Odyssey

The Odyssey (/ˈɒdɪsi/;[1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια,

romanized: Odýsseia)[2][3] is one of two major epics of
Odyssey
ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one by Homer
of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains
popular with modern audiences. Like the Iliad, the
Odyssey is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic
king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin
variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the
ten-year long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to
Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time
he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are
killed. In Odysseus's long absence, he is presumed
dead, leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to
contend with a group of unruly suitors competing for
Penelope's hand in marriage.

The Odyssey was first written down in Homeric Greek

around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th
century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary
canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as
true, but contemporary scholarship predominantly
assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed Oldest-known manuscript fragment of the
independently, forming as part of long oral traditions. Odyssey, produced in Ptolemaic Egypt during
Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed the 3rd century BC and unearthed in Medinet
for an audience by an aoidos or rhapsode. Ghoram

Key themes in the epic include the ideas of nostos Original title Ὀδύσσεια
(νόστος; 'return', homecoming), wandering, xenia Translator George Chapman and others;
(ξενία; 'guest-friendship'), testing, and omens. Scholars see English translations of
still explore on the narrative significance of certain Homer
groups in the poem, such as women and slaves, who Written c. 8th century BC
have larger roles than in other works of ancient
Language Homeric Greek
literature. This focus is especially remarkable when
contrasted with the Iliad, which centres the exploits of Genre(s) Epic
soldiers and kings during the Trojan War. Form Epic poem
Rhyme No rhyming
The Odyssey is regarded as one of the most significant scheme
works of the Western canon. The first English
Published in 1614
translation of the Odyssey was in the 16th century.
English
Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be
Media type Manuscript
produced across a wide variety of media. In 2018, Lines 12,109
when BBC Culture polled experts around the world to Preceded by The Iliad
find literature's most enduring narrative, the Odyssey
Metre Dactylic hexameter
topped the list.[4]
Full text
The Odyssey at Wikisource
Background Odyssey at Greek Wikisource

Composition
Many suggestions have been made for dating the Odyssey's composition, but there is no consensus. The
Greeks began adopting a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet to create their own language during
the 8th century BC.[5] The Homeric poems may have been one of the earliest products of that literacy; if
this is so, they would have been composed towards the late 8th century BC.[6] Inscribed on a clay cup
found in Ischia, Italy, are the words "Nestor's cup, good to drink from".[7] Some scholars, such as Calvert
Watkins, have tied this cup to a description of King Nestor's golden cup in the Iliad.[8] If the cup is an
allusion to the Iliad, that poem's composition can be dated to at least 700–750 BC.[5]

Dating is similarly complicated by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were performed
regularly by rhapsodes for several hundred years.[5] The Odyssey as it exists today is likely not
significantly different.[6] Aside from minor differences, the Homeric poems gained a canonical place in
the institutions of ancient Athens by the 6th century.[9] In 566 BC, Peisistratos instituted a civic and
religious festival called the Panathenaia, which featured performances of Homeric poems.[10] These are
significant because a "correct" version of the poems had to be performed, indicating that a particular
version of the text had become canonised.[11]

Textual tradition
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, scholars affiliated with the Library of
Alexandria—particularly Zenodotus and Aristarchus of Samothrace—
edited the Homeric poems, wrote commentaries on them, and helped
establish them as canonical texts.[12] Alexandrian scholar Didymus's
commentary divided ancient editions of the Homeric texts into city
editions or individual editions. City editions were likely created within
the city (perhaps as "official" versions) while individual editions were
independently prepared by scholars.[13] He mentions individual
versions owned by Antimachus, Aristophanes of Byzantium, and
Sosigenes; there is a record of city editions existing in Argos, Chios,
Crete, Cyprus and Marseille.[13] Many editions were stored in the
Library of Alexandria.[14] Throughout antiquity, both Iliad and Portrait by the Italian painter
Odyssey were widely copied and used as school texts in lands where Domenico Ghirlandaio of the
Greek Renaissance scholar
the Greek language was spoken.[15][16] They were probably a core part
Demetrios Chalkokondyles,
of the ancient Greek education system, certainly for the elite of who produced the first printed
Classical Athens.[17] edition of the Odyssey in 1488
Their influence in non-Greek territories fluctuated. The Roman Empire readily absorbed Homer into its
own culture, spreading it east and west.[18] The subjects of both poems—Trojan War and its participants
—were already critical historical and mythological references for Romans.[19] Alexander the Great's
conquests spread Hellenistic cultural influence throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and it became read
by every school child in the Greek world.[19]

