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    The Illustrated Odyssey
    The Illustrated Odyssey
    The Illustrated Odyssey
    Ebook494 pages7 hours

    The Illustrated Odyssey

    By Homer

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy…
     
    So starts Homer’s The Odyssey, the classic account of the Greek hero Odysseus and his ten-year journey home, following the glories and horrors of the Trojan War as recounted in The Illiad. In this prose retelling of Homer’s epic poem, we follow Homer and his shipmates as they weather one danger after another, from the sorceress Circe to the one-eyed Cyclops, and the six-headed monster Scylla.
     
    Replete with classic drawings and colorful illustrations, this beautiful new edition of The Odyssey is just as gripping to read now as when it was first told to rapt Greek audiences 2,500 years ago.
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFall River Press
    Release dateSep 26, 2018
    ISBN9781435166738
    The Illustrated Odyssey
    Author

    Homer

    Although recognized as one of the greatest ancient Greek poets, the life and figure of Homer remains shrouded in mystery. Credited with the authorship of the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, Homer, if he existed, is believed to have lived during the ninth century BC, and has been identified variously as a Babylonian, an Ithacan, or an Ionian. Regardless of his citizenship, Homer’s poems and speeches played a key role in shaping Greek culture, and Homeric studies remains one of the oldest continuous areas of scholarship, reaching from antiquity through to modern times.

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    Reviews for The Illustrated Odyssey

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      I love Emily Wilson's translation. It feels direct, letting the poet speak in my language. Where the story feels archaic, it is because of the story, not a layer of translation.

      The introduction is really useful for understanding the story. Long, but worth it.

      The last paragraph of the introduction is this invitation to the reader. Read this for her writing style but also for her approach to the book. The Odyssey is a book of hospitality and stories. Listen carefully.


      There is a stranger outside your house. He is old ragged, and dirty. He is tired. He has been wandering, homeless, for a long time, perhaps many years. Invite him inside. You do not know his name. He may be a thief. He may be a murderer. He may be a god. He may remind your of your husband, your father, or yourself. Do not ask questions. Wait. Let him him sit on a comfortable chair and warm himself beside your fire. Bring him some food, the best you have, and some wine. Let him eat and drink until he is satisfied. Be patient. When he is finished, he will tell you his story. Listen carefully. It may not be as you expect.
    • 4/5
      To atone for missing my Shakespeare last summer I tackled the mighty Odyssey...just kidding, it's actually something I've wanted to read for a very long time, especially since I was ripped off in high school by just being made to watch the atrocious 1990s TV show. Ugh.

      I'm so, so lucky to have had this version to read. Wilson's comprehensive introduction (which, I'll admit, made me groan internally until it started flying by) explains what makes her translation distinct from those before it: not just the iambic pentameter and familiar language, but the reexamination of translations long taken for granted. "A translator has a responsibility to acknowledge her own agency and to wrestle, in explicit and conscious ways, not only with the multiple meanings of the original in its own culture but also with what her own text may mean, and the effects it may have on its readers" (p. 88).

      Me being me, I most appreciated Wilson's dedication to being frank about slavery's prevalence and looking for nuance rather than modern stereotype in the depiction of women. She gives a few examples of how past translators have chosen to filter their own vision of Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, and others through their own cultural lenses, and states clearly where she has done the same rather than pretending she has produced an "exact" translation. It would be fascinating to have read an older translation side-by-side with this one.

      Now I'm itching to dip my toes into The Iliad, which I also haven't read.


      Quote Roundup
      These are a bit irreverent, since I was already familiar with many of the plot basics just by cultural osmosis.

      12:391-393: The gods sent signs--the hides began to twitch,
      the meat on skewers started mooing,
      raw and cooked. There was the sound of cattle lowing.
      If that isn't enough to make you vegetarian, I don't know what is!

      12:420-424: The waves bore off
      the husk [the hull of the ship] and snapped the mast. But thrown across it
      there was a backstay cable, oxhide leather.
      With this I lashed the keel and mast together,
      and rode them, carried on by fearsome winds.
      Odysseus invents windsurfing.

      19:14: Weapons themselves can tempt a man to fight.
      Apparently having a sword in the house increases the likelihood of death by sword. Hm. Why does that sound familiar? Oh, and it gets said three different times in three different ways. The ancient Greeks could clearly teach us a thing or two about weapons control...

      19:573-580
      I never knew that Penelope came up with the contest with the battle axes instead of "Clever" Odysseus.

      23:228-300: And when
      the couple had enjoyed their lovemaking,
      they shared another pleasure--telling stories.
      How many lit nerds over the years have loved this line?

      As a final note, The Odyssey goes down with Pride and Prejudice as having one of the most anticlimactic last lines in classic literature. Ah well, you can't have everything, can you?
    • 4/5
      The Mitchell translationStephen Mitchell is a translator of poetry rather than an academic classicist, and I was hoping that might be a good qualification for a readable version of the Odyssey: in practice, I wasn't disappointed by his effort, but I wasn't blown away, either. He doesn't really seem to pull anything out of the text that wasn't there in earlier versions, but he does achieve a reasonably consistent, agreeable style that isn't constantly reminding you that it is a translation. He adopts a kind of compromise between prose and verse, a pentameter that uses everything it can find in the metrical toolbox apart from iambs, and thus doesn't really sound like English verse at all, unless you listen very carefully. It's often even more homely and prosaic than Rieu's prose — an effect that is enhanced by Mitchell's decision to ignore the poet's use of fixed epithets, which he treats as mere metrical stuffing. But you do get the feeling that Mitchell must have had Rieu's translation in the back of his mind as he worked: where there's no obvious reason not to, he often uses very similar expressions.They came at last to the banks of a beautiful stream,where the washing basins were always filled with clear waterwelling up through them, to clean the dirtiest clothes.Here they unyoked the mules from the wagon and sent themalong the stream to graze on the rich, sweet clover,then lifted the clothes from the wagon and carried them downinto the basins, and each girl began to tread them,making a game to see who could finish first.Mitchell, from Book 6 In due course they reached the noble river with its never-failing pools, in which there was enough clear water always bubbling up and swirling by to clean the dirtiest clothes. Here they turned the mules loose from under the yoke and drove them along the eddying stream to graze on the sweet grass. Then they lifted the clothes by armfuls from the cart, dropped them into the dark water and trod them down briskly in the troughs, competing with each other in the work. E V Rieu, same passage from Book 6 The text itselfWhat you forget when you haven't read a work through for a long time is how it hangs together: the proportions and the sequence in which the story is told are often different from what you recall. I was taken by surprise by the way the foreground story takes place within a very tight timeframe of a few weeks at the end of Odysseus's long journey, whilst most of his earlier adventures are told very compactly in a story-within-a-story section where he is explaining himself to Nausicaa's father Alcinous. Odysseus's arrival in Ithaca and his revenge on the suitors, on the other hand, take up much more of the book than I remembered. I'd also forgotten what an obsessive quick-change artist Athena is in the story: she slips into and out of more disguises than even Sherlock Holmes can manage in one book. It seems a little pointless, since we always know it's her, and Odysseus and Telemachus soon get to recognise the signs as well.It's a marvellous story, of course, in a lot of ways, but it's interesting that it's very much a celebration of the value of peaceful domesticity, which is constantly regretting the human loss and material damage that go together with high adventure. Even the ghost of Achilles tells us that it's better to be alive as a serf than to be the most glorious of dead heroes. Of course, it does end with rather more brutal slaughter than most of us would wish to inflict upon even the most recalcitrant of uninvited guests, but even there the poet makes Odysseus stop and protest to the goddess a couple of times before he actually starts shooting his visitors.
    • 4/5
      As with The Iliad, I find myself once again shocked at the disparity between what I remember reading forty years ago in high school, and what actually transpires.

