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=                              Odyssey                               =
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                            Introduction
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The 'Odyssey' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek
literature attributed to Homer. It is one 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 composed 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 independently, as part of long
oral traditions. Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed
for an audience by an  or rhapsode.

Key themes in the epic include the ideas of  (; 'return', homecoming),
wandering,  (; 'guest-friendship'), testing, and omens. Scholars
discuss the narrative prominence of certain groups within the poem,
such as women and slaves, who have larger roles than in other works of
ancient literature. This focus is especially remarkable when
contrasted with the 'Iliad', which centres the exploits of soldiers
and kings during the Trojan War.

The 'Odyssey' is regarded as one of the most significant works of the
Western canon. The first English translation of the 'Odyssey' was in
the 16th century. Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be
produced across a wide variety of media. In 2018, when 'BBC Culture'
polled experts around the world to find literature's most enduring
narrative, the 'Odyssey' topped the list.


Dating
========
Many suggestions have been made for dating composition of the 'Iliad'
and the 'Odyssey', but there is no consensus. Robert Lamberton says
that the epics "[straddled] the beginnings of widespread literacy"
from the middle of the 5th-century BC, but the poems' language can be
dated to long before this period. The Greeks began adopting a modified
version of the Phoenician alphabet to create their own writing system
during the eighth century BC; if the Homeric poems were among the
earliest products of that literacy, they would have been composed
towards the late period of that century.

According to Rudolf Pfeiffer, they were probably written down, but
there is no evidence for their publishing or physical dissemination
for consumption by a literate audience. Dating is further complicated
by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were
performed by rhapsodes for hundreds of years.


Composition and authorship
============================
Scholars agree that the Homeric epics developed as part of an oral
tradition over hundreds of years. In the early twentieth century,
Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated that they prominently
contained the characteristics of oral poetry, which would allow even
an illiterate poet to improvise large poems, composing them through
speech. Scholars do not agree on how the poems emerged from this
tradition, and it is not clear whether oral tradition can claim full
credit for their composition. In the nineteenth century, a series of
related questions about the epics' authorship became known as the
Homeric Question. Sources from antiquity created mythic narratives to
explain Homer. Debate still persists today over many of the Homeric
questions; for example, concerning the compositional relationship
between the 'Iliad', the 'Odyssey', and the largely lost poems of the
Epic Cycle; about whether Homer lived and, if he did, when; and
whether the poems reflect any geographical, historical or cultural
reality. While Homer is today attributed as the author of the 'Iliad'
and the 'Odyssey', other texts have historically been attributed to
him--for example, the 'Homeric Hymns'.

Textual reconstructions indicates the poems have taken many forms. As
live performance involves feedback, the content of the poem may even
have varied from telling to telling. This context is important for
understanding and interpreting the epics, and John Miles Foley said
that performance is crucial part of their meaning. Performance of epic
poetry is a subject of both poems, with the 'Odyssey' actually
depicting professional singers like Phemius and Demodocus. Applying
these in-narrative performances to our understanding of the epics'
performance might indicate that they were performed at the houses of
distinguished families as part of banquets or dinners in the 2nd and
early 1st millennia BC, and that observers may have directed or
participated in them. They were probably recited--as in, not performed
with music.

Like the 'Iliad', the 'Odyssey' is divided into twenty-four parts.
Early scholars suggested these correspond to the 24 letters of the
Greek alphabet, but this is widely considered ahistorical. The
division was probably made long after the poem's composition but is
generally accepted as part of the poem's modern structure. There are
many theories as to how they arose. Some suggest they were an
authentic part of the oral tradition or invented by Alexandrian
scholars. Pseudo-Plutarch attributed the divisions to Aristarchus of
Samothrace, but there is some evidence against this. Some scholars
connect the epics' segmentation to the tradition of performance, for
example as a creation of rhapsodes.

