After 10 years of fighting in the Trojan War it takes Odysseus 10 more years to return home to Ithaca to be reunited with his wife Penelope, son Telemachus, and father Laertes.

It is the latter 10 years that are covered in this legendary story from the 9th Century BC. During Odysseus's time away, countless suitors have moved into his home all of them hoping to win the hand of Penelope in marriage. They feast and carouse consuming vast amounts of wine and meat.

The causes of his delayed return home are the central part of the book, told in flashbacks, and include a consultation with the dead seer Teiresias in Hades, and interactions with The Sirens, Polyphemus the Cyclops, Circe, Calypso, Scylla, and Charybdis, plus the continued interventions of Poseidon.

Luckily, Odysseus has clear-eyed Athene on his side and after many rosy-fingered dawns he eventually returns to sea-girt Ithaca across the wine-dark sea to gain vengeance not only on the suitors of his wife but their relations too. A lot of people perish in this book in many interesting ways

Other famous figures make appearances such as Agamemnon, Achilles, Menelaus, Nestor, and Helen of Troy, but it's the persistence of Odysseus that shines through as he manages to return home against all the odds.

*Originally rated 4.5 stars, but after rereading it multiple times and also having the chance to study it at university and still being endlessly fascinated by the story rather than growing bored by it, I'm bumping it up to the full 5 stars!

Before buying a copy of this (Richard Lattimore's translation, fyi) in a secondhand bookstore, I had a passing familiarity with The Odyssey. My introduction to the story, as was the case with a lot of classic literature, was provided by the PBS show Wishbone (you have not lived until you've seen a Jack Russell terrier in a toga firing an arrow through twelve axe heads, trust me on this). Then in high school, one of my English classes read some selections from the poem - I remember reading the Cyclops part, and the stuff about Scylla and Charybdis, and I think also the stuff with Circe. But I had never read the entire story as a whole before now, and a couple things surprised me:

-First, like The Iliad, the timeframe of the story is actually very brief. The majority of the action - basically everything that happens to Odysseus right after leaving Troy - occurs as a flashbacks, told by Odysseus to his hosts after he washes up near his home after nine years. The majority of his adventures are recounted by him, rather thane being seen firsthand by the reader. And now that I think about it, that suggests that the majority of the quintessential action of The Odyssey - Cyclops, the sea monsters, Circe, Calypso, etc - might not have actually happened at all. Odysseus is constantly making up stories in the poem, mainly to protect his identity, but the stories he makes up are so detailed, and so similar to the rest of the adventures that he assures his audience really did happen, that I'm just now starting to wonder if maybe Odysseus just invented all of those adventures to explain why he was gone for ten years. For all we know, he spent the entire decade shacked up with Calypso and realized that he'd have to come up with a better reason for never writing. Thinking about it, I totally believe that he would do this, because honestly...

-Odysseus is kind of a dick. First there's the fact that he makes a big deal about how he was able to resist the charms of Calypso ("It was awful, Penelope! She kept trying to get me to marry her, but I was a good husband and so I just fucked her brains out for three years!") and then goes and murders the twelve maids who were stupid enough to sleep with/get raped by Penelope's suitors - but I knew about all of that already, and was prepared for it. What I wasn't prepared for, as hinted at above, was the fact that Odysseus seems to be a pathological liar. He technically had a reason to lie about his identity when he was making his way home - because, I don't know, the suitors might actually leave his wife alone when they found out that Odysseus was alive? - but he also tells these elaborate lies for no reason. At the end of the poem, after he's (spoiler!) killed all the suitors, he goes to visit his father to tell him that he's not dead. He finds his father, and since his dad doesn't recognize him, Odysseus is like, "Hi there! I'm so-and-so, and I knew your son. He came to visit me and told me all about his awesome adventures - hell of a guy, by the way - but then I heard that he died in battle or something. But he was really brave and really awesome" and then his dad starts crying and then Odysseus is like "AAH!I GOT YOU! I'm really Odysseus, I'm alive and everything. Oh man, you should have seen your face!" What the hell, man? What was the purpose of that?

