son s prolonged absence. Then, after a quick pit stop back at Circe s island, where they got some more directions, Odysseus and his men sailed on. Soon, they passed by the Sirens, monstrous women with beautiful voices who try to lure sailors to their deaths. Odysseus made his men plug their ears and tie him to the mast so he could listen to the song without chasing after it. In this way, he became the only man to hear the Sirens' song and survive. Next they met two horrible monsters, also female, named Skylla and Charybdis. As predicted by Circe, Skylla (who has six heads) ate six Ithakans; the rest barely escaped Charybdis (a giant vortex who sucks up the sea and vomits it back out again). After that they landed on the island of Helios, the sun god, where his very special cattle were kept. Despite having been warned by Teiresias and Circe not to eat the cattle, Odysseus s men couldn t control their hunger. Bad call. Not long afterward, everyone died in a storm except for Odysseus. He wound up on Kalypso s island, where he was held prisoner for seven years. So, that s it for Odysseus s story to the Phaiakians. They are so moved by his suffering that they load him up with treasure and ferry him back to Ithaka. (Unfortunately, in return for their trouble, the god Poseidon turns them and their ship into stone.) Once Odysseus gets home, Athene disguises him as a beggar so he can scope out the situation. Odysseus then recruits the assistance of the swineherd, Eumaios, who puts him up for the night while Athene flies to Sparta to retrieve Telemachos. When Telemachos gets back, Odysseus reveals himself to his son. Then Odysseus heads

to the palace, still disguised as a beggar. Without revealing his true identity, he talks to Penelope and tries to convince her that Odysseus is on his way home. She doesn t believe him. Odysseus uses this opportunity to see which of his servants are still loyal to the household and which have joined the suitors. At a certain point, Penelope, tired of waiting around, offers the suitors a test: she sets up a contest of physical prowess and declares that she will marry the winner. The deal is, all the men have to try to string Odysseus s old bow and shoot it through the heads of twelve axes. Many suitors try and fail until the beggar (Odysseus in disguise) asks for a chance to try. He succeeds, drops the disguise, and, with the help of Telemachos, several loyal servants, and Athene s protection, kills all the suitors in a massive and bloody slaughter. Then Odysseus reunites with his wife, and everything seems hunkydory except for the detail that he s just killed all the young noblemen of Ithaka and their parents are furious. The next morning, Odysseus leaves the palace, reunites with his father Laertes, and lays low while the angry moms and dads start looking for vengeance. Just when it looks like more violence is on the way, Athene appears and tells everyone to just quit it already: let s all settle down and get along. This sounds like a good idea to everyone, and peace is restored in Ithaka. Oedipus the King King Oedipus, aware that a terrible curse has befallen Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to seek the advice of Apollo. Creon informs Oedipus that the curse will be lifted if the murderer of Laius, the former king, is found and prosecuted. Laius was murdered many years ago at a crossroads. Oedipus dedicates himself to the discovery and prosecution of Laius s murderer. Oedipus subjects a series of unwilling citizens to questioning, including a blind prophet. Teiresias, the blind prophet, informs Oedipus that Oedipus himself killed Laius. This news really bothers Oedipus, but his wife Jocasta tells him not to believe in prophets, they've been wrong before. As an example, she tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her. Well, she and Laius had the child killed, so obviously that prophecy didn't come true, right? Jocasta's story doesn't comfort Oedipus. As a child, an old man told Oedipus that he was adopted, and that he would eventually kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother. Not to mention, Oedipus once killed a man at a crossroads, which sounds a lot like the way Laius died. Jocasta urges Oedipus not to look into the past any further, but he stubbornly ignores her. Oedipus goes on to question a messenger and a shepherd, both of whom have information about how Oedipus was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a new family. In a moment of insight, Jocasta realizes that she is Oedipus s mother and that Laius was his father. Horrified at what has happened, she kills herself. Shortly thereafter, Oedipus, too, realizes that he was Laius s murder and that he s been married to (and having children with) his mother. In horror and despair, he gouges his eyes out and is exiled from Thebes. Antigone Antigone picks up where Oedipus at Colonus leaves off. Oedipus has just passed away in Colonus, and Antigone and her sister decide to return to Thebes with the intention of helping their brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, avoid a prophecy that predicts they will kill each other in a battle for the throne of Thebes. Upon her arrival in Thebes, Antigone learns that both of her brothers are dead. Eteocles has been given a proper burial, but Creon, Antigone's uncle who has inherited the throne, has issued a royal edict banning the burial of Polyneices, who he believes was a traitor. Antigone defies the law, buries her brother, and is caught. When Creon locks her away in prison, she kills herself. Meanwhile, not realizing Antigone has taken her own life, the blind prophet Teiresias, Creon's son and Antigone's fianc Haemon, and the Chorus plead with Creon to release her. Creon finally relents, but in an instance of too-late-timing, finds her dead in her jail cell. Out of despair, Haemon and Creon s wife have by now also killed themselves, and Creon is left in distress and sorrow.