During the Middle Ages, the Iliad and the Odyssey remained widely studied; as with Classical Athens,
they were used as school texts within the Byzantine Empire.[15][16] The Byzantine scholar and archbishop
Eustathios of Thessalonike (c. 1115 – c. 1195/6 AD) wrote exhaustive commentaries on both of the
Homeric epics that were seen as authoritative by later generations;[15][16] his commentary on the Odyssey
alone spans nearly 2,000 oversized pages in a twentieth-century edition.[15] The first printed edition of
the Odyssey, known as the editio princeps, was produced in 1488 by the Greek scholar Demetrios
Chalkokondyles, who had been born in Athens and had studied in Constantinople.[15][16] His edition was
printed in Milan by a Greek printer named Antonios Damilas.[16]

Since the late 19th century, many papyri containing fragments of the Odyssey have been found in Egypt,
some with content different from later medieval versions.[20] In 2018, the Greek Cultural Ministry
revealed a clay tablet discovered near the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, containing 13 verses from the
Odyssey's 14th book. While it was initially reported to date from the 3rd century AD, the date is
unconfirmed.[21][22]

Influences
Scholars have seen strong influences from Near Eastern
mythology and literature in the Odyssey.[23] Martin West
notes substantial parallels between the Epic of Gilgamesh and
the Odyssey.[24] Both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are known for
traveling to the ends of the earth and on their journeys go to
the land of the dead.[25] On his voyage to the underworld,
Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, who is
located at the edges of the world and is associated through
imagery with the sun.[26] Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets
directions on how to reach the land of the dead from a divine
helper: the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea
at the ends of the earth, whose home is also associated with
the sun. Gilgamesh reaches Siduri's house by passing through
a tunnel underneath Mt. Mashu, the high mountain from
which the sun comes into the sky.[27] West argues that the
similarity of Odysseus' and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges
of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh
epic upon the Odyssey.[28]
Terracotta plaque of the Mesopotamian
ogre Humbaba, believed to be a possible In 1914, paleontologist Othenio Abel surmised the origins of
inspiration for the figure of Polyphemus the Cyclops to be the result of ancient Greeks finding an
elephant skull.[29] The enormous nasal passage in the middle
of the forehead could have looked like the eye socket of a
giant, to those who had never seen a living elephant.[29] Classical scholars, on the other hand, have long
known that the story of the Cyclops was originally a folk tale, which existed independently of the
Odyssey and which became part of it at a later date. Similar stories are found in cultures across Europe
and the Middle East.[30] According to this explanation, the Cyclops was originally simply a giant or ogre,
much like Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[30] Graham Anderson suggests that the addition about it
having only one eye was invented to explain how the creature was so easily blinded.[31]

Geography
Scholars are divided on whether any of the places visited by Odysseus are real.[32] The events in the main
sequence of the Odyssey (excluding Odysseus's embedded narrative of his wanderings) have been said to
take place across the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands.[33] Many have attempted to map Odysseus's
journey, but largely agree that the landscapes—especially those described in books 9 to 11—include too
many mythical elements to be truly mappable.[34] For instance, there are challenges ascertaining whether
Odysseus's homeland of Ithaca is the same island that is now called Ithakē (modern Greek: Ιθάκη);[33] the
same is true of the route described by Odysseus to the Phaeacians and their island of Scheria.[32] British
classicist Peter Jones writes that the poem was likely updated many times by oral story-tellers across
several centuries before it was written down, making it "virtually impossible" to say "in what sense [the
poem] reflects a historical society or accurate geographical knowledge".[35] Modern scholars tend to
explore Odysseus's journey metaphorically rather than literally.[36]

Synopsis

Exposition (Books 1–4)

The Odyssey begins after the end of the ten-year Trojan War.
Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, has not returned home because
he angered the sea god Poseidon. Odysseus's son,
Telemachus, is about 20 years old and shares his absent
father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother
Penelope. With Odysseus presumed dead, the suitors of
Penelope—a crowd of 108 boisterous young men—try to
persuade Penelope for her hand in marriage while partying in
the king's palace.

Odysseus's protectress Athena asks Zeus to finally allow

Odysseus to return home when Poseidon is absent from
Mount Olympus. Disguised as a chieftain named Mentes,
Athena visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of A mosaic depicting Odysseus, from the
his father. He offers her hospitality, and they observe the villa of La Olmeda, Pedrosa de la Vega,
suitors dining rowdily while Phemius, the bard, performs a Spain, late 4th–5th centuries AD
narrative poem for them.

