Editing Odyssey (section)

===Return to Ithaca (Books 13–20)===
[[File:Penelope and the Suitors - John William Waterhouse - ABDAG003035.jpg|thumb|Odysseus discovers Penelope has devised tricks to delay the suitors whilst he has been away: ''Penelope and the Suitors'' by [[John William Waterhouse]]]]

Having listened to his story, the Phaeacians agree to provide Odysseus with more treasure than he would have received from the spoils of Troy. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on Ithaca. Odysseus awakens and believes that he has been dropped on a distant land before Athena appears to him and reveals that he is indeed on Ithaca. She hides his treasure in a nearby cave and disguises him as an elderly beggar so he can see how things stand in his household. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own slaves, swineherd [[Eumaeus]], who treats him hospitably and speaks favorably of Odysseus. After dinner, the disguised Odysseus tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself.

Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set by the suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and meets Odysseus. Odysseus identifies himself to Telemachus (but not to Eumaeus), and they decide that the suitors must be killed. Telemachus returns home first and Odysseus, accompanied by Eumaeus, returns home still posing as a beggar. Only his faithful dog, [[Argos (dog)|Argos]], recognises him. He is ridiculed by the suitors in his own home, especially [[Antinous of Ithaca|Antinous]]. Odysseus meets Penelope and tests her intentions by saying he once met Odysseus in Crete. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently been in [[Thesprotia]] and had learned something there of Odysseus's recent wanderings.

Odysseus's identity is discovered by the housekeeper [[Eurycleia of Ithaca|Eurycleia]] when she sees an old scar as she is washing his feet. Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about the beggar's true identity, but Athena makes sure that Penelope cannot hear her. Odysseus swears Eurycleia to secrecy.