Both epics assume some knowledge of their audiences--for example,
concerning the Trojan War. This strongly indicates that the epics were
engaging with a pre-existing mythological tradition. Arguments exist
for either epic having been composed first; it is not clear. While the
Trojan War is an important element for both, the 'Odyssey' does not
directly reference any events from the 'Iliad' depiction of the war,
and they are generally considered to have formed independently from
one another.


Influences
============
Scholars note strong influences from Near Eastern mythology and
literature in the 'Odyssey'. Martin West notes substantial parallels
between the 'Epic of Gilgamesh' and the 'Odyssey'. 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. On his voyage to the
underworld, Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, who
is located at the edges of the world and associated with solar
imagery. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on reaching 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 Mount Mashu, the high mountain from which
the sun comes into the sky. West argues that the similarity of
Odysseus's and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges of the earth are the
result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the 'Odyssey'.
Classical folklorist Graham Anderson notes other patterns--the heroes
of 'Odyssey' and 'Gilgamesh' meet women who can transform people into
animals; are involved in the death of divine cattle; unhappily enjoy
the presence of a "voluptuous lady in an other-worldly paradise"
following a voyage through the underworld.

Scholars have explored whether figures originate within the poem or
belong to a tradition outside of it. Adrienne Mayor says that the
Austrian paleontologist Othenio Abel made unfounded claims about the
fifth-century BC philosopher Empedocles connecting the cyclops to
prehistoric elephant skulls. Whether the epic poem created,
popularised, or simply retold the tale of Polyphemus is a
long-standing dispute, but Anderson says there is some amount of
scholarly consensus that the story existed separately from the epic.
William Bedell Stanford notes there are some indications that Odysseus
existed independently of Homer, although it is inconclusive.


Geography
===========
Scholars are divided on whether any of the places visited by Odysseus
are real. 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. 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. For instance, there are
challenges ascertaining whether Odysseus's homeland of Ithaca is the
same island that is now called  (modern Greek: ); the same is true of
the route described by Odysseus to the Phaeacians and their island of
Scheria. 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". Modern scholars tend to explore
Odysseus's journey metaphorically rather than literally.


                              Synopsis
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Ten years after the Achaean Greeks won the Trojan War, Odysseus, king
of Ithaca, has yet to return home from Troy. In his absence, 108
boorish suitors court his wife Penelope. Penelope tells them she will
remarry when she is done weaving a shawl; however, she secretly
unweaves it every night.

The goddess Athena, disguised first as Mentes then as Mentor, tells
Odysseus's son Telemachus to seek news of his father. The two leave
Ithaca and visit Nestor, who tells them that Agamemnon, the commander
of the Greek army at Troy, was murdered soon after the war. Telemachus
travels to Sparta to meet Agamemnon's brother Menelaus, who in turn
describes his encounter with the shape-shifting god Proteus. Menelaus
says he learned from Proteus that Odysseus is alive, but held captive
by the nymph Calypso.

Athena petitions Zeus to rescue Odysseus, and Zeus sends Hermes to
negotiate his release. As Odysseus leaves Calypso's island, Poseidon
destroys his raft with a storm. The sea nymph Ino protects Odysseus as
he swims to Scherie, home of the Phaeacians, and Athena leads the
Phaeacian princess Nausicaä to recover him. In the court of Nausicaä's
parents Arete and Alcinous, Odysseus excels at athletic games and is
overcome with emotion when the bard Demodocus sings about the Trojan
War. Odysseus reveals his identity and recounts his adventures
following the war.

On leaving Troy, Odysseus's men unsuccessfully raided the Cicones.
Afterward, on an island of lotus-eaters, they found intoxicating fruit
which made them forget about reaching home. On another island, they
were captured by the cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus, deceptively calling
himself "Nobody", escaped by intoxicating the cyclops and blinding
him. However, he boastfully revealed his true identity while escaping,
and Polyphemus asked his father Poseidon to take revenge.