That night, Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning,
Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the insolent
suitors, who scoff at Telemachus. Accompanied by Athena (now disguised as Mentor), the son of
Odysseus departs for the household of Nestor on the Greek mainland. Telemachus rides to Sparta,
accompanied by Nestor's son. There he finds a reconciled Menelaus and Helen, who say they returned to
Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt. There, on the island of Pharos, Menelaus encounters the old
sea god Proteus, who tells him that Odysseus was a captive of the nymph Calypso. Telemachus learns the
fate of Menelaus's brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks at Troy: he was
murdered on his return home by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. The story briefly shifts to
the suitors, who realise Telemachus is gone. Angry, they formulate a plan to ambush his ship and kill him
as he sails home. Penelope overhears their plot and worries for her son's safety.

Escape to the Phaeacians (Books 5–8)

Odysseus spends seven years as a captive of Calypso on the
island Ogygia. She has fallen deeply in love with him, but he
spurns her offers of immortality as her husband. She is
ordered to release him by the messenger god Hermes, sent by
Zeus in response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and
is given clothing, food, and drink by Calypso. When Poseidon
learns that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft. Helped
by a veil provided by the sea nymph Ino, Odysseus swims
Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä ashore on Scherie, the island of the Phaeacians. Naked and
exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep.

The next morning, awakened by girls' laughter, he sees the young Nausicaä, who has gone to the seashore
with her maids after Athena told her in a dream to do so. He appeals for help and she encourages him to
seek the hospitality of her parents, Arete and Alcinous. Alcinous promises to provide him a ship to return
him home without knowing the identity of Odysseus. He remains for several days. Odysseus asks the
blind singer Demodocus to tell the story of the Trojan Horse, a stratagem in which Odysseus had played a
leading role. Unable to hide his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his identity.
He then tells the story of his return from Troy.

Odysseus's account of his adventures (Books 9–12)

Odysseus recounts his story to the Phaeacians. After a failed
raid against the Cicones, Odysseus and his twelve ships were
driven off course by storms. Odysseus visited the lotus-eaters
who gave his men their fruit which caused them to forget
their homecoming. Odysseus had to drag them back to the
ship by force.

Odysseus and his men landed on a lush, uninhabited island

near the land of the Cyclopes. The men entered the cave of
Polyphemus, where they found all the cheeses and meat they Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus'
desired. Upon returning to his cave, Polyphemus sealed the Song, by Francesco Hayez, 1813–15
entrance with a massive boulder and begins to eat Odysseus's
men. Odysseus devised an escape plan in which he,
identifying himself as "Nobody", plied Polyphemus with wine and blinded him with a wooden stake.
Polyphemus cried for help but was left by his neighbours after Polyphemus claimed that "Nobody" had
attacked him. Odysseus and his men finally escaped the cave by hiding on the underbellies of the
Cyclops's sheep as they were let out of the cave.

As they escaped, Odysseus taunted Polyphemus and revealed himself. The Cyclops prayed to his father
Poseidon, asking him to curse Odysseus to wander for ten years. After the escape, Aeolus gave Odysseus
a leather bag containing all the winds except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return
home. Just as Ithaca came into sight, the sailors opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking it
contained gold. The winds flew out, and the storm drove the ships back the way they had come. Aeolus,
recognizing that Odysseus had drawn the ire of the gods, refused to further assist him.

After the cannibalistic Laestrygonians destroyed all of his ships except his own, Odysseus sailed on and
reached the island of Aeaea, home of witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into swine with
drugged cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus an herb called moly,
making him resistant to Circe's magic. Odysseus forced Circe to change his men back to their human
forms and was seduced by her. They remained with her for one year. Finally, guided by Circe's
instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the
world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead. Odysseus summoned the spirit of the prophet Tiresias and
was told that he may return home if he is able to stay himself and his crew from eating the sacred
livestock of Helios on the island of Thrinacia and that failure to do so would result in the loss of his ship
and his entire crew. He then meets his dead mother Anticleia and first learns of the suitors and what
happened in Ithaca in his absence. Odysseus also converses with his dead comrades from Troy.

Returning to Aeaea, they buried Elpenor and were advised by

Circe on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the
land of the Sirens. All of the sailors had their ears plugged up
with beeswax, except for Odysseus, who was tied to the mast
as he wanted to hear the song. He told his sailors not to untie
him as it would only make him drown himself. They then
passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the
whirlpool Charybdis. Scylla claimed six of his men.

