Odyssey 4.844 · Book 4, lines 844–847
Asteris: the trap in the strait
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ἔστι δέ τις νῆσος μέσσῃ ἁλὶ πετρήεσσα, μεσσηγὺς Ἰθάκης τε Σάμοιό τε παιπαλοέσσης, Ἀστερίς, οὐ μεγάλη· λιμένες δʼ ἔνι ναύλοχοι αὐτῇ ἀμφίδυμοι· τῇ τόν γε μένον λοχόωντες Ἀχαιοί.
And there is a rocky island in the middle of the sea, between Ithaca and rugged Samos, Asteris, not large; and in it are harbors that shelter ships, with double mouths; there the Achaeans lay in wait for him, lying in ambush.
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The setting
The suitors, having learned that Telemachus slipped away to Pylos and Sparta, have manned a ship to kill him on his voyage home. The poem now shows exactly where they lie in wait — and Book 4 ends.
A note on this passage
The poem pauses on a map. Between Ithaca and rugged Samos lies a small rocky island, Asteris, with twin harbors where ships can lie hidden and slip out at either mouth. There the Achaean suitors drop anchor and wait, lying in ambush for Telemachus as he sails home.
The catalogue-precision is the menace. Homer names the strait, the island, and its double harbors the way a sailor would — local knowledge turned into a trap. Book 4 ends not on an action but on a set position: the killers are placed, the sea-lane is loaded, and the homeward voyage the reader knows is coming now points straight at the waiting ships.
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