We think of the Odyssey as the definitive story of Odysseus, Penelope and Telemachus, but it was not; many other versions of especially the end of the story existed in ancient times. Below are several ancient accounts of the way the story ends.

A) Odyssey 11.100-137: "'You want to know,' said Teiresias, 'about your return home [nostos], but heaven will make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of Poseidon, who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for having blinded his son. Still, after much suffering you may get home if you can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship reaches the Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home [nostos], you may yet after much hardship reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all your men, in another man's ship, and you will find trouble in your house, which will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under the pretext of paying court and making presents to your wife.

"'When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and after you have killed them by force [biê] or fraud in your own house, you must take a well-made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain token [sêma] which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Poseidon. Then go home and offer hecatombs to the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall be prosperous [olbios]. All that I have said will come true.'

B) From Proclus' summaries of the Epic Cycle: After the Nostoi comes the Odyssey of Homer, and then the Telegony in two books by Eugammon of Cyrene, which contain the following matters. The suitors of Penelope are buried by their kinsmen, and Odysseus, after sacrificing to the Nymphs, sails to Elis to inspect his herds. He is entertained there by Polyxenus and receives a mixing bowl as a gift; the story of Trophonius and Agamedes and Augeas then follows. He next sails back to Ithaca and performs the sacrifices ordered by Teiresias, and then goes to Thesprotis where he marries Kallidike, queen of the Thesprotians. A war then breaks out between the Thesprotians, led by Odysseus, and the Brygi. Ares routs the army of Odysseus and Athena engages with Ares, until Apollo separates them. After the death of Kallidike Polypoetes, the son of Odysseus, succeeds to the kingdom, while Odysseus himself returns to Ithaca. In the meantime Telegonus, while travelling in search of his father, lands on Ithaca and ravages the island: Odysseus comes out to defend his country, but is killed by his son unwittingly. Telegonus, on learning his mistake, transports his father's body with Penelope and Telemachus to his mother's island, where Circe makes them immortal, and Telegonus marries Penelope, and Telemachus Circe.

C) Pausanias 8.12.5-6: [5] In addition to the roads mentioned there are two others, leading to Orchomenus. On one is what is called the stadium of Ladas, where Ladas practised his running, and by it a sanctuary of Artemis, and on the right of the road is a high mound of earth. It is said to be the grave of Penelope, but the account of her in the poem called Thesprotis is not in agreement with this saying. [6] For in it the poet says that when Odysseus returned from Troy he had a son Ptoliporthes by Penelope. But the Mantinean story about Penelope says that Odysseus convicted her of bringing paramours to his home, and being cast out by him she went away at first to Lacedaemon, but afterwards she removed from Sparta to Mantineia, where she died.

D) Apollodorus Epitome 7.34-40: And after sacrificing to Hades, and Persephone, and Tiresias, he journeyed on foot through Epirus, and came to the Thesprotians, and having offered sacrifice according to the directions of the soothsayer Tiresias, he propitiated Poseidon. But Kallidike, who was then queen of the Thesprotians, urged him to stay and offered him the kingdom; [35] and she had by him a son Polypoetes. And having married Kallidike, he reigned over the Thesprotians, and defeated in battle the neighboring peoples who attacked him. But when Kallidike died he handed over the kingdom to his son and repaired to Ithaca, and there he found Poliporthes, whom Penelope had borne to him.

[36] When Telegonus learned from Circe that he was a son of Odysseus, he sailed in search of him. And having come to the island of Ithaca, he drove away some of the cattle, and when Odysseus defended them, Telegonus wounded him with the spear he had in his hands, which was barbed with the spine of a sting-ray, and Odysseus died of the wound.

[37] But when Telegonus recognized him, he bitterly lamented, and conveyed the corpse and Penelope to Circe, and there he married Penelope. And Circe sent them both away to the Islands of the Blest.

[38] But some say that Penelope was seduced by Antinous and sent away by Odysseus to her father Icarius, and that when she came to Mantinea in Arcadia she bore Pan to Hermes.

[39] However others say that she met her end at the hands of Odysseus himself on account of Amphinomus, for they allege that she was seduced by him.

[40]And there are some who say that Odysseus, being accused by the kinsfolk of the slain, submitted the case to the judgment of Neoptolemus, king of the islands off Epirus; that Neoptolemus, thinking to get possession of Cephallenia if once Odysseus were put out of the way, condemned him to exile; and that Odysseus went to Aetolia, to Thoas, son of Andraemon, married the daughter of Thoas, and leaving a son Leontophonus, whom he had by her, died in old age.

Does this knowledge of alternative versions of the Odyssey story and its ending affect your reading of the poem? What added significance does books 13-24 take on in light of existing versions in which Penelope's fidelity is not assured?

Our Odyssey alludes to many of the events related in the Epic Cycle, Pausanias, and Apollodorus, even though they don't take place within the poem itself. Which of these events are consistent with the narrative of the Odyssey and which seem inconsisent or even contradicted by our Odyssey?

What do these multiple versions tell us about the song culture in which the Odyssey was composed? What are some of the reasons for the existence of multiple versions of the Odysseus tale?