Odysseus's crew nearly arrived in Ithaca, but were blown off course
after opening a bag of winds they received from Aeolus. Afterwards,
all but one of their ships were destroyed by giant cannibals called
Laestrygonians. On the island of Aeaea, the goddess Circe turned
Odysseus's men into pigs. Hermes helped Odysseus resist Circe's magic
using the herb moly, and Odysseus forced her to restore the crew's
human forms. Odysseus and Circe then became lovers for a year until he
left to continue home. Next, Odysseus traveled to the edge of Oceanus,
where the living can speak with the dead. The spirit of the prophet
Tiresias told Odysseus he would successfully return home, but must
eventually undertake another journey. Odysseus also met the spirits of
his mother Anticleia and former comrades Agamemnon and Achilles.


Odysseus's crew then sailed past the Sirens, whose enticing song lured
sailors to their deaths. His crewmen plugged their ears with beeswax
to avoid hearing them, while Odysseus tied himself to the ship's mast.
Next, they navigated the narrow passage between the whirlpool
Charybdis and the multi-headed monster Scylla. Finally, on the island
of Thrinacia, Odysseus's men killed and ate sacred cattle belonging to
the sun god Helios. Helios asked Zeus to punish them, which he did by
destroying their last ship. Odysseus, the sole survivor, washed ashore
on the island Ogygia. There he met Calypso, who took him captive as
her lover until Hermes eventually intervened.

After hearing Odysseus's story, the Phaeacians take him to Ithaca,
where Athena disguises him as an elderly beggar. Without knowing his
identity, the swineherd Eumaeus offers him lodging and food.
Telemachus returns home from Sparta, evading an ambush from the
suitors. Odysseus reveals himself to his son and the two return home,
where Odysseus's elderly dog Argos, long neglected, recognizes him
through his disguise; the old dog had been faithfully awaiting his
master and upon finally seeing his return, dies peacefully. The
suitors mock and mistreat Odysseus in his own home. He and Telemachus
hide the suitors' weapons in preparation for violent revenge. Odysseus
also reencounters Penelope and her servant Eurycleia, who recognizes
him from a scar on his leg.

Penelope announces she is ready to remarry, and that she will choose
whoever wins an archery contest with Odysseus's bow. After each suitor
fails to even string the bow, Odysseus successfully strings it and
fires an arrow through a series of axe heads. Having won the contest,
he kills the suitors; Telemachus also hangs a group of slaves who had
sex with them. Odysseus reveals his identity to Penelope, who tests
him by asking to move their bed. He correctly states that the bed,
which he carved from the trunk of an olive tree, is immovable, and the
two lovingly reunite.

The next day, after Odysseus reveals himself to his father Laertes,
the families of the murdered suitors gather to get revenge. Athena
intervenes and prevents further bloodshed.


Structure
===========
In Classical Greece, some books or sections were provided with their
own titles. Books 1 to 4, which focus on the perspective of
Telemachus, are called the 'Telemachy'. Books 9 to 12, wherein
Odysseus provides an account of his adventures, are called the
'Apologos' or 'Apologoi'. Book 22 was known as 'Mnesterophonia' ( + ).
Book 22 is generally said to conclude the Greek Epic Cycle, but
fragments remain of a lost sequel known as the 'Telegony'.

Debate exists over what constitutes the "original" 'Odyssey'. Some
scholars regard the 'Telemachy' as a later additional while others
note that later parts do not make sense without those books. Likewise,
the poem's ending has been the subject of debate since
antiquity--Aristarchus of Samothrace and Aristophanes of Byzantium
regarded the epic's real ending as lines 293-295 of book 23. Similar
debates over the poem's ending occur today.


Narrative and language
========================
The epic has 12,109 lines composed in dactylic hexameter, sometimes
called Homeric hexameter--a metre with six metrical feet. The form of
hexameter is catelectic, meaning that it lacks an expected syllable in
the last foot. Each line has between twelve and seventeen syllables
and generally forms a grammatically complete sentence. The poems may
have inherited some stylistic traditions but invented others.

