Odysseus In Homer's The Land Of The Dead

Odysseus travels to the Land of the Cimmerians and later to the Land of the Dead. He performs tasks that Circe asks of him to summon the dead. Homer does not state the reasons that Odysseus has to travel to different lands, but he does say that Odysseus is to meet with people in Book 11 that are vital to him. We are introduced to many characters, some of whom we are already familiar with. Whether the reader is aware of who they are, we form a connection in the insight we’re given. Homer broadens the scope of Odysseus ties to other mythological characters. The most important lesson we learn from reading The Land of the Dead is this idea of kleos, what it entails, and the ramifications of achieving such thing.

In this book, there are many settings. Different things

are happening in different places.

Odysseus travels greatly leaving behind people that love him. He is trying to speak with Tiresias, the prophet that inhabits the underworld. He is told that Tiresias can instruct him on how to get back to Ithaca and that he could speak to other souls in the underworld. As he is waiting for the prophet, the spirit of his mother Anticlea arrives. She asks him why he is in the underworld alive. He tells her of his obstacle that he faces in “Never yet have I neared Achaea, never once set foot on native ground, always wandering – endless hardship from that day I first set sail with King Agamemnon bound for Troy” and his attempts to get home being futile (The Odyssey 11.188-191). Anticlea tells him that as she was longing for him for so long that death overtook her. Odysseus then shows another obstacle in “and I, my mind in turmoil, how I longed to embrace my mother’s spirit, dead as she was” (11.233-234). Odysseus father, Laertes, also continuously longs for him in poverty. She tells him how sad Penelope is that he is lost. Odysseus

is really conflicted by not being able to see his family. He must get home to Telemachus and Penelope. When Odysseus speaks with the prophet Tiresias, he reveals the real reason that Poseidon is punishing the Achaeans. He is punishing them for blinding his son Polyphemus, yet another obstacle he faces. He does know Odysseus’s fate. He believes that he will return home, be reunited with his wife, and rid his palace from the disrespectful suitors. Tiresias warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the Sun when he reaches the land of Thrinacia or he won’t overcome his obstacles and reach his family with his crew all alive. Odysseus gets the privilege of speaking with people who have died and learning their stories.