Book 1 of The Odyssey begins with the narrator speaking briefly of the Muse. This is interesting to note, as they were “sources of inspiration” for many things. The supposedly gruelling journey of Odysseus that is about to begin starts with some… hope? It’s almost as if readers know Odysseus will face impossible hurdles but end up reaching home. After all, Athena, an all-powerful goddess, is already out to help him in Book 1. Athena disguises herself as Mentes and visits Odysseus’ own son. Perhaps she is trying to give him hope as well since Telemachus seems almost sure his father is dead.
Some epithets: “godlike Polyphemus” (1.70), “Mentes, the Taphian leader” (1.105)
By saying the cyclops Odysseus killed was “godlike”, are we as readers supposed to infer/assume that Odysseus is also “godlike”? This seems like a legitimate reason for why he is still somehow alive, but Book 1 clearly shows that Odysseus has the gods on his side. Even Mentes (who is the helpless guy Athena disguises herself as) is the Taphian leader—another powerful sounding character. Ultimately, Book 1 seems a bit like Athena (and the other gods)’s journey to help Odysseus get back home to his wife and son.
Well, even in Homer’s time, Odysseus was a myth —so most of Homer’s audience might have known that Odysseus got home in the end. The poet can instead do a “but do you know HOW?” story . . . the whole thing is a bit of an elongation, anyway, don’t you think? One could easily say, “after many adventuers, Odysseus returned home and found evil men in his house . . . ” but instead Homer tells many stories within stories . . .