COURSE: EUROLIT 1: ANTIQUITY AND MIDDLE AGES - BOOK: The Odyssey - Homer

Homer's 'The Odyssey' is an epic that has endured for thousands of years, and this Penguin Classics edition is translated by E.V. Rieu, revised by D.C.H. Rieu, and contains an introduction by Peter Jones.

The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan war forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats - from the witch Circe who turns his men into pigs, to the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis; from the stupefied Lotus-Eaters to the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon himself - Odysseus must test his bravery and native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely. But the danger is no less severe in his native Ithaca, as Odysseus finds himself contending with the suitors who, in his absence, have begun to surround his wife Penelope...

E.V. Rieu's translation of The Odyssey was the first Penguin Classic to be published, and has itself achieved classic status. For this edition, Rieu's text has been sensitively revised and a new introduction added to complement his original introduction.