what did home mean to odysseus ?

Odysseus was not just an adventurer; he wanted to go home. This strikes a chord with readers even today. Home, to Odysseus held a nostalgic sense of place. Odysseus's Ithaca seemed like paradise,

"dwell in shining Ithaca. There is a mountain there,

high Neriton, covered in forests. Many islands

lie around it, very close to each other,

Doulichion, Same, and wooded Zacynthos--

but low-lying Ithaca is farthest out to sea,

towards the sunset, and the others are apart, towards the dawn and sun.

It is rough, but it raises good men."

Okay, the topography of the real place doesn't quite match but we get what he means. Home is special, worth fighting for and worth returning to.