What Is The Odyssey and Why People Are Reading It Now

Homer's The Odyssey is one of the oldest surviving works of Western literature, composed around the 8th century BCE. It follows the Greek king Odysseus — known in Latin as Ulysses — on his decade-long voyage home after the fall of Troy. The poem spans 24 books and covers sea monsters, sorceresses, a visit to the underworld, and a climactic showdown with the men who have invaded Odysseus's palace and pursued his wife Penelope.

Interest in the epic surges whenever a major film, stage production, or cultural moment puts it back in the spotlight. Whatever brought you here, the good news is this: The Odyssey is far more accessible than its reputation suggests. At its core, it is an adventure story — and Homer was a masterful entertainer writing for audiences who expected excitement, vivid characters, and emotional stakes, not dry academic exercise. The same qualities that kept ancient Greek audiences riveted work just as well today.

Choosing the Right Translation

Your translation choice will make or break the experience. Here are the three most recommended options for different types of readers:

• Emily Wilson (2017, W. W. Norton) — The first complete English translation by a woman. Clear, direct, and deliberately modern without sacrificing fidelity. Her translator's note alone is worth reading before you begin. Best overall choice for first-time readers. Widely available in print, e-book, and audiobook.
• Robert Fagles (1996, Penguin Classics) — Energetic, cinematic verse. More poetic than Wilson but still highly readable. A good pick if you want something with a stronger literary cadence. The introduction by Bernard Knox is excellent background reading.
• Richmond Lattimore (1965) — The scholarly standard. Closest to Homer's Greek meter and word-for-word meaning. Recommended for students writing academic papers or readers who want the most faithful experience, but harder going for casual readers encountering Homer for the first time.

Avoid very old public-domain translations (Alexander Pope's ornate 18th-century version, for example) unless you specifically enjoy archaic English — they create unnecessary distance from the story. If budget is a concern, free public-domain translations are available at Project Gutenberg, though modern translations are worth the modest cost.

Understanding the Structure Before You Start

The Odyssey has 24 books. Knowing this structural skeleton before you begin prevents disorientation when the first four books seem to leave the main hero entirely offscreen.

• Books 1–4 (The Telemachy): The poem opens not with Odysseus but with his son Telemachus, who travels to find news of his father. This section establishes the political chaos back home in Ithaca — the suitors consuming the palace, Penelope stalling for time.
• Books 5–8: We finally meet Odysseus, stranded on the island of the nymph Calypso. He escapes and washes up on the island of the Phaeacians, where he is offered hospitality and an audience.
• Books 9–12 (The Adventures): The most famous section. Odysseus recounts his past adventures in a long first-person flashback — the Cyclops Polyphemus, the witch Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the land of the dead. These are told to the Phaeacians, not shown in real time.
• Books 13–24 (The Return): Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca in disguise, reunites cautiously with his son, and sets about reclaiming his home, his wife, and his kingdom from the suitors who have taken over.

The structure is deliberate and elegant. Homer keeps you waiting for the reunion the whole time, building tension across all 24 books. Once you know the shape, each section lands with more force.

A Step-by-Step Reading Strategy

Follow these steps for the smoothest, most enjoyable reading experience:

1. Read a one-page synopsis of all 24 books before you start. Spoilers do not hurt an ancient epic — knowing where the story goes actually helps you appreciate Homer's craft rather than scrambling to follow plot. Wikipedia's book-by-book summary works perfectly for this purpose.
2. Read one to two books per session. Each book runs roughly 8–15 pages in a modern translation. One book per day gets you through the whole poem in 24 days. Two books per sitting finishes it in under two weeks. Don't try to read it in one or two marathon sessions — the poem rewards reflection between readings.
3. Keep a simple character list. Write down names as you encounter them. The gods (Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Hermes, Calypso, Circe) plus key mortals (Penelope, Telemachus, and the suitor leaders Antinous and Eurymachus) cover most of what you need to track. Odysseus's crew members come and go; don't stress about memorizing every name.
4. Read through repeated epithets without pausing. Phrases like much-enduring Odysseus or grey-eyed Athena appear throughout. They originate in the oral tradition — Homer's original audiences heard these as rhythmic placeholders. Read them as natural description and move on rather than stopping to analyze each recurrence.
5. After Books 9–12, pause and reflect before continuing. These are the adventures everyone knows — the Cyclops, the Sirens. Spend five minutes noting which episode surprised you most before moving into the return narrative. This keeps the final act, which is more domestic than adventurous, from feeling like a letdown after the spectacular middle section.