The narrative is primarily related through speech--that is, characters
talking to themselves or to somebody else. Consequently, they
frequently serve as narrators alongside the Homeric narrator, and
their speech is the primary method of characterisation.

The language is simple, direct, and fast-paced. It is also literary in
style--the vocabulary was likely never the vernacular of any Greek
population. An important characteristic of the language is the Homeric
simile. These are comparative metaphors that can be long or short,
typically deriving from the natural world or everyday life. Irene de
Jong describes them as "omnitemporal"--they may use the simple present
tense, or the epic tense (blending past and present), or they may
present a timeless truth (gnomic aorist). Their functions vary;
examples include characterisation and the reinforcement of theme.
Traditionally, the Homeric simile was regarded as a predecessor of
European literary similes. This has been contested--for example by
Oliver Taplin. Modern scholars generally agree that the Homeric
similes formed as part of the epics' oral tradition, but earlier
writers sometimes said they were added by one or more later poets.

An important element of Homeric texts is their use of epithets--in
English, these are often translated as compound adjectives like
'much-nourished' or 'much-nourishing'.


Homecoming
============
Homecoming (Ancient Greek: 'νόστος, nostos') is a central theme of the
'Odyssey'. The Greek word 'nostos' signifies both a homecoming voyage
by sea and narratives involving the homecoming. Classicist Agathe
Thornton notes that 'nostos'  to the victorious Achaeans following the
fall of Troy, but the narrator focuses on Odysseus and provides other
Achaeans' homecomings as part of his narrative.

Following Agamemnon's homecoming, his wife Clytemnestra and her lover,
Aegisthus, kill Agamemnon. Agamemnon's son, Orestes kills Aegisthus
for vengeance, paralleling the death of the suitors with the death of
Aegisthus; Athena and Nestor famously use Orestes as an example for
Telemachus, motivating him to action. During Odysseus's trip to the
underworld, Agamemnon tells him about Clytemnestra's betrayal. After
reaching Ithaca, Athena transforms Odysseus into a beggar so he can
test the loyalty of his wife Penelope.

Agamemnon eventually praises Penelope for not killing Odysseus, and
her faithfulness ensures Odysseus both fame and a successful
homecoming compared to the other Achaeans. Agamemnon's failed
homecoming caused his death; Achilles achieved fame but died and was
denied homecoming.


Wandering
===========
Before Odysseus's arrival in Ithaca, only two of his adventures are
described by the narrator. The rest of Odysseus's adventures are
recounted by Odysseus himself. The two scenes described by the
narrator are Odysseus on Calypso's island and Odysseus's encounter
with the Phaeacians. These scenes are told by the poet to represent an
important transition in Odysseus's journey: being concealed to
returning home.

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

Also, during Odysseus's 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 that influences the fact he
cannot return home. These beings that are close to the gods include
the Phaeacians who lived near the Cyclopes, whose king, Alcinous, is
the great-grandson of the king of the giants, Eurymedon, and the
grandson of Poseidon. 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.


Guest-friendship
==================
Throughout the course of the epic, Odysseus encounters several
examples of  ('guest-friendship'), which provide models of how hosts
should and should not act. 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. Calypso also
exemplifies poor guest-friendship because she does not allow Odysseus
to leave her island. 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. 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.

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

# The arrival and the reception of the guest.
# Bathing or providing fresh clothes to the guest.
# Providing food and drink to the guest.
# Questions may be asked of the guest and entertainment should be
provided by the host.
# The guest should be given a place to sleep, and both the guest and
host retire for the night.
# 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.


