The Odyssey Zeus Quotes

"Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods.
From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,
but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,
compound their pains beyond their proper share."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 37-40. Zeus is at an assembly of the gods on Olympus, considering the lives of Odysseus and his son Telemachus and whether to intervene in Odysseus’ troubles. Commenting on the relationship between gods and humans, he recalls the case of Aegisthus. He ignored a warning by the messenger of the gods Hermes, seduced Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra and then with her help murdered Agamemnon. Zeus is saying that humans tend to blame the gods for their miseries, but humans are at fault by making their own lives a misery through reckless behavior. In other words bad happens to those who deserve it.

"And now for his blinded son the earthquake god –
though he won’t quite kill Odysseus –
drives him far off course from native land.
But come, all of us here put heads together now,
work out his journey home so Odysseus can return.
Lord Poseidon, I trust, will let his anger go.
How can he stand his ground against the will
of all the gods at once – one god alone?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 88-95. The fate of Odysseus is being controlled by a vengeful Poseidon, angered at the blinding of his son, Zeus acknowledges. The father of the gods decides to intervene to allow Odysseus to return home.

"Why, mother,"
poised Telemachus put in sharply, "why deny
our devoted bard the chance to entertain us
any way the spirit stirs him on?
Bards are not to blame –
Zeus is to blame. He deals to each and every
laborer on this earth whatever doom he pleases.
Why fault the bard if he sings the Argives’ harsh fate?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 397-403. When Penelope asks Phemius to stop singing about the Achaeans and the Trojan War, Telemachus jumps in to challenge this. The Bard is not to blame for the cruel fates of those who went to war, he asserts, but Zeus is. In The Odyssey the gods are credited with causing a lot of the misfortunes of humans.

"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.

"Nine years we wove a web of disaster for those Trojans,
pressing them hard with every tactic known to man,
and only after we slaved did Zeus award us victory.
And no one there could hope to rival Odysseus,
not for sheer cunning –
at every twist of strategy he excelled us all."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 131-136. Using a metaphor, Nestor compares the siege of Troy by the Greeks to a spider weaving a web. He attributes the Greeks’ eventual and hard-won victory to the will of Zeus, but also to the cunning of Odysseus.

"Strangers have just arrived, your majesty, Menelaus.
Two men, but they look like kin of mighty Zeus himself.
Tell me, should we unhitch their team for them
or send them to someone free to host them well?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 31-34. Eteoneus, aide-in-arms of Menelaus, announces the arrival of Telemachus and "Nestor’s shining son" Pisistratus to the king’s palace at Lacedaemon. In a simile, the visitors are said to look like relatives of father of the gods Zeus himself. Eteoneus doesn’t show the usual Greek generosity to those who have traveled far from home, suggesting that they be sent off to someone else.

"Wonderful!" the red-haired king cried out.
"The son of my dearest friend, here in my own house!
That man who performed a hundred feats of arms for me.
And I swore that when he came I’d give him a hero’s welcome,
him above all my comrades – if only Olympian Zeus,
farseeing Zeus, had granted us both safe passage
home across the sea in our swift trim ships.
Why, I’d have settled a city in Argos for him."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 185-192. Menelaus is excited to have Telemachus, son of his great friend Odysseus, in his house. But Menelaus wishes that both himself and Odysseus had been given safe passage home by Zeus.

"But about your own destiny, Menelaus,
dear to Zeus, it’s not for you to die
and meet your fate in the stallion-land of Argos,
no, the deathless ones will sweep you off to the world’s end,
the Elysian Fields, where gold-haired Rhadamanthys waits
where life glides on in immortal ease for mortal man;
no snow, no winter onslaught, never a downpour there,
but night and day the Ocean River sends up breezes,
singing winds of the West refreshing all mankind.
All this because you are Helen’s husband now
the gods count you the son-in-law of Zeus."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 631-641. Proteus, the prophetic shape shifting sea god, tells Menelaus that he will not die and end up a shade in Hades. Instead he is fated to live eternity in the heavenly Eylsian Fields – because he is dear to Zeus and is husband of Zeus’ daughter Helen. In Greek mythology the Elysian Fields are the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and virtuous.