      For instance, I would have bet a lot of money that the death of Achilles and the entire Trojan Horse thing were both detailed toward the end of The Iliad. Obviously, I know now that I would have been wrong and would have paid out a lot of money.

      Similarly, after completing that book, I seemed to have remembered that no, those two scenes were near the beginning of The Odyssey, perhaps in the first two or three books (of the 24 in total), then all but the last book or two (so, maybe 19 or 20 books) would have detailed Odysseus' long trip home. And I would have sworn he left Troy and all the various delays totalled to another decade before he got home. And that he basically burst in just after his wife Penelope offered up the whole string-my-husband's-bow-and-shoot-an-arrow-through-a-dozen-ax-heads thing.

      So...no death of Achilles scene—though we do meet up with him later on in Hades—and the Trojan Horse deal gets a very brief mention. But Odysseus spends most of that decade hanging with Calypso, and only spends three years getting home.

      My god, no wonder humans are such lousy witnesses. I was so off on all of this.

      As for the actual story itself, it was good, and I enjoyed reacquainting myself with the adventures of Odysseus, but overall, I found this one to be much more repetitious (I think we get Penelope's story of weaving a shroud by day and unspooling it by night at least three times), and overall a little less fun. Maybe it was the lack of shenanigans by all the gods, with only Calypso, Poseidon, and Athena getting any significant air time.

      I still believe both these books are an essential read, and I will be also diving into Virgil's The Aenied...and might even follow that up with Beowulf. Have a bit of a taste for these epic tales right now.
    • 5/5
      Astounding. I've never read a translation like it.
    • 2/5
      I thought it was not pertinent.You can maybe dredge up 1-point to this read.If this was a 10-star rating system I'd perhaps score this title 5 out of 10 stars.It's a common classic.
    • 4/5
      I've really enjoyed Emily Wilson's various Twitter threads over the years comparing different translations from this epic, so I finally took the time to read her full translation. I did so carefully, reading just one book per day so as to make sure I took the time to let each word matter. Hers is an excellent interpretation, to my ear, anyway. 
    • 4/5
      I read this a long time ago and I remember liking it. It is definitely a classic
    • 5/5
      It's the Odyssey; you should probably read it. Fitzgerald's version is very readable, and not particularly scholarly, so it's ideal for actually reading. I doubt it's much use if you're looking for a trot to read alongside the Greek, but since I don't know Greek... well, it suits my purposes.

      Everyone who reads the thing seems to have an idea about the *one thing* the book is about, which is ridiculous, since even in translation you can see that it's a bunch of different stories stitched together with some cosmetic cover-up. Nonetheless, I have a theory for what one thing the book is about: the tragedy of hospitality. The moral code* is stressed throughout the book--be good to travelers and guests. Sometimes it's rationalized ("the guest might be a god!" or "Zeus orders it!"), and sometime not. But the big actions of the poem are all tied to being good to guests, and how it's just not actually possible. The two conclusions are Odysseus and crew slaughtering the suitors who, I will somewhat tendentiously argue, are guests; and the Phaeacians deciding that they have to place limits to their own kindness to guests. In other words, just as the Oresteia ends by 'resolving' the problem of mob-justice and revenge by setting up a formal judicial system, the Odyssey ends by resolving the problem of 'unwritten' laws of hospitality, by authorizing a weakening of them. I could really go out on a limb and say this is the ultimate end of the Trojan war: everyone is much more suspicious of everyone else, because too many people have abused social norms of kindness.

      I don't expect anyone to actually buy that, but I had fun coming up with the theory.


      * People like to say that Homer doesn't have morality the way 'we' have morality, because that makes them feel like a cool and revolutionary Nietzschean teenager. It is nonsense. If anything, the moral code presented in Homer is far more restrictive than that presented in, e.g., Dante, for the simple reason that the code in Homer is highly socialized, whereas that in Dante is entirely individual. There's no suggestion in Dante that doing wrong will bring down on you the wrath of other humans, which means you're free to go on being evil and take your chances on the afterlife. In Homer, people who do bad things suffer social consequences in this life. Okay, I'm overstating matters out of belligerence.
    • 5/5
      The Robert Fitzgerald translation of The Odyssey was my first introduction to Homer, way back in my freshman high school days, and although my study of ancient Greek in college led me to the opinion that his work is not the best Homeric translation available - see my review of The Iliad for more details about my devotion to Richmond Lattimore - it retains a special place in my heart. I can still recall how magical I found the story of Odysseus' homeward journey, after the Trojan War, the excitement of his many adventures, the terror of the many monsters he encountered. I still recall the thrill I felt, reading of Penelope's stratagems, and Odysseus' disguised return...Homer's two epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, are definitely works that I think every reader with an interest in the development of European literature should read, at some point. I feel fortunate indeed to have read one of them (The Iliad) in the original, but for those many who do not have that chance, the issue of translation is an important one. As mentioned, the Fitzgerald has a special place in my literary memory, and I find it a beautiful work, judged upon its own merit as poetry. English-language readers could do far, far worse than to pick it up. Fagles, I understand, is also widely (and justly) praised, although I have only read his translation of The Iiad. My own vote, for best translator, goes to Lattimore, and I think those readers wanting to get a translation as close to the original as possible, in both sense and structure, should give him a try. Still, this one by Fitzgerald will always pull at my heartstrings...
    • 5/5
      a wonderful New translation in meter, so it flows and reads like a song without overly flowery verse, and deep insight into what the Greek poets meant without distortion of a later morality and cultural lens. a joy to read.
    • 4/5
      A re-read of classic literature. In this sequel to the Iliad, Homer continues with the adventures of Odysseus in the Odyssey. Maybe it was the 4 years of Latin I took in high school but this never gets old.
    • 4/5
      This feels like a book that needs two distinct reviews.

