Odyssey: A Reader’s Guide to Homer’s Epic

The Odyssey is an epic poem in 24 books traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. The poem is the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanders for 10 years (although the action of the poem covers only the final six weeks) trying to get home after the Trojan War. On his return, he is recognized only by his faithful dog and a nurse. With the help of his son, Telemachus, Odysseus destroys the insistent suitors of his faithful wife, Penelope, and several of her maids who had fraternized with the suitors and reestablishes himself in his kingdom.

Epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey emerged from an oral tradition in which poets, or bards, performed epic narratives before audiences, with fixed written texts appearing much later. The written texts employed various literary devices such as formulaic epithets and repetition which helped performers memorize the poem and adapt during their recitation. For centuries, Homeric epics formed part of the educational foundation of the Greek world throughout the classical age and helped shape a broader Panhellenic cultural identity.

Plot summary

The Odyssey does not follow a linear chronology. The reader begins in the middle of the tale, learning about previous events only through Odysseus’s retelling. The first four books set the scene in Ithaca. Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, and their young son, Telemachus, are powerless before her arrogant suitors as they despair of Odysseus’s return from the siege of Troy. Telemachus is searching for news of his father, who has not been heard from since he left for war nearly 20 years earlier. He journeys secretly to the Peloponnese and seeks out two men who fought with Odysseus in the war at Troy, Nestor and Menelaus, and discovers that his father is indeed still alive.

The second four books (V–VIII) introduce the main character, Odysseus, as he is being released from captivity by the nymph Calypso on the island of Ogygia. He suffers a shipwreck and lands on the shore of Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, where he is welcomed by the princess Nausicaa and later received hospitably at the court of her father, King Alcinous. In Books IX–XII Odysseus tells the Phaeacians of the harrowing journey he and his crew endured as they tried to find their way home—including their encounters with the Lotus-Eaters, Laestrygonians, and the sorceress Circe, their visit to the underworld to consult the prophet Tiresias, their narrow escape from the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, their ordeal navigating between Scylla and Charybdis, the disastrous slaughter of the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios by Odysseus’s companions, and the final shipwreck in which Odysseus is washed ashore on Ogygia alone.

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Finally, Books XIII–XXIV, the second half of the poem, find Odysseus back in Ithaca, facing unexpected obstacles and danger. He meets with his protector-goddess Athena and reveals himself first to his faithful swineherd Eumaeus and then to Telemachus before developing a complicated plan to dispose of the suitors. During Odysseus’s absence, Penelope resisted the importuning of more than a hundred suitors—who have stayed in Odysseus’s house, eating, drinking, and carousing while waiting for her to decide among them. To avoid choosing a new husband, Penelope famously promises to decide once she has finished weaving a funeral shroud for Odysseus’s father, Laertes, but secretly unravels her work each night. In order to reunite with his wife, Odysseus kills them all, with the aid of Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Philoetius (a servant and cowherd), after successfully stringing his great bow in a contest that none of the suitors can complete. He finally proves his identity to Penelope through his knowledge of their marriage bed, which he had fashioned from a living olive tree.

Major themes: Nostos, xenia, and more

The Odyssey explores a wide range of themes—many of which are introduced in the first book—that reflect social values, religious beliefs, and cultural ideals of ancient Greece. Through Odysseus’s journey home, the poem examines concepts such as hospitality, loyalty, and more. One of the key themes of the epic is nostos, or homecoming. After years of conflict and displacement during the Trojan War, Odysseus and his companions set out together on their journey home from Troy, though he ultimately turns out to be the sole survivor. In Book I, Athena and her father, Zeus, agree that the time has come for Odysseus to be released from Calypso’s island so that he may resume his return to Ithaca. His difficult and prolonged homecoming is often contrasted with that of the Greek hero Agamemnon, who returns home swiftly from Troy only to be murdered upon his arrival. Unlike Agamemnon, Odysseus must suffer a long struggle not only to reach home but also to restore order to his household, reclaim his identity and kingship, and reunite with his family. During the course of Odysseus’s journey, the two heroes meet in the underworld, where Agamemnon warns Odysseus to act cautiously upon reaching home, advice that proves crucial when Odysseus finally arrives in Ithaca.

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Xenia, hospitality or guest-friendship, is also central to the plot of the Odyssey. This ancient Greek code that governed relationships between guests and hosts is said to have been a moral obligation protected by Zeus. Throughout Odysseus’s journey, characters are judged by how they treat visitors and outsiders. The Phaeacians generously welcome Odysseus, offer him food, entertainment, and gifts, and ultimately help him continue his journey. Similarly, the swineherd Eumaeus shows kindness to the disguised Odysseus before recognizing his identity. Telemachus, too, is received graciously by Nestor and Menelaus when he visits them in search of Odysseus. However, there are those who violate and abuse this principle. The Cyclops Polyphemus attacks and eats his guests, while the suitors in Ithaca exploit Odysseus’s household by overstaying their welcome and consuming his wealth. Their eventual punishment reinforces the poem’s idea that respect for hospitality was essential to moral and social order in ancient Greek society.

Some of the other themes explored in the Odyssey include loyalty, divine intervention, divine justice, and human responsibility. Loyalty is exemplified by Penelope’s unwavering fidelity toward her husband during his 20-year absence, Odysseus’s determination to return to his family despite numerous troubles, and the faithfulness of the household staff such as Eumaeus and Philoetius, who remain devoted to their absent king. The poem also highlights the role that gods often play in human lives. Zeus orders Calypso to release Odysseus from her island so that his journey home may continue, and while Athena assists the hero time and again, an enraged Poseidon places hurdles in his way. However, the epic also suggests that humans are responsible for their own actions. Early in the poem Zeus complains that people often blame the gods for their sufferings, even when these are consequences of their own choices. This idea is reinforced through the theme of divine justice—those who violate moral and social norms of their own free will are the ones who ultimately face punishment. The suitors are killed for their prolonged abuse of Odysseus’s household and hospitality, while Aegisthus, who murdered Agamemnon and took his wife, is slain by Agamemnon’s son Orestes.

Composition and early translations

Scholars date the writing of the Odyssey to about 725–675 bce. The poem was intended for oral performance. It was composed of 12,109 lines written in dactylic hexameter (sometimes referred to as “Homeric hexameter”)—that is, each line consisted of six feet, or metrical units, and each foot consisted of a dactyl (a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables). The original work may not have been constructed into the 24 books known to the contemporary reader, and the parts were certainly not in codex form. In the ancient world, the poem was likely written in columns on rolls made from papyrus, or possibly some kind of animal skin (such as vellum and parchment). Given its extraordinary length, the poem may have actually occupied 24 individual rolls. Homer’s role in the writing of the poem and whether he was literate have been a source for rich scholarly debate, commonly referred to as the “Homeric Question.”

Until the 15th century all volumes of the Odyssey in circulation were in handwritten Greek. In 1488 the first printed version (still in Greek) was produced in Florence. The earliest vernacular translations of the Odyssey from its original Ionic Greek dialect began to appear in Europe during the 16th century. Applying the ancient Greek meter to contemporary vernaculars, especially to words meant to be spoken aloud rather than read privately, posed a particular challenge, forcing translators to add and invent words in order to make the meter work. Some have translated it into prose and some into verse.