Originally published February 1 2010

In the Iliad and the Odyssey, Athena made many interventions in Odysseus’ quest for a peaceful life back in Ithaca, while revealing several of Odysseus’ important traits, and then finalizes her involvement in Odysseus’ journey in Book 24 as she ends the cycle of revenge with a truce between Odysseus and the suitors’ families. Odysseus’ traits revealed by Athena through her intercessions include his forms of identity, likeness to Penelope, and life over glory mentality.

            Over the course of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Odysseus takes on many forms of disguise, like the beggar to breach the walls of Troy, or an old friend of Odysseus to enter his own house without being ambushed by the suitors, and even a past host of Odysseus as he tests his father’s ability to recognize his son. There is also his unintentional disguise, as he greets Penelope as Odysseus for the first time in 20 years, and Penelope is unsure of this stranger’s validity. His disguises fool many people, but there was always something that undoubtedly exposed him as Odysseus.  Helen of Troy saw through his beggar’s disguise as he entered Troy unnoticed, although not by any physical characteristic, but just by his craftiness and avoidance of her probing questions, “I alone, I spotted him for the man he was, kept questioning him- the crafty man kept dodging” (Book IV, Line 281). There was also the old woman, who, while washing his feet after his incognito entrance to his own home, recognized the scar on his leg caused by a charging boar’s tusk, and “as the old nurse cradled his leg and her hands passed down, she felt it, knew it,” (Book XIX, Line 530) she exclaimed, “ Yes, yes! You are Odysseus” (Book XIX, Line 536). These are two examples of Odysseus’ true identity through physical appearance and mental characteristics, but Odysseus’ identity also lies within his knowledge and memories.

            Odysseus’ memories prove to be an important identification to his father. When he decides to finish testing his father, Laertes, he first shows him the boar’s scar, then tells him of the trees that Laertes gave Odysseus. “I begged you for everything I saw, a little boy trailing you through the orchard, picking our way among these trees, and you named them one by one. You gave me thirteen pear, ten apple trees and forty figs- and promised to give me, look, fifty vinerows” (Book XXIV, Line 376). From this memory, Laertes immediately realizes that this truly is his son, and “Laertes’ knees went slack, his heart surrendered, recognizing the clear strong signs Odysseus offered” (Book XXIV, Line 385). These are the same conditions that Penelope experienced when she too learned that the man before her truly is Odysseus.

            Repetition is used to signify parallels, and Laertes’ reaction to Odysseus parallels that of Penelope. The parallel between the conditions both Penelope and Laertes experienced after discovering Odysseus show the equal necessity that both Penelope and Laertes know that Odysseus is alive and well. All throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus is trying with undying determination to return to Penelope, but the importance of his return to Penelope is equaled by the importance of his return to his father, Laertes(as signified by the repetition), and thus makes the visit to Laertes, and Book 24 as a whole, a crucial part of the Odyssey.

The repetition is found here, as “Penelope felt her knees go slack, her heart surrender, recognizing the strong clear signs Odysseus offered” (Book XXIII, Line 231). After 20 years of absence, Penelope does not fully trust the man who claims to be her husband, so she gives him a subtle test that only the true Odysseus could answer. To test his authenticity, she asks Eurycleia to, “move the sturdy bedstead out of our bridal chamber” (Book XXIII, Line 198). At this statement, Odysseus flares up and reminds Penelope that to move their marriage bed is an “impossible task, even for some skilled craftsman, unless a god came down in person” (Book XXIII, Line 207), because the bedpost was made from the olive tree around which Odysseus built his house around. “Athena crowned the man with beauty, head to foot, made him taller to all eyes, his build more massive, yes, and down from his brow the great goddess ran his curls like thick hyacinth clusters full of blooms” (Book XXIII, Line 174), Athena’s beautification of Odysseus before he met with Penelope caused Penelope to desire him more, and more easily recognize the signs that he actually is Odysseus. The knowledge of this undisclosed information, along with the memory of the entire construction of his house, were the signs that Odysseus presented to instantly eliminate all of Penelope’s doubts about this strange man who declares himself Odysseus. However, the marriage bed isn’t the only connection that Odysseus and Penelope have.