Key Themes to Track as You Read

Watching for these four threads transforms a good reading into a genuinely memorable one:

• Xenia (guest-friendship): The Greeks had a sacred obligation to welcome strangers, provide food, offer a place to sleep, and ask questions only after hospitality had been extended. Almost every episode in The Odyssey is a hospitality test — who is a good host? Who violates the code? The suitors' systematic abuse of Odysseus's household is what makes their eventual fate feel just rather than merely violent.
• Cunning versus brute strength: Odysseus is not the strongest hero of the Trojan War — that was Achilles. Odysseus wins through intelligence, disguise, and deception. Notice how often he solves problems by constructing a story rather than fighting his way out. His defining trait is polytropos — many-minded, many-turning — the very first word of the poem in Greek.
• Identity and disguise: Odysseus spends much of the second half in disguise as a beggar. Pay attention to the moments when characters recognize him or deliberately choose not to — Penelope's behavior in particular rewards careful reading. Who knows who, and when, and why they wait to act on that knowledge?
• The role of the gods: Athena actively assists Odysseus while Poseidon relentlessly obstructs him. The gods do not simply control events — they argue, negotiate, and work around each other's agendas. This makes the divine dimension dramatically interesting rather than mechanically deterministic.

Free and Low-Cost Resources to Deepen the Experience

You don't need anything beyond the book itself, but these resources add genuine value at low or no cost:

• SparkNotes or CliffsNotes chapter summaries: Use these after reading each book to confirm your understanding, not instead of reading. They're useful for checking whether you tracked the key events correctly.
• The Emily Wilson audiobook: Read by Clare Higgins, available on Audible and through most library apps via Libby. Listening while following the text is a powerful combination — you hear the poem's rhythm even in translation. This is especially effective for Books 9–12.
• Yale Open Courses on ancient Greece: Professor Donald Kagan's lectures on ancient Greek history are freely available on YouTube. Watching one or two episodes gives you the cultural and political context that makes the poem's obsession with hospitality, honor, and homecoming feel fully grounded.
• Academic articles via JSTOR: For readers writing papers or wanting serious depth, JSTOR provides thousands of peer-reviewed articles on Homer. Many are freely accessible with a free account. Search for Emily Wilson's critical essays on translation choices for particularly illuminating material.

What to Read Next After Finishing The Odyssey

Finishing The Odyssey opens several natural next steps depending on what drew you in most:

• Homer's Iliad: The war that preceded Odysseus's voyage. More intense and militaristic, centered on Achilles and the costs of heroic pride. Fagles' translation is consistently excellent here too. Reading it after The Odyssey works just as well as reading it first — you'll recognize references immediately.
• Virgil's Aeneid: Rome's deliberate answer to Homer. Follows Aeneas, a Trojan refugee, as he founds the civilization that becomes Rome. It responds directly to both Homeric epics and rewards reading in close conversation with them.
• Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad (2005): A slim, sharp retelling from Penelope's perspective. Takes about three hours to read and completely reframes events you just experienced. One of the best entry points into modern mythological fiction.
• Madeline Miller's Circe (2018): A novel expanding the sorceress Circe into a full, complex protagonist. Beautifully written and widely beloved by readers who came to Greek mythology through The Odyssey.

The real payoff of reading Homer is how much of Western storytelling suddenly becomes legible. James Joyce's Ulysses, the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the hero's journey structure in virtually every modern film — all of it flows directly from the poem you just read. The Odyssey is not a relic. It is the template.