The Essential Odyssey

Odysseus one of the war heroes has still not arrived in his home country of Ithaca ten years after the Trojan War and the Fall of Troy. Odysseus is presumed dead leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to deal with a gang of wild suitors vying for Penelopes hand in marriage who have overtaken his palace and pillaged his country. Odysseus however is still alive and being held captive on the island of Ogygia by Calypso who is madly in love with him and longs to make him her everlasting husband. How is Odysseus going to get home? Will he find his beloved Penelope again? The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus nostos trip back home expanding Homers vibrant image of everymans journey through life. It is the second-oldest piece of still-existing Western literature.