      First, Emily Wilson's translation, which is wonderful. Just as Heaney moved Beowulf from "worthy work" to a fun read, Wilson's made The Odyssey eminently readable, while keeping it a formally structured long poem and apparently sticking scrupulously to the pacing of the original Greek. I had started reading other translations of this work but never actually finished them, so I'm delighted that this one now exists. And the maps, introduction, footnotes and dramatis personae all helped me follow a work that's heavy on reference and allusion.

      But I have to say I didn't get on very well with the content. Some of it is delightful, from learning that Greeks have appreciated wine, olive oil and the sea for longer than much of the world's had written records, to all the descriptions that weren't about Odysseus himself. But there's a degree of repetitiveness to the language that grated--Wilson's introduction explains why it was so in a work written to be performed but it still took away from my experience of reading this as written text--a few too many passages that consist of just listing characters from other Greek myths to the point that they felt like the Torah's "begats", and by the end I found the character of Odysseus dislikable enough to not care about his fortunes.

      I'm still glad to have read this. I didn't get anywhere near the exposure to Greek mythology that US schools seem to give, so much of the story was either new to me or connected dots that I'd picked up scattershot from English literature referencing them. And I have to say that I'm re-reading the Torah this year, which seems to be of approximately the same age, and found The Odyssey so much more sophisticated and compelling as a work of literature. But I can't exactly say that I _like_ this story.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful translation, easy to read and to understand. But thank goodness for the intro.Hard to believe but I've never read this before. And rather than get lost in the lengthy introduction, I jumped ahead and just began the tale itself. It was hard to put down and I sped right through it, but by the end I was thinking, "Boy, these people were weird", so thank goodness for that intro, which I started after finishing the main work. One of the first things mentioned is that no one in the ancient world, at any time, acted or spoke like these people. So that was one question answered.
    • 5/5
      Wilson's translation of the Odyssey is excellent, but the real value is her introductory material and notes, including the three maps of the world of The Odyssey and of the actual classical Greek world. As for the translation, my Greek is not adequate to comment but it reads very well, lively and yet true to the Homeric conventions. The pace is brisker than that of the archaic translations I have previously read, and more like contemporary English than some of the more modern. I even found myself sympathizing with different characters as I read. And I noticed some character development, in Telemachus, for example.
    • 5/5
      One of the single greatest books, EVER. Written.!!! !!! !!!

