11.304–5 They live and die alternately, and they / are honored like the gods: Castor and Polydeuces (also known as Pollux), the twins associated with the constellation Gemini, were given by Zeus the privilege of being alive on every other day, taking turns. According to many versions of the myth, Zeus was actually their father, having seduced Leda in the guise of a swan (so that the twins are brothers of Helen and Clytemnestra).
11.322–23 Then I saw Phaedra, Procris . . . dangerous Minos: Phaedra was the elder daughter of Minos, the legendary king of Crete; she married Theseus of Athens and fell in love with his son, her stepson, with disastrous results. Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, another king of Athens; she was killed unintentionally by her husband, Cephalus.
11.326–27 Artemis killed her on the isle of Día, / when Dionysus spoke against her: Ariadne, another daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped Theseus through the Cretan labyrinth to kill her half brother, the Minotaur, and was taken off with Theseus on his ship. In later versions of the legend, Theseus abandoned her, and she was then whisked away by Dionysus. This Homeric version implies that she somehow offended Dionysus—it is unclear how, and this story is otherwise unknown.
11.329 accepting golden bribes, she killed her husband: Eriphyle accepted the bribe of a gold necklace to persuade her husband, Amphiaraus, king of Argos, to go on a doomed raid against Thebes.
11.522 since Priam bribed his mother: After the death of Achilles, Priam bribed Eurypylus’ mother to persuade her son to fight for the Trojans.
11.544–46 I won / Achilles’ armor, when the case was judged / beside the ships: Achilles’ mother, the Sea Goddess Thetis, gave him armor crafted by the god Hephaestus. After Achilles’ death, the Greeks held a meeting beside their ships to judge which other hero should get the divine armor. Ajax hoped to win, but the judgment went in Odysseus’ favor, and Ajax killed himself. According to some versions of the myth, Ajax was first driven mad by Athena (a story used in Sophocles’ Ajax).
11.573 I saw great Orion: Mythical hunter, who was turned into the constellation Orion.
11.577 Tityus, the son of Gaia: See note for 7.723–24.
11.600–602 I saw a phantom of great Heracles. / The man himself is . . . with fine-ankled Hebe: Heracles, a son of Zeus, was supposed to have been rewarded after all his Labors with a place among the Olympian gods. The confusing suggestion that his phantom is with the dead, while his real self is with the gods, may be a reflection of various views about whether or not Heracles really was apotheosized.
BOOK 12 SUMMARY
Back on Circe’s island, they held a funeral for Elpenor. Circe gave Odysseus advice about his route. They sailed past the Sirens; Odysseus, tied to the mast, was the only one who heard their song. They reached the six-headed Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis; Scylla devoured six men. They were marooned on the island of Helius, the Sun God, and the men were half starved; while Odysseus napped, they killed the forbidden cattle and ate them. When they left, Zeus wrecked the ship and all the men drowned. Odysseus, the sole survivor, was swept back; he clung to a fig tree above the whirlpool Charybdis, then jumped into the water, clutched a broken ship’s timber, and managed to row out of the way of Scylla. After ten days of drifting, he reached the island of Calypso; and so the story of the wanderings comes full circle.
12.65–66 Zeus must send another to restore / the number of the flock: There may be an obscure reference here to the legend of a lost Pleiad. The Pleiades were seven sisters who were hunted by Orion and turned first into doves and then into stars.
12.70–71 Only the famous Argo sailed through there / returning from the visit with Aeetes: The Greek hero Jason sailed in the Argo to get the Golden Fleece from King Aeetes of Colchis. The journey of Jason and the Argonauts was supposed to have taken place a generation before the wanderings of Odysseus. Jason was the favorite of the goddess Hera.
12.125 Cratais: The name means “mighty force.”
12.133 Phaethousa and Lampetia: The names literally mean “shining.”
12.251–52 long rod and line set round with oxhorn / to trick the little fishes with his bait: The technology implied by the reference to oxhorn is unclear, but probably a tube of hollow oxhorn was used to protect the line above the hook (perhaps to stop fish biting through the line when they took the bait).
12.357 on the ship there was no barley: Barley is a component of a ritual sacrifice.
BOOK 13 SUMMARY
The Phaeacians give Odysseus a rich array of gifts and put him on a magical self-steering ship, equipped with talented rowers, to go back to Ithaca; he falls asleep on the journey and they lay him, still asleep, on the shore of his homeland, beside the cave of the Nymphs. When the ship approaches Phaeacia, Poseidon wrecks it, turns it to stone, and threatens to cover the country with a mountain. Odysseus wakes up and, because Athena has disguised the island, does not recognize Ithaca. She approaches, in the guise of a young man, reveals that they are in Ithaca, and questions Odysseus. He pretends to come from Crete. She praises his caution and capacity for deceit, expresses her love for him, and reveals the truth. They hide the treasure in the cave, and form plans about how to kill the suitors. Athena disguises Odysseus as an old beggar, and then goes to fetch Telemachus from Sparta.
13.144 an elder so high-ranking: There are different traditions about whether Zeus or Poseidon was the elder brother. The text here might suggest that Poseidon is the older, or only that he is one of the older generation of Olympian gods (in contrast to relative newcomers like Aphrodite and Dionysus).
13.150–54 But now . . . I want / to smash it in the sea . . . to prevent them / from ever guiding travelers again: It is unclear whether Poseidon is threatening to wipe out the whole Phaeacian people, by crushing them, or simply intends to block their way out to the open sea, by surrounding the city and its harbor with a mountain. It is also unclear what actually happens to the Phaeacians.
BOOK 14 SUMMARY
In his disguise, Odysseus visits Eumaeus, the swineherd. The guard dogs set on the visitor, but Eumaeus rescues him and welcomes him into his humble abode. Eumaeus expresses his loyalty to his master and grief for his supposed death; Odysseus predicts the return of Odysseus. He tells a convoluted false story about his history, saying he came from Crete, stayed in Egypt, was tricked by a Phoenician, shipwrecked, landed in Thesprotia (where he heard about Odysseus), was again tricked and enslaved, landed on Ithaca with the slave ship, and eventually escaped from the traffickers, ending up in Eumaeus’ hut. Eumaeus responds that he does not believe Odysseus is en route; he explains his skepticism of tricksters. They eat, then Odysseus tells a story about Odysseus tricking one of his men into giving him a cloak. Eumaeus gives him a cloak as a reward for a good story. They go to sleep—Odysseus in the hut, and Eumaeus out with the pigs.
14.182 Arcesius’ line: Arcesius was the father of Laertes; he may have been more prominent in earlier versions of the myth.