How I started it all

I'm the king of Ithaca.The Trojan war was my idea.I told the former suitors of Helen to defend the marriage rights of Menelaus(he married Helen) .So when Paris stole Helen we had to go to war.I tried to get out of it by pretending to be mad(I sowed salt instead of grain with a plough with a goat an ox pulling).So Palamedes put Telemachus in front of the plough and I stopped, so that proved I wasn't mad.

References

The Iliad retold by Ian Strachan.
The Odyssey retold Geraldine McCaughrean
The wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff
Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/odysseus.html
pictures
www.legion-fourteen.com/returnodess.jpg

Conclusion

Ideas

· The Iliad and the odyssey zooms in on me. For example: in the Iliad at the start I'm just a soldier, then I recover Achilles body ,then I have the idea of the Trojan horse*, then the Odyssey follows me home.

· People have said this and I agree that I'm not a particularly good fighter but I have good ideas, and that makes me win. Also I'm a king so I have soldiers to fight.

· The gods have a big influence on what happens. For example: My journey home was completely changed because I blinded the Cyclops so Poseidon got angry.

· In the Odyssey I am a commander and in the Iliad I'm a soldier commanded by Agamemnon

Comparison of stories

Even though there are lots of versions of the story,the important things are the same.Also the story's are in different order and sometimes they are not there.For example in one of the stories I shoot a dear.In one version I shoot a red dear and I shoot a normal one in another.

*It wasn't just me

Questions


· Why did I suggest the war and then try to get out of it?

· Why does the Odyssey follow me home?
Answer: I think Homer was thinking who to follow home, so he picked me.

HOME!!!!!!

Very soon I was home. I dressed up as a beggar and went to my palace where suitors were pestering Penelope to make them her husband. I said to them that Odysseus was good at archery so the best should be Penelope's husband. So they made a target and nobody hit it. Then I asked them if I could have a turn and they said no. So I grabbed the bow and hit the target and back to back with my son Telemacus killed them all. Then my wife tested me by saying “I will move your bed to the west room” but she couldn't because my bed is carved in to the tree that holds up the palace. A normal suitor would say OK but I didn't so she knew I was me. So we lived happily ever after.

Calypso

Calypso was a sea nymph that rescued me from the sea after the whirl pool. She kept me in her cave for over seven years until the gods intervened and told her to build me a raft to get home.

I then got washed up in a river on an island near Ithaca where they gave me gifts and a ship to take home.

Scylla

Scylla was a huge multiple headed serpent who grabbed heaps of my sailors as we went past. Then after that we got thrown into a giant whirlpool by Poseidon. All the rest of my men went down with that .

Island of sun

The island of the sun was a island with the sun gods cattle on it. When we arrived I gave my men instructions not to eat the cattle but they did.

Hades

After that we went down to Hades (the underworld) to seek the advice of a blind prophet . We attracted him by pouring the blood of a sheep on the ground and told the ghosts that they could not drink (they like blood) until they found him. I saw lots of people that I knew like Achilles and my own mum.

Sirens

The sirens were bird/women people (like harpies) that tried to shipwreck sailors by luring them with their songs. I escaped them by tying my self to the mast and plugging my sailors ears with wax from Circe's hives.

Circes palace

Circe was a woman that turned my men into pigs. I took 20 good men to explore the island, and she invited them to lunch and turned them in to pigs. I waited outside until she had done it and then demanded that she gave them back. she could not of done it to me because I ate a moly flower that protects me from spells, potions, poison ,etc .

laestrygon giants

the laestrygon giants were a group of man eating giants that we crashed into after the cyclops.They ate two men.

Brass Island

After the cyclops we banged in to a huge brass island in which the king gave us lots of treasure and a bag of winds,with all the the winds of the world in it,apart from one that would guide us home. They also gave us strict instructions not to open it till we got home. Stupidly my men opened it very near home and we got blown far away to the land of the laestrogon giants.

The Cyclops

The Cyclops was the huge one eyed son of Poseidon, the sea god. My mates and I blinded him ( not one eyed any more!)when he started eating my brave men. We cleverly escaped by tying ourselves to the underside of his sheep. Now I feel quite sorry for him .

Lotus Eaters

The lotus eaters were a bunch of men and women (complete idiots) who lived on a island crazed by the pleasure-giving fruit of the lotus trees. I found this out when I sent Urylochus and 10 men (some people say 20 or 2) to look for food and they stumbled across the lotus eaters and stupidly accepted the fruit. When I found them I had to drag them away to the ship and tie them to the benches.
(that island has nice deer)