Testing
=========
Another theme throughout the 'Odyssey' is testing. This occurs in two
distinct ways. Odysseus tests the loyalty of others and others test
Odysseus's identity. An example of Odysseus testing the loyalties of
others is when he returns home. 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's identity to see if he really is who he says
he is. For instance, Penelope tests Odysseus's identity by saying that
she will move the bed into the other room for him. This is a difficult
task since it is made out of a living tree that would require being
cut down, a fact that only the real Odysseus would know, thus proving
his identity.

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:

# Odysseus is hesitant to question the loyalties of others.
# Odysseus tests the loyalties of others by questioning them.
# The characters reply to Odysseus's questions.
# Odysseus proceeds to reveal his identity.
# The characters test Odysseus's identity.
# There is a rise of emotions associated with Odysseus's recognition,
usually lament or joy.
# Finally, the reconciled characters work together.


Omens
=======
Omens occur frequently throughout the 'Odyssey'. Within the epic poem,
they frequently involve birds. 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. Telemachus and Penelope receive their omens as well in the
form of words, sneezes, and dreams. However, Odysseus is the only
character who receives thunder or lightning as an omen. She highlights
this as crucial because lightning, as a symbol of Zeus, represents the
kingship of Odysseus. Odysseus is associated with Zeus throughout both
the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey.'

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'. In the 'Odyssey', all of the
bird omens--with the exception of the first--show large birds
attacking smaller birds. Accompanying each omen is a wish which can be
either explicitly stated or only implied. For example, Telemachus
wishes for vengeance and for Odysseus to be home, Penelope wishes for
Odysseus's return, and the suitors wish for the death of Telemachus.


Pre-classical period to late antiquity
========================================
Homer was widely celebrated in Greek society as an impressively
talented and didactic poet, instructing audiences on topics ranging
from philosophy to science. Audiences were primarily exposed to the
epics through performances in both Archaic and Classical Greece, but
their status among audiences in the early Archaic period (840-700 BC)
is not understood. Scholars of at least two ancient libraries--the
Library of Alexandria and the Library of Pergamum--studied ancient
versions of the Homeric epics.  Alexandrian scholars included
Zenodotus of Ephesus (early third century BC), Aristophanes of
Byzantium (early second century BC) and Aristarchus of Samothrace
(mid-second century BC).

Ancient scholarship explored a variety of topics. Some explored
narrative inconsistencies, for example. Allegory was a particularly
common interpretation. Wilson says this interpretation allowed
scholars "to make sense of puzzling or disturbing scenes in the
'Odyssey'". Allegorical arguments also defended from Homer allegations
that he had disrespected the gods--a criticism famously made by the
fifth/sixth-century BC philosopher Xenophanes--but were rejected by
Alexandrian scholars as too convenient. Pergamon scholar Crates of
Mallus explored the epics as containing allegorical insight into
cosmology and geography. Heraclitus (late sixth/early fifth century
BC) and Porphyry (third century) also wrote allegorical
interpretations. Porphyry's 'Homeric Questions' is the sole surviving
large Homeric essay of the classical era. He limited his analytical
scope to only explore questions that the Homeric text answered--he
called this the Aristarchan principle. Porphyry saw the nymphs' caves
as representing human life, and Heraclitis argued that Telemachus'
encounter with Athena represented "the development of rationality" as
he becomes a man.

Many ancient editions of the Homeric epics existed; the Alexandrian
library possessed some. In material derived from the commentary of the
fourth-century scholar Didymus, ancient versions were divided into
"city editions" and "individual editions". City editions were likely
created within the city (perhaps as "official" versions) while
individual editions were prepared independently by scholars. He
mentions individual versions owned by Antimachus, Aristophanes of
Byzantium, Sosigenes, Rhianus of Crete, Callistratus, and Philemon.
City editions are known in Argos, Chios, Crete, Cyprus, and Marseille.
Both the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' were school texts in places where
the Greek language was spoken. They were probably part of the
curriculum for the elite of Classical Athens, and in the Roman Empire.
They were regarded as instructive for rhetorical skill, and reading.
The Trojan War and its participants were already important
mythological and historical references for the Roman Empire, and the
Romans readily absorbed Homer into their culture, transmitting the
epic east and west.

