The Odyssey

Odysseus, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Ithaca, is called to service in the Trojan War after the birth of his son Telemachus, much to the dismay of his wife Queen Penelope. Odysseus is worried that he may not return, and tells Penelope that she should remarry by the time Telemachus is a man if he does not return. The war lasts ten years, during which Greece's best soldier, Achilles, is killed and the Greeks avenge him by using a giant horse to sneak inside and destroy the city of Troy.

The greatest epic of the ancient world, Homer's Odyssey, is now magnificently recreated for television. Homer's tale recounts the journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca & mastermind of the Greek victory in the Trojan war. Odysseus, known as a man of exceptional cunning & ingenuity, leaves his wife, Penelope & infant son, Telemachus, for what becomes a ten-year siege of the distant city of Troy. Odysseus forms the famous plan to infiltrate the city with a giant wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers & Troy is taken. That night, in the drunken revelry of victory, Odysseus blasphemes the gods, boasting that his own ingenuity, not the help & intervention of the gods brought this glory. Poseidon, god of the sea, is deeply offended & lays on Odysseus a curse: he will never reach home again. The stage is set for the legendary travails of Odysseus and his men. They land on an island looking for food & fresh water & instead are imprisoned by Polyphemous, a brutal man-eating Cyclops. Odysseus manages to free his men, but then they meet Circe and the Sirens; the monsters Scylla and Charybdis; and the irresistible sea nymph, Calypso. Eventually through his protector Athena, Odysseus reaches his home on the island of Ithaca. Ten years have passed & a company of suitors is seeking the hand of Penelope & the kingdom of her lost husband. For ten years she has put them off, refusing to give up on the chance that Odysseus will return. In the meantime, they feast and cavort, laying waste to Odysseus' estate as they form plots to kill Telemachus, his heir. Odysseus, disguised with the help of Athena, plots his revenge. With Telemachus & a few loyal servants, he defeats the treacherous suitors. Finally the family is reunited. Odysseus has learned that there is a difference between cunning and wisdom, and that the latter is key to life and happiness.