The Adventures of Odysseus - The Odyssey - Episode 4 - See u In History

After ten years of war, thanks to Odysseus' wit, the city of Troy had finally been captured and pillaged. The king of Ithaca and his men, after years of fighting before the walls of Troy, were ready to return home. Odysseus and his squadron of twelve ships were sailing alongside the squadron of the great hero Agamemnon, until they were separated by a great storm. The storm blew Odysseus' men off course, taking them close to the country of the Sicones. These people allied themselves with the Trojans during the war, being responsible for the deaths of many Greeks. His crew demanded revenge against their enemies. In a surprise attack, Odysseus and his men pillaged the city of Ismaris, killing the warriors who resisted and enslaving those who did not flee. But the invasion of the island by the men of Ithaca would not go unpunished. The men and women who fled the city ran to the neighboring towns and cities in search of reinforcements. Meanwhile, Odysseus tried in vain to get his men to return to the ships, but they were determined to celebrate the newly won spoils. That's when one of the lookouts warned that an army was approaching. Odysseus' battalion had more than a hundred experienced warriors. With several years of fighting in Troy, they were not afraid to fight. The battle began, and Odysseus felt foolish to be fighting again in an unnecessary conflict, even after achieving ultimate glory in Troy. The men of Ithaca fought like lions against more numerous enemies, but the countless amounts of Siconian warriors made victory impossible. Odysseus ordered a retreat and his men fled to their ships. The ships quickly fled the lands of the Sicones, and each ship lost six brave warriors in vain. But the hero's adversities had only just begun. A strong wind tore the sails of the ships, leaving his vessels at the mercy of the sea currents. His men worked at mending the sails, wanting to find their way home as quickly as possible. With the sails already sewn up, they found an unknown island, heading for it to supply the ships with drinking water. On land, Odysseus ordered three of his men to scour the island to find out who the resident people were. The ships were already stocked, and the scouts had yet to return. Odysseus then led a search quest. The hero was unaware that his men had been welcomed by the natives and were entitled to taste an exotic food. They had been offered lotus flowers and fruits. When Odysseus met them, they were eating the lotus fruit with great satisfaction. A compatriot greeted him as if he were a foreigner and gave him the exotic fruit. Odysseus looked suspiciously at the fruit, which looked quite appetizing. The man, who had lived with his king for the past ten years, seemed not to recognize him, and Odysseus realized that this could only be caused by some toxin in the fruit. The king of Ithaca tried to convince the men to return with him to the ships, but they wished to stay there, eating lotus for the rest of their lives. Odysseus ordered his men to forcibly drag their colleagues back to the ships, while they were begging to stay. These men were tied up and put back on the ships. The squadron departed, leaving the island of the Iotophagi behind, while its lotus-eating inhabitants waved, before eating the fruit that would make them forget about those visitors. Meanwhile, one of Odysseus' men was crying, for he wished only to eat the lotophagous fruit to forget all the horrors he had witnessed in the war. But Odysseus' men would encounter even more terrible images during their return home.