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Cover of The Odyssey of Homer by Homer

The Odyssey of Homer

Homer

  • 374 pages · about 6 hours
  • First published 1488
  • 1,066 editions
  • Free to read
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1 About this book

The Odyssey is one of the two great epic poems of ancient Greece attributed to Homer, composed around the eighth or seventh century BC. Ten years after the fall of Troy, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, has still not come home. On his island a crowd of suitors has moved into his palace, eating his stores and pressing his wife, Penelope, to remarry, while his son, Telemachus, sets out to look for news of him. Odysseus himself is far away, and before he can return he has to tell, and survive, the story of his wanderings among monsters, enchantresses and the dead. The poem, in twenty-four books, follows his long way back to Ithaca.

  • Mythology
  • Greek Mythology
  • Classics
  • Odysseus (Greek mythology)
  • Mythology, classical
  • Classical Mythology
  • Achilles (Greek mythology)
  • Poetry

2 What to expect

The ancient Greek epic of Odysseus's ten-year journey home from the Trojan War, and of the wife and son who wait for him among hostile suitors. It begins in the middle, with the famous adventures among monsters and enchantresses told in flashback, and its themes are homecoming, cunning, hospitality and loyalty. It is a long poem in twenty-four books, and how it reads depends greatly on the translation, which may be verse or prose, plain or grand.

Good for readers who want: Greek mythology, an epic adventure, and one of the oldest stories of homecoming.

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4 About Homer

 

Homer (; Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος, Hómēros; possibly born c. 8th century BC) was an ancient Greek poet who is traditionally credited as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer was highly revered in ancient Greek society and is considered one of the most influential authors in history.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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