The eagle's eyes roam the landscape from its perch, seeking its prey from above. Suddenly a rustle of movement captures all his attention: a dove, perched lightly on the branch of an olive tree. Immediately, the eagle rises from its branch and dives below, wings folded as it flies towards the unsuspecting bird. Flaring its feathers as it braces for impact, the eagle grabs the dove in its talons and flies away, victorious. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Such scenes appeared frequently in Homer's Odyssey and invariably a character witnessing the event declared that it was an omen from the gods. The omens of the bird of prey in the Odyssey represent the relationship between gods and men. The delicate balance between predator and prey symbolizes the essence of the power held by the gods over mortals. Birds of prey possess unimaginable power over their victims: the power over life and death. With natural ease they take the lives of their prey, ruthless and indifferent. Likewise, the gods arbitrarily play favorites: who they reward and who they punish, whose lives they destroy and who they elevate to a higher status - it all depends solely on innate whim. Like predators, gods have the power to radically change the quality of life of their victims. Mortals are the helpless, struggling prey that the gods only notice when they figuratively make some significant movement in the human world. Therefore, it is hardly a surprise that almost all the omens in the Odyssey consist of birds of prey carrying new prey. An excellent example is the omen taken by Telemachus when he is preparing to leave Lacedaemon. "As he said these words a good omen came: a bird flew to the right, an eagle carrying in its claws an enormous white goose that it had caught from a threshing floor... "What do you think, King Menelaus? Was that omen meant for the two of us or just for you?' Our champion Menelaus did not know quite what to say, nor how to correctly interpret this omen..." (172) As an eagle flies above him and his companions, carrying a dead goose, Peisistratus, Telemachus' companion, asks Menelaus what he is saying believes this omen may mean. Although they are not sure how to interpret this sign, they are immediately reminded of their mortality and their subservience to the gods. The gods seem to enjoy refreshing the memories of their subjects because, if it happens to them Of displeasing the gods in some way, their lives could end as quickly and mercilessly as a hunter slaughters his prey. These ominous implications have a special meaning in the case of the unfortunate suitors. The ominous connotation of impending doom is summarized in incident in which they, plotting to kill Telemachus, witness the flight of another eagle, bringing with it a freshly slaughtered dove. This frightened the would-be kings so much that they immediately abandoned the plot altogether. "Meanwhile the suitors were plotting a plot to kill Telemachus: but a bird flew near them on the left hand, an eagle with a dove in its talons. Whereupon Amphinomos said: 'My friends, this plot of ours to kill Telemachus will not avail Nothing. succeed; let's go to dinner instead” (234). Furthermore, it does not seem at all a coincidence that the dream Penelope describes to the beggar contains a similar omen regarding suitors: "'A great eagle swooped down from the mountains and broke their necks with his curved talons and killed [the geese].' " (224). In her dream, the suitors are represented as a flock of geese, with the eagle Ulysses wreaking his vengeance upon them..