Alexander the Great's conquests spread Hellenistic cultural influence
throughout the Eastern Mediterranean; it became read by every school
child in the Greek world. By the sixth century, the Homeric poems had
a canonical place within the institutions of ancient Athens. The
Athenian tyrant Peisistratos or his son Hipparchus instituted a civic
and religious festival, the Panathenaia, which probably featured
performances of Homeric poetry; a "correct" version had to be
performed, possibly indicating that a version of the text had become
canonised. They may only have performed sections of the poems, and it
is not likely that they were performed without a break.


Post-classical
================
Beyond classical antiquity and into the Byzantine era, the spread of
the Greek language--and the consequent internal translation of the
Homeric texts as it spread--maintained the 'Odyssey' relevancy and
status. Armstrong says both epics may have dropped from knowledge
otherwise, citing 'Beowulf' as an example of this fate. The orthodox
Byzantine view was that Homer wrote the two epics alongside the
'Homeric Hymns' and the 'Batrachomyomachia', with some philological
scepticism over the latter. The 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' remained
widely studied throughout the Middle Ages and were used as school
texts within the Byzantine Empire. Homeric Greek was difficult for
Byzantine students, requiring paratexts to explain grammatical and
mythological references. Much of the surviving Byzantine scholarship
was originally intended as educational material. Students probably did
not have physical copies of the epics, but certain manuscripts might
have been made available to talented students. They primarily learned
via dictation and repetition.

According to Lamberton, the audience of the epics changed in the
middle Byzantine age. Once the domain of grammarians and students,
adults began to read them for pleasure and wondered the narratives of
the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' related to the wider Trojan narrative.
The twelfth-century poet John Tzetzes produced 'Homeric Allegories'
for Manuel I Komnenos's consort, which summarised 'Odyssey' and other
texts. Mavroudi says Tzetzes' work married cultural concepts from the
Homeric and Byzantine periods; Tzetzes compared Manuel I to the kingly
figures of Zeus and Agamemnon, and depicted Odysseus with a protruding
stomach.

Byzantine interpretation was influenced by the 'Homeric Questions' of
Porphyry by way of Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic scholars. The
Byzantine scholar and archbishop Eustathios of Thessalonike () wrote
exhaustive commentaries on both of the Homeric epics that were seen as
authoritative by later generations; his commentary on the 'Odyssey'
alone spans nearly 2,000 oversized pages in a twentieth-century
edition. The first printed edition of the 'Odyssey', or the 'editio
princeps', was produced in 1488 by the Greek scholar Demetrios
Chalkokondyles, who was born in Athens and studied in Constantinople.
His edition was printed in Milan by a Greek printer named Antonios
Damilas.


Early modern
==============
As part of the quarrel, questions arose over the traditional view of
Homer as a singular poet. François Hédelin, Abbé d’ Aubignac
criticised Homer's sustenance of theme; his language; and observed
that nothing was known about his life. Perrault posited that the epics
were written by different poets, possibly from each city that claimed
to be Homer's birthplace, and then assembled; he credited the theory
to the late Hédelin. Richard Bentley argued that the Athenian tyrant
Pisistratus assembled different songs five-hundred years after initial
composition. His research also showed that Homeric Greek did not
resemble the Greek of the classical period.


Modern
========
In the early 20th century, Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated
that illiterate singers could exploit formulaic language to improvise
large poems, much like the Homeric Greek. Of the 27,803 lines in the
original texts, around 9200 are repetitions, ranging from groups of
words to entire sections. Their research decisively showed that the
Homeric texts formed as oral poetry. Parry and Lord were investigating
the South Slavic epic tradition, inspired by the work of philologist
Matija Murko. Parry's doctoral thesis had explored traditional Homeric
epithets, drawing from the work of French linguist Antoine Meillet,
but he did not comprehend the significance completely until travelling
to Yugoslavia to conduct field work with Lord. Scholarship became
increasingly interdisciplinary in the late twentieth century,
synthesising literary research with archaeological and religious
findings.


