Omens In The Odyssey

For everything, there is a season and a time. A great example of that is The Odyssey, which is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems. An epic poem is a long narrative poem regarding the actions of a hero. The odyssey is based on the whole story of the Trojan War, where Odysseus and his men lost. In this 10-year war, innumerable of Odysseus’ men were killed and those who survived, became slaves. Odysseus finally returned to his homeland after 2 decades had gone by. The first time he set foot in Ithaca, his homeland, he didn’t recognize it. He then met Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, whom was born from the head of Odysseus. When he first spoke to her, he tried to deceit her and act like if he wasn’t Odysseus; she knew right away

One of the omens that was somehow upsetting was when the story described the reunion between Odysseus and Telemachus. “Sea-eagles or taloned vultures-¬/ Whose young chicks rough farmers have stolen/ Out of their nests before they were fledged” (Homer 519). This omen signifies how Odysseus didn’t get to be around his son throughout his whole childhood; Telemachus grew up without a paternal figure. When Odysseus finally divulged himself to Telemachus, they both began weeping. The utterance of their weeping was just as similar as the cries of birds. Although this omen is very significant, it’s not the only one that signifies specific events that occurred or were destined to occur throughout the

Just like the omen from the past paragraph, this omen also describes the death of the suitors. “The vultures swoop down/ To pick them off; the smaller birds cannot escape, /And men thrill to see the chase in the sky” (Homer 595). This foreshadowed the things that were happening in the hall when it was on lockdown and nobody could escape. When Odysseus had the special bow that an old friend had given him, he took control of the suitors and started killing one by one. When some of the suitors tried to run away, Odysseus and his men went after them, like vultures going after the smaller