The Odyssey
Homer, -800
The first great story about a journey home — and every stop along the way is a good reason to give up.
Homer
-900–-800
Homer's poems move at the speed of argument and appetite: quarrels, feasts, sea crossings, gods taking sides. Start with «The Iliad» for the long standoff before Troy and the pride that keeps a great fighter out of it, or with «The Odyssey» for a homecoming that keeps getting postponed.
Feels like home, wonder and longing.
Start with The Odyssey.
Who Homer was is genuinely unknown; 'Homer' may name a tradition as much as a man, and these poems were made for singing, not reading.
What the greatest of the Greek heroes would trade for a day of paid labour.
“I spake; Achilles quickly answered me:—‘Noble Ulysses, speak not thus of death,As if thou couldst console me. I would beA laborer on earth, and serve for hireSome man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer,Rather than reign o’er all who have gone downTo death. Speak rather of my noble son,Whether or not he yet has joined the warsTo fight among the foremost of the host. Books by Homer
The Iliad
Homer, -750
A war stalled outside a city, a commander's wounded pride, and the best fighter in the army refusing to fight. Seven weeks of rage, grief and armour.
The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original
Homer, -750
A homecoming story where the hero keeps losing ships, men and years, told through monsters, goddesses and one patient wife. Butler's plain prose reads like a travel narrative.
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