Dear Diary,
Well, a lot can happen to a hero whom a god has a grudge against, I am beginning to notice. Poseidon really should be able to wreck as much damage on Odysseus when Zeus has said that he shouldn't, but it is only recently that Zeus has started to assert his power as anything more than a weather god, and Poseidon is not taking it well, he just ignores it really. Bah, it's totally unfair but there you go.
Well, after leaving the Land of the Cyclopes Odysseus and his men found themselves a bit stuck for ideas, and they landed themselves on the Island of Aeolia, home of the wind god Aeolus. As he was a good host, he observed the guest laws and helped them back to Ithaka by giving them a bag of the wind that would otherwise blow them off course. A pretty good pressie if I do say so myself, I guess that the fact the Polyphemus incident had not put him off asking for pressies was a good thing. Odysseus the men not to open the bag under any circumstances, and then they set off home. In sight of Ithaka, Odysseus was sure that nothing could go wrong [big mistake] and so he went to sleep. Meanwhile, the men had decided that he was hiding some valuable treasure in the bag, and while he slept they opened the bag and, ironically, it blew them straight back to Aeolus! He was shocked to see them back again, and when Odysseus explained what had happened, Aeolus decided that the gods must hate Odysseus and that he wasn't going to help him anymore. The guest laws laid down by dad say that you have to help someone get to their next destination, but if you do and they blow it, it isn't up to you to sort it out for them, you owe them nothing a second time around. So Odysseus was in sight of his home and then it all got messed up, and I sighed as I realised how hard getting him home in one piece really was going to be.
So, next stop the land of the Laestrygonians. A lovely people if I do say so myself, who still have that charming habit of cannibalism. Odysseus didn't know this and sent his ships into their harbour...but, and this is a big but, he didn't send his own in, he left one outside the harbour, almost as though he knew that there was going to be something bad that happened to the ones inside. He can't have done though, surely? He would have kept the other ones outside too...wouldn't he? The land turned out not to be friendly and the Laestrygonians chased after them, capturing some of the men. Others got to their ships that were moored in the harbour- but the Laestrygonians stoned the ships and drowned the men, all save the ones that manned Odysseus' ship, which was safely outside. Once more, Odysseus had successfully managed to get a large amount of his men killed- I would say at least 800 of them, in one incident where he knew something was wrong anyway. There seems to be something wrong with him, I am not at all happy with this! If he wasn't so cool and wonderful then I might even get annoyed at him. well, I'll make a promise then, I will observe but not help him in the next amount of trouble that he gets into, whatever or with whomever it is.
Odysseus and his men sailed for a bit and eventually they found themselves upon an island owned by a witch named Circe. Odysseus sent some of his men to scout the area first, and they met Circe- to cut a long story short, she turned them all into pigs, as I think that she thinks it's fun. Obviously the poor girl doesn't get many visitors, being that lonely can be hard on a girl. When the men didn't come back more were sent, and Odysseus was going to go with them and get turned into a pig himself until Hermes was sent to intervene. He gave Odysseus a moly plant that would stop the spell working on him, and told him that he needed to get Circe into bed with him, then act like he was going to kill her, and she would be so scared that she would behave and turn his men back into people.
Essentially, this happened and you do not want to know all the boring details of what happened. However, after a while Odysseus again turned his attention to getting home [after he had gotten over his luck at landing on an island inhabited by a love starved demi-goddess] Circe told him that the only way he would get home was by consulting the dead Theban prophet Teriesias....yes, you heard right, the DEAD prophet. No, I agree that Circe is actually quite crazy. Not only is Teriesias dead but he's also a real idiot, I don't know what possessed her to think of him as a sensible thing to do! All preparations were made to send Odysseus down to Hades, if he makes it [which somehow I think he will, even if I have to beg uncle Hades and aunt Persephone to let him in] The night before they left there was a big party held by Circe, and one of his men got very drunk and fell asleep on the roof that night. The next morning he was startled awake by the call to leave, forgot that he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck and dying. Odysseus didn't actually notice that this lad was missing, which doesn't really say much for his observational skills does it?!