Next, they landed on the island of Thrinacia, with the crew Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous
overriding Odysseus's wishes to remain away from the island. vase of the Siren Painter, c. 480–470 BC
Zeus caused a storm that prevented them from leaving, (British Museum)
causing them to deplete the food given to them by Circe.
While Odysseus was away praying, his men ignored the
warnings of Tiresias and Circe and hunted the sacred cattle. Helios insisted that Zeus punish the men for
this sacrilege. They suffered a shipwreck, and all but Odysseus drowned as he clung to a fig tree. Washed
ashore on Ogygia, he remained there as Calypso's lover.

Return to Ithaca (Books 13–20)

Having listened to his story, the Phaeacians agree to provide Odysseus with more treasure than he would
have received from the spoils of Troy. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden
harbour on Ithaca. Odysseus awakens and believes that he has been dropped on a distant land before
Athena appears to him and reveals that he is indeed on Ithaca. She hides his treasure in a nearby cave and
disguises him as an elderly beggar so he can see how things
stand in his household. He finds his way to the hut of one of
his own slaves, swineherd Eumaeus, who treats him
hospitably and speaks favorably of Odysseus. After dinner,
the disguised Odysseus tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale
of himself.

Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set

by the suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and
meets Odysseus. Odysseus identifies himself to Telemachus Odysseus discovers Penelope has
(but not to Eumaeus), and they decide that the suitors must be devised tricks to delay the suitors whilst
he has been away: Penelope and the
killed. Telemachus returns home first and Odysseus,
Suitors by John William Waterhouse
accompanied by Eumaeus, returns home still posing as a
beggar. Only his faithful dog, Argos, recognises him. He is
ridiculed by the suitors in his own home, especially Antinous. Odysseus meets Penelope and tests her
intentions by saying he once met Odysseus in Crete. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently
been in Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus's recent wanderings.

Odysseus's identity is discovered by the housekeeper Eurycleia when she sees an old scar as she is
washing his feet. Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about the beggar's true identity, but Athena makes sure
that Penelope cannot hear her. Odysseus threatens to kill Eurycleia if she reveals his identity and swears
her to secrecy.

Slaying of the suitors (Books 21–24)

The next day, at Athena's prompting, Penelope manoeuvres
the suitors into competing for her hand with an archery
competition using Odysseus's bow. The man who can string
the bow and shoot an arrow through a dozen axe heads would
win. Odysseus takes part in the competition, and he alone is
strong enough to string the bow and shoot the arrow through
the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. He then throws
off his rags and kills Antinous with his next arrow. Odysseus
kills the other suitors, first using the rest of the arrows and
then, along with Telemachus, Eumaeus, and the cowherd
Ulysses and Telemachus kill Penelope's
Philoetius, with swords and spears. After the battle is won,
Suitors by Thomas Degeorge (1812)
Telemachus hangs twelve of their household slaves whom
Eurycleia identifies as guilty of betraying Penelope by having
sex with the suitors. Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. Although hesitant at first, she embraces him
after he mentions that he made their bed from an olive tree still rooted to the ground. They go to sleep.

The next day, Odysseus goes to his father Laertes's farm and reveals himself. Following them to the farm
is a group of Ithacans, led by Eupeithes, father of Antinous, who are out for revenge for the murder of the
suitors. A battle breaks out, but it is quickly stopped by Athena and Zeus.
Style

Structure
The Odyssey has 12,109 lines composed in dactylic
hexameter, also called Homeric hexameter.[37][38] It opens in
medias res, in the middle of the overall story, with prior
events described through flashbacks and storytelling.[39]

The Odyssey is divided into 24 books. While some scholars

have posited that these correspond to the 24 letters of the
Greek alphabet, recent scholarship rejects the connection as
an ahistorical fiction created by earlier scholars.[40] The
division was probably made long after the poem's
composition but is generally accepted as part of the poem's
modern structure.[41] In Classical Greece, some books or
sections were provided with their own titles. Books 1 to 4, 15th-century manuscript of Book I written
by scribe John Rhosos (British Museum)
which focus on the perspective of Telemachus, are called the
Telemachy.[42] Some scholars suggest these were added in a
revision of the poem, while others note that later parts would not make sense without them.[43] Books 9 to
12, wherein Odysseus provides an account of his adventures, are called the Apologos or Apologoi.[36][44]
Book 22 was known as Mnesterophonia (Mnesteres, 'suitors' + phónos, 'slaughter').[45] Book 22 is
generally said to conclude the Greek Epic Cycle, but fragments remain of a lost sequel known as the
Telegony. The Telegony aside, the last 548 lines of the Odyssey, corresponding to Book 24, are believed
by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet.[46]

