Summary Book XI

Book 11
Odysseus sailed forth to the river Ocean, which encircles the earth, and offered the proper sacrifice on the shore. The spirits clustered round the blood. First Elpenor spoke, requesting cremation and burial. Then Teiresias, who predicted the homeward voyage, the battle with the suitors, and a strange journey to men who know no sea. Odysseus next conversed with his mother, Anticleia, thrice attempting vainly to embrace the ghost. Then he spoke with the shades of famous women. Odysseus here, interrupts his story, but Alcinous persuades him to continue. In Hades, he next met Agamemnon who recounted his death and warned of faithless women. He spoke with Achilles, reporting the noble deeds of Achilles' son, Neoptolemus, at Troy. But the shade of Aias did not speak; he still resented Odysseus. He observed Minos, Orion, Heracles, and the torments of Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus, Finally, he departed for Aeaea.