-I realized while reading this that The Iliad hadn't really covered what happened to Helen after Troy was destroyed. I'd always assumed that she had been killed, but then, during The Odyssey, Telemachos is traveling to Sparta to find out if anyone's heard from his dad in the past seven years or whatever, and he goes to see Menelaus, and Helen's totally there, serving dinner and being like, "Hi sweetie! Remember that time you had to murder thousands of people and destroy a city because I was a shameless whore? That was so sweet of you. You're the best!" and I felt so bad for her.

n  After many years of agony and absence from one’s home, a person can begin enjoying grief. n

This feels a little silly to rate given that it’s the Odyssey, but I did read it and I did enjoy myself.

Some notes on things I enjoy about this translation:

➽ Emily Wilson in her intro focuses on Xenia –hospitality. The villains in the Oddysey are villainous because they either pervert hospitality – by eating guests instead of feeding them – or fail to engage with pompe [sending] as defined by Menelaus’s declaration that “To force a visitor to stay / is just as bad as pushing him to go”. The suitors, too, pervert hospitality by eating too much; and ultimately, so does Odysseus in slaughtering them.

➽ There’s a similarly intriguing focus on the character of Odysseus as not good or bad but clever and cunning above all. As established as the chapter begins, Odysseus is not the favorite of Athena because he is good – he is the favorite because he is clever.

➽ Penelope is a very compelling character. I kind of enjoy the ambiguity as to whether she knows her husband is home – that being said, I think she definitely has an inkling.

➽ The translation’s focus on repeating Homer’s “smaller units of sense” and its simple language to convey that “stylistic pomposity is entirely un-Homeric” is very fun.

➽ Another conceit I really enjoyed: The focus on the doglike women’s face. “The idea that it is not the woman or goddess herself, but her [Helen’s] face, that is like a dog suggests that it might be male perceptions of women, rather than female desires themselves, that threaten the social fabric.”

➽ The penultimate book – Odysseus’s slaughter of the suitors – is brutal and animalistic, with gorgeous but oddly terrifying imagery. I enjoyed it quite a bit and may at some point have further thoughts about its use of violence.

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Homer Therapy 102
“By hook or by crook, this peril too shall be something we remember.”

During covid lockdown, my husband and I decided to study Ancient Greece. Each night after dinner, we listened to a half an hour lecture or read from a classic text. It’s become a habit or rather a household ritual in which even our dog partakes. (She has a chair she sits in while we listen.) We studied history, philosophy, mythology, and when omicron threatened, we decided to re-read Homer. It has been magical, therapeutic even. On Saturday, we finished the Odyssey.

Living in such trying times makes me long for something of lasting quality. Emily Wilson’s exquisite translation of Odysseus’s tumultuous ten-year journey home from Troy helped me grapple with the precariousness of the human condition and our own mortality. We listened to Claire Danes read and simultaneously read along. Homer is meant to be heard, and Danes gives an outstanding performance. Our understanding of the text was enhanced by interspersing Elizabeth Vandiver’s excellent lectures throughout our reading. Our journey with Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus provided a needed uplift for us as it has for others over the past 2,500 years. Highly recommend.

Thanks to Bruce Katz for recommending Emily Wilson's translation.

Odysseus' decade-long voyage home through the unchartered seas was an uncertain, mystical, and prophetic journey comprised of divine revelations, natural temptations, and struggles that were overcome by Odysseus' unwavering perseverance, cleverness, and spiritual guidance; a pilgrimage of introspection and humans determination along with the power of imagination.

Homer's illustrations of Odysseus' adventurous voyage and Penelope's skillful handle of her suitors while maintaining an unswerving loyalty to her husband were a pleasure to read, where Odysseus' ultimate handling of his wife's suitors towards the end of the epic poem was excessively barbaric for my taste. Nevertheless, Odysseus' and Penelope's journey of progression and determination has left a strong impression on me.

3,5 aylık bir maceranın sonuna geldim. Okurluk hayatımın en büyük kırılmalarından biri oldu İlyada ve Odysseia. Bundan sonraki okurluk hayatım temelinden sarsıldı ve iyi ki de öyle oldu. Daha önce sanki karanlık bir yolda yönümü çok da bilemeden okuyormuşum da artık bir ışık yandı ve etrafımı görerek okuyor gibiyim.