      #paganism_101
    • 4/5
      I had attempted to read The Odyssey once before and failed miserably. Since then I've learned just how important the translator is when choosing to read ancient classics. I'm happy that I found a different translation to try which made this a much more enjoyable and engaging read. Given that the story comes from a time of oral tradition I decided to try out the audio book, which I think was the right idea but the wrong narrator for me. More on that below.For anyone who doesn't know, The Odyssey was written by Homer somewhere around 800 BC. The epic poem relates the story of Odysseus and his trials on his return journey home after the Trojan war. For such a simple premise, the scope is vast. It has a little bit of everything (magic, monsters, gods, suitors, shipwrecks, action) and touches on so many themes (violence and the aftermath of war, poverty, wealth, marriage and family, betrayal, yearning for ones home, hospitality) that is is easy to see why this poem is so important and how it has inspired many stories to this day. One of the best and worst parts about this version was the introduction to the poem. The intro goes into great detail about the controversies about the poem's origins and dives deeply into the poem's many themes. This was great for someone who already knows the story and wants to learn more before getting into Odysseus's tale. For those that don't like spoilers, it's best if you skip the introduction and read/listen to it after you're done with the poem. Fair warning for audio book listeners - the introduction is roughly 3.5 hours long and I was definitely getting impatient to hear the poem long before it was done.I listened to the audio book narrated by Claire Danes. This has really driven home that I need to listen to a sample of the narrator before choosing my audio books. Claire does an adequate job when reading the descriptive paragraphs but just didn't work for me when it came to dialog. All her characters, male and female, sounded the same and were a bit over done so it was a challenge to keep who was speaking apart. She is going on my avoid list for future audio books.
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable. I also loved listening on a Playaway, because, as my friends know, being able to read a book and knit, or fold clothes, or sew, or work in the yard is just bliss.If you haven't read this since high school or college, give it a whirl. It's worth the time. I think listening would be much easier given the style.
    • 5/5
      The Odyssey is well worth reading not only to experience a story that has so heavily influenced Western literature, but also because, as appalling of a hero as Odysseus may be, it's a fun story. In all its extravagance, it set the standard for epic adventures.I cannot recommend Emily Wilson's translation enough. It is beautiful and fluid. She maintains a poetic rhythm yet the language is modern and clear. It's worth the extra time to read it out loud so you can truly savor the language for both its flow and the way it captures the sentiments of the characters.For those with several Odysseys under their belt, I would still recommend this version, if for no other reason than to read her introduction. Her analysis of the story is brilliant.
    • 3/5
      This was a book I decided to tackle with audiobook and I thought it came across better listening to a narrator. Will give the Iliad go to. ?
    • 3/5
      A soldier returns home ten years later than expected.2.5/4 (Okay).There are some really good parts near the end. Most of the book is tedious.
    • 5/5
      What a glorious story and a thoroughly enjoyable translation. My only quibble with the translation is using the term 'Greeks' instead of Hellenes (as the 'Greeks' called themselves) since in all otherand sometimes very compex names she kept to the original, e.g. Odysseus instead of Ulysses. Have to say that the final page was a bit disappointing, the story just ended quite abruptly without the intensity and build up of the other adventures. That aside, this 3000 + year old story was superb on so many levels, beautiful poetic language and description, an exciting adventure story, iconic moments like with Odysseus' dog, insights into very ancient societies' mores and values --thoroughly misogynistic by the way. From the various inconsistencies and differences in style -- like the final scene -- I think it is pretty obvious that there was not just one narrator (Homer), but various retellings in the oral tradition. Actually, while I ostensibly 'read' this book, I was more or less 'hearing' the story, reading the poetry slowly and aloud in my head. This book was a great experience.
    • 5/5
      Emily Wilson clearly demonstrates that translation of a classic can stand on its own as a work of art. It falls for me how an Ansel Adams photograph of a landscape stands on its own as a work of art. The readability makes the story follow along and seem lively even as far you know not only the outcome but the details. One measure of a classic is the pleasure found in revisiting it. That is certainly true with this engaging transition.Many questions are asked and addressed in the Odyssey: 1) can a warrior return home after war; 2) will it be the same home and will be be accepted as the same person; 3) how should the warrior shoulder the experiences of war and the challenges of returning home; 4) how does the warrior introduce the person he has become to his home? Each reader will have their own version of these questions and more and the answers will be kaleidoscopic which is what makes the reading and re reading interesting. Wilson's translation is a great one for a modern reader to be introduced to the Odyssey. The today at the end as to the depth and helps the reader to keep their feet.
    • 4/5
      I have only ever read a junior version of The Odyssey (in fourth grade) but am familiar with the story and the characters. I was inspired to read it now after finishing Madeline Miller's Circe. This version of the story is told in paragraphs, not verses, which probably worked better for me. The language is still in convoluted form and I had to pay close attention and reread some sentences to get them straight.
    • 5/5
      This very accessible translation definitely stands up to the hype. My perpetual secondary interest in the Odyssey has been as a skeleton key to Joyce's Ulysses. In this respect the episodic correspondences are crystal clear. Homer's time warping between comic book action sequences and epic scale events are preserved. Doesnt shy from foregrounding slavery for what it was and underscores the question of how many should suffer/die for one great man's return home.
    • 5/5
      **MY COVER IS DIFFERENT** I couldn't find the Oxford University Press's edition (hardcover)My Review:This version:Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William AllanSeries : Oxford World’s ClassicsOxford University Press‘Tell me, Muse, of the man of many turns, who was drivenfar and wide after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy’Synopsis:Twenty years after setting out to fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus is yet to return home to Ithaca. His household is in disarray: a horde of over 100 disorderly and arrogant suitors are vying to claim Odysseus’ wife Penelope, and his young son Telemachus is powerless to stop them. Meanwhile, Odysseus is driven beyond the limits of the known world, encountering countless divine and earthly challenges. But Odysseus is “of many wiles” and his cunning and bravery eventually lead him home, to reclaim both his family and his kingdom.The Odyssey rivals the Iliad as the greatest poem of Western culture and is perhaps the most influential text of classical literature. This elegant and compelling new translation is accompanied by a full introduction and notes that guide the reader in understanding the poem and the many different contexts in which it was performed and read.Readership : Readers interested in classical literature, epic, myth, Homer; students of classics, ancient history, archaeology, English literature and other modern European literature, comparative literature, philosophy, oriental studies, anthropology, war literature.MY THOUGHTS:There are many translated editions out there. This is a newer one. I received this book from Oxford University Press in exchange for my honest review. The copy I received is a hardcover (no book jacket), with a plain but gorgeous pic on the front and the title and author below it. On the back is the quote written above. All are yellow on a linen, dark cover, with inside yellow cover pages.Anthony Verity was Master of Dulwich College before his retirement. His previous translations include “Theocritus, The Idylls (2002), Pindar, The Complete Odes (2007), and Homer, The Iliad (2011).William Allan is McConnell Laing Fellow and Tutor in Classical Languages and Literature at University College, Oxford. His previous publications include “The Adromache” and “Euripedean Tragedy” (2000), “Euripedes: The Children of Heracles” (2001), “Euripides: Medea” (2002), “Euripedes: Helen” (2008), “Homer: The Iliad” (2002), and “Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction” (2014).The epic mythological journey of the son of Laertes and Anticlea, Odysseus, takes place following the conquering of the city of Troy using a masterful plan including a wooden Trojan Horse. The journey home to Ithaca takes ten years. Odysseus faces many trials along the way that include: escaping imprisonment by Calypso on Ogygia, battling Cyclops and traveling and living through a journey to Hades, living through the wrath of Neptune at sea and more. During this time, his wife, Penelope, faithfully waits for his return, not knowing if he’s even still alive. She is overwhelmed with suitors, each trying to win the hand of Odysseus’s wife. She resists in a truly epic way. Too bad he didn’t return the gesture.He manages to return home with help from Hermes, Zeus, and his son Telemachus, who thought his father still alive and had set out on a quest of his own to locate Odysseus with the help of the goddess, Athena. Odysseus is called, “Hero of Ithaca.” I love how “The Odyssey” is written in a story-telling, conversational manner unlike, “The Iliad.”