These souls pass such greek heroes as achilles and agamemnon. They see the suitors coming in and ask how so many noble young men met their end. The suitor amphimedon, whom agamemnon knew in life, gives a brief account of their ruin. Book i athena inspires the prince sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of troy. A full month it took us to cross all the wide sea, for hardly could we win to our will odysseus, the sacker of cities. The internet classics archive the odyssey by homer. Agamemnon and achilles discuss the suitors deaths in hades, and odysseus and laertes face the suitors parents. Summary and analysis of book 24 of homers odyssey themes. Hermes conducts the shades of the dead suitors down to hades, where they meet achilles. All thanks to odysseus and the divine intervention of athena and other gods. Hermes leads the souls of the suitors, crying like bats, into hades. Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of book 24 of homers epic poem the odyssey. Then mercury of cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in his hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals mens eyes in sleep or wakes. Homer, odyssey book 24 theoi classical texts library.
Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the odyssey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. At last, by the end of the bookvideo, there will be peace in ithaca. Agamemnon and achilles argue over who had the better death. Enter a perseus citation to go to another section or work. One of the suitors recites the story of the courtship of penelope, her resistance to the suitors, and odysseus revenge. As the ghosts arrive, achilles, agamemnon, and ajax discuss their own deaths. The final book opens with hermes, the traditional guide, leading the souls of the dead suitors to the land of the dead commonly referred to as hades. Murray 1 meanwhile cyllenian hermes called forth the spirits of the wooers. Some adverse demon from sicania bore our wandering course, and drove us on your shore.
The telegony aside, the last 548 lines of the odyssey, corresponding to book 24, are believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet. He held in his hands his wand, a fair wand of gold, wherewith he lulls to sleep the eyes of. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position. To avoid story plot gaps, book 24 works effectively to to show odysseuss fathers mental state upon his sons return and shows how they are. Read this excerpt from book 24 of homers odyssey, and then complete the sentences. Read this excerpt from book 24 of homers odyssey, and. Homers epic poem the odyssey tells the story of odysseus, greek hero of the trojan war. Several passages in earlier books seem to be setting up the events of book 24, so if it were indeed a later addition, the offending editor would seem to have changed earlier text as well.