Message: #1  2022-04-18  

The Odyssey (/ˈɒdɪsi/;[1] Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια,
romanized: Odýsseia, Attic Greek: [o.dýs.seː.a]) is one of two
major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the
oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern
audiences. As with the Iliad, the poem is divided into 24 books. It
follows the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home
after the Trojan War. After the war itself, which lasted ten years,
his journey lasted for ten additional years, during which time he
encountered many perils and all his crew mates were killed. In his
absence, Odysseus was assumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son
Telemachus had to contend with a group of unruly suitors who were
competing for Penelope's hand in marriage.

The Odyssey was originally composed in Homeric Greek in around the 8th
or 7th century BCE and, by the mid-6th century BCE, had become part of
the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship of the poem
was not questioned, but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes
that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently, and the
stories themselves formed as part of a long oral tradition. Given
widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed by an aoidos or
rhapsode, and more likely to be heard than read.

Crucial themes in the poem include the ideas of nostos (νόστος;
"return"), wandering, xenia (ξενία; "guest-friendship"), testing,
and omens. Scholars still reflect on the narrative significance of
certain groups in the poem, such as women and slaves, who have a more
prominent role in the epic than in many other works of ancient
literature. This focus is especially remarkable when considered beside
the Iliad, which centres the exploits of soldiers and kings during the
Trojan War.

The Odyssey is regarded as one of the most significant works of the
Western canon. The first English translation of the Odyssey was in the
16th century. Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be produced
across a wide variety of mediums. In 2018, when BBC Culture polled
experts around the world to find literature's most enduring narrative,
the Odyssey topped the list.[2]