“The Odyssey” takes the reader on a spiritual journey sharing insight into the human condition through a timeless tale involving exile, temptation, cunning, survival, desire, and social expectations. Odysseus is not the same man upon his return home that he was when he began his journey. His self-examination of his innermost ideas and conceptions have been greatly altered by his quest.Some may claim that this classic reading is boring and slow, but I didn’t see or experience this for myself. Because of how it’s written and flows, encompassing the basic themes of many Greek tales such as love, friendship and loyalty, and fulfilling quests and becoming a hero, “The Odyssey” is a brilliant and beautiful, epic story that has greatly inspired many important literature pieces throughout history. It will open the door to understanding Greek history at its basic beginnings and be incredibly entertaining in process. “The Odyssey” will forever hold an important place in historical literature.Some will claim that Odysseus among many other things, is a master negotiator, strategian, and manipulator.Greek life during this period is superbly shown by Homer. His ability to weave an epic tale of self-discovery in a quest-like format is truly extraordinary.I will read and re-read this book often. The translation is easy to follow and like I said previously, it’s not the only translation out there so you may want to pick up a few others to compare. This will be a collector’s book for me and has already found its place on my bookshelf.
    • 5/5
      Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey is my third; I read Robert Fagles' and Stanley Lombardo's before this. You can't go wrong with any of them - Fagles' is lyrical but modern, Lombardo's is admirably plain-speaking and fast-paced, and Wilson's is swift, smart and exciting. But Wilson's is my favorite now, and the one I'd recommend to someone dipping in for the first time.Caroline convinced me to read Wilson's introduction, and I'm glad I did. It's a corker. She explains The Odyssey this way:"We encounter a surprising range of different characters and types of incident: giants and beggars, arrogant young men and vulnerable old slaves, a princess who does laundry and a dead warrior who misses the sunshine, gods, goddesses, and ghosts, brave deeds, love affairs, spells, dreams, songs, and stories. Odysseus himself seems to contain multitudes: he is a migrant, a pirate, a carpenter, a king, an athlete, a beggar, a husband, a lover, a father, a son, a fighter, a liar, a leader, and a thief. He is a man who cries, takes naps, and feels homesick, but he is also a man who has a special relationship with the goddess who transforms his appearance at will and ensures that his schemes succeed."As she says, this isn't the usual hero who saves the world or "at least changes it in some momentous way"; instead, "for this hero, mere survival is the most amazing feat of all". The story raises"important questions about the moral qualities of this liar, pirate, colonizer, deceiver, and thief, who is so often in disguise, absent or napping, while other people - those he owns, those he leads- suffer and die, and who directly kills so many people."This complexity is what continues to fascinate me, and has led me through three translations and re-reads.What is so outstanding about this translation?"The Odyssey is a poem, and it needs to have a predictable and distinctive rhythm that can be easily heard when the text is read out loud. The original is in six-footed lines (dactylic hexameters), the conventional meter for archaic Greek narrative verse. I used iambic pentameter, because it is the conventional meter for regular English narrative verse - the rhythm of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Keats, and plenty of more recent anglophone poets . . . my translation sings to its own regular and distinctive beat.My version is the same length as the original, with exactly the same number of lines. I chose to write within this difficult constraint because any translation without such limitations will tend to be longer than the original, and I wanted a narrative pace that could match its stride and Homer's nimble gallop."I can't speak to the original, but hers certainly has stride and nimble gallop. She also leans toward simplicity of language, "in a style that echoes the rhythms and phrasing of contemporary anglophone speech." She notes that "stylistic pomposity is entirely un-Homeric". Occasionally (rarely, really) this results in what to me is an odd word choice, e.g. carrying weapons in a "hamper" - really? But overall it succeeds beautifully.Some examples:At a light touch of whip, the horses flew,Swiftly they drew toward their journeys' end,on through fields of wheat, until the sunbegan to set and shadows filled the streets.Helen, on the events in Troy:The Trojan women keened in grief, but Iwas glad - by then I wanted to go home.I wished that Aphrodite had not made mego crazy, when she took me from my country,and made me leave my daughter and the bedI shared with my fine, handsome, clever husband.Circe confronting Odysseus:"Who are you?Where is your city? And who are your parents?I am amazed that you could drink my potionand yet not be bewitched. No other manhas drunk it and withstood the magic charm.But you are different. Your mind is notenchanted. You must be Odysseus,the man who can adapt to anything."Odysseus and Athena are natural partners. As she says,"To outwit youin all your tricks, a person or a godwould need to be an expert at deceit.You clever rascal! So duplicitous,so talented at lying! You love fictionand tricks so deeply, you refuse to stopeven in your own land. Yes, both of usare smart. No man can plan and talk like you,and I am known among the gods for insightand craftiness."He is such a liar! And it's so deeply engrained that he lies even when he doesn't need to. But his lies always carry a greater message: "His lies were like the truth/ and as she listened, she began to weep."If you haven't read The Odyssey before, you probably know the basics of the story by osmosis. But that's nothing like experiencing this ancient yet so modern story. Emily Wilson has brought an intelligence, rhythm and excitement to it that to me is the best yet. Have some fun reading an old classic; it's a treat.
    • 5/5
      I humbly declare this book to be the greatest literary work of mankind. If you don't learn Greek (worth it just to read this Meisterwerk, never mind the rest of the immortal trove of Greek literature) you can read it in so many translations that have become classics in their own use of the English language, Fagles and Murray, just to mention two. Oh, what the Hades, let's throw in a third, not just for its brilliant translation, but also owing to the exotic character behind it: no less than Lawrence of Arabia. The Homeric poems were sung in a less-enlightened time, in comparison with the later Greek tragedies, and with the later epics too. Apollonius' Argonautica was composed, post Greek Tragedy, and his audience would have been, no doubt, familiar with Euripides' Medea. Questions such as how justice and revenge affect societies were addressed by Aeschylus in the Oresteia; likewise, the reception of the anthropomorphic gods, and their pettiness, was raised by Euripides in Hippolytus and the Bacchae. Furthermore, the real nature and brutality of warfare was also raised in the Trojan Women. Throw in how one state views another state, and questions of racial identity, and you have The Persians by Aeschylus, and Medea by Euripides. Additionally, if you include Philoctetes by Sophocles, and the issue of how youth should conduct themselves is also raised. If you consider, too, Ajax by Sophocles, and you find that the bloodthirsty myths of an earlier age are filtered through questions that C5 Athenian society faced. What is better, the brute force of an unsophisticated Ajax, or the sophistry and rhetorical arguments of Odysseus in Ajax? By the time we arrive at Virgil, and The Aenied, brutal events such as the death of Priam by Neoptolemus in Aeneid Book II, are tempered with a more enlightened approach. Neoptolemus is condemned for killing Priam, and rightly so, as mercy is important, and exemplifies the Romanitas of 'Sparing the humble, and conquering the proud'. However, Aeneas doesn't show mercy in his killing of Turnus at the end of Book XII. If you're into Greek Literature, read the rest of this review on my blog.
    • 4/5
      What else could you select while sailing the Med if not a previous voyage across a similar sea? I thought this was going to be a hard read, but it really wasn't. In part, I think, that is because there is a part of knowing the outline of the story and it's elements already. It is such a well known story that you can't really come it it without knowing something of it already. It's not told in real time, that is reserved for Odysseus' son, Telemachus' journey to try and find news of his father and his dealings with his mother's suitors. The tale of Odysseus' journey back form the Trojan wars is told in order, but in retrospect. It's an interesting way of combining the two strands of the tale, the traveller and those left behind. The impact the traveller's absence has on those left behind is well illustrated, and how things are difficult for both sides in that instance - it's not just the traveller that has to endure trials. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this.
    • 5/5
      I won't say too much about the actual story. Everyone already knows that stuff from freshman English and general knowledge of myths and literary tropes. It has monsters and heroes and true love and coming of age and an awesome scene with a trick arrow shot and 3 guys against the world. Give it a try if you haven't looked at it since you were 15.

