Portal:Classical Civilisation/Featured article
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'The Odyssey' is, along with the 'Iliad', one of the two earliest pieces of Greek epic poetry to have survived, and is a story that many consider central to the evolution of Western civilization. Centred upon the eponymous hero 'Odysseus', it describes the adventures of the great Trojan War hero as he attempts to get home. Deprived slowly by the Gods (of whom only Athena remains on his side) of men, supplies and eventually his last ship, he struggles to return home. The book depicts Odysseus as a very human character driven by his desire to return home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, whom he has not seen since he set off to war some twenty years prior.
Added drama revolves around Penelope's despair of seeing her husband again, and Odysseus' fear that she will be forced to re-marry in his absence. Additional themes include how there can be a father/son relationship when neither know each other, the loyalty or otherwise of one's servants and the role of the Gods (the dilemma of being aloof and ignored, or intervening and making humans dependent)..
