In Homer’s Odyssey, the gods are fickle beings. After Odysseus deceives and blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus, his boastful farewell dooms him to a decade of wandering. Polyphemus, it turns out, was the son of the sea god, Poseidon, who curses Odysseus and his crew, preventing them from returning home to Ithaca.
But when Odysseus’ guardian goddess Athena pleads on his behalf to let him return home, the gods take pity on him and let him finally make his way back to Ithaca, just in time for him to slaughter the rowdy suitors destroying his home and pressuring his long-suffering wife Penelope to remarry. Though Athena has to intervene again to stop Odysseus from starting yet another bloody battle, it’s by-and-large a happy ending — or at least a triumphant one. Our hero returns home after many trials and tribulations, having learned the consequences of human hubris and of testing the patience of the gods.
