The Odyssey
Homer, ~700
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The Odyssey follows Ulysses, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his ten-year journey home after the fall of Troy. His crew is lost to monsters, enchantresses and his own recklessness, and the sea god Neptune keeps him at sea. At home, suitors crowd the palace of his wife Penelope while their son Telemachus searches for news of him. In William Cullen Bryant's blank verse, the poem moves between storytelling by firelight, shipwreck, disguise and a bloody reckoning in the great hall.
Where it happens
- Ithaca Ulysses's island kingdom and the goal of his journey.12
- Troy City whose fall ends the ten-year war and starts Ulysses's voyage.12
- Pylos Place Pallas, as Mentor, urges Telemachus to visit in search of his father.2
- Sparta Second stop in Telemachus's search for news of Ulysses.2
- Athens City Pallas visits on leaving Scheria, in Book VII.2
Through time
- 750 BCThe Odyssey is composed in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; the date is not settled.1
- 550 BCBy the middle of the 6th century BC the poem is part of the Greek literary canon.1
- 1616The first complete English translation of the Odyssey appears.1
- 2018A BBC Culture poll of experts ranks the Odyssey literature's most enduring narrative.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Homer traditional author
Poet to whom antiquity credited the Odyssey; modern scholarship generally treats the epics as products of a long oral tradition.1
Ulysses (Odysseus) hero
King of Ithaca who spends ten years returning from Troy, losing all his crewmates on the way.12
Neptune (Poseidon) angry god
The sea god whom Ulysses angers, which makes the voyage slow and dangerous.2
Circe enchantress
Dwells at the edge of the world and instructs Ulysses on his way to the land of the dead.1
Calypso goddess
Holds Ulysses on the island of Ogygia until Mercury is sent to tell her to release him.2
William Cullen Bryant translator
Rendered the poem in blank verse, which Standard Ebooks says sounds natural in English.2
What it is about
Nostos, the return
The poem is built around a king's long journey home, and everything he meets tests that wish.12
Guest-friendship
Xenia, the duty to host strangers, separates good hosts from the suitors who devour Ulysses's house.1
Cunning over force
Ulysses calls himself Noman to blind the Cyclops and wins by planning, not strength.2
Oral performance
The poem depicts professional singers such as Phemius and Demodocus, hinting at how it was first told.1
In its own words
Tell me, O Muse, of that sagacious man Who, having overthrown the sacred town Of Ilium, wandered far and visited The capitals of many nations, learned The customs of their dwellers, and endured Great suffering on the deep: his life was oft In peril, as he labored to bring back His comrades to their homes. He saved them not, Though earnestly he strove; they perished all, Through their own folly;
Noman is my name, My father and my mother gave it me, And Noman am I called by all my friends.’ “I ended, and he answered savagely:— ‘Noman shall be the last of all his band Whom I will eat, the rest will I devour Before him. Let that respite be my gift.’
The Sirens sit In a green field, and charm with mellow notes The comer, while beside them lie in heaps The bones of men decaying underneath The shrivelled skins. Take heed and pass them by. First fill with wax well kneaded in the palm The ears of thy companions, that no sound May enter.
’Twas Argus, which the much-enduring man Ulysses long before had reared, but left Untried, when for the hallowed town of Troy He sailed. The young men oft had led him forth In eager chase of wild goats, stags, and hares;
There lay Argus, devoured with vermin. As he saw Ulysses drawing near, he wagged his tail And dropped his ears, but found that he could come No nearer to his master.
He spake; and, turning, at Antinoüs aimed The bitter shaft—Antinoüs, who just then Had grasped a beautiful two-eared cup of gold, About to drink the wine. He little thought Of wounds and death;
The shape of the book
25 chapters, 119,078 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
The Odyssey is one of two major epics attributed to Homer, composed in Greek around the eighth or seventh century BC out of a long oral tradition. It has 24 books, a division probably added long after composition. Its main themes are homecoming, wandering and guest-friendship. The first complete English translation appeared in 1616. William Cullen Bryant, the American poet, rendered it in unrhymed blank verse, which reads more naturally in English than imitations of Greek hexameter. Bryant calls the hero Ulysses, the Latin form of his name.
Sources
Text: Standard Ebooks edition of the public-domain text. Standard Ebooks markup CC0 1.0; text public domain in the USA.