Of particular interest is the role of women in the Bronze Age culture described, represented in a sense by Odysseus’ guardian deity, Athene, the goddess of mind. The poem contains elements of myth and legend as well as sheer literary invention, and covers the ten years of its hero’s adventures from the destruction of Troy to his return to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. The cultural background to the poem indicates a Bronze Age setting around 400 to 500 years before the Homeric literary period itself. It is an epic poem, effectively a sequel to the Iliad, written in Ancient Greek but assumed to be derived from earlier oral sources, telling the story of Odysseus’ wanderings and his eventual return from the Trojan War to his home island of Ithaca. The Odyssey, the second of the epic texts attributed to Homer, and also a major founding work of European literature, is usually dated to around the 8th century BC.

The Text is fully hyper-linked to the index and vice versa.Įach Book is arranged in paragraphs, with each paragraph headed by the corresponding line reference in the Greek text. In war and on the seas: add this then to the sum. I will endure it, owning a heart within inured to suffering.įor I have suffered much, and laboured much, With his twelve ships, Odysseus sailed to Aeolia.A complete English translation with hyper-linked index and illustrations by Theodoor van Thulden (Dutch, 1606-1669) courtesy of the Rijksmuseum Odysseus taunted the monster from his ship, and Polyphemus invoked the curse of his father, Poseidon (hence the god's enmity toward Odysseus). Odysseus and his men ultimately escaped by binding themselves to the underside of Polyphemus' sheep. Polyphemus called out for help, but when his fellows responded to his cries, he announced that 'Noman' harmed him-for Odysseus had told the Cyclops that Noman was his name. Odysseus lulled the monster to sleep with wine and then drove a sharpened stake into his eye. Next morning, he breakfasted on another two, and imprisoned the rest in the cave. He requested hospitality, but the Cyclops, scorning the gods and the ways of men, devoured two of Odysseus' companions. Odysseus had ventured with twelve picked men into the cave of Polyphemus, a Cyclops and son of Poseidon. Then he tells of the arrival at the land of the wild and lawless Cyclopes, giants with a single eye who dwell alone and have no culture. He tells of the battle with the Cicones at Ismarus and the luckless nine-day detour to the land of the Lotus-eaters, where two of his men are narcotic fruit and forgot their homes.

Book 9 the odyssey