"Zeus kill that brazen boy before he hits his prime!
Quick, fetch me a swift ship and twenty men –
I’ll waylay him from ambush, board him coming back
in the straits between Ithaca and rocky Same.
This gallant voyage of his to find his father
will find him wrecked at last."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 752-757. When Penelope’s suitors learn that Telemachus has gone in search of his father, they hatch a plot to kill him. In this passage the chief conspirator Antinous comes up with the idea to send a ship to ambush Telemachus on his voyage home. He urges king of the gods Zeus to kill the boy before he gets to his prime.

"Hear me, dear ones! Zeus has given me torment –
me above all the others born and bred in my day.
My lionhearted husband, lost, long years ago,
who excelled the Argives all in every strength –
that great man whose fame resounds through Hellas
right to the depths of Argos!
But now my son,
my darling boy – the whirlwinds have ripped him
out of the halls without a trace! I never heard
he’d gone – not even from you, you hard, heartless…
not one of you even thought to rouse me from my bed,
though well you knew when he boarded that black ship.
Oh if only I had learned he was planning such a journey,
he would have stayed, by god, keen as he was to sail –
or left me dead right here within our palace."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 814-827. A distraught Penelope has learned that her son Telemachus has secretly set sail to Pylos and Sparta, while the suitors plan to kill him on his way home. She rails at Eurycleia for hiding her son’s departure from her. She makes clear that had she known, she would only have let Telemachus leave over her dead body. Angered by the deception, Penelope calls Eurycleia hard and heartless. Penelope speaks of her torment of first losing her husband and now her son, blaming Zeus for this. She recalls how Odysseus was honored with fame as a great warrior. In a metaphor she compares his bravery to that of a lion.

"You are our messenger, Hermes, sent on all our missions.
Announce to the nymph with lovely braids our fixed decree:
Odysseus journeys home – the exile must return.
But not in the convoy of the gods or mortal men.
No, on a lashed, makeshift raft and wrung with pains,
on the twentieth day he will make his landfall, fertile Scheria,
the land of Phaeacians, close kin to the gods themselves,
who with all their hearts will prize him like a god
and send him off in a ship to his own beloved land,
giving him bronze and hoards of gold and robes –
more plunder than he could ever have won from Troy
if Odysseus had returned intact with his fair share.
So his destiny ordains. He shall see his loved ones,
reach his high-roofed house, his native land at last"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 33-46. Zeus instructs his son Hermes to deliver his command to Calypso concerning Odysseus. He has decreed that the exiled hero is to return home. But he is to make the journey alone and on a raft that he must build himself. Zeus also warns that Odysseus’ journey will not be an easy one, but full of pain. However, he prophecies that Odysseus will end up back in his homeland of Ithaca with many treasures, because that is his destiny.

"Now Zeus commands you to send him off with all good speed:
it is not his fate to die here, far from his own people.
Destiny still ordains that he shall see his loved ones,
reach his high-roofed house, his native land at last."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 125-128. Hermes tells Calypso of Zeus’ command that she must release Odysseus. Destiny has ordained that the Greek hero will return to native land and home at last, Hermes says. This prophecy foreshadows that Odysseus will reach his home in Ithaca.

"But since there is no way for another god to thwart
the will of storming Zeus and make it come to nothing,
let the man go – if the Almighty insists, commands –
and destroy himself on the barren salt sea!
I’ll send him off, but not with any escort."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 152-156. Calypso agrees to Zeus’s command, delivered to her by Hermes, to allow Odysseus leave her island. She acknowledges that no other god can go against the will of Zeus. This foreshadows Odysseus’ release from Ogygia.

"But here’s an unlucky wanderer strayed our way
and we must tend him well. Every stranger and beggar
comes from Zeus, and whatever scrap we give him
he’ll be glad to get. So, quick, my girls,
give our newfound friend some food and drink
and bathe the man in the river."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 226-231. Nausicaa asks her handmaids to give the wanderer Odysseus food and drink and to bathe him in the river. By doing this she is honoring the ancient Greek code of hospitality to strangers and also the god of hospitality Zeus. She shows courage by coming to the aid of a complete stranger, who happens to be male and naked. The princess may also be developing an attraction to Odysseus.

