The Odyssey Omens Quotes

"But I’ll cry out to the everlasting gods in hopes
that Zeus will pay you back with a vengeance – all of you
destroyed in my house while I go scot-free myself!"
And to seal his prayer, farseeing Zeus sent down a sign.
He launched two eagles soaring high from a mountain ridge
and down they glided, borne on the wind’s draft a moment,
wing to wingtip, pinions straining taut till just
above the assembly’s throbbing hum they whirled,
suddenly, wings thrashing, wild onslaught of wings
and banking down at the crowd’s heads – a glaring, fatal sign –
talons slashing each other, tearing cheeks and throats
they swooped away on the right through homes and city."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 161-172. The theme of the gods intervening in the affairs of humans is illustrated here. Telemachus prays to Zeus to pay the suitors back for their behavior. Immediately the father of the gods answers his prayer with a "fatal" omen, sending down two fighting eagles tearing at each other over the heads of the crowd. This foreshadows that the suitors will pay the supreme penalty for their crimes. Telemachus demonstrates his courage in standing up to the suitors.

"Hear me, men of Ithaca! Hear what I have to say,
though my revelations strike the suitors first of all –
a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads.
Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer –
now, right now, he’s somewhere near, I tell you,
breeding bloody death for all these suitors here."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 180-185. The prophet Halitherses, who can read bird signs, sounds this warning when Zeus sends down a sign with two fighting eagles tearing each other’s throats and cheeks. He predicts that Odysseus who is close by will bring bloody death to the suitors. In a simile he compares the great disaster approaching them to a heavy sea wave rolling towards their heads. The suitors’ violent end is foreshadowed here.

"Stop, old man!"
Eurymachus, Polybus’ son, rose up to take him on.
"Go home and babble your omens to your children –
save them from some catastrophe coming soon.
I’m a better hand than you at reading portents.
Flocks of birds go fluttering under the sun’s rays,
not all are fraught with meaning."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 198-204. The suitor Eurymachus rubbishes Halitherses’ prophecies and his ability to interpret omens and read bird signs. Eurymachus is disrespectful to the elderly prophet.

"Just as the eagle swooped down from the crags
where it was born and bred, just as it snatched
that goose fattened up for the kill inside the house,
just so, after many trials and roving long and hard,
Odysseus will descend on his house and take revenge."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 194-198. Helen interprets a bird omen. Odysseus’ son and Pisistratus are about to head home from Sparta when an eagle flies by on the right, clutching a big white goose in its talons. Helen interprets this as a sign from the gods that Odysseus will take revenge on the suitors. In an epic simile, Odysseus is compared to an eagle and the suitors a goose.

"Look, Telemachus,
the will of god just winged that bird on your right!
Why, the moment I saw it, here before my eyes,
I knew it was a sign. No line more kingly than yours
in all of Ithaca – yours will reign forever!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 594-598. The seer Theoclymenus interprets a bird sign after a hawk flies past on the right with a struggling dove clenched in his claws. The hawk rips the dove’s feathers out and they drift down to earth between the ship and Telemachus. It is a sign that Odysseus will return as king of Ithaca and Telemachus’ inheritance will be secured, Theoclymenus prophesies.

At her last words Telemachus shook with a lusty sneeze
like a thunderclap resounding up and down the halls.
The queen was seized with laughter, calling out
to Eumaeus winged words: "Quickly, go!
Bring me this stranger now, face-to-face!
You hear how my son sealed all I said with a sneeze?
So let death come down with grim finality on these suitors –
one and all – not a single man escape his sudden doom!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 602-612. Telemachus responds to Penelope’s prayer that Odysseus might return and put things right with the suitors. In a simile, we are told that he sneezes "like a thunderclap." The is an omen that what Penelope prays for will happen, because the god of lightning Zeus is known to send thundercaps as devine signs. There is an example of irony when Penelope asks Eumeaus to fetch the stranger, who happens to be her husband. There is also foreshadowing when she talks about the death and doom of the suitors.

"Father Zeus, if you really willed it so – to bring me
home over land and sea-lanes, home to native ground
after all the pain you brought me – show me a sign,
a good omen voiced by someone awake indoors,
another sign, outside, from Zeus himself!"
And Zeus in all his wisdom heard that prayer.
He thundered at once, out of his clear blue heavens
high above the clouds, and Odysseus’ spirit lifted.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 109-116. Odysseus prays to Zeus for a good omen to show that he made the right decision to come home to Ithaca to eject the suitors. His spirits lift when his prayers are answered and Zeus gives him a sign with his thunder.

Now as they spoke and urged each other on,
and once more the suitors were plotting certain doom
for the young prince – suddenly, banking high on the left
an omen flew past, an eagle clutching a trembling dove.
And Amphinomus rose in haste to warn them all,
"My friends, we’ll never carry off this plot
to kill the prince. Let’s concentrate on feasting."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 267-273. As the suitors discuss the killing of Telemachus, their murderous plot is stopped in its tracks by an omen forecasting death and destruction. An eagle flies by with a dove in its jaws. Amphinomus at once recognizes the warning and urges them to abandon their plot and just carry on feasting. But it is too late, as their own doom is foreshadowed here.

"Poor men, what terror is this that overwhelms you so?
Night shrouds your heads, your faces, down to your knees –
cries of mourning are bursting into fire – cheeks rivering tears –
the walls and the handsome crossbeams dripping dank with blood!
Ghosts, look, thronging the entrance, thronging the court,
go trooping down to the world of death and darkness!
The sun is blotted out of the sky – look there –
a lethal mist spreads all across the earth!"
At that
they all broke into peals of laughter aimed at the seer.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 391-399. The seer Theoclymenus gives an ominous warning to the suitors. He points to bad omens, foreshadowing the suitors’ deaths: walls dripping with blood, ghosts at the door, a lethal mist blocking out the sun. But the prideful suitors arrogantly dismiss his warning and respond with derisive laughter.

Horror swept through the suitors, faces blanching white,
and Zeus cracked the sky with a bolt, his blazing sign,
and the great man who had borne so much rejoiced at last
that the son of cunning Cronus flung that omen down for him.
He snatched a winged arrow lying bare on the board –
the rest still bristled deep inside the quiver,
soon to be tasted by all the feasters there.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 459-465. With none of the suitors capable of stringing Odysseus’ bow and shooting an arrow through all the axes, Odysseus-the-beggar manages to do so. The suitors’ faces turn white with fear and Zeus sends down a thunderbolt as an omen. We are told that the arrows in Odysseus’ quiver are bristling to be tasted by all the feasters. This suggests the deserved end that will be served up to the suitors for their gluttony and greed in Odysseus’ house.

loosing a savage cry, the long-enduring great Odysseus,
gathering all his force, swooped like a soaring eagle
just as the son of Cronus hurled a reeking bolt
that fell at her feet, the mighty Father’s daughter,
and blazing-eyed Athena wheeled on Odysseus, crying,
"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, master of exploits,
hold back now! Call a halt to the great leveler, War –
don’t court the rage of Zeus who rules the world."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 590-597. Odysseus swoops on the Ithacans who flee in panic after Athena’s order for a halt to the bloodshed. A metaphor compares Odysseus to an eagle. Just then we have a final omen from Zeus as he hurls down a thunderbolt which drops at Athena’s feet. The goddess intervenes to rein in Odysseus. Deciding that there has been enough war, she commands Odysseus to end the killing. She warns him not to invoke the wrath of Zeus by pursuing a second war against the suitor’s families. Woman power has the final word on the fighting in Ithaca.
Close