Themes and patterns

Homecoming
Homecoming (Ancient Greek: νόστος, nostos) is a central theme of the Odyssey.[47] Anna Bonafazi of the
University of Cologne writes that, in Homer, nostos is "return home from Troy, by sea".[48] Agatha
Thornton examines nostos in the context of characters other than Odysseus, in order to provide an
alternative for what might happen after the end of the Odyssey.[49] For instance, one example is that of
Agamemnon's homecoming versus Odysseus'. Upon Agamemnon's return, his wife Clytemnestra and her
lover, Aegisthus, kill Agamemnon. Agamemnon's son, Orestes, out of vengeance for his father's death,
kills Aegisthus. This parallel compares the death of the suitors to the death of Aegisthus and sets Orestes
up as an example for Telemachus.[49] Also, because Odysseus knows about Clytemnestra's betrayal,
Odysseus returns home in disguise in order to test the loyalty of his own wife, Penelope.[49] Later,
Agamemnon praises Penelope for not killing Odysseus. It is because of Penelope that Odysseus has fame
and a successful homecoming. This successful homecoming is unlike Achilles, who has fame but is dead,
and Agamemnon, who had an unsuccessful homecoming resulting in his death.[49]
Wandering
Before Odysseus's arrival in Ithaca, only two of his
adventures are described by the narrator. The rest of
Odysseus' adventures are recounted by Odysseus himself. The
two scenes described by the narrator are Odysseus on
Calypso's island and Odysseus' encounter with the
Phaeacians. These scenes are told by the poet to represent an
important transition in Odysseus' journey: being concealed to
returning home.[50]

Calypso's name comes from the Greek word kalúptō

(καλύπτω), meaning 'to cover' or 'conceal', which is apt, as
this is exactly what she does with Odysseus.[51] Calypso
keeps Odysseus concealed from the world and unable to
return home. After leaving Calypso's island, the poet
describes Odysseus' encounters with the Phaeacians—those
who "convoy without hurt to all men"[52]—which represents
his transition from not returning home to returning home.[50]

Also, during Odysseus' journey, he encounters many beings

that are close to the gods. These encounters are useful in
understanding that Odysseus is in a world beyond man and 1794 student edition of the Odyssey
that influences the fact he cannot return home.[50] These including the Batrachomyomachia
beings that are close to the gods include the Phaeacians who
lived near the Cyclopes,[53] whose king, Alcinous, is the
great-grandson of the king of the giants, Eurymedon, and the grandson of Poseidon.[50] Some of the other
characters that Odysseus encounters are the cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon; Circe, a sorceress
who turns men into animals; and the cannibalistic giants, the Laestrygonians.[50]

Guest-friendship
Throughout the course of the epic, Odysseus encounters several examples of xenia ('guest-friendship'),
which provide models of how hosts should and should not act.[54][55] The Phaeacians demonstrate
exemplary guest-friendship by feeding Odysseus, giving him a place to sleep, and granting him many
gifts and a safe voyage home, which are all things a good host should do. Polyphemus demonstrates poor
guest-friendship. His only "gift" to Odysseus is that he will eat him last.[55] Calypso also exemplifies
poor guest-friendship because she does not allow Odysseus to leave her island.[55] Another important
factor to guest-friendship is that kingship implies generosity. It is assumed that a king has the means to be
a generous host and is more generous with his own property.[55] This is best seen when Odysseus,
disguised as a beggar, begs Antinous, one of the suitors, for food and Antinous denies his request.
Odysseus essentially says that while Antinous may look like a king, he is far from a king since he is not
generous.[56]

According to J. B. Hainsworth, guest-friendship follows a very specific pattern:[57]

1. The arrival and the reception of the guest.

2. Bathing or providing fresh clothes to the guest.
 3. Providing food and drink to the guest.
4. Questions may be asked of the guest and
entertainment should be provided by the host.
5. The guest should be given a place to sleep, and
both the guest and host retire for the night.
6. The guest and host exchange gifts, the guest is
granted a safe journey home, and the guest departs.
Another important factor of guest-friendship is not keeping
the guest longer than they wish and also promising their
safety while they are a guest within the host's home.[54][58]

Testing
Another theme throughout the Odyssey is testing.[59] This
occurs in two distinct ways. Odysseus tests the loyalty of
others and others test Odysseus' identity. An example of
Odysseus testing the loyalties of others is when he returns
home.[59] Instead of immediately revealing his identity, he
arrives disguised as a beggar and then proceeds to determine
who in his house has remained loyal to him and who has
helped the suitors. After Odysseus reveals his true identity,
the characters test Odysseus' identity to see if he really is who
he says he is.[59] For instance, Penelope tests Odysseus'
identity by saying that she will move the bed into the other
Statue representing the Odyssey,
room for him. This is a difficult task since it is made out of a Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens.
living tree that would require being cut down, a fact that only
the real Odysseus would know, thus proving his identity.[59]

