Greeks hide soldiers inside a hollow wooden horse, trick the Trojans into bringing it inside their walls, and sack the city.

The Cyclops Polyphemus traps Odysseus and his men inside his cave and begins eating them two at a time.

Odysseus drives a heated sharpened stake into Polyphemus's eye, blinding him, then escapes with his men tied under the bellies of the Cyclops's sheep.

Odysseus shouts his true name to Polyphemus as he sails away, and Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon to punish Odysseus.

With Ithaca finally in sight, Odysseus's men open the bag of winds Aeolus gave them, blowing the fleet far off course.

Man-eating giants hurl boulders from cliffs and destroy all but one of Odysseus's ships in a harbor ambush.

Odysseus, protected by a herb from Hermes, confronts the enchantress Circe and forces her to restore his men from swine to human form.

The prophet Tiresias, in the Land of the Dead, warns Odysseus to avoid the Sun Lord's cattle and reveals that suitors are overrunning his home.

Odysseus's men eat the sacred cattle of the Sun Lord despite his warnings; a storm destroys the ship and kills every crewman, leaving Odysseus alone.

Odysseus washes up on Calypso's island as the sole survivor of the shipwreck and remains stranded there for seven years.

The gods send Hermes to order Calypso to release Odysseus; she gives him tools, and he builds a raft and sets sail.

Princess Nausicaa of Phaecia finds Odysseus washed up on the beach and leads him to her father's palace.

A bard's song about the Trojan War moves Odysseus to tears, prompting King Alcinous to ask who he is; Odysseus reveals his identity.

The Phaeacians load Odysseus with gifts and sail him home while he sleeps; he wakes to find himself on Ithaca's shore.

Odysseus strings his own bow, shoots through twelve ax rings, then leads the slaughter of all the suitors trapped in the locked hall.

Pool 1 covers the headline events of Odysseus's epic journey, from the Greeks' cunning sack of Troy to his triumphant return home. Odysseus faces the most dangerous monsters and obstacles on his route — from the man-eating Cyclops to Circe's enchantments and the seductive trap of Calypso's island. His visit to the Land of the Dead proves pivotal, as the prophet Tiresias arms him with knowledge of the perils still ahead. After losing all his men and nearly his life, Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca through the generosity of the Phaeacians. Back home, he must overcome one final obstacle — the suitors who have seized his palace — before his homecoming is truly complete.

Odysseus's long journey home from Troy to Ithaca.

Odysseus's men sack Ismarus and celebrate through the night; warriors from the town attack at dawn and kill more than seventy of the crew.

Three scouts eat lotus fruit given by islanders and lose all desire to return home; Odysseus drags them back to the ship by force.

Odysseus tells the Cyclops his name is Nobody, which prevents the other Cyclops from coming to Polyphemus's aid when he screams for help.

Aeolus, Lord of the Winds, hosts Odysseus for a month and gives him a bag containing all the winds except the west wind.

Hermes meets Odysseus on the path to Circe's house and gives him a magical plant that will protect him from her enchantment.

After Circe restores his men, Odysseus and his crew stay on her island for over a year before he decides to resume the journey.

In the Land of the Dead, Odysseus speaks with the shades of his dead mother and with the heroes Agamemnon and Achilles.

Odysseus plugs his crew's ears with wax and has himself lashed to the mast so he can hear the Sirens' deadly song without leaping overboard.

Sailing through the narrow strait, Odysseus steers closer to Scylla to avoid the whirlpool Charybdis; Scylla snatches and devours six of his men.

Athene disguises herself as Odysseus's old friend Mentes and visits Telemachus in Ithaca, urging him to seek news of his father.

Telemachus visits Nestor in Pylos and then travels to Sparta, where Menelaus tells him Odysseus is stranded on a distant island.

Poseidon wrecks Odysseus's raft with a violent storm; the sea goddess Ino saves him from drowning by giving him a magical protective veil.

Alcinous holds athletic games for his guest, and Odysseus silences a young challenger by hurling a discus far beyond all the other competitors.

While washing Odysseus's feet, the enslaved woman Eurycleia feels a scar on his thigh, realizes the beggar is her master, and is sworn to secrecy.

Odysseus reveals himself to his aged father Laertes; when relatives of the slain suitors attack, Laertes kills their leader and Athene makes peace.

Pool 2 captures the encounters and developments that flesh out Odysseus's wanderings and the parallel story unfolding back in Ithaca. From the early disaster at Ismarus to the treacherous strait between Scylla and Charybdis, these events reveal the many ways Odysseus's men contribute to their own ruin. While Odysseus suffers at sea, his son Telemachus embarks on his own journey of growth, seeking news of a father he barely knows. The gods continue to intervene, most critically when Poseidon wrecks Odysseus's raft and the sea goddess Ino saves him from drowning. The pool concludes with the faithful nurse Eurycleia's quiet recognition of Odysseus and the final confrontation between Odysseus's family and the suitors' relatives, which Athene herself must bring to a close.

The vital supporting moments that shape Odysseus's world.

Odysseus sharpens Polyphemus's great wooden staff into a stake and hardens its tip in the fire, devising his plan to blind the Cyclops.

Aeolus refuses to help Odysseus a second time, telling him that his misfortunes prove he must be hated by the gods.

Eurylochus returns alone from Circe's house and reports that the enchantress turned all the other scouts into pigs by touching them with her wand.

Odysseus encounters the shade of Elpenor, who fell from Circe's roof without burial, and promises to return and bury him properly.

Circe warns Odysseus in detail about the deadly perils awaiting him — the Sirens, the Wandering Rocks, and the strait between Scylla and Charybdis.

Penelope delays the suitors by weaving Laertes's burial shroud during the day and secretly unraveling her work each night to buy more time.

Calypso offers to make Odysseus immortal if he stays with her forever; he refuses, saying he still longs for Penelope and home.

The suitors secretly plot to ambush Telemachus at sea and kill him before he can return to Ithaca.

Athene reveals her true identity to Odysseus on Ithaca's misty beach, disguises him as an old beggar, and warns him about the suitors.

Telemachus visits the swineherd Eumaeus's farm and Odysseus, alone with his son for the first time, reveals his true identity to him.

Odysseus's aged dog Argus recognizes his master at the palace threshold despite the disguise, wags his tail feebly, and dies.

Odysseus and Telemachus secretly carry all the weapons out of the great hall at night so the suitors cannot arm themselves when the confrontation comes.

Penelope announces she will marry whichever suitor can string Odysseus's old bow and shoot an arrow cleanly through twelve ax rings.

During the archery contest, Odysseus slips away and reveals his true identity to the loyal servants Eumaeus and Philoetius, enlisting their help against the suitors.

Penelope tests the returned man by ordering their bed moved; when he reveals its immovable olive-tree base, she joyfully accepts him as Odysseus.

Pool 3 highlights the pivotal moments of choice, revelation, and emotional truth that drive the story's deeper meaning. From Odysseus's cunning plan to blind the Cyclops to his heartbreaking refusal of immortality on Calypso's island, these events show the hero at his most decisive and most human. Back in Ithaca, Penelope's secret weaving ruse and the suitors' murderous plot against Telemachus reveal the dangers festering at home during Odysseus's long absence. Athene's dramatic self-revelation on the beach of Ithaca marks the turn from wandering to homecoming, while quieter moments — a dying dog's recognition, weapons moved in the dark — signal that the final reckoning is near. The pool closes with the contest of the bow and Penelope's private test of the bed, the two great revelations that confirm Odysseus has truly come home at last.