The Odyssey'Tell me, Muse, of the man of many turns, who was driven far and wide after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy' Twenty years after setting out to fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus is yet to return home to Ithaca. His household is in disarray: a horde of over 100 disorderly and arrogant suitors are vying to claim Odysseus' wife Penelope, and his young son Telemachus is powerless to stop them. Meanwhile, Odysseus is driven beyond the limits of the known world, encountering countless divine and earthly challenges. But Odysseus is 'of many wiles' and his cunning and bravery eventually lead him home, to reclaim both his family and his kingdom. The Odyssey rivals the Iliad as the greatest poem of Western culture and is perhaps the most influential text of classical literature. This elegant and compelling new translation is accompanied by a full introduction and notes that guide the reader in understanding the poem and the many different contexts in which it was performed and read. |
Contents
BOOK ONE | 3 |
BOOK TWO | 15 |
BOOK THREE | 27 |
BOOK FOUR | 40 |
BOOK FIVE | 62 |
BOOK SIX | 75 |
BOOK SEVEN | 84 |
BOOK EIGHT | 93 |
BOOK FIFTEEN | 194 |
BOOK SIXTEEN | 209 |
BOOK SEVENTEEN | 222 |
BOOK EIGHTEEN | 238 |
BOOK NINETEEN | 250 |
BOOK TWENTY | 266 |
BOOK TWENTYONE | 277 |
BOOK TWENTYTWO | 289 |
BOOK NINE | 109 |
BOOK TEN | 124 |
BOOK ELEVEN | 139 |
BOOK TWELVE | 156 |
BOOK THIRTEEN | 168 |
BOOK FOURTEEN | 180 |
BOOK TWENTYTHREE | 302 |
BOOK TWENTYFOUR | 312 |
EXPLANATORY NOTES | 327 |
INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES | 349 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Achaeans Aegisthus Agamemnon Alcinous Amphinomus answer Odysseus answered and addressed Antinous Argives Atreus beautiful beggar black ship bright among goddesses bring bronze Circe circumspect Penelope cloak clothes companions Cronus Cyclops daughter dear death drink early-born Dawn escape Eumaeus Eupeithes Eurycleia Eurylochus Eurymachus eyes father feast gave gifts give goddess grey-eyed Athena godlike Odysseus great-hearted guest Hades hall hands heart hero high sky hollow ship Homer Icarius island Ithaca killed Laertes land listen live look lord man’s Melanthius men’s Menelaus mind mortal mother much-enduring glorious Odysseus Neleus Nestor once palace Pallas Athena Phaeacians Poseidon Pylos reached sail servants shade sitting sleep speak spear splendid spoke stood stranger suitors swift ship swineherd tears Teiresias Telemachus tell took Trojans Troy tunic turn thoughtful Telemachus weeping wife wiles addressed wind wine winged words woman women Zeus