Homer opens the Odyssey with an invocation to the Muse of epic poetry and ask for her help to tell the story of man who has experienced many twists and turns of fate and has suffered many hardships. Odysseus is told to be the only Greek survivor of the Trojan War who has not yet returned home or died trying. He is being held captive on the island of Ogygia. Odysseus has made Poseidon, god of the sea, furious by blinding his son Polyphemus the cyclops. Meanwhile , Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is besieged by suitors at his home in Ithaca.
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Homer's Invocation |