The Odyssey: The Story of Odysseus
About this ebook
The original adventure story, The Odyssey continues to captivate and inspire nearly three millennia after it was written.
A towering epic of adventure, cunning, and the longing for home, The Odyssey follows the perilous journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy. Cursed to wander for ten years across a treacherous sea, the clever king of Ithaca confronts monsters and gods alike—outwitting the Cyclops, resisting the Sirens’ fatal song, and braving the wrath of Poseidon—while his faithful wife Penelope fends off suitors determined to claim his throne.
Rich with suspense, humor, and lyric beauty, Homer’s immortal poem explores what it means to be human: the bonds of family, the cost of pride, the power of endurance, and the pull of memory and home. At once a rousing adventure and a profound meditation on fate and identity, The Odyssey continues to speak, urgently and timelessly, to every generation.
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About the author
Homer (c. 8th century BCE) is the presumed author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the two greatest epic poems of ancient Greece. Virtually nothing is known about his life. Tradition has it that he was blind. Most scholars believe he composed The Iliad and The Odyssey by relying on oral traditions. Their value lies chiefly in the poetry itself, moving from sublime passages about the gods and heroic exploits to passages expressing deep human emotion.