      I'm not sure I had ever read the whole Odyssey before. In any case, I now have heard the whole thing performed by Ian McKellen. I suppose Homer on audio book is about as close as I'll get to the original, unless someone can point me to someone who does the audio book in ancient Greek... McKellen's narration was great, but I bought the book to listen to while driving, and it put me to sleep. The story was really quite exciting, even if it did drag on a little when Odysseus was planning his suitor revenge. I guess we skipped that part in 9th grade English. But Gandalf's voice seemed to be more suited for bedtime stories than distracting me from traffic jams. I know what I'll be listening to when I can't get to sleep though.

      The translation, by Robert Fagles, was excellent. There were some places where I was like "that seems really colloquial" but then I was glad because it really was easy to understand. I would use this translation if I ever needed to read Homer for some reason.

    Book preview

    The Illustrated Odyssey - Homer

    BOOK I

    The Gods in council agree that the time has come for Odysseus to be brought home to avenge himself on Penelope’s suitors and to recover his kingdom. Hermes is sent to Calypso’s isle to bid her release the captive Odysseus. Athene, disguised as Mentes, appears to Telemachus, advising him to call an assembly of the men of Ithaca, to complain of the behavior of the suitors; then to go himself in quest of his father to Pylos and Sparta.

    TELL ME, O MUSE, OF THAT INGENIOUS HERO WHO traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not have his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Zeus, from whatsoever source you may know them.

    So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely home except Odysseus, and he, though he was longing to return to his wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by, there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his troubles were not yet over. Nevertheless, all the gods had now begun to pity him except Poseidon, who still persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him go home.

    Now Poseidon had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world’s end, and lie in two halves, the one looking west and the other east.¹ He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was enjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house of Olympian Zeus, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that moment he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon’s son Orestes;² so he said to the other gods:

    See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs make love to Agamemnon’s wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though he knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Hermes to warn him not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Hermes told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he has paid for everything in full.

    Then Athene said: Father, son of Cronus, king of kings, it served Aegisthus right, and so it would anyone else who does as he did; but Aegisthus is neither here nor there; it is for Odysseus that my heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt island, far away, poor man, from all his friends. It is an island covered with forest, in the very middle of the sea, and a goddess lives there, daughter of the magician Atlas, who looks after the bottom of the ocean, and carries the great columns that keep heaven and earth asunder. This daughter of Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Odysseus, and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks of nothing but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys. You, sir, take no heed of this, and yet when Odysseus was before Troy did he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being so angry with him?

    And Zeus said: My child, what are you talking about? How can I forget Odysseus than whom there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven? Bear in mind, however, that Poseidon is still furious with Odysseus for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus, king of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus is son to Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa, daughter to the sea-king Phorcys; therefore though he will not kill Odysseus outright, he torments him by preventing him from getting home. Still, let us lay our heads together and see how we can help him to return; Poseidon will then be pacified, for if we are all of a mind he can hardly stand out against us.

    And Athene said: Father, son of Cronus, king of kings, if, then, the gods now mean that Odysseus should get home, we should first send Hermes to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up our minds and that he is to return. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca, to put heart into Odysseus’ son Telemachus; I will embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen; I will also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if he can hear anything about the return of his dear father—for this will make people speak well of him.

    So saying she bound on her glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea; she grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her, and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith she was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Odysseus’ house, disguised as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she held a bronze spear in her hand. There she found the lordly suitors seated on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and playing draughts in front of the house. Menservants and pages were bustling about to wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in the mixing bowls, some cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and laying them out again, and some cutting up great quantities of meat.

    Telemachus saw her long before anyone else did. He was sitting moodily among the suitors thinking about his brave father, and how he would send them flying out of the house, if he were to come to his own again and be honored as in days gone by. Thus brooding as he sat among them, he caught sight of Athene and went straight to the gate, for he was vexed that a stranger should be kept waiting for admittance. He took her right hand in his own, and bade her give him her spear. Welcome, said he, to our house, and when you have partaken of food you shall tell us what you have come for.

    He led the way as he spoke, and Athene followed him. When they were within he took her spear and set it in the spear-stand against a strong bearing-post along with the many other spears of his unhappy father, and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which he threw a cloth of damask. There was a footstool also for her feet,³ and he set another seat near her for himself, away from the suitors, that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise and insolence, and that he might ask her more freely about his father.

    A maidservant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in the house, the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by their side, and a manservant brought them wine and poured it out for them.

    Then the suitors came in and took their places on the benches and seats. Forthwith menservants poured water over their hands, maids went round with the bread-baskets, pages filled the mixing bowls with wine and water, and they laid their hands upon the good things that were before them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink they wanted music and dancing, which are the crowning embellishments of a banquet, so a servant brought a lyre to Phemius, whom they compelled perforce to sing to them. As soon as he touched his lyre and began to sing, Telemachus spoke low to Athene, with his head close to hers that no man might hear.

    I hope, sir, said he, that you will not be offended with what I am going to say. Singing comes cheap to those who do not pay for it, and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting in some wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf. If these men were to see my father come back to Ithaca they would pray for longer legs rather than a longer purse, for money would not serve them; but he, alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do sometimes say that he is coming, we no longer heed them; we shall never see him again. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner of ship you came in, how your crew brought you to Ithaca, and of what nation they declared themselves to be—for you cannot have come by land. Tell me also truly, for I want to know, are you a stranger to this house, or have you been here in my father’s time? In the old days we had many visitors for my father went about much himself.

    And Athene answered: "I will tell you truly and particularly all about it. I am Mentes son of Anchialus, and I am king of the Taphians. I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign tongue being bound for Temesa⁴ with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring back copper. As for my ship, it lies over yonder off the open country away from the town, in the harbor Rheithron under the wooded mountain Neritum. Our fathers were friends before us, as old Laertes will tell you, if you will go and ask him. They say, however, that he never comes to town now, and lives by himself in the country, faring hardly, with an old woman to look after him and get his dinner for him, when he comes in tired from pottering about his vineyard. They told me your father was at home again, and that was why I came, but it seems the gods are still keeping him back, for he is not dead yet—not on the mainland. It is more likely he is on some sea-girt island in midocean, or a prisoner among savages who are detaining him against his will. I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak as it is borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he will not be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that even though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting home again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Odysseus really have such a fine-looking fellow for a son? You are indeed wonderfully like him about the head and eyes, for we were close friends before he set sail for Troy where the flower of all the Argives went also. Since that time we have never either of us seen the other."

    My mother, answered Telemachus, tells me I am son to Odysseus, but it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would that I were son to one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they tell me is my father.

    And Athene said: There is no fear of your race dying out yet, while Penelope has such a fine son as you are. But tell me, and tell me true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these people? What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a wedding in the family—for no one seems to be bringing any provisions of his own? And the guests—how atrociously they are behaving; what riot they make over the whole house; it is enough to disgust any respectable person who comes near them.

    Sir, said Telemachus, as regards your question, so long as my father was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods in their displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him away more closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it better even though he were dead, if he had fallen with his men before Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his fighting were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown; but now the storm winds have spirited him away we know not whither; he is gone without leaving so much as a trace behind him, and I inherit nothing but dismay. Nor does the matter end simply with grief for the loss of my father; heaven has laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind; for the chiefs from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland island of Zacynthus, as also all the principal men of Ithaca itself, are eating up my house under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who will neither point-blank say that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate, and before long will do so also with myself.