Circe had given Odysseus strict instructions about how he would be able to talk to ghosts in Hades, and I have to say it was one of the saddest things that I have ever had to watch. The first ghost that he met there was that of his fallen comrade that had died that very day, begging Odysseus to go back to Circe's island and bury him, that he might enter the afterlife instead of remain in limbo for the rest of eternity. Being dead isn't much fun anyway, but you may as well do it properly- being excluded for all eternity from all the other dead people must really suck, even ants get into Hades proper! Odysseus also spoke to his mother Anticleia, he didn't even know that she was dead but she had passed away from grief a while before, losing the will to live without her beloved son. Odysseus also spoke to the prophet, who as I suspected didn't really tell him anything useful, although he did mention how he should placate Poseidon, which is always useful to know.
After talking to the crazy man for a bit, Odysseus caught up with some of his mates for m he Trojan War- again, many that he did not know were dead. Agamemnon was dead, of course, and he and Odysseys shared many sad word. The famed Achilles was there, lamenting the lust for glory that had led him to an early death- as he said, he would rather have been a slave to a slave but alive than in his current position as a prince among the dead. At times like this I lament that there is a concept of war for me to be goddess of. Odysseus even met Herakles, who recognised him, but then was forced to leave as aunt Persephone was getting annoyed- Odysseus was traipsing mud over her nice clean floor.
Going back to Circe's, the men buried the fallen comrade and laid him in a burial mound with his oar atop. Circe then told Odysseus how to get home, that he would have to face the Sirens, then the monster Scylla or the whirlpool Charybdis, or if they were feeling extra suicidal then they could try to get through the clashing rocks like Jason and the Argo. Odysseus stayed with Circe for a year, until his men decided that really they should be trying to get home, and Odysseus blushed and tried to pretend that all those months he had been thinking about Penelope instead of Circe, really...
Well, a lot can happen to a hero whom a god has a grudge against, I am beginning to notice. Poseidon really should be able to wreck as much damage on Odysseus when Zeus has said that he shouldn't, but it is only recently that Zeus has started to assert his power as anything more than a weather god, and Poseidon is not taking it well, he just ignores it really. Bah, it's totally unfair but there you go.
Well, after leaving the Land of the Cyclopes Odysseus and his men found themselves a bit stuck for ideas, and they landed themselves on the Island of Aeolia, home of the wind god Aeolus. As he was a good host, he observed the guest laws and helped them back to Ithaka by giving them a bag of the wind that would otherwise blow them off course. A pretty good pressie if I do say so myself, I guess that the fact the Polyphemus incident had not put him off asking for pressies was a good thing. Odysseus the men not to open the bag under any circumstances, and then they set off home. In sight of Ithaka, Odysseus was sure that nothing could go wrong [big mistake] and so he went to sleep. Meanwhile, the men had decided that he was hiding some valuable treasure in the bag, and while he slept they opened the bag and, ironically, it blew them straight back to Aeolus! He was shocked to see them back again, and when Odysseus explained what had happened, Aeolus decided that the gods must hate Odysseus and that he wasn't going to help him anymore. The guest laws laid down by dad say that you have to help someone get to their next destination, but if you do and they blow it, it isn't up to you to sort it out for them, you owe them nothing a second time around. So Odysseus was in sight of his home and then it all got messed up, and I sighed as I realised how hard getting him home in one piece really was going to be.