Azra Erhat'ın her iki kitaba yazdığı önsözler ve Homeros -Gül ile Söyleşi- kitabını okumadan bu iki kitabın dünya sanat tarihinde nerede durduğunu ve kitapların anlattıklarını anlamam mümkün olmayacaktı, sayesinde okurluk hayatım aydınlandı.

Odysseia'yı okurken sık sık bölümleri farklı insanlar yazmış hissine kapıldım, bununla birlikte İlyada'ya göre daha kolay okunuyor, sürekli bir coğrafyadan ötekine doğru akan bir aksiyon olduğu için.
Bölümlerin farklı insanlar tarafından yazıldığını düşünmeme bir sebep de bölümler arasında bazı tutarsızlıklar olması. Bir bölümde okuduğum bir şey ilerleyen bölümde başka bir şekilde karşıma çıktı ya da ben öyle hissettim.

La Odisea me ha gustado muchísimo más que la Ilíada, ya que no se me hizo tan pesada. Sin embargo, considero que es necesario leer esta última primero para tener más contexto en este libro, ya que aparecen personajes del pasado y se deja en claro cuál fue el desenlace mismo de ellos. Es lo más recomendable.

La historia empieza in media res, cuando muchos de los eventos ya han sucedido y algunos ya están evolucionando (luego del desenlace de la Guerra de Troya, los problemas que se le han presentado a Ulises en su regreso a casa, Penélope y sus pretendientes, Telémaco en busca de su padre, etc). Trama y subtramas por varios lados; historias entre historias.

La Odisea utiliza tantos tópicos literarios que a mí me fascinan. Comenzando por la seducción, la tentación, la fidelidad/infidelidad, la soledad, la muerte, el anhelo, la astucia y sagacidad del protagonista para salir con vida de variadas situaciones, conspiraciones, venganza, el viaje del héroe con retorno a casa: y a su misma vez la importancia de la familia y el hogar. Pruebas, presagios y la lealtad puesta sobre la mesa.

Toda una aventura para Ulises; quien es un líder con defectos y virtudes, que luego de meter la pata es capaz de crear planes ingeniosos para salirse con la suya. Es quizás por eso que me fascinó el libro, ya que Ulises muy por el contrario a Aquiles utiliza la inteligencia. Es un héroe que aprende de sus errores anteriores, por lo que no los vuelve a cometer y ejecuta sus propósitos con mayor cuidado y paciencia; ya no tan a la ligera, por lo que no se deja llevar por impulsos emocionales que de nada le sirven.

Pasamos de isla en isla, recorremos tempestuosos mares y conocemos a la ninfa Calipso y Circe la hechicera. Con seres mitológicos como las criaturas marinas escila y caribdis, los gigantes, cícloples, sirenas y los tan temidos y omnipotentes dioses del Olimpo, aunque aquí solo tenemos como presencia absoluta a Atenea y en parte toman importancia Poseidón y Zeus.

Ha sido un largo viaje para Ulises ir a la batalla y regresar a su patria; en el que diez años le costó la guerra de Troya lejos de su familia y diez años más regresar con ellos por la ira de Poseidón. Veinte años y toda una verdadera odisea para el pobre.

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns.

How in the world does one go about reviewing such a classic poem? So, I will keep it very simple. This epic contains the basis for so much literature that has come after it and has been an inspiration to many authors. In fact after reading Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain this past year, I was inspired to read the original work to learn more about Odysseus, king of Ithaca who journeys for 20 years to his home from the Trojan war and meets with many, many hardships and struggles along the way. There is a theme of hospitality throughout as well as vengeance, suffering, cunning, endurance and loyalty.

Much have I suffered, labored long and hard by now
in the waves and wars. Add this to the total—bring the trial on!

I’ve heard so many of these stories in some form or another and it makes such a big difference to read them myself. We’ve all heard of the god Zeus and goddess Athena, the Sirens, the Cyclops, Calypso and Circe. It’s all here and very readable. There are 24 books total and you can read it at whatever pace you like. It took me one month to read it and now I need to go back and read the Iliad.

