Reading Order
The Odyssey Reading Order
The Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE, traditionally attributed to Homer) is the second of the Homeric epics — the story of Odysseus's ten-year journey home from the Trojan War, organized around the most intelligent and resourceful of the Greek heroes rather than the most powerful. Where the Iliad is organized around the values of the warrior aristocracy (honor, prowess, martial glory), the Odyssey is organized around the values of intelligence, cunning, endurance, and homecoming. Odysseus encounters the Cyclops Polyphemus (blinding him with a sharpened stake), the island of Circe (who turns his men into pigs), the underworld (where he meets the shades of his dead companions and of Achilles and Ajax), the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the island of the sun god Helios (whose cattle his men foolishly slaughter). He arrives home twenty years after the Trojan War began, disguised as a beggar; his wife Penelope has been besieged by suitors who are eating his estate and pressuring her to remarry; and the poem ends with the great bow contest in which Odysseus reveals himself and kills the suitors with Telemachus's help. The Odyssey is one of the most frequently retold stories in Western literature: it has been the model for James Joyce's Ulysses, Derek Walcott's Omeros, and countless other works.
Where to start
The Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE) — the complete poem, in a good modern translation. The Emily Wilson (2017) and Robert Fagles (1996) translations are widely used; T.E. Lawrence's prose translation is also highly regarded. Best Homer reading order: The Iliad → The Odyssey.
Complete The Odyssey Book List
- 1Buy
The Odyssey
Homer·-720·The complete poem in a good modern translation — Emily Wilson (Norton, 2017), Robert Fagles (Penguin, 1996), or Robert Fitzgerald (Vintage). 24 books; Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, the Cyclops, Circe, the underworld, the suitors - 2Buy
The Iliad
Homer·-750·The companion — the Trojan War. The companion as the other half of Homer: where the Odyssey is organized around intelligence, homecoming, and recognition, the Iliad is organized around the greatest warrior and the question of honor and mortality - 3Buy
The Aeneid
Virgil·-19·Virgil's companion — the founding of Rome. The companion as the primary classical continuation: the first six books of the Aeneid are Virgil's Odyssey (Aeneas's wandering journey), and the second six are his Iliad (the war in Italy) - 4Buy
Ulysses
James Joyce·1922·Joyce's companion — one day in Dublin, June 16, 1904. The companion as the most ambitious modern retelling: Joyce used the Odyssey as the structural frame for his novel, with Leopold Bloom as Odysseus, Molly Bloom as Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus as Telemachus - 5Buy
Omeros
Derek Walcott·1990·Walcott's companion — the Caribbean retelling. The companion as the most ambitious postcolonial retelling: Walcott uses the Homeric tradition (both the Iliad and the Odyssey) to investigate the history and culture of the Caribbean, with St. Lucia as his Ithaca - 6Buy
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri·1320·The companion — Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The companion as the medieval epic in dialogue with Homer: Dante meets Ulysses in Hell (Inferno, Canto 26), and the Divine Comedy's journey structure is partly a Christian transformation of the Odyssey's journey structure - 7Buy
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen·2000·The companion film — a Depression-era retelling. The companion as the modern comic retelling: the Coen Brothers' film uses the Odyssey's episodic structure and some of its specific episodes (the Sirens, the Cyclops) to tell the story of three escaped convicts in 1930s Mississippi - 8Buy
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller·2011·Miller's companion — the retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective. The companion as the modern novel most directly based on the Homeric tradition, reading the Achilles-Patroclus relationship as a love story
The Odyssey — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Odyssey about?
The Odyssey is about Odysseus's ten-year journey home from the Trojan War. When the poem begins, Odysseus has been absent from Ithaca for twenty years (ten years of the war, ten years of wandering); his wife Penelope is besieged by suitors who are pressuring her to accept that Odysseus is dead and remarry; and his son Telemachus is setting out on his own journey to find news of his father. The main narrative follows Odysseus from Calypso's island (where he has been detained for seven years) through his encounters with the Phaeacians (who hear his account of his adventures — the Cyclops, Circe, the underworld, the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis) and finally to Ithaca, where he arrives disguised as a beggar, is recognized by his dog and his nurse, wins the bow contest that Penelope has set for the suitors, and kills all the suitors with Telemachus's help. The poem ends with his reunion with Penelope.
What is the best translation of the Odyssey?
The best translation of the Odyssey depends on your purpose. Emily Wilson's 2017 translation (Norton) is currently considered the most accurate and most readable modern translation; it is metrically regular and linguistically precise, and its introduction is an important feminist and classical interpretation of the poem. It was the first English translation of the Odyssey by a woman. Robert Fagles's 1996 translation (Penguin) is the most widely used in American universities and is excellent for its dramatic energy and readable verse. Robert Fitzgerald's translation (Vintage) is also highly regarded for its poetic quality. T.E. Lawrence's prose translation is unusual and beautiful. For readers coming to Homer for the first time, Emily Wilson's translation is probably the best current choice; for university students, the Norton Critical Edition (which uses the Fitzgerald translation) is widely assigned.
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