            Both Odysseus and Penelope like to test people to make sure they are trustworthy or veritable. Penelope tests the suitors, along with Odysseus, with the bow and arrow challenge. Odysseus tests his father’s ability to recognize him. Penelope tests Odysseus of his validity when he first reveals himself. Odysseus also tests Penelope when he first enters his house in Ithaca as a beggar. She sits down with him to get information about Odysseus, but Odysseus employs his craftiness to turn the conversation around so that Penelope describes her experience with the suitors. “Odysseus-if he could return to tend to my life the renown I had would only grow in glory. Now my life is torment…All the nobles… they court me against my will, they lay waste my house… I yearn for Odysseus” (Book XIX, Line 140). These complaints by Penelope about the suitors show Odysseus that Penelope has remained loyal over the past 20 years, and thus passed the test. This undying loyalty to each other is another thing that unites Odysseus and Penelope.

            Odysseus and Penelope have been separated for 20 years, yet Penelope and Odysseus both maintained their love for each other.  Penelope demonstrated her fidelity by delaying a marriage with a suitor until Odysseus could return. To do this, she told the suitors that she would not choose a husband until she finished weaving a shroud. But, “by day she’d weave at her great and growing web-by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done” (Book II, Line 115) so that she would never finish the shroud, and thus never choose a new husband. Odysseus proved his longing for Penelope during his time on the island of Ogygia, where the goddess Calypso held him against his will. When Odysseus arrived at Ogygia, his ship had been wrecked and his crew had all died, and Calypso “welcomed him warmly, cherished him, even vowed to make the man immortal, ageless all his days” (Book V, Line 150), but Odysseus denied her offer of immortality, with the hopes of one day returning to his wife and home in Ithaca. “In the nights, true, he’d sleep with her in the arching cave- he had no choice- unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing… But all his days he’d sit on the rocks and beaches, wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears” (Book V, Line 170). This passage shows how Odysseus is willing to accommodate Calypso’s interests at night, however, during the day all he cares for is his wife and home that he may never see again. Eventually though, Athena intervened in Odysseus’ misery on the island and she persuaded Zeus to order Calypso to release Odysseus. With Zeus’ words to Hermes “Announce to the nymph with lovely braids our fixed decree: Odysseus journeys home” (Book V, Line 34) Odysseus was released.

Both before and after his release, Odysseus made several other stops on his journey back home before he reached Ogygia. His first stop was at the Island of the Cicones. When he arrived here, he immediately enagaged the Cicones in battle. Altough he initially beat them, later on they came back with more military support, and drove Odysseus and his crew off their island. Odysseus’ actions during this event are similar to those of pre-Trojan War Odysseus. As he is hunting with Autolycus, they encounter a wild boar. “Odysseus rushed him first, shaking his long spear in a sturdy hand, wild to strike but the boar struck faster, lunging in on the slant, a tusk thrusting up over the boys knee, gouging a deep strip of flesh” (Book XIX, Line 506). These events are examples of Odysseus rushing into battle before examining the situation, and have given him knowledge and wisdom of how to better approach new situations and conflicts. Also, his defeat by the Cicones right after he departs from Troy, along with the unsuccessfulness of physical combat against Troy, gives Odysseus a realization that a militaristic lifestyle is not working for him.

            The Achaeans spent 9 years fighting against Troy, but in the end, it was tactics that brought the city down. The ultimate tactic employed was the Trojan Horse, “the wooden horse where all our best encamped, our champions armed with bloody death for Troy” (Book IV, Line 304). Inside the horse, as Helen called out to the soldiers inside, Anticlus “was hot to salute you now, but Odysseus clamped his great hands on the man’s mouth and shut it brutally” (Book IV, Line 320). Athena saved the men inside from fatality within the Trojan Horse, as she drove Helen away before anyone cried out in desperation, as “Pallas Athena lured you off at last” (Book IV, Line 323). The Trojan Horse was always a wooden horse, and a gift to Athena, on the outside, but the inside was never completely definite, as the Trojans believed it was hollow, while the Achaeans knew of its deadly contents. This represents an inverted parallel to Odysseus. Odysseus is often undercover, and needs to silence his true identity to achieve a long-term goal. However, sometimes Odysseus needs help preventing his true identity from being revealed, and that is where Athena gets involved. Similar to how she prevented Helen from exposing him inside the Trojan Horse, Athena prevented Eurycleia from exposing the beggar in Ithaca as Odysseus to Penelope, “She glanced at Penelope, keen to signal her that here was her own dear husband, here and now, but she could not catch the glance, she took no heed, Athena turned her attention elsewhere” (Book XIX, Line 539). The constant changing of his outside identity helps to achieve small goals, but on the inside Odysseus is always striving for his overall goal of reaching Ithaca, as opposed to the Trojan Horse’s consistent outside and changing inside. Odysseus’ quieting of Anticlus inside the Horse reflects his life over glory mentality. A small part of Odysseus’ identity is always wanting to act out and obtain glory, but the larger part of Odysseus, that wants to survive, silences this desire in order to achieve Odysseus’ large goal. Examples of this mentality appear as Odysseus encounters various obstacles on his journey home.