"So Pallas spake, and breathed into his frame
Strength irresistible."

n  n


n  n


n  n

Why so powerful a narrative?

- is it the mythological world?
this tête-a-tête way of living
between
gods and men?

...the voyages?

the longing for Home ...?

UPDATE

This is sad.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/02...

5 ⭐

“… I would walk sail 500 [nautical] miles
and I would walk sail 500 more,
just to be the man who walked sailed a thousand [nautical] miles
to fall down slay the suitors at your door.”
- Odysseus the Proclaimer


I’ve been under the weather the last week or so, feeling about as upbeat as Uranus’ following his castration at the hands of his own Son Cronus; or as joyous as Pasiphae recovering her senses and grasping the full extent of her dalliance with the snow-white bull. Alas, I’m better now and am pleased to finally get a chance to “review” this beauty! In keeping with my self-enforced regulation on bringing an unparalleled level of sophistication and succinctness to my analyses of these illustrious cornerstones of Western Mythology, I’ll be covering the themes that stood out most prominently to me and strictly in the most intellectual and earnest fashion.


"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest!"
The Guest-Host Code of Conduct is a constant throughout Homer’s poem and, when compared to the state of modern hospitality, it becomes clear that we’ve lost our way; By the river Styx, woe be us, we have lost our way! Not once do I recall a host ever offering to have me bathed, rubbed down with oil and dressed in a fine robe when I've deigned to visit their abode. What has come of us?! Has Zeus, being the God this most concerns, lost his zeal for the divine enforcement of the etiquette of hospitality? For the love of the Gods, lather me! And forget not to bestow upon me a parting gift!
In general, a host is most likely to be at fault in the interaction between guest and host if they don’t properly cater to any wayward soul that stumbles upon their palace but the opposite can also be seen in the 108 suitors who, in attempting to court the absent Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, in a brutish, non-ritualistic manner, take advantage of their host’s hospitality, consuming their reserves of food and wine and ravishing their female servants.
If the domestic settings of Homer's epics are at all reflective of Ancient Greek society in the time they were written, there is an interesting parallel regarding ritual propriety and even, to a lesser degree, filial piety with Chinese culture in the time of Confucius, several hundred years later.


”The fame of her great virtue will never die.
The immortal gods will lift a song for all mankind,
A glorious song in praise of self-possessed Penelope” - Agamemnon
Loyalty and faithfulness, in all their forms are a big one and nobody embodies these more than Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, the soul of loyalty! (Besides maybe Argos, the loyal dog) Despite Odysseus advising her to wed the man she likes as soon as she sees hair on, their son, Telemachus’ face, she holds out for 20 years despite 108 oily degenerates attempting to court her when it is presumed Odysseus dies at Troy. What a woman! Gents, find yourself a Penelope! Ladies, if the men in this book are anything to go by, I’m afraid you’ll probably have to settle for a Pepé Le Pew.
It’s probably worth noting that Hesiod, Homer's contemporary, states, in his Theogony of the Gods, that Odysseus sired 4 children on his 10-year journey home; 2 with Calypso and 2 with Circe. So, while Penelope was faithfully waiting for him at home, he was gettin’ down with 2 Nymph Goddesses (that we know of)! Ok, I’m being a little flippant here; at least one of these was totally against his will *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. One notices a distinct lack of detail when Odysseus recounts his adventures to his wife.


”When a man cries, it’s the last thing he wants to do… He will do anything but cry. He will stop himself crying no matter how tragic it is. And he would do everything, and only when he’s completely defeated emotionally will he start to cry properly.” - Michael Caine
Michael Caine obviously never read ‘The Odyssey’ ‘cos while resilience/perseverance are another major theme of ‘The Odyssey’, there is also A LOT of grown ass men crying! There’s nothing wrong with that and, in context, I should mention that Caine made that comment in an acting masterclass BUT these are battle-hardened soldiers who are returning home from a 10-year war and have absolutely no qualms raping and pillaging as they go. I hardly think they are the super-sentimental types. I’m not talking a tear trickling down the cheek either; we’re talking platoons of soldiers in a communal sob session, wailing, shrieking, going full Timberlake-cry-me-a-river at the slightest provocation! However, once the tears have abated, our characters always push on, particularly Odysseus and “what good can come of grief?” appears a recurring rhetorical query and the message appears to be, dust yourself off and carry on!


