L'Odyssee

This article is about Homers epic poem. For other uses see
Odyssey (disambiguation). Homers Odyssey redirects here.
For The Simpsons episode see Homers Odyssey (The
Simpsons). Odyssey by Homer 15th-century manuscript of
Book I written by scribe John Rhosos (British Museum)
" Written
" Genre(s)
" English
text The Odyssey at Wikisource The Odyssey (/??d?si/;[1]
Ancient Greek: ???????? romanized: Od?sseia)[2][3] is one
of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.
It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still
widely read by modern audiences. As with the Iliad the
poem is divided into 24 books. It follows the Greek hero
Odysseus king of Ithaca and his journey home after the
Trojan War. After the war which lasted ten years his
journey from Troy to Ithaca via Africa and southern Europe
lasted for ten additional years during which time he
encountered many perils and all of his crewmates were
killed. In his absence Odysseus was assumed dead and his
wife Penelope and son Telemachus had to contend with a
group of unruly suitors who were competing for Penelopes
hand in marriage. The Odyssey was originally composed in
Homeric Greek in around the 8th or 7th century BC and by
the mid-6th century BC had become part of the Greek
literary canon. In antiquity Homers authorship of the poem
was not questioned but contemporary scholarship
predominantly assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were
composed independently and that the stories formed as part
of a long oral tradition. Given widespread illiteracy the
poem was performed by an aoidos or rhapsode and was more
likely to be heard than read. Crucial themes in the poem
include the ideas of nostos (??????; return) wandering
xenia (?????; guest-friendship) testing and omens.
Scholars still reflect on the narrative significance of
certain groups in the poem such as women and slaves who
have a more prominent role in the epic than in many 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 literatures most enduring
narrative the Odyssey topped the list.[4]