So, next stop the land of the Laestrygonians. A lovely people if I do say so myself, who still have that charming habit of cannibalism. Odysseus didn't know this and sent his ships into their harbour...but, and this is a big but, he didn't send his own in, he left one outside the harbour, almost as though he knew that there was going to be something bad that happened to the ones inside. He can't have done though, surely? He would have kept the other ones outside too...wouldn't he? The land turned out not to be friendly and the Laestrygonians chased after them, capturing some of the men. Others got to their ships that were moored in the harbour- but the Laestrygonians stoned the ships and drowned the men, all save the ones that manned Odysseus' ship, which was safely outside. Once more, Odysseus had successfully managed to get a large amount of his men killed- I would say at least 800 of them, in one incident where he knew something was wrong anyway. There seems to be something wrong with him, I am not at all happy with this! If he wasn't so cool and wonderful then I might even get annoyed at him. well, I'll make a promise then, I will observe but not help him in the next amount of trouble that he gets into, whatever or with whomever it is.
Odysseus and his men sailed for a bit and eventually they found themselves upon an island owned by a witch named Circe. Odysseus sent some of his men to scout the area first, and they met Circe- to cut a long story short, she turned them all into pigs, as I think that she thinks it's fun. Obviously the poor girl doesn't get many visitors, being that lonely can be hard on a girl. When the men didn't come back more were sent, and Odysseus was going to go with them and get turned into a pig himself until Hermes was sent to intervene. He gave Odysseus a moly plant that would stop the spell working on him, and told him that he needed to get Circe into bed with him, then act like he was going to kill her, and she would be so scared that she would behave and turn his men back into people.
Essentially, this happened and you do not want to know all the boring details of what happened. However, after a while Odysseus again turned his attention to getting home [after he had gotten over his luck at landing on an island inhabited by a love starved demi-goddess] Circe told him that the only way he would get home was by consulting the dead Theban prophet Teriesias....yes, you heard right, the DEAD prophet. No, I agree that Circe is actually quite crazy. Not only is Teriesias dead but he's also a real idiot, I don't know what possessed her to think of him as a sensible thing to do! All preparations were made to send Odysseus down to Hades, if he makes it [which somehow I think he will, even if I have to beg uncle Hades and aunt Persephone to let him in] The night before they left there was a big party held by Circe, and one of his men got very drunk and fell asleep on the roof that night. The next morning he was startled awake by the call to leave, forgot that he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck and dying. Odysseus didn't actually notice that this lad was missing, which doesn't really say much for his observational skills does it?!
Circe had given Odysseus strict instructions about how he would be able to talk to ghosts in Hades, and I have to say it was one of the saddest things that I have ever had to watch. The first ghost that he met there was that of his fallen comrade that had died that very day, begging Odysseus to go back to Circe's island and bury him, that he might enter the afterlife instead of remain in limbo for the rest of eternity. Being dead isn't much fun anyway, but you may as well do it properly- being excluded for all eternity from all the other dead people must really suck, even ants get into Hades proper! Odysseus also spoke to his mother Anticleia, he didn't even know that she was dead but she had passed away from grief a while before, losing the will to live without her beloved son. Odysseus also spoke to the prophet, who as I suspected didn't really tell him anything useful, although he did mention how he should placate Poseidon, which is always useful to know.
After talking to the crazy man for a bit, Odysseus caught up with some of his mates for m he Trojan War- again, many that he did not know were dead. Agamemnon was dead, of course, and he and Odysseys shared many sad word. The famed Achilles was there, lamenting the lust for glory that had led him to an early death- as he said, he would rather have been a slave to a slave but alive than in his current position as a prince among the dead. At times like this I lament that there is a concept of war for me to be goddess of. Odysseus even met Herakles, who recognised him, but then was forced to leave as aunt Persephone was getting annoyed- Odysseus was traipsing mud over her nice clean floor.
Going back to Circe's, the men buried the fallen comrade and laid him in a burial mound with his oar atop. Circe then told Odysseus how to get home, that he would have to face the Sirens, then the monster Scylla or the whirlpool Charybdis, or if they were feeling extra suicidal then they could try to get through the clashing rocks like Jason and the Argo. Odysseus stayed with Circe for a year, until his men decided that really they should be trying to get home, and Odysseus blushed and tried to pretend that all those months he had been thinking about Penelope instead of Circe, really...