4.29.16

Read: Book 23--Penelope and Odyssey reunite

Beginning of Book 24: > > > > > > > > > > > >
 * Hermes leads the suitor’s down to Hades where they encounter many of Greeks famous shades, stories of their great deeds are told (Achilles and Agamemnon mostly)
 * Once in Hades, Agamemnon recognizes Amphimedon and asks why all these men in their prime are dead. The suitors tell Agamemnon of the happenings in Odysseus’ palace, of their courting of Penelope, of Odysseus’ return, and of their deaths
 * Agamemnon praises Penelope’s devotion to her husband (ironic since his wife plotted his murder with her lover…)
 * They continue to trade stories
 * Meanwhile in Ithaca, Odysseus and his men are off to see Laertes (his father) who lives on a farm outside of the city.
 * Like always, Odysseus does not reveal himself, but puts his father to the test once he comes upon him working in the garden
 * Odysseus tests him by acting as if he appears as a slave, asking who his master is, and asking for clarification that he is in Ithaca
 * He describes meeting a man who called himself Laertes’ son in the past and the noble gifts he gave him. Laertes responds with tears and the assumption that Odysseus is dead. He asks for the man’s story
 * Odysseus makes up an identity and says he met Odysseus 5 years in the past. At this, Laertes weeps in grief. Unable to see his father in pain, Odysseus finally reveals his true identity and proves it to his father by showing that boar’s scar again and describing a story from his childhood about the trees they stand by.
 * Laertes realizes it is his son and is overjoyed. They go back to his house, Athena makes him look younger, Odysseus is greeted by a few other men who are loyal to him and overjoyed to see him too. The men begin to plan for the imminent attack by the Ithacans (angered over the suitors’ deaths)
 * The families of the suitors have gathered in the assembly square ready for revenge. Then Medon and the bard enter the assembly…
 * Read: 482 → end

Watch: movie version of ending