"Homer's The Odyssey is a dazzling mixture of magic and mystery, adventure and great deeds.

"In a world often far removed from the harsh reality of The Iliad, Homer tells of the return of the hero Odysseus from the Trojan War. Traditional Greek folktales are skilfully interwoven with original ideas to create an adventure-story and a quest worthy of any medieval or modern writer. For Odysseus's journey is scarecely straightforward: he has to undergo the wrath of the sea-god Poseidon, fight monsters, overcome sexual distractions and the loss of his crew - only to find further trials to deal with when he finally reaches his native land of Ithaca.

"E.V.Rieu's best-selling prose translation captures both the delicacy and drama of the episodes and allows the freshness and excitement of Homer's well-knit plot, with its interplay of subtly delineated characters, to delight us as much as it did the ancient Greeks."

(Taken from back of 'Penguin Classics' edition)

My Thoughts

The author: see my review of The Iliad

The translator: see my review of The Iliad

The tale: Shortly before reading The Odyssey, I saw an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess where Xena encountered Ulysses (the Roman name for Odysseus, strangely) attempting to return home to Ithaca. It turns out that she was a major factor in his successful ousting of the Suitors bothering his wife back at his palace. Weird that Homer never mentioned her input! Seriously, though, it was not until I read the book itself that I realised how much 'artistic license' can be taken in the making of TV dramatisations (in this particular case, the story wasn't damaged, but a great deal of detail was either changed or missing). Not that I will start boycotting Xena because of it!

In much the same way as Achilles was depicted as temperamental in The Iliad, so Odysseus (pronounced with only 3 syllables) is shown to have character flaws in The Odyssey. However, this by no means prevents him from appearing as an epic hero, as Homer's style does not allow any negative attitudes towards his characters. Taking Odysseus' actions in the story at their face value, he pretty much sacrifices his entire crew so that he can get home himself, showing little consideration for the implications his orders may have. His attitude is quite superior - he is a King, and his men are not, so his welfare is far more important than theirs.

Reading a little deeper, however, we see that, whatever Odysseus' attitude, the events are pre-ordained by the gods, and so he is cleared of blame. Most of the disasters that befall him are brought about by Poseidon's anger (which, incidentally, was caused by Odysseus himself in the first place, since he blinded Poseidon's son, a Cyclops). Additionally, an attitude like Odysseus' was considered proper for one of his station.

However, I expect my next literary expedition, Virgil's Aeneid, to show me that this inflated sense of self does not apply to all epic heroes. E.V.Rieu's introduction to The Odyssey discusses the vast difference between the characters of Odysseus and Aeneas - while Odysseus, the Achaean (Greek) conqueror, tramples all under foot in his efforts to get home, Aeneas, the Trojan defender, goes through guilty torment when his actions cause injury to even one of his men. And yet, I do not expect Aeneas to appear any weaker or less king-like for this. My next review will tell...

The Odyssey makes for a riveting read - my one regret is that I have now read pretty much all that exists of Homer's work. A master bard, telling a tale containing everything one might want in a story, with an intriguing plot that builds the tension right up until the exciting climax. Go and read it!