Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, back to the Athenian Times. Today, we have a significant new hit: an update on Odysseus’ adventure back to Ithaca. Previously, we covered the stories of the legendary Odysseus and his previous adventures, which included his journey to the Cyclops island, using brilliant tactics to fight and masterfully defeat his opponents, as well as tricking Polyphemus, a Cyclops, by telling him that his name was “nobody.” Unfortunately, his overwhelming ego prevented him from saying his fake name. Odysseus revealed his real name to the Cyclops, which alerted Poseidon that Odysseus had injured Polyphemus. After this incident, Poseidon cursed Odysseus’s journey home. Out of options and on an island entirely of cyclops, Odysseus was forced to flee.
Today, we have an update on his journey back home. After he departed from the island, he went to the land of Aeolia, where he fought the Lystragonian king. After the fight, he went further up the island, finding the air king, who gave him treasure and sent him back to Ithaca. At this point, everyone thought this journey was ending and Odysseus would return to Ithaca safely. However, the air king did not give Odysseus treasure; instead, the treasure was a bag of magic wind. His fellow shipmates were jealous that Odysseus was hoarding the treasure, which sent Odysseus and his shipmates back to the island of Aeolia. Back on the island, the air king realized Odysseus was cursed, so he banished him and his shipmates from the island.
At his next stop on the island of Aeaea, Odysseus found a witch named Circe, who turned his men into pigs and started to turn Odysseus into a pig. Still, he luckily ran into the god Hermes, who gave him a potion that prevented Circe’s magic from working on him. Because Odysseus drank him the potion, Circe fell in love with Odysseus. He stayed on her island for another year. After a year, Circe told him he needed to go to the island of the dead. Odysseus listened to her advice and prepared his men (reversed from pig form) to prepare for the journey. In the land of the dead, he meets a prophet named Tiresias, who tells Odysseus he will be the only survivor on the journey home. After all the adventures he's already gone through, I thought Odysseus would get home safely, but it only got worse. He returned to Circe and prepared to pass the sirens, who were human-like women with voices that attract men to their island, and kill them when they got there. To get past the sirens, Odysseus had his men put beeswax in his ears, which prevented the men from hearing the voices. Lastly, they met Charybdis and Scylla. Charybdis was a sea monster that could drag people in with his whirlpools. Because of this, Odysseus and his men decided to get past Scylla, a creature with six heads.
Odysseus successfully passes Scylla by sacrificing three of his men. This is as far as Odysseus is into his adventure. Where do you think his adventure will lead? Catch us next time on the Athenian Times for the following updates.