Shipwrecked and alone, as the story begins Odysseus has been invited by Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, ruler of the Phaeacians, to her father’s house. In the King’s hall after dinner, he has revealed his identity and been asked to tell the story of his travels since the fall of Troy.
First, he and his fleet sacked the city of the Cicones, allies of the Trojans. But his forces were confronted by reinforcements from the hinterland and driven off with the loss of seventy-two men. Then, after a brief landfall at the land of the Lotus-eaters, whose food robs men of memory and energy, he came to the land of the Cyclopes. Leaving eleven of his twelve ships on a safe island, he sailed on to explore the island where these strange giants live.
The exceptionally powerful Ismaric wine that Odysseus takes with him, each measure needing to be diluted with twenty measures of water, will play an important part later in the story.
The translation is by Samuel Butler, 1835-1902, the English novelist and man of letters.
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