Testing also has a very specific type scene that accompanies

it. Throughout the epic, the testing of others follows a typical
pattern. This pattern is:[59][58]

1. Odysseus is hesitant to question the loyalties of

others.
2. Odysseus tests the loyalties of others by questioning
them.
3. The characters reply to Odysseus's questions.
Penelope questions Odysseus to prove
4. Odysseus proceeds to reveal his identity.
his identity.
5. The characters test Odysseus' identity.
6. There is a rise of emotions associated with
Odysseus's recognition, usually lament or joy.
7. Finally, the reconciled characters work together.

Omens
Omens occur frequently throughout the Odyssey. Within the epic poem, they frequently involve birds.[60]
According to Thornton, most crucial is who receives each omen and in what way it manifests. For
instance, bird omens are shown to Telemachus, Penelope, Odysseus, and the suitors.[60] Telemachus and
Penelope receive their omens as well in the form of words, sneezes,
and dreams.[60] However, Odysseus is the only character who receives
thunder or lightning as an omen.[61][62] She highlights this as crucial
because lightning, as a symbol of Zeus, represents the kingship of
Odysseus.[60] Odysseus is associated with Zeus throughout both the
Iliad and the Odyssey.[63]

Omens are another example of a type scene in the Odyssey. Two

important parts of an omen type scene are the recognition of the omen,
followed by its interpretation.[60] In the Odyssey, all of the bird omens
—with the exception of the first—show large birds attacking smaller
birds.[60][58] Accompanying each omen is a wish which can be either
explicitly stated or only implied.[60] For example, Telemachus wishes Odysseus and Eurycleia by
for vengeance[64] and for Odysseus to be home,[65] Penelope wishes Johann Heinrich Wilhelm
for Odysseus' return,[66] and the suitors wish for the death of Tischbein
Telemachus.[67]

Legacy
The influence of the Homeric texts can be difficult to
summarise because of how greatly they have affected the
popular imagination and cultural values.[68] The Odyssey and
the Iliad formed the basis of education for members of
ancient Mediterranean society. That curriculum was adopted
by Western humanists,[69] meaning the text was so much a
part of the cultural fabric that it became irrelevant whether an
individual had read it.[70] As such, the influence of the
Odyssey has reverberated through over a millennium of
writing. The poem topped a poll of experts by BBC Culture to
find literature's most enduring narrative.[4] It is widely
regarded by western literary critics as a timeless classic,[71]
and it remains one of the oldest works of literature regularly
read by Western audiences.[72] As an imaginary voyage, it is
considered a distant forerunner of the science fiction genre,
and, says science fiction scholar Brian Stableford, "there are Front cover of James Joyce's Ulysses
more science-fictional transfigurations of the Odyssey than of
any other literary text".[73]

English translations
George Chapman's English translations of the Odyssey and the Iliad, published together in 1616 but
serialised earlier, were the first to enjoy widespread success. The texts had been published in translation
before, with some translated not from the original Greek.[74][75] Chapman worked on these for a large
part of his life.[76] In 1581, Arthur Hall translated the first 10 books of the Iliad from a French version.[77]
Chapman's translations persisted in popularity, and are often remembered today through John Keats'
sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816).[78] Years after completing his translation of the
Iliad, Alexander Pope began to translate the Odyssey because of his financial situation. His second
translation was not received as favourably as the first.[79]

Emily Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that as late as the
first decade of the 21st century, almost all of the most prominent translators of Greek and Roman
literature had been men.[80] She calls her experience of producing her translation one of "intimate
alienation".[80] Wilson writes that this has affected the popular conception of characters and events of the
Odyssey,[81] inflecting the story with connotations not present in the original text: "For instance, in the
scene where Telemachus oversees the hanging of the slaves who have been sleeping with the suitors,
most translations introduce derogatory language ('sluts' or 'whores') ... The original Greek does not label
these slaves with derogatory language."[81] In the original Greek, the word used is hai, the feminine
article, equivalent to "those female people".[82]

