The Odyssey - post V

The Odyssey continues to delight with stories that continue to amaze and paint visions of different worlds and Gods.

Bullet points from chapters eleven and twelve

Eleven
Answering the question about what he did before landing on the island Odysseus continues to recount tales of his voyage including the visit to the land of the dead where he meets old friends and his mother

He sees some of the gruesome sights in the land of the dead with Dante like tortures with a man having his insides picked out by vultures and a man constantly thirsty being surrounded by water which he can never drink

Twelve
The crew head back and meet Kirke and she warns them that they face the perils of the Sirens and a six headed beat that has twelve legs and will take six men off the boat as they pass the cliffs

Having gone past the worst the crew effectively mutinies and demands that the food for the voyage is shared up and then behind Odysseus’s back they decide to eat the cattle that have been stored on board as a sacrifice to the gods

Zeus sends a thunderbolt to destroy the ship and the crew are killed and Odysseus spends nine nights clinging onto the wreck before arriving at the island where Kalypso lives and the story so far is concluded