Tiresias and the Land of the Dead

     Odysseus and his men go down to Hades to talk to the spirit of Tiresias, on recommendation of Circe. Odysseus goes to the River of Ocean and makes sacrifices , as Circe told him to do, so as to attract the attention of the souls. The first soul to appear to him is the soul of the crew member who they had lost on the island of Aeaea, whom pleads Odysseus to go back and give him a proper burial. The next soul that appears to him is Tiresias, the blind prophet.  He tells Odysseus that Poseidon is punishing the Achaens for blinding his son Polyphemus. He tells Odysseus' fate, that he will return home reclaim his palace and wife from the contemptible suitors who have taken over his home. He warns Odysseus not to touch the cattle on the island of the sun god. Odysseus also speaks with his mother. She updates him on what is happening in Ithaca and tells him she died from grief of waiting for him to return. He then leaves the land of the dead, heading back to Aeaea to bury his fallen man.