Invocation
sing to me of the man, Muse
the man of many devices
driven time and again off course
once he had plundered
the sacred citadel of Troy
many cities did he visit
and the minds of many nations he learned
many pains he suffered
in his heart, on the open sea
fighting to save his life
and bring his comrades home
but he could not save them from disaster
hard as he strove
the sheer folly of their own ways
destroyed them all
the blind fools
they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and Helios prevented them
from ever reaching home
launch out on his story, Muse
daughter of Zeus
start from where you will
sing for us, too
Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσε·
πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,
πολλὰ δ’ ὅ γ’ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,
ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.
ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὧς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ·
αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,
νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο
ἤσθιον· αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.
τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.
[Odysseus and the Sirens, c. 480–470 BCE (British Museum)]
The Odyssey is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, who also wrote the Iliad. The work was probably written down in the late 8th or early 7th c. BCE. The approximately 12,000 lines of verse are divided into 24 books. The poem was intended for oral performance.
In the Iliad Homer related a phase from the tenth and final year of
the Trojan War. The Odyssey deals with the last 6 weeks of the ten-year
wanderings of the hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca - the inventor of the ruse with the
"Trojan horse" - who has incurred the hatred of the sea god Poseidon.
However, the goddess Athena continues to support him: she makes every
effort to give Odysseus a safe return.
The Odyssey does not follow a linear chronology. The reader begins in the middle of the tale, learning about previous events through Odysseus’s retelling. The first four books are set in Ithaca where Telemachus is searching for news of his father. The second four books show how Odysseus is released from captivity by the nymph Calypso, who was so enamored of him that she detained him for seven years. He suffers shipwreck and lands on the island of the Phaeacians. In the next four books Odysseus tells the Phaeacians of his harrowing journey: such interesting episodes as those of the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, the witch-goddess Circe (who turns half his crew into swine), a visit to the shades in Hades, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the sacred cattle of Helios. Finally, in the second half of the poem Odysseus is back in Ithaca, facing unexpected obstacles, as he is recognized only by his faithful dog and a
nurse. His wife Penelope is resisting the importuning of more than a hundred suitors, who are staying in Odysseus’s house, eating, drinking, and carousing. With the help of his son, Telemachus, Odysseus kills them all and reestablishes himself in
his home and in his kingdom.
[Mosaic depicting Odysseus, from the villa of La Olmeda,
Pedrosa de la Vega, Spain, 4th–5th c. CE]
As the Iliad is in fact mostly a story of blood-thirty warriors and their endless fights, I have always preferred the Odyssey, which is a beautiful adventure story. It also stresses the importance of having a safe home. But even more so than in the case of the Iliad, it is rather difficult to quote parts of this large narrative poem, so I have limited myself to the famous opening lines.
But some short quotes from the Odyssey have become famous, such as:
And may the gods accomplish your desire:
a home, a husband, and harmonious
converse with him – the best thing in the world
being a strong house held in serenity
where man and wife agree. Woe to their enemies,
joy to their friends! But all this they know best.
VI. 180–185 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)
"My Name is Nobody"
‘Nobody, - Polyphemus bellowed back from his cave -
‘Nobody's killing me now by fraud and not by force!’
IX. 407–408 (tr. Robert Fagles)
Each man delights in the work that suits him best.
XIV. 228 (tr. Robert Fagles)
The Odyssey has had an even greater impact on the popular imagination in the West than the Iliad. In literature we find for example echoes in such diverse works as Dante's Inferno, James Joyce's Ulysses and Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad. A famous opera is Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria by Claudio Monteverdi from 1640. The story has at least seven times inspired films, most memorably by Theo Angelopoulos as Ulysses' Gaze, and by the Coen Brothers as O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The above version is a composite based on various translations.
Translations:
The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics, 1997
Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. London (1919)
Translation by Samuel Butler at Gutenberg
Greek original at Wikisource
Photos:
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons