Odysseus understandably despairs as storms blow him away from Ithaca, but he manages to resist the temptation to commit suicide (10.55-61). The god of the winds refuses to help Odysseus further because he infers that the gods must despise anyone so unlucky. Tragically, they release all the adverse winds and are blown back to Aeolus. They suspect that the ox skin contains great treasure, which they feel should be shared. ![]() While he sleeps, curiosity and mistrust overcome them. However, as he did following the initial victory over the Cicones, Odysseus loses control of his men. He harnesses all potentially destructive winds, binding them tightly in an ox skin and stowing the ox skin onboard Odysseus' ship. Aeolus is impressed with Odysseus and treats him with classic hospitality. Judgment is once more a crucial problem as the Greeks very nearly get home to Ithaca only to see their goal vanish in a storm. It sails to the island of Aeaea, home of the beautiful but dangerous goddess Circe, whom Odysseus can overcome only through the intervention of Hermes, messenger of the gods and son of Zeus. ![]() With no favoring wind at all, the Greeks must row, and they come upon the land of the Laestrygonians, cannibalistic giants who suddenly attack and devour the seamen, hurling boulders at the ships and spearing the men like so many fish. The wind god refuses to help them further. Curious and suspicious, his men open the ox skin expecting to find treasure and inadvertently release heavy squalls that blow them right back to Aeolus' island. After ten days of sailing, the Greeks are so close to home that they can actually see men tending fires on their island. Only the West Wind is left free to blow them toward Ithaca. In it are captured all the winds that might drive the ships off course. Eager to move on, Odysseus receives an ox-skin pouch from Aeolus. ![]() Having escaped the Cyclops, Odysseus and his men arrive at the home of Aeolus, master of the winds, where they are greeted warmly and hosted for a month.
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