                               Legacy
======================================================================
The influence of the Homeric texts can be difficult to summarise
because of how greatly they have affected popular imagination and
cultural values. The 'Odyssey' and the 'Iliad' formed the basis of
education for members of ancient Mediterranean society. That
curriculum was adopted by Western humanists, meaning the text was so
much a part of the cultural fabric that an individual having read it
was irrelevant. Robert Browning says that the scholarship Alexandrian
library "laid the foundation" for "European literacy and philological
studies". The epics mark the beginning of the Western literary
tradition and, according to Corinne Ondine Pasche, have unrivalled
influence. The 'Odyssey' has reverberated over a millennium of
writing; a poll of experts for 'BBC Culture' named it literature's
most enduring narrative.


Translation
=============
Livius Andronicus produced a Latin translation, 'Odusia'. Little is
known about the full work, which was probably not simply a
translation, but surviving fragments are more formal than the
original, and he reappropriated Homeric imagery from one part of the
poem to another. Livius' 'Odusia' eventually became a school text for
Latin students; Michael von Albrecht says his translation was "beaten
into" a young Horace. Nicholas Sigeros provided Petrarch with
manuscripts of the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' in 1354. Petrarch's
correspondent Giovanni Boccaccio persuaded a monk to called Pilato to
produce translations in Latin prose--he finished the 'Iliad', but only
came close to finishing the 'Odyssey'. The first printed edition in
Greek was published in Milan 1488 by Demetrios Chalkokondyles, a Greek
scholar resident in Florence.

Printed translations for modern European languages surged in
popularity in the 16th century, although many were only partial
translations. The most popular edition of the century was a
word-for-word Latin translation by Andreas Divus. The first completed
Italian 'Odyssey', written by Girolamo Baccelli in free verse, was
published in 1582. The first completed French translation was composed
in Alexandrine couplets by Salomon Certon and printed in 1604. It lost
public favour following the Académie Française language reforms in the
1630s and 1640s. Arthur Hall was the first to translate Homer into
English: his translation of the 'Iliad' first 10 books, which was
published in 1581, relied upon a French version. George Chapman became
the first writer to complete a translation of both epics into English
after finishing his translation of the 'Odyssey'. These translations
were published together in 1616, but were serialised earlier, and
became the first modern translations to enjoy widespread success. He
worked on Homeric translation for most of his life, and his work later
inspired John Keats' sonnet  "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"
(1816). Emily Wilson writes that almost all prominent translators of
Greco-Roman literature had been men, arguing this impacted the popular
understanding of the 'Odyssey'.

Johann Heinrich Voss' 18th-century translations of the epics are among
his most celebrated works, and profoundly influenced the German
language. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called Voss' translations
transformational masterpieces that initiated interest German
Hellenism. Anne Dacier translated the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' into
French prose, appearing in 1711 and 1716, respectively; it was the
standard French Homeric translation until the late 18th century.
Antoine Houdar de La Motte, who could not read Greek, used Dacier's
'Iliad' to produce his own contracted version of the 'Iliad' and
criticised Homer in the preface. Dacier's translation of the 'Odyssey'
profoundly influenced the 1720s translation by Alexander Pope, which
he produced for financial reasons years after his 'Iliad'. He
translated twelve books himself and divided the other twelve between
Elijah Fenton and William Broome; the latter also provided
annotations. This information eventually leaked, harming his
reputation and profits. The first 'Odyssey' in the Russian language
may have been Vasily Zhukovsky's 1849 translation in hexameter. Luo
Niansheng began translating the first Chinese language 'Iliad' in the
late 1980s, but he died in 1990 before completing it; his student Wang
Huansheng finished the project, which was published in 1994.
Huansheng's 'Odyssey' followed three years later.