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Summary The Epic of Gilgamesh is a moving tale of the friendship between Gilgamesh, the demigod king of Uruk, and the wild man Enkidu. Accepting ones own mortality is the overarching theme of the epic as Gilgamesh and Enkidu find their highest purpose in the pursuit of eternal life. The epic begins with Gilgamesh terrorizing the people of Uruk. They call out to the sky god Anu for help. In response Anu tells the goddess of creation, Aruru, to make an equal for Gilgamesh. Thus Aruru created Enkidu, a brute with the strength of dozens of wild animals. After being seduced by a harlot from the temple of love in Uruk, Enkidu loses his strength and wildness yet gains wisdom and understanding. The harlot offers to take him into Uruk where Gilgamesh lives, the only man worthy of Enkidu's friendship. After a brief brawl the two become devoted friends. The newfound friends gradually weaken and grow lazy living in the city, so Gilgamesh proposes a great adventure that entails cutting down a great cedar forest to build a great monument to the gods. However to accomplish this they must kill the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, the great demon, Humbaba the Terrible. Enkidu, along with the elders of the city, have serious reservations about such an undertaking but in the end Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the terrible demon. As Gilgamesh cleans himself and his blood stained weapons, Ishtar, the goddess of love and beauty, takes notice of his beauty and offers to become his wife. Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all her mortal lovers and recounting the dire fates they all met with at her hands. Ishtar is enraged at the rebuff. She returns to heaven and begs her father, Anu, to let her have the Bull of Heaven to wreak vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city. Anu reluctantly gives in, and the Bull of Heaven is sent down to terrorize the people of Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, work together to slay the mighty bull. That following night Enkidu dreams that the chief gods met in a council and had decided that someone should be punished for the killing of Humbaba and the Bull of the Heavens. That someone is he. Enkidu commends himself to Gilgamesh, and after suffering terribly for twelve days, he finally dies. After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh comes to the realization that one day he too will succumb to the same fate as his friend. He sets out to find Utnapishtim the only mortal that the gods have granted eternal life in attempt to find the secret of immortality. After a long perilous journey through the land of darkness, through the garden of the gods, and across the waters of death, Gilgamesh arrives a shore where Utnapishtim lives. Gilgamesh recounts the story of Enkidu's death to Utnapishtim and how he came to his shore. He asks Utnapishtim to tell him the secret of eternal life. Utnapishtim advises Gilgamesh that death is a necessary fact because it is the will of the gods. Gilgamesh pursues the issue further until Utnapishtim recounts how he received immortality and reveals the greatest secret hidden from humans. At the end of his story, which is famously similar to Noah's flood in the book of Genesis, Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh a chance at immortality. If Gilgamesh can stay awake for six days and seven nights, he, too, will become immortal. Gilgamesh accepts these conditions and sits down on the shore; the instant he sits down he falls asleep. When Gilgamesh awakes, he deigns that he had fallen asleep. Utnapishtim points to the loaves of bread that his wife laid at his side to count the number of days he slept. Utnapishtim's wife convinces the old man to have mercy on him; he offers Gilgamesh in place of immortality a secret plant that will make Gilgamesh young again. The plant is at the bottom of the ocean surrounding the shore. Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet, sinks to the bottom, and plucks the magic plant. But he doesn't use it because he does not trust it. He decides to take it back to Uruk and test it out on an old man first to make sure it work. On his way back, Gilgamesh stops at a well of cool water to drink. There hiding deep in the pool was a snake. When the snake sensed the sweetness of the flower, it rose up out of the water and snatched the plant away causing the snake to slough its skin. There are a lot of similar themes to this epic as to some of the other mythological stories I have read in the past. I found this particular observation oddly strange because this tale was written thousands of years before many other similar tales. I think this is why this story of Gilgamesh has endured for so long. All in all it was a good read. However, it can be a little confusing at times. I especially like the part where Gilgamesh refuses Istar's advances. The imagery was quite amusing!