Odyssey - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Background Toggle Background subsection 1.1 Dating 1.2 Composition and authorship 1.3 Influences 1.4 Geography 2 Synopsis 3 Style Toggle Style subsection 3.1 Structure 3.2 Narrative and language 4 Themes and patterns Toggle Themes and patterns subsection 4.1 Homecoming 4.2 Wandering 4.3 Guest-friendship 4.4 Testing 4.5 Omens 5 Reception Toggle Reception subsection 5.1 Pre-classical period to late antiquity 5.2 Post-classical 5.3 Early modern 5.4 Modern 6 Legacy Toggle Legacy subsection 6.1 Translations 6.2 Literature 6.3 Film and television 6.4 Opera and music 6.5 Sciences 7 Notes 8 References 9 Bibliography Toggle Bibliography subsection 9.1 Books 9.2 Journals, news and web 10 Further reading 11 External links Toggle External links subsection 11.1 The Odyssey in ancient Greek 11.2 English translations 11.3 Other resources Toggle the table of contents Odyssey 133 languages Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés अंगिका العربية مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Kotava अवधी Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Български भोजपुरी বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Brezhoneg Bosanski Català کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Zazaki Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara فارسی Suomi Võro Français Furlan Frysk Gaeilge Gàidhlig Galego गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Ido Íslenska Italiano 日本語 Patois Jawa ქართული Қазақша ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 Перем коми کٲشُر Kurdî Кыргызча Latina Lëtzebuergesch Lingua Franca Nova Ligure Lombard Lietuvių Latviešu Македонски മലയാളം Монгол मराठी Bahasa Melayu Malti မြန်မာဘာသာ مازِرونی नेपाल भाषा Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Nouormand Occitan Oromoo ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski پنجابی Português Runa Simi Română Русский ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Shqip Српски / srpski Svenska Kiswahili தமிழ் Тоҷикӣ ไทย Tagalog Tok Pisin Türkçe Татарча / tatarça Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Tiếng Việt Walon Winaray 吴语 ייִדיש 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Epic poem attributed to Homer This article is about Homer's epic poem. For other uses, see Odyssey (disambiguation). The Odyssey Attributed to Homer Oldest-known manuscript fragment of the Odyssey, produced in Ptolemaic Egypt during the 3rd century BC and unearthed in Medinet Ghoram Original title Ὀδύσσεια Translator See translations of the Odyssey or English translations Composed c. 8th century BC Language Homeric Greek Genre Epic Form Epic poem Rhyme scheme None Lines 12109 Preceded by The Iliad Metre Dactylic hexameter Full text The Odyssey at Wikisource Οδύσσεια at Greek Wikisource Trojan War Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus (Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC) Literary sources Iliad Odyssey Epic Cycle Aeneid, Book 2 Iphigenia in Aulis Philoctetes Ajax The Trojan Women Posthomerica See also: Trojan War in literature and the arts Episodes Judgement of Paris Seduction of Helen Trojan Horse Sack of Troy The Returns Wanderings of Odysseus Aeneas and the Founding of Rome Greeks and allies Agamemnon Achilles Helen Menelaus Nestor Odysseus Ajax Diomedes Patroclus Thersites Achaeans Myrmidons See also: Achaean Leaders, Catalogue of Ships Trojans and allies Priam Hecuba Hector Paris Helen Cassandra Andromache Aeneas Memnon Troilus Penthesilea and the Amazons Sarpedon Deiphobos Helenus See also: Trojan Battle Order, Trojan Leaders Participant gods Caused the war: Eris On the Greek side: Athena Hephaestus Hera Hermes Thetis Poseidon On the Trojan side: Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Leto Scamander Zeus Historicity Ahhiyawa Alaksandu Archaeology of Troy Attarsiya Hisarlık Homeric Question Late Bronze Age Troy Manapa-Tarhunta letter Milawata letter Tawagalawa letter Trojan language Wilusa See also: Historicity of the Iliad Related topics Bronze Age Collapse Euhemerism Homeric Question Mycenae Mycenaean warfare v t e The Odyssey (/ˈɒdɪsi/;[1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, romanized: Odýsseia [odýsseːa])[2] is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the ten-year-long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are killed. In Odysseus's long absence, he is presumed dead, leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to contend with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The Odyssey was first composed in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as true, but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently, as part of long oral traditions. Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed for an audience by an aoidos or rhapsode. Key themes in the epic include the ideas of nostos (νόστος; 'return', homecoming), wandering, xenia (ξενία; 'guest-friendship'), testing, and omens. Scholars discuss the narrative prominence of certain groups within the poem, such as women and slaves, who have larger roles than in other works of ancient literature. This focus is especially remarkable when contrasted with the Iliad, which centers upon 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 complete English translation of the Odyssey was in 1616. 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 literature's most enduring narrative, the Odyssey topped the list.[3] Background Dating Many suggestions have been made for dating the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but there is no consensus.[4] Robert Lamberton says that the epics "[straddled] the beginnings of widespread literacy" from the middle of the 5th century BC,[5] but the poems' language can be dated to long before this period.[6] The Greeks began adopting a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet to create their own writing system during the eighth century BC;[4] if the Homeric poems were among the earliest products of that literacy, they would have been composed towards the latter portion of that century.[7][a] According to Rudolf Pfeiffer, they were probably written down, but there is no evidence for their publishing or physical dissemination for consumption by a literate audience.[10][b] Dating is further complicated by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were performed by rhapsodes for hundreds of years.[4] Composition and authorship Further information: Homeric Question Scholars agree that the Homeric epics developed as part of an oral tradition over hundreds of years.[12] In the early twentieth century, Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated that they prominently contained the characteristics of oral poetry,[13][c] which would allow even an illiterate poet to improvise large poems,[15] composing them through speech.[13] Scholars do not agree on how the poems emerged from this tradition,[6] and it is not clear whether oral tradition can claim full credit for their composition.[16] In the nineteenth century, a series of related questions about the epics' authorship became known as the Homeric Question.[17] Sources from antiquity created mythic narratives to explain Homer.[18] Debate still persists today over many of the Homeric questions;[6] for example, concerning the compositional relationship between the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the largely lost poems of the Epic Cycle; about whether Homer lived and, if he did, when;[17] and whether the poems reflect any geographical, historical or cultural reality.[6] While Herodotus attributes the Iliad and the Odyssey to Homer,[19] other works have also historically been attributed to him, including the Homeric Hymns.[20] Textual reconstructions indicate the poems have taken many forms.[21] As feedback is an important component of live performance, the content of the poem may have varied from telling to telling.[20] This context is important for understanding and interpreting the epics;[22] John Miles Foley writes that performance is a crucial part of their meaning.[23] The performance of epic poetry is a subject of both poems, with the Odyssey actually depicting professional singers like Phemius and Demodocus.[24] Applying these in-narrative performances to modern understanding of the epics' performance might indicate that they were performed at the houses of distinguished families as part of banquets or dinners in the 2nd and early 1st millennia BC,[25][26] and that observers may have directed or participated in them.[25] They were probably recited—that is, not performed with music.[27] Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into twenty-four parts.[d] Early scholars suggested these correspond to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, but this is widely considered ahistorical.[29][e] The division was probably made long after the poem's composition but is now generally accepted as part of the poem's modern structure.[31] There are many theories as to how they arose. Some suggest they were an authentic part of the oral tradition or invented by Alexandrian scholars.[32] Pseudo-Plutarch attributed the divisions to Aristarchus of Samothrace, but there is some evidence against this.[33][34][35] Some scholars connect the epics' segmentation to the tradition of performance, for example as a creation of rhapsodes.[36][37] Both epics presuppose some knowledge of their audiences—for example, concerning the Trojan War. This strongly indicates that the epics were engaging with a pre-existing mythological tradition.[38] While the Trojan War is an important element for both, the Odyssey does not directly reference any events from the Iliad's depiction of the war,[39][f] and they are generally considered to have formed independently from one another.[41] Arguments exist for either epic having been composed first; it is not clear.[41] Influences Terracotta plaque of the Mesopotamian ogre Humbaba, believed to be a possible inspiration for the figure of Polyphemus Scholars note strong influences …