Literature
============
Classicist Edith Hall says the 'Odyssey' has been regarded as "the
very birthplace of literary fiction"; in T. E. Lawrence's 1932
introduction to the epic, he called it "the greatest novel ever
written". It is widely regarded by western literary critics as a
timeless classic, and it remains one of the oldest pieces of
literature regularly read by Western audiences. Brian Stableford, who
described it as a kind of forerunner to science fiction, says it has
been reconfigured as science fiction more than any other literary
work.

In Canto XXVI of the 'Inferno', Dante Alighieri meets Odysseus in the
eighth circle of hell: Odysseus appends a new ending to the epic in
which he continues adventuring and does not return to Ithaca. 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". Some of Odysseus's adventures reappear in the
Arabic tales of Sinbad the Sailor.

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. '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'. 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. The book, and
especially its stream of consciousness prose, is widely considered
foundational to the modernist genre.

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, an image which haunted Atwood. Atwood's novella
comments on the original text, wherein Odysseus's successful return to
Ithaca symbolises the restoration of a patriarchal system. Similarly,
Madeline Miller's 'Circe' (2018) revisits the relationship between
Odysseus and Circe on Aeaea. As a reader, Miller was frustrated by
Circe's lack of motivation in the original poem and sought to explain
her capriciousness. 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.


Film and television
=====================
* 'L'Odissea' (1911) is an Italian silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro.
* 'Ulysses' (1954) is an Italian film adaptation starring Kirk Douglas
as Ulysses, Silvana Mangano as Penelope and Circe, and Anthony Quinn
as Antinous.
* 'L'Odissea' (1968) is an Italian-French-German-Yugoslavian
television miniseries praised for its faithful rendering of the
original epic.
* 'Ulysses 31' (1981-1982) is a French-Japanese television animated
series set in the futuristic 31st century.
* 'Nostos: The Return' (1989) is an Italian film about Odysseus's
homecoming. Directed by Franco Piavoli, it relies on visual
storytelling and has a strong focus on nature.
* '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.
* 'The Odyssey' (1997) is a television miniseries directed by Andrei
Konchalovsky and starring Armand Assante as Odysseus and Greta Scacchi
as Penelope.
* '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.
* '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.
* 'The Odyssey' (2026), written and directed by Christopher Nolan,
will be based on the books and is slated to be released in 2026.


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'.
* 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.
* 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".
* Jean-Claude Gallota's ballet 'Ulysse', based on the 'Odyssey', but
also on the work by James Joyce, 'Ulysses'.
*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's
homecoming to Ithaca.


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


                          Further reading
======================================================================
* [https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/49324 The Authoress of the Odyssey by
Samuel Butler]
* 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.
[https://elcultural.com/Las-criptas-de-la-critica-20-interpretaciones-de-la-Odisea
Lay summary]  via El Cultural (in Spanish).
* Reece, Steve. 2011.
"[https://www.academia.edu/30640650/Toward_an_Ethnopoetically_Grounded_Edition_of_Homers_Odyssey
Toward an Ethnopoetically Grounded Edition of Homer's Odyssey] ."
'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.)


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


English translations
======================
*
*
*
*
*
*
'[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=1:card=1
The Odyssey]', trans. by A. T. Murray (1919) on Perseus Project
* '[https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/odysseytofc.html
Odyssey]', trans. by Ian C. Johnston (2002; released into the public
domain January 2024)


Other resources
=================
*
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y297 BBC audio file] -- 'In
our time' BBC Radio 4 [discussion programme, 45 mins]
* [http://greekmythcomix.com/odyssey-comix/ 'The Odyssey Comix'] -- A
detailed retelling and explanation of Homer's 'Odyssey' in comic-strip
format by [http://greekmythcomix.com/ Greek Myth Comix]
* '[https://www.owleyes.org/text/odyssey The 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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