Odysseus
This is how the tale of Odysseus comes to an end. During his visit to the underworld, in the events of the Odyssey, Odysseus was given a command by the blind prophet Tiresias to travel far from Ithaca once he had reclaimed his kingdom from the suitors. He was told to carry an oar with him and not stop until he found a people who did not know what it was. A few years after the conclusion of the Odyssey, Odysseus traveled inland for a long time before eventually finding a people who had no previous knowledge of an oar. It was in this distant land, that after instructing the people in the use of an oar, that Odysseus died of old age, far from his family and Ithaca. Little truth of the Odysseus legend actually exists, but I have always found this to be a fitting end for the weary journeyman of Greek mythology.
From the Odyssey Book 23:
Teiresias ordered me to journey out
to many human cities, carrying
in my hands a well-made oar, till I reacheda people who know nothing of the sea,
who don't put salt on any food they eat, [270]
and have no knowledge of ships painted red,
or well-made oars that serve those ships as wings. 350
He told me a sure sign I won't conceal—
when someone else runs into me and says
I've got a shovel used for winnowing
on my broad shoulders, he told me to set it
in the ground there, make rich sacrifice
to lord Poseidon with a ram, a bull,
and a boar that breeds with sows, then leave,
go home, and there make sacred offerings
to immortal gods who hold wide heaven, [280]
all of them in order. My death will come 360
far from the sea, such a gentle passing,
when I'm bowed down with a ripe old age,
with my people prospering around me.
He said all this would happen to me."
to many human cities, carrying
in my hands a well-made oar, till I reacheda people who know nothing of the sea,
who don't put salt on any food they eat, [270]
and have no knowledge of ships painted red,
or well-made oars that serve those ships as wings. 350
He told me a sure sign I won't conceal—
when someone else runs into me and says
I've got a shovel used for winnowing
on my broad shoulders, he told me to set it
in the ground there, make rich sacrifice
to lord Poseidon with a ram, a bull,
and a boar that breeds with sows, then leave,
go home, and there make sacred offerings
to immortal gods who hold wide heaven, [280]
all of them in order. My death will come 360
far from the sea, such a gentle passing,
when I'm bowed down with a ripe old age,
with my people prospering around me.
He said all this would happen to me."
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