Odysseus is not a great guy really, but his determination and ability to will himself on in the face of great odds is endearing, regardless of his shortcomings. He is the hero of the story and held in high esteem for possessing many of the typical Homeric heroes attributes: Strength, bravery, godly physique, and also diplomacy, tactfulness, cunning and deceitfulness (also seen as a positive attribute). I couldn’t help having a bit of a chuckle when Odysseus and a small number of his crew are stuck in, the Cyclops, Polyphemus’ cave and trying to deduce a means of escape. Homer is really trying to drive home Odysseus’ cunning— ”My wits kept weaving, weaving cunning schemes… till this plan struck my mind as best” and then:
n  n
”Hey, hey, guys, GUYS! Hide yourselves beneath the sheep! Two sheep to a man; except me, I’ll take this large one. He’ll never see us! Oh, Gods be praised, I’m so cunning; a real clever sausage!”

Odysseus at his finest! A man endowed with the God’s own wisdom; foxy, ingenious!.... Anyone who thinks Homer didn’t have a sense of humour is kidding themselves.


Following a positive experience with Robert Fagles’ translation of ‘The Iliad’, I opted for the deluxe edition of his Odyssey translation for the ‘Penguin Classics’ line and, once again, I thought it was very readable. It’s a non-rhyming verse translation with varying line length. I think it succeeds in sounding traditional while also being absolutely accessible to the modern reader. Fagles mentions something along the lines of Homer’s works being quite fast paced and energetic and, without any knowledge of the original, it seems to me that he's succeeded in maintaining this high level of rapidity and excitement. There was only one example of, what I thought was, a poor translation when, at one point, Fagles uses the phrase ”cramping my style”. I’m being knit-picky but it doesn’t fit with the overall tone of the rest of the text and feels too modern. Bernard Knox’s introduction and notes are also, once again, fascinating and illuminating regarding the origins and the nature of the poem, particularly a discussion on the more prominent (read:existent) role of women in the Odyssey when compared with the sausage-fest that is the Iliad.


More than anything, for me, ‘The Odyssey’ is just a rollicking good adventure! If you’re perhaps someone who tried the Iliad and didn’t enjoy it (what is wrong with you?!) but really love Mythology retellings, you may very well still love this one which has an entirely different thematic focus and overall tone; less relentless war, more of combination of treachorous journey and domestic affair! I really can’t recommend it highly enough.
It's as glorious as the young dawn with her rose-red fingers!

Célebre epopeya que es no sólo una lectura obligatoria para cualquier amante de la literatura sino un imprescindible elemento de la cultura clásica.

Homero, poeta griego glorificado hasta nuestros días, nos legó en este caso la aventura sin precedentes del valeroso Ulises -también llamado Odiseo- tras la guerra de Troya en un intento de regreso a Ítaca, su tierra natal. La ira despertada en Poseidón y dirigida hacia nuestro protagonista lo lleva a extender y dificultar el viaje del héroe plagándolo de vicisitudes y encuentros con múltiples deidades o seres mitológicos. Éstos se erguirán como aliados o terribles elementos según la obra avanza.

La odisea es, sin dudas, una historia interesante, brutal y rica en sucesos, acción y mitología. Funciona como gran exponente de la visión de los griegos acerca del mundo, el valor, la integridad y las deidades. Ofrece además astutos, intrigantes y valientes personajes tanto como otros poseedores de una abominable mezquindad. Su lenguaje lírico envuelve todos estos elementos con una rigurosidad exquisita que la hacen la pieza literaria crucial que es pero que también la vuelven un texto no necesariamente accesible por su abundancia de descripciones, repeticiones y su lenguaje extravagante. Si uno puede superar esta barrera o amoldarse a ella, la odisea es enormemente disfrutable, si no, puede resultar tediosa.