When Odysseus finishes his story, the Phaeacians sit in silence, enchanted. Alcinous declares that his guest's wanderings are over, and he asks each of the lords to add a large tripod and a cauldron to the gifts already given. The next day the gifts are stowed in the ship, and after a final feast and a sacrifice to Zeus, Odysseus spends the day watching the sun, eager for it to set, like a plowman longing for his supper. He bids farewell to Alcinous and Arete with prayers for their happiness. At nightfall he boards the ship, lies down on a rug at the stern, and falls into a deep, death-like sleep as the oarsmen drive the ship over the waves faster than a falcon.
At dawn the ship reaches Ithaca and enters the harbor of Phorcys, the Old Man of the Sea. At its head stands a long-leaved olive tree and a cave sacred to the nymphs called Naiads, where stone looms and stone mixing bowls stand and bees store their honey. The cave has two entrances, one for mortals and one for the gods. The Phaeacians lift the sleeping Odysseus onto the sand without waking him, pile his treasures beside the olive tree out of the way of passersby, and sail home.
Poseidon, however, is outraged that the Phaeacians have brought home the man he wanted to punish, and with gifts greater than he would have won from Troy. Zeus allows him to take revenge. As the ship nears Scheria, with the townspeople watching, Poseidon strikes it with the flat of his hand and turns it to stone, rooting it to the sea floor. Alcinous remembers an old prophecy that Poseidon would one day turn a Phaeacian ship to stone and surround their city with a great mountain. The Phaeacians quickly sacrifice twelve bulls to Poseidon and resolve never again to give passage to strangers, and the poem leaves them praying at the altar, their fate uncertain.
On Ithaca, Odysseus wakes and does not recognize his own homeland, because Athena has covered it with mist. He fears that the Phaeacians have tricked him and abandoned him on a strange shore, and he counts his treasures, finding nothing missing. Athena then appears to him as a young shepherd. When Odysseus asks where he is, she tells him, with some teasing, that this is Ithaca, a famous land even if it is rugged and not fit for horses. Odysseus rejoices inwardly, but he does not reveal himself. Instead he tells an elaborate lie, claiming to be a Cretan who fled after killing Orsilochus, son of Idomeneus, in a dispute over war spoils, and who was left here by Phoenician sailors.
Athena smiles, takes on the form of a tall, beautiful woman, and praises his endless cunning: even a god would have to be crafty to outdo him in tricks, and they are a perfect pair, since he is the best of mortals in counsel and story and she is famous among the gods for wisdom. Odysseus gently complains that she abandoned him during his wanderings, and she explains that she did not want to oppose her uncle Poseidon openly. She lifts the mist so he can see the familiar harbor and Mount Neritum, and he kisses the ground. Together they hide the treasure in the cave of the nymphs. Then they sit beneath the olive tree and plan the destruction of the suitors. Athena transforms him into a withered old beggar with dim eyes, bald head, and filthy rags, so that no one will recognize him. She tells him to go first to his loyal swineherd, Eumaeus, while she goes to Sparta to bring back Telemachus.
