RHAPSODY Λ
Following Circe's instructions, Odysseus descended to Hades and came face to face with the dead, many of whom he knew from long ago. Soon he found the soothsayer Teiresias, offered him the ram and begged him to give him an oracle for his return to Ithaca.
The seer revealed to him that his suffering was due to the wrath of the god Poseidon, because he had blinded his son the cyclops Polyphemus. He also advised him not to touch the sacred oxen of the Sun god when he visited the island of the Sun later in his journey. Provided he and his companions did not harm the sacred animals, they would be allowed to return to their homeland.
Tiresias completed his oracle and disappeared into the darkness. Then Odysseus met his mother Anticleia, whom he had last seen alive before leaving for Troy, which filled him with grief. She revealed to him that Penelope remained faithful to him, while Telemachus had now degenerated. His father the strong Laertes had retreated away from the palace, to an estate where he lived alone.
Honey milk and wine attracted the dead who began to come to Odysseus. Alcmene, the mother of Hercules, Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus, and even the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, who was killed by his wife and her lover, appeared. He asked Odysseus about his son Orestes, but the king of Ithaca did not know his fate. Later, other mythical heroes were introduced: Aiantas, Achilles, Patroklos, and Herakles himself. Odysseus departed again for the world of the living with the oracle of Tiresias and the hope that his suffering would soon end.