Literature
In Canto XXVI of the Inferno, Dante Alighieri meets Odysseus in the eighth circle of hell, where
Odysseus appends a new ending to the Odyssey in which he never returns to Ithaca and instead continues
his restless adventuring.[29] Edith Hall suggests that Dante's depiction of Odysseus became understood as
a manifestation of Renaissance colonialism and othering, with the cyclops standing in for "accounts of
monstrous races on the edge of the world", and his defeat as symbolising "the Roman domination of the
western Mediterranean".[54] Some of Odysseus's adventures reappear in the Arabic tales of Sinbad the
Sailor.[83][84]

The Irish writer James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses (1922) was significantly influenced by the
Odyssey. Joyce had encountered the figure of Odysseus in Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses, an
adaptation of the epic poem for children, which seems to have established the Latin name in Joyce's
mind.[85][86] Ulysses, a re-telling of the Odyssey set in Dublin, is divided into eighteen sections
("episodes") which can be mapped roughly onto the twenty-four books of the Odyssey.[87] Joyce claimed
familiarity with the original Homeric Greek, but this has been disputed by some scholars, who cite his
poor grasp of the language as evidence to the contrary.[88] The book, and especially its stream of
consciousness prose, is widely considered foundational to the modernist genre.[89]

Modern writers have revisited the Odyssey to highlight the poem's female characters. Canadian writer
Margaret Atwood adapted parts of the Odyssey for her novella The Penelopiad (2005). The novella
focuses on Penelope and the twelve female slaves hanged by Odysseus at the poem's ending,[90] an image
which haunted Atwood.[91] Atwood's novella comments on the original text, wherein Odysseus'
successful return to Ithaca symbolises the restoration of a patriarchal system.[91] Similarly, Madeline
Miller's Circe (2018) revisits the relationship between Odysseus and Circe on Aeaea.[92] As a reader,
Miller was frustrated by Circe's lack of motivation in the original poem and sought to explain her
capriciousness.[93] The novel recontextualises the sorceress' transformations of sailors into pigs from an
act of malice into one of self-defence, given that she has no superhuman strength with which to repel
attackers.[94]

Film and television

L'Odissea (1911) is an Italian silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro.[95]
 Ulysses (1954) is an Italian film adaptation starring Kirk Douglas as Ulysses, Silvana
Mangano as Penelope and Circe, and Anthony Quinn as Antinous.[96]
L'Odissea (1968) is an Italian-French-German-Yugoslavian television miniseries praised for
its faithful rendering of the original epic.[97]
Ulysses 31 (1981–1982) is a French-Japanese television animated series set in the
futuristic 31st century.[98]
Nostos: The Return (1989) is an Italian film about Odysseus' homecoming. Directed by
Franco Piavoli, it relies on visual storytelling and has a strong focus on nature.[99]
Ulysses' Gaze (1995), directed by Theo Angelopoulos, has many of the elements of the
Odyssey set against the backdrop of the most recent and previous Balkan Wars.[100]
The Odyssey (1997) is a television miniseries directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring
Armand Assante as Odysseus and Greta Scacchi as Penelope.[101]
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a crime comedy drama film written, produced, co-
edited and directed by the Coen brothers and is very loosely based on Homer's poem.[102]
The Return (2024) is a film based on Books 13-24, directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring
Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope.[103]
The Odyssey (2026), written and directed by Christopher Nolan, will be based on the books
and is slated to be released in 2026.[104]

Opera and music

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, first performed in 1640, is an opera by Claudio Monteverdi based
on the second half of Homer's Odyssey.[105]
Rolf Riehm composed an opera based on the myth, Sirenen – Bilder des Begehrens und
des Vernichtens (Sirens – Images of Desire and Destruction), which premiered at the Oper
Frankfurt in 2014.[106]
Robert W. Smith's second symphony for concert band, The Odyssey, tells four of the main
highlights of the story in the piece's four movements: "The Iliad", "The Winds of Poseidon",
"The Isle of Calypso", and "Ithaca".[107]
Jean-Claude Gallota's ballet Ulysse,[108] based on the Odyssey, but also on the work by
James Joyce, Ulysses.[109]
Jorge Rivera-Herrans' sung-through work Epic: The Musical tells the story of the Odyssey
over the course of nine "sagas", beginning with the end of the Trojan War and carrying
through to Odysseus' homecoming to Ithaca.[110][111]

Sciences
Psychiatrist Jonathan Shay wrote two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the
Undoing of Character (1994)[112] and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials
of Homecoming (2002),[113] which relate the Iliad and the Odyssey to posttraumatic stress
disorder and moral injury as seen in the rehabilitation histories of combat veteran patients.