"This is no way, Alcinous. How indecent, look,
our guest on the ground, in the ashes by the fire!
Your people are holding back, waiting for your signal.
Come, raise him up and seat the stranger now,
in a silver-studded chair,
and tell the heralds to mix more wine for all
so we can pour out cups to Zeus who loves the lightning."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 189-195. An elder of the Phaeacians, Echeneus, calls on Alcinous to treat their guest Odysseus well. He asks that he be seated on one of their best chairs and for more wine to be poured out to honor the god of hospitality Zeus.

Odysseus rose to the moment deftly, gently:
"Nausicaa, daughter of generous King Alcinous,
may Zeus the Thunderer, Hera’s husband, grant it so –
that I travel home and see the dawn of my return.
Even at home I’ll pray to you as a deathless goddess
all my days to come. You saved my life, dear girl."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 8, lines 521-526. Odysseus thanks Nausicaa for saving his life and says that he will be always be grateful to her. We know that Nausicaa would like someone like Odysseus to be her husband. But Odysseus is determined to leave Phaeacia and the princess and he prays to Zeus that he makes it home to Ithaca.

"Now Zeus who masses the stormclouds hit the fleet
with the North Wind –
a howling, demonic gale, shrouding over
in thunderheads the earth and sea at once –
and night swept down
from the sky and the ships went plunging headlong on,
our sails slashed to rags by the hurricane’s blast!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 76-80. There are many cases in The Odyssey where Odysseus puts the blame entirely on the gods for the misfortunes of humans. In this case it’s a great storm at sea sent by Zeus while Odysseus and his shipmates are sailing.

lawless brutes, who trust so to the everlasting gods
they never plant with their own hands or plow the soil.
Unsown, unplowed, the earth teems with all they need,
wheat, barley and vines, swelled by the rains of Zeus
to yield a big full-bodied wine from clustered grapes.
They have no meeting place for council, no laws either,
no, up on the mountain peaks they live in arching caverns –
each a law to himself, ruling his wives and children,
not a care in the world for any neighbor.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 120-128. This passage introduces the reader to the Cyclops and builds them up to be lawless monsters. Heavily dependant on Zeus and the gods for food and daily necessities, they don’t work, and have no rules or any form of government. The reader is being prepared here for the most famous Cyclops, the man-eating Polyphemus.

"Men of Achaea we are and bound now from Troy!
Driven far off course by the warring winds,
over the vast gulf of the sea – battling home
on a strange tack, a route that’s off the map,
and so we’ve come to you…
so it must please King Zeus’s plotting heart."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 291-296. Odysseus explains to Polyphemus how fate and Zeus had a hand in driving their ship off course to the land of the Cyclops. As it’s not their fault they are there, Odysseus hopes to win the Cyclops’ sympathy. He also mentions Zeus because respect for the gods is an important part of Greek culture. Odysseus hopes that Polyphemus shares this respect. Just before this passage we are told how Odysseus is terrified when he is confronted by Polyphemus: "The hearts inside us shook, terrified by his rumbling voice and monstrous hulk. Nevertheless I found the nerve to answer, firmly." We see how Odysseus is a quick thinker and his cunning kicks in when faced with a difficult situation.

"But since we’ve chanced on you, we’re at your knees
in hopes of a warm welcome, even a guest-gift,
the sort that hosts give strangers. That’s the custom.
Respect the gods, my friend. We’re suppliants – at your mercy!
Zeus of the Strangers guards all guests and suppliants:
strangers are sacred – Zeus will avenge their rights!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 300-305. Odysseus pleads with Polyphemus to honor the Greek custom of hospitality due to guests, so important to the gods. The god of hospitality Zeus avenges the rights of guests, Odysseus warns Polyphemus. However, Odysseus will soon learn that the Cyclops have little respect for or fear of the gods. Nor have they interest in being king and generous to strangers.

"Stranger," he grumbled back from his brutal heart,
"you must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere,
telling me to fear the gods or avoid their wrath!
We Cyclops never blink at Zeus and Zeus’s shield
of storm and thunder, or any other blessed god –
we’ve got more force by far."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 306-311. When Odysseus suggests to Polyphemus that mistreating strangers and guests will incur the wrath of Zeus, the Cyclops is unimpressed. Branding the Greek hero a fool, he says that the Cyclops don’t fear the gods and are stronger than them.

"So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew
you bent to devour there in your vaulted cave –
you with your brute force! Your filthy crimes
came down on your own head, you shameless cannibal,
daring to eat your guests in your own house –
so Zeus and the other gods have paid you back."
That made the rage of the monster boil over.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 531-537. Odysseus just cannot keep his pride and ego under control. After blinding and outsmarting Polyphemus, he is now safely offshore in his boat. But he shouts back and taunts Polyphemus, telling him that for eating his guests, Polyphemus has been dealt divine justice by Zeus. Using a metaphor in a verb, Homer likens the anger of the Cyclops to boiling liquid spilling over.

"But even from there my courage,
my presence of mind and tactics saved us all,
and we will live to remember this someday,
I have no doubt. Up now, follow my orders,
all of us work as one! You men at the thwarts –
lay on with your oars and strike the heaving swells,
trusting that Zeus will pull us through these straits alive."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 229-235. Odysseus attempts to rally his terrified men as they approach the deadly whirlpool Charybdis. He motivates them to row harder away from the whirlpool. He hopes that Zeus will pull them safely through the straits between the crags, Charybdis beneath one crag and Scylla lurking in her cave on the other. Odysseus reminds his men that his courage and quick thinking saved them from the Cyclops.

"Father Zeus! the rest of you blissful gods who never die –
punish them all, that crew of Laertes’ son Odysseus –
what an outrage! They, they killed my cattle,
the great joy of my heart…day in, day out,
when I climbed the starry skies and when I wheeled
back down from the heights to touch the earth once more.
Unless they pay me back in blood for the butchery of my herds,
down I go to the House of Death and blaze among the dead."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 404-412. The sun god Helios demands revenge against Odysseus’ men for the crime of killing and eating his cattle. He appeals to the father of the gods Zeus to punish them.

Round she spun,
reeling under the impact, filled with reeking brimstone,
shipmates pitching out of her, bobbing round like seahawks
swept along by the whitecaps past the trim black hull –
and the god cut short their journey home forever.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 448-452. Zeus hits Odysseus’ ship with a lighting bolt. Odysseus’ shipmates are thrown into the sea, where they bob around like seahawks, Homer says in a simile. All except Odysseus die, their journey home said to be cut short forever. This is the gods’ punishment for Odysseus’ men eating the cattle of sun god Helios after they had been warned not to.

"Incredible," Zeus who marshals the thunderheads replied.
"Earth-shaker, you with your massive power, why moaning so?
The gods don’t disrespect you. What a stir there’d be
if they flung abuse at the oldest, noblest of them all.
Those mortals? If any man, so lost in his strength
and prowess, pays you no respect – just pay him back.
The power is always yours.
Do what you like. Whatever warms your heart."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 158-165. Zeus tells Poseidon that he can do whatever he wishes to punish the Phaeacians for disrespecting him by helping Odysseus. The Greek hero injured Poseidon’s son Polyphemus and should not have been given passage home by the Phaeacians, Podeidon believes.

"Wait, dear brother," Zeus who collects the clouds
had second thoughts. "Here’s what seems best to me.
As the people all lean down from the city heights
to watch her speeding home, strike her into a rock
that looks like a racing vessel, just offshore –
amaze all men with a marvel for the ages.
Then pile your huge mountain round about their port."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 174-180. Zeus advises Poseidon of a better way to get even with the Phaeacians than by crushing their ship. He suggests to turn the ship into a rock, then erect a huge mountain around their harbor.
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