    Is that so? exclaimed Athene. "Then you do indeed want Odysseus home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a couple of lances, and if he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house, drinking and making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally suitors, were he to stand once more upon his own threshold. He was then coming from Ephyra, where he had been to beg poison for his arrows from Ilus son of Mermerus. Ilus feared the ever-living gods and would not give him any, but my father let him have some, for he was very fond of him. If Odysseus is the man he then was, these suitors will have a short shrift and a sorry wedding.

    But there! It rests with heaven to determine whether he is to return, and take his revenge in his own house or no; I would, however, urge you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once. Take my advice, call the Achaean heroes in assembly tomorrow morning—lay your case before them, and call heaven to bear you witness. Bid the suitors take themselves off, each to his own place, and if your mother’s mind is set on marrying again, let her go back to her father, who will find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that so dear a daughter may expect. As for yourself, let me prevail upon you to take the best ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men, and go in quest of your father who has so long been missing. Someone may tell you something, or (and people often hear things in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct you. First go to Pylos and ask Nestor; thence go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus, for he got home last of all the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive and on his way home, you can put up with the waste these suitors will make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand you hear of his death, come home at once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a barrow to his memory, and make your mother marry again. Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind how, by fair means or foul, you may kill these suitors in your own house. You are too old to plead infancy any longer; have you not heard how people are singing Orestes’ praises for having killed his father’s murderer Aegisthus? You are a fine, smart-looking fellow; show your mettle, then, and make yourself a name in story. Now, however, I must go back to my ship and to my crew, who will be impatient if I keep them waiting longer, think the matter over for yourself, and remember what I have said to you.

    Sir, answered Telemachus, it has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all you tell me. I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself. I will then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give you one of great beauty and value—a keepsake such as only dear friends give to one another.

    Athene answered, Do not try to keep me, for I would be on my way at once. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, keep it till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give me a very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return.

    With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever about his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors were sitting.

    Phemius was still singing, and his hearers sat rapt in silence as he told the sad tale of the return from Troy, and the ills Athene had laid upon the Achaeans. Penelope daughter of Icarius heard his song from her room up­­stairs, and came down by the great staircase, not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids. When she reached the suitors she stood by one of the ­bearingposts that supported the roof of the cloisters,⁵ with a staid maiden on either side of her. She held a veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping bitterly.

    Phemius, she cried, you know many another feat of gods and heroes, such as poets love to celebrate. Sing the suitors some one of these, and let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale, for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband whom I mourn ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all Hellas and middle Argos.

    Mother, answered Telemachus, let the bard sing what he has a mind to; bards do not make the ills they sing of; it is Zeus, not they, who makes them, and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to his own good pleasure. This fellow means no harm by singing the ill-fated return of the Danaans, for people always applaud the latest songs most warmly. Make up your mind to it and bear it; Odysseus is not the only man who never came back from Troy, but many another went down as well as he. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for speech is man’s matter, and mine above all others—for it is I who am master here.

    She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son’s saying in her heart. Then, going upstairs with her handmaids into her room, she mourned her dear husband till Athene shed sweet sleep over her eyes. But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters,⁶ and prayed each one that he might be her bedfellow.

    Then Telemachus spoke. Shameless, he cried, and insolent suitors, let us feast at our pleasure now, and let there be no brawling, for it is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine voice as Phemius has; but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you formal notice to depart, and feast at one another’s houses, turn and turn about, at your own cost. If, on the other hand, you choose to persist in sponging upon one man, heaven help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my father’s house there shall be no man to avenge you.

    The suitors bit their lips as they heard him, and marveled at the boldness of his speech. Then, Antinous son of Eupeithes said, The gods seem to have given you lessons in bluster and tall talking; may Zeus never grant you to be chief in Ithaca as your father was before you.

    Telemachus answered: Antinous, do not chide with me, but, god willing, I will be chief too if I can. Is this the worst fate you can think of for me? It is no bad thing to be a chief, for it brings both riches and honor. Still, now that Odysseus is dead there are many great men in Ithaca both old and young, and some other may take the lead among them. Nevertheless, I will be chief in my own house, and will rule those whom Odysseus has won for me.

    Then Eurymachus son of Polybus answered: It rests with heaven to decide who shall be chief among us, but you shall be master in your own house and over your own possessions; while there is a man in Ithaca no one shall do you violence or rob you. And now, my good fellow, I want to know about this stranger. What country does he come from? Of what family is he, and where is his estate? Has he brought you news about the return of your father, or was he on business of his own? He seemed a well-to-do man, but he hurried off so suddenly that he was gone in a moment before we could get to know him.

    My father is dead and gone, answered Telemachus, and even if some rumor reaches me I put no more faith in it now. My mother does indeed sometimes send for a soothsayer and question him, but I give his prophesyings no heed. As for the stranger, he was Mentes son of Anchialus, chief of the Taphians, an old friend of my father’s. But in his heart he knew that it had been the goddess.

    The suitors then returned to their singing and dancing until the evening; but when night fell upon their pleasuring they went home to bed each in his own abode.⁷ Telemachus’ room was high up in a tower that looked on to the outer court; hither, then, he hied, brooding and full of thought. A good old woman, Euryclea, daughter of Ops the son of Pisenor, went before him with a couple of blazing torches. Laertes had bought her with his own money when she was quite young; he gave the worth of twenty oxen for her, and showed as much respect to her in his household as he did to his own wedded wife, but he did not take her to his bed for he feared his wife’s resentment. She it was who now lighted Telemachus to his room, and she loved him better than any of the other women in the house did, for she had nursed him when he was a baby. He opened the door of his bedroom and sat down upon the bed; as he took off his shirt he gave it to the good old woman, who folded it tidily up, and hung it for him over a peg by his bedside, after which she went out, pulled the door to by a silver catch, and drew the bolt home by means of the strap. But Telemachus as he lay covered with a woolen fleece kept thinking all night through of his intended voyage and of the counsel that Athene had given him.

    ¹Black races are evidently known to the writer as stretching all across Africa, one half looking west on to the Atlantic, and the other east on to the Indian Ocean. (B.)

    ²Zeus refers here to the terrible homecoming of Agamemnon, king of Argos and chief of the Greeks at Troy, and his murder by the slave Aegisthus, whom Queen Clytemnestra had taken as her lover. Since then Agamemnon’s and Clytemnestra’s son, Orestes, had killed both his mother and Aegisthus to avenge his father’s death. For fuller accounts of the same dreadful deed, see Books III, IV, and XI.