            Odysseus deals with these obstacles using his new wisdom to not immediately engage in battle. An example of one of these obstacles would be when he lands on the Island of the Cyclops, and meets Polyphemus. He greets him with wine and friendliness, instead of fighting him. This allows him to talk to Polyphemus without getting torn apart, so he can use his unmatched wit to trick the Cyclops into getting drunk, so that he can eventually escape from his lair. Also, when he finally returns to Ithaca, he enters his home disguised as a beggar, instead of announcing himself as Odysseus upon entering, so as not to set-off the suitors ambush. A final example is in Book 24, when he is faced with the anger of the suitors’ families. Odysseus waits in his father’s house, armed and ready for battle, for them to come, instead of slaughtering them all before they had decided even to attack Odysseus. Odysseus’ decision to wait for the suitors’ families allows Athena time to consult with Zeus and stop the ongoing cycle of revenge and fighting.

Revenge is a theme that is continued from the Iliad. In the Iliad, Achilleus carries out a vengeance on several people. He exacts his vengeance with an unwavering stubbornness.  “Never now would he go to assemblies where men win glory, never more into battle” (Iliad, Book I, Line 490). Thetis says this about Achilleus, how he sits by the ships, not partaking in the war. This protest by Achilleus is an act of revenge against Agamemnon, who unjustly took Briseis from Achilleus after he was forced to hand over Chriseis. This is a retaliation of stubbornness, as he refuses to fight for the man who wronged him, no matter what he is offered. Another act of revenge Achilleus performs is when he learns of Patroklus’ death at the hands of Hektor. “Now I shall go, to overtake that killer of a dear life, Hektor” (Iliad, Book XVIII, Line 114), Achilleus proclaims after he learns of Patroklus’ death. He immediately joins the war and sets out to brutally destroy Hektor. He rejects any notion that Hektor thought Patroklus was Achilleus, and stubbornly believes that Hektor claimed to have defeated great Achilleus in all his might. Once he has killed Hektor, he drags the body in the dust, and refuses to return it to Hektor’s family for a proper burial. However, Achilleus’ ongoing obstinacy is brought to an end as king Priam himself comes to Achilleus and pleads for the body of his son. With Achilleus’ submission to the king’s desires comes a break in Achilleus’ recurring vengeance. With this, the Iliad is concluded, and the focus of Homer’s saga is transferred to Odysseus.

            In Odysseus’ story, revenge is also taken. The primary focus of Odysseus’ revenge is the suitors, who have plagued his household for 20 years in his absence. Odysseus takes his revenge by slaughtering each and every one of the suitors. When this news reaches the families of the suitors, a need for vengeance is sparked within them. They hold a council and decide to revenge their lost relatives by killing Odysseus. But this would only cause Telemachus and Odysseus’ family to engage in another battle against the suitors’ families, similar to what happened within Agamemnon’s household when he returned home. From here, there would only be a continuous cycle of revenge until everyone was dead or a truce was finally made. Athena realized this, and consulted Zeus on how to intervene during the suitors’ families attack on Odysseus. Zeus said, “Now that royal Odysseus has taken his revenge, let both sides seal their pacts that he shall reign for life, and let us purge their memories of the bloody slaughter of their brothers and sons” (Book XXIV, Line 533). As Athena carried out Zeus’ orders, the cyclical revenge finally came to a stop, not with everyone dying, but instead with peace pacts handed down by Athena. The completion of Odysseus’ revenge cycle in Book 24 makes it not only a necessary part of the Odyssey, but also a way to unite and conclude both the Iliad and the Odyssey as a whole.

The decision to end the cycle of revenge is a result of the culminating examples of Odysseus’ unmatched desire to return home and ultimately influence Athena and Zeus to make this decision to end his suffering by creating peace between Odysseus and the suitors’ families. These unique and characterizing qualities of Odysseus’ were all revealed by Athena during the Odyssey as she aids his return voyage home. The final creation of peace and disruption of the cycle of revenge is Athena’s final intervention in Odysseus’ life. The theme of revenge is something that was carried into the Odyssey by the Iliad, thus making Book 24 a connection to both the Iliad and the Odyssey as a whole, and a conclusion for Homer’s two-part saga. The cease of the cyclical revenge allows Odysseus to maintain his kingship and lead a peaceful old age in Ithaca, as “peace and wealth come cresting through the land” (Book XXIV, Line 536).