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The Odyssey

by Homer (-750–-650)

  • Free to read
  • 8 hours to read
  • 25 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"The Odyssey" by Homer is an epic poem composed around the 8th or 7th century BC. It follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his perilous ten-year journey home after the Trojan War. While he battles mythical dangers and loses all his crewmen, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus face aggressive suitors at home who presume him dead. This ancient Greek masterpiece explores themes of homecoming, hospitality, and testing, and remains one of the most significant works of Western literature.

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  • Homer · Translations into English
  • Epic poetry, Greek · Translations into English
  • Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character)

Read the opening

Book I: Argument. Minerva’s Descent to Ithaca

The poem opens within forty eight days of the arrival of Ulysses in his dominions. He had now remained seven years in the Island of Calypso, when the gods assembled in council, proposed the method of his departure from thence and his return to his native country. For this purpose it is concluded to send Mercury to Calypso, and Pallas immediately descends to Ithaca. She holds a conference with Telemachus, in the shape of Mantes, king of Taphians; in which she advises him to take a journey in quest of his father Ulysses, to Pylos and Sparta, where Nestor and Menelaus yet reigned; then, after having visibly displayed her divinity, disappears. The suitors of Penelope make great entertainments, and riot in her palace till night. Phemius sings to them the return of the Grecians, till Penelope puts a stop to the song. Some words arise between the suitors and Telemachus, who summons the council to meet the day following.

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Contents

Show all 25 chapters
  1. Introduction
  2. Book I: Argument. Minerva’s Descent to Ithaca
  3. Book II: Argument. The Council of Ithaca
  4. Book III: Argument. The Interview of Telemachus and Nestor
  5. Book IV: Argument. The Conference with Menelaus
  6. Book V: Argument. The Departure of Ulysses from Calypso
  7. Book VI
  8. Book VII: Argument. The Court of Alcinous
  9. Book VIII
  10. Book IX: Argument. The Adventures of the Cicons, Lotophagi and Cyclops
  11. Book X: Argument. Adventures with Aeolus, the Laestrygons, and Circe
  12. Book XI: Argument. The Descent into Hell
  13. Book XII: Argument. The Sirene, Scylla, and Charybdis
  14. Book XIII: Argument. The Arrival of Ulysses in Ithaca
  15. Book XIV: Argument. The Conversation with Eumaeus
  16. Book XV: Argument. The Return of Telemachus
  17. Book XVI: Argument. The Discovery of Ulysses to Telemachus
  18. Book XVII
  19. Book XVIII: Argument. The Fight of Ulysses and Irus
  20. Book XIX: Argument. The Discovery of Ulysses to Euryclea
  21. Book XX
  22. Book XXI: Argument. The Bending of Ulysses’ Bow
  23. Book XXII: Argument. The Death of the Suitors
  24. Book XXIII
  25. Book XXIV

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About this edition

This free edition of The Odyssey by Homer comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #3160, released 2002-04-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Poetry, Mythology, Legends & Folklore, Classics of Literature.

Other editions: eBook #1727 (most read).

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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