    ³The original use of the footstool was probably less to test the feet than to keep them (especially when bare) from a floor which was often wet and dirty. (B.)

    ⁴Temesa was on the West Coast of the toe of Italy, in what is now the gulf of Sta Eufemia. It was famous in remote times for its copper mines. (B.)

    ⁵See note on these cloisters. Book XVIII.

    ⁶The whole inner court that made the forepart off the house had a covered cloister running around it. This covered part was distinguished by being called shady or shadow-giving. It was in this part that the tables for the suitors were laid. The arrangement is still common in Sicily and the Greek islands.

    ⁷The reader will note that none of the suitors were allowed to sleep in Odysseus’ house. (B.)

    BOOK II

    Telemachus manfully calls an assembly and presents his grievances, appealing to the suitors to stop wasting his substance and to quit his house. Disregarding his appeal, the suitors taunt him. Telemachus prays to Athene and hastens his preparations for the journey, aided by the goddess and the old nurse Euryclea. At nightfall Athene causes the suitors to fall into a deep slumber, and herself sets sail with Telemachus for Pylos.

    NOW WHEN THE CHILD OF MORNING, ROSY-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like an immortal god. He at once sent the criers round to call the people in assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon. Then, when they were got together, he went to the place of assembly spear in hand—not alone, for his two hounds went with him. Athene endowed him with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marveled at him as he went by, and when he took his place in his father’s seat even the oldest councilors made way for him.

    Aegyptius, a man bent double with age, and of infinite experience, was the first to speak. His son Antiphus had gone with Odysseus to Ilium, land of noble steeds, but the savage Cyclops had killed him when they were all shut up in the cave, and had cooked his last dinner for him.¹ He had three sons left, of whom two still worked on their father’s land, while the third, Eurynomus, was one of the suitors. Nevertheless, their father could not get over the loss of Antiphus, and was still weeping for him when he began his speech.

    Men of Ithaca, he said, hear my words. From the day Odysseus left us there has been no meeting of our councilors until now. Who then can it be, whether old or young, that finds it so necessary to convene us? Has he got wind of some host approaching, and does he wish to warn us, or would he speak upon some other matter of public moment? I am sure he is an excellent person, and I hope Zeus will grant him his heart’s desire.

    Telemachus took this speech as of good omen and rose at once, for he was bursting with what he had to say. He stood in the middle of the assembly and the good herald Pisenor brought him his staff. Then, turning to Aegyptius, Sir, said he, it is I, as you will shortly learn, who have convened you, for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I have not got wind of any host approaching about which I would warn you, nor is there any matter of public moment on which I would speak. My grievance is purely personal, and turns on two great misfortunes which have fallen upon my house. The first of these is the loss of my excellent father, who was chief among all you here present, and was like a father to every one of you; the second is much more serious, and ere long will be the utter ruin of my estate. The sons of all the chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them against her will. They are afraid to go to her father Icarius, asking him to choose the one he likes best, and to provide marriage gifts for his daughter, but day by day they keep hanging about my father’s house, sacrificing our oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink. No estate can stand such recklessness. We have now no Odysseus to ward off harm from our doors, and I cannot hold my own against them. I shall never all my days be as good a man as he was; still I would indeed defend myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot stand such treatment any longer; my house is being disgraced and ruined. Have respect, therefore, to your own consciences and to public opinion. Fear, too, the wrath of heaven, lest the gods should be displeased and turn upon you. I pray you by Zeus and Themis, who is the beginning and the end of counsels, do not hold back, my friends, and leave me singlehanded—unless it be that my brave father Odysseus did some wrong to the Achaeans which you would now avenge on me, by aiding and abetting these suitors. Moreover, if I am to be eaten out of house and home at all, I had rather you did the eating yourselves, for I could then take action against you to some purpose, and serve you with notices from house to house till I got paid in full, whereas now I have no remedy.²

    With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into tears. Everyone was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who spoke thus:

    "Telemachus, insolent braggart that you are, how dare you try to throw the blame upon us suitors? It is your mother’s fault, not ours, for she is a very artful woman. This three years past, and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says. And then there was that other trick she played us. She set up a great tambour frame in her room, and began to work on an enormous piece of fine needlework. ‘Sweet hearts,’ said she, ‘Odysseus is indeed dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait—for I would not have my skill in needlework perish unrecorded—till I have completed a pall for the hero Laertes, to be in readiness against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the women of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall.’

    This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three years and we never found her out, but as time wore on and she was now in her fourth year, one of her maids who knew what she was doing told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors, therefore, make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand: ‘Send your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her father’s choice’; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score of the accomplishments Athene has taught her, and because she is so clever. We never yet heard of such a woman; we know all about Tyro, Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us in that way, and as long as she continues in the mind with which heaven has now endowed her, so long shall we go on eating up your estate; and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all the honor and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then, that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere, till she has made her choice and married some one or other of us.

    Telemachus answered: Antinous, how can I drive the mother who bore me from my father’s house? My father is abroad and we do not know whether he is alive or dead. It will be hard on me if I have to pay Icarius the large sum which I must give him if I insist on sending his daughter back to him. Not only will he deal rigorously with me, but heaven will also punish me; for my mother when she leaves the house will call on the Furies to avenge her; besides, it would not be a creditable thing to do, and I will have nothing to say to it. If you choose to take offense at this, leave the house and feast elsewhere at one another’s house at your own cost, turn and turn about. If, on the other hand, you elect to persist in sponging upon one man, heaven help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my father’s house there shall be no man to avenge you.

    As he spoke Zeus sent two eagles from the top of the mountain, and they flew on and on with the wind, sailing side by side in their own lordly flight. When they were right over the middle of the assembly they wheeled and circled about, beating the air with their wings and glaring death into the eyes of them that were below; then, fighting fiercely and tearing at one another, they flew off towards the right over the town. The people wondered as they saw them, and asked each other what all this might be; whereon Halitherses, who was the best prophet and reader of omens among them, spoke to them plainly and in all honesty, saying:

    Hear me, men of Ithaca, and I speak more particularly to the suitors, for I see mischief brewing for them. Odysseus is not going to be away much longer; indeed he is close at hand to deal out death and destruction, not on them alone, but on many another of us who live in Ithaca. Let us then be wise in time, and put a stop to this wickedness before he comes. Let the suitors do so of their own accord; it will be better for them, for I am not prophesying without due knowledge; everything has happened to Odysseus as I foretold when the Argives set out for Troy, and he with them. I said that after going through much hardship and losing all his men he should come home again in the twentieth year and that no one would know him; and now all this is coming true.

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