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Further reading
The Authoress of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler (https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/49324)
Austin, N. 1975. Archery at the Dark of the Moon: Poetic Problems in Homer's Odyssey.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Clayton, B. 2004. A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in Homer's Odyssey.
Lanham: Lexington Books.
— 2011. "Polyphemus and Odysseus in the Nursery: Mother's Milk in the Cyclopeia."
Arethusa 44(3):255–77.
Bakker, E. J. 2013. The Meaning of Meat and the Structure of the Odyssey. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Barnouw, J. 2004. Odysseus, Hero of Practical Intelligence. Deliberation and Signs in
Homer's Odyssey. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Dougherty, C. 2001. The Raft of Odysseus: The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's
Odyssey. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fenik, B. 1974. Studies in the Odyssey. Hermes: Einzelschriften 30. Wiesbaden, West
Germany: F. Steiner.
Griffin, J. 1987. Homer: The Odyssey. Landmarks in World Literature. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Louden, B. 2011. Homer's Odyssey and the Near East. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
— 1999. The Odyssey: Structure, Narration and Meaning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Müller, W. G. 2015. "From Homer's Odyssey to Joyce's Ulysses: Theory and Practice of an
Ethical Narratology." Arcadia 50(1):9–36.
 Perpinyà, Núria. 2008. Las criptas de la crítica. Veinte lecturas de la Odisea [The Crypts of
Criticism: Twenty Interpretations of the 'Odyssey']. Madrid: Gredos. Lay summary (https://elc
ultural.com/Las-criptas-de-la-critica-20-interpretaciones-de-la-Odisea) Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20200618222558/https://elcultural.com/Las-criptas-de-la-critica-20-interpret
aciones-de-la-Odisea) 18 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine via El Cultural (in Spanish).
Reece, Steve. 2011. "Toward an Ethnopoetically Grounded Edition of Homer's Odyssey (htt
ps://www.academia.edu/30640650/Toward_an_Ethnopoetically_Grounded_Edition_of_Hom
ers_Odyssey) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200101220802/https://www.academi
a.edu/30640650/Toward_an_Ethnopoetically_Grounded_Edition_of_Homers_Odyssey) 1
January 2020 at the Wayback Machine." Oral Tradition 26:299–326.
Saïd, S. 2011 [1998].. Homer and the Odyssey. New York: Oxford University Press.
Thurman, Judith, "Mother Tongue: Emily Wilson makes Homer modern", The New Yorker,
18 September 2023, pp. 46–53. A biography, and presentation of the translation theories
and practices, of Emily Wilson. "'As a translator, I was determined to make the whole human
experience of the poems accessible,' Wilson said." (p. 47.)

External links

The Odyssey in ancient Greek

The Odyssey (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135:b
ook=1:card=1) (in Ancient Greek) on Perseus Project
Odyssey (https://bitbucket.org/ben-crowell/ransom/src/master/README.md): the Greek text
presented with the translation by Butler and vocabulary, notes, and analysis of difficult
grammatical forms

English translations
The Odyssey, translated by William Cullen Bryant (https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/home
r/the-odyssey/william-cullen-bryant) at Standard Ebooks

The Odysseys of Homer, together with the shorter poems by Homer (https://gutenberg.org/e
books/48895), trans. by George Chapman at Project Gutenberg

The Odyssey (https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3160), trans. by Alexander Pope at Project

Gutenberg

The Odyssey (https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/24269), trans. by William Cowper at Project

Gutenberg

The Odyssey (https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1728), trans. by Samuel H. Butcher and Andrew

Lang at Project Gutenberg

The Odyssey (https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727), trans. by Samuel Butler at Project

Gutenberg
The Odyssey (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:b
ook=1:card=1), trans. by A. T. Murray (1919) on Perseus Project
 Odyssey (https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/odysseytofc.html), trans. by Ian C.
Johnston (2002; released into the public domain January 2024)

Other resources
The Odyssey (https://librivox.org/search?title=The+Odyssey&author=HOMER&reader=&
keywords=&genre_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=&sort_order=c
atalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced) public domain audiobook at LibriVox
BBC audio file (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y297) — In our time BBC Radio 4
[discussion programme, 45 mins]
The Odyssey Comix (http://greekmythcomix.com/odyssey-comix/) — A detailed retelling and
explanation of Homer's Odyssey in comic-strip format by Greek Myth Comix (http://greekmyt
hcomix.com/)
The Odyssey (https://www.owleyes.org/text/odyssey) — Annotated text and analyses
aligned to Common Core Standards
"Homer's Odyssey: A Commentary" by Denton Jaques Snider on Project Gutenberg

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