The Odyssey of Homer

A stunning verse translation of Homer’s epic tale about one man’s decade-long struggle to return home after years on the battlefields of Troy, from National Book Award–winning translator Allen Mandelbaum

The inspiration for the upcoming film The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Elliot Page, Robert Pattinson, and Zendaya

“Muse, tell me of the man of many wiles,
the man who wandered many paths of exile
after he sacked Troy’s sacred citadel.”

So begins one of the greatest adventures of world literature. Homer’s epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus’ decade-long journey home from the Trojan War has inspired writers from Virgil to James Joyce. Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens’ song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope. Meanwhile, his son Telemachus is on a journey of his own, tasked by the goddess Athena to fend off the suitors and liaise with warriors who fought alongside Odysseus during the Trojan War. But when the paths of father and son converge, they must use all their wits to reclaim Ithaca—or die trying.

Allen Mandelbaum’s brilliant verse translation realizes the power and the beauty of the original Greek and demonstrates why the Odyssey has captured the human imagination for nearly three thousand years.