Niue - Circe's Island The Odyssey by Homer - 3 oz

The Odyssey is a Greek epic poem consisting of 24 songs, written by the Greek poet Homer in the 8th century BC. It tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the Trojan War. In addition to the ten years he spent in the war, it took another ten years for Odysseus to return to the island of Ithaca, where he was king. During this time, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope were forced to endure in the palace the suitors who wanted to marry her (because they believed Odysseus was dead), while also depleting the family's resources.

Odysseus' main weapon is his cunning, thanks to which he - with the help of the goddess Athena, daughter of Zeus - manages to escape the constant problems he faces from various gods. To this end, he plans a series of tricks, both physical and through bold and deceptive speeches, which he uses to achieve his goals.

In the tenth song, Odysseus tells how Aeolus gave him a sack of skins containing the west winds. As they approached Ithaca, his men decided to see what was in the sack; the winds were released and a storm broke out, crushing all hope of returning home. After six days at sea, they reached the island of the Laistrygonians, man-eating giants who devoured almost all of Odysseus' companions. Fleeing from there, they came to the island of Circe. The sorceress fell in love with Odysseus and managed to keep him there for a year, but her love was never reciprocated and she finally let him go on his journey – but not before telling him that before he could return home, he must go to the underworld to ask the now deceased seer Teiresias for advice.