How long was Odysseus away from home?

How long was Odysseus away from home?

twenty years INTRODUCTION: As the epic opens, Odysseus has been gone from his home in Ithaca for twenty years. For the first ten years, he was fighting in the Trojan War, a conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans that began when Helen, a Spartan queen married to King Menelaus, was kidnapped by a young Trojan prince named Paris.

How long was Odysseus journey in miles?

Ithaca on the western shore of Greece. The distance there from Troy, Hal Roth tells us, is only 565 nautical miles. But due to some celebrated doings (and undoings), Odysseus wound up logging several thousand sea miles along the way. He got home, to be sure, but the journey took ten years.

How long did Odysseus travel after the Trojan War?

ten-year After the Trojan War, Odysseus embarked on a ten-year journey to reach his home, Ithaca; his adventures are recounted – mostly in flashbacks – in Homer's monumental epic “Odyssey.” Chronologically, this is the order in which they happen.

Is Odysseus gone for 10 or 20 years?

King Odysseus of Ithaca has been gone from home for 20 years. The first 10 he spent fighting heroically and victoriously with the Greeks in the Trojan War; the last 10, he spent trying to get home.

Why did the Odyssey take 10 years?

A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home to his family. The journey included Poseidon's shipwreck and seven-year imprisonment by Calypso.

How long did Odysseus travel back to Ithaca?

Journey home to Ithaca. Odysseus is probably best known as the eponymous hero of the Odyssey. This epic describes his travails, which lasted for 10 years, as he tries to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.

Why does it take Odysseus 10 years to get home?

A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home to his family. The journey included Poseidon's shipwreck and seven-year imprisonment by Calypso.

How long was Odysseus lost at sea?

(The Odyssey is a sequel to Homer's other epic, The Iliad, which tells the story of that war.) Cursed by Poseidon, god of the sea, but favored by Athena, goddess of wisdom, Odysseus sails the eastern Mediterranean for 10 years before reaching his home and family on the island of Ithaca.

How many years did it take for Odysseus to return to Ithaca?

10 years But of all the returning Greek heroes of the Trojan War, none took a more tortuous route than Odysseus. After 10 years of war, the king of Ithaca wandered the Mediterranean and its coastal lands for another 10 years before finally arriving home.

How long did the Odyssey last?

10 years The Odyssey is an epic poem in 24 books traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. The poem is the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanders for 10 years (although the action of the poem covers only the final six weeks) trying to get home after the Trojan War.

Why did The Odyssey take 10 years?

A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home to his family. The journey included Poseidon's shipwreck and seven-year imprisonment by Calypso.

Why does Odysseus journey take so long?

A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home to his family. The journey included Poseidon's shipwreck and seven-year imprisonment by Calypso.

Was Ulysses real?

No evidence exists to prove that he did (or did not) exist, but most of the tales told about him by Homer are clearly fiction. Still, Odysseus's mighty deeds and all-too-human weaknesses have made him a favorite with scholars and storytellers down through the years.

Why did Odysseus wander for 10 years after the Trojan War?

Journey home to Ithaca. Odysseus is probably best known as the eponymous hero of the Odyssey. This epic describes his travails, which lasted for 10 years, as he tries to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.

Who killed Odysseus?

Telegonos The royal couple, together again after ten long years of separation, lived happily ever after, or not quite. For in a tragic final twist, an aged Odysseus was killed by Telegonos, his son by Circe, when he landed on Ithaca and in battle, unknowingly killed his own father.

Was Ajax a real person?

He is also referred to as "Telamonian Ajax" (Αἴας ὁ Τελαμώνιος, in Etruscan recorded as Aivas Tlamunus), "Greater Ajax", or "Ajax the Great", which distinguishes him from Ajax, son of Oileus, also known as Ajax the Lesser….

Ajax the Great
Consort Tecmessa
Offspring Eurysaces, Philaeus

Does Odysseus cheat on his wife?

After that Odysseus traveled to Calypso's island. Not only did he cheat with Calypso in addition to Circe, but he stayed on her island for seven years until Zeus ordered her to release him.

Was Trojan War real?

Was the Trojan War real? There has been much debate over historical evidence of the Trojan War. Archaeological finds in Turkey suggest that the city of Troy did exist but that a conflict on the immense scale of a 10-year siege may not have actually occurred.

Is the Trojan horse a true story?

But was it just a myth? Probably, says Oxford University classicist Dr Armand D'Angour: 'Archaeological evidence shows that Troy was indeed burned down; but the wooden horse is an imaginative fable, perhaps inspired by the way ancient siege-engines were clothed with damp horse-hides to stop them being set alight. '

What was Odysseus biggest mistake?

Odysseus has made some mistakes. No one's saying otherwise. He blinded a Cyclops, he invoked the wrath of Poseidon, and remember that time he got distracted by a sexy sea-witch for an entire year? (Full disclosure, he also stole some cheese.) But by far his biggest mistake was hiring his crew.

Why did Odysseus sleep with Calypso?

unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing. Calypso forces Odysseus to sleep with her against his will. These lines encourage us to condemn the powerful goddess's abuse of the powerless Odysseus.

Was Achilles a real person?

There is no proof that Achilles existed or that any of Homer's other characters did. The long answer is that Homer's Achilles may have been based, at least in part, on a historical character; the same is true of the rest of Homer's characters.

Who Killed Paris of Troy?

archer Philoctetes Paris himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes. The “judgment of Paris,” Hermes leading Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite to Paris, detail of a red-figure kylix by Hieron, 6th century bc; in the Collection of Classical Antiquities of the National Museums in Berlin.

Does Troy still exist in Greece?

The Origins of the Actual City of Troy Today, Hisarlik is part of Turkey, not Greece. However, legend has it that the entire area (northwest of Turkey) once belonged to the Kingdom of Greece.

Is Odysseus responsible for his men’s deaths?

Thus, in angering the Cyclops, Odysseus is responsible for his delayed return, the ultimate deaths of all his men and all the storms he faces (as Poseidon is angered with Odysseus for harming his son, Polyphemus).

What fatal mistake did Odysseus crew make on the island of Helios?

They are told not to eat the cattle of Helios when they land on Thrinakia. What will be the result if they don't resist temptation in Thrinakia? If they do not resist the temptation in Thrinakia, then their ship and crew will be destroyed and Odysseus will suffer long years at sea.

Did Circe and Odysseus have a child?

Telegonus, in Greek mythology, especially the Telagonia of Eugammon of Cyrene, the son of the hero Odysseus by the sorceress Circe. Telegonus went to Ithaca in search of his father, whom he killed unwittingly.

Was Helen of Troy Black?

helen of troy was white.

Where is Sparta now?

Modern day Sparta, the capital of the prefecture of Lakonia, lies on the eastern foothills of Mount Taygetos in the Evrotas River valley. The city has been built upon the site of ancient Sparta, whose Acropolis lies north of the modern city. To the southwest stands Mt. Taygetos.

How does Odysseus suffer physically?

The main godly causes of Odysseus' pain come from other gods then Zeus. These other gods such as Poseidon actively brought pain and suffering to Odysseus throughout the Odyssey. Odysseus offended Poseidon by stabbing and tricking his Cyclops son.