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Alcinous entertains Odysseus with games: running, wrestling, jumping, discus, and boxing. Odysseus, taunted by a young athlete, throws the discus farther than anyone.
Demodocus sings of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles and then of the fall of Troy. Odysseus weeps and hides his face. Alcinous notices and asks him to tell his story. The book ends with the wanderer about to become his own narrator.
Opening lines
As soon as early Dawn appeared, the rosy-fingered, the strong and mighty Alcinous rose from his couch, and up rose also Zeus-born Odysseus, the sacker of cities. — Homer, Odyssey VIII.1ff., trans. A. T. Murray (Loeb; Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0).
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The following entries mention “Odyssey VIII · Demodocus and the Games”.