polyphemus2.gif (77363 bytes) HOMER'S ODYSSEY  
Latest Update:  07 April 2005

English translations of Homer's Odyssey, written c. 800 B.C.E.

  • Samuel Butler (a long revered prose version available online via MIT).   
  • George Chapman (a verse translation entitled The Odysseys of Homer available at the Bartleby site)
  • Robert Fagles (a verse translation, published by Penguin--stately, simple, if somewhat colloquial--Fagles is department chair of the Comparative Literature Department at Princeton University, and  the recipient of a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters).  An audiotape version, by the great Ian McClellan is available.  In 1997, PBS interviewed Fagles; the PBS site also contains other interesting Fagles Odyssey links.
  • Robert Fitzgerald (his translation is considered a poetical standard).  See the Powell's Bookstore site.
  • Richmond Lattimore has written a highly respected verse translation (published by HarperCollins and Perennial Classics)--available at amazon.com.
  • Stanley Lombardo has published a recent translation.  Available in audio form, the translation is available at Parmenides.
  • The Academy of American Poets Homer Exhibit provides easy comparisons of the Lombardo and Fitzgerald translations.
  • A. T. Murray.  A prose translation with hyperlink glossary and links to original Greek text.   From the Perseus Project at Tufts.
  • Alexander Pope.  A translation in heroic verse by the "premier poet of his age" (18th-century England), according to Dr.  Roger Blackwell Bailey, creator of the LitWeb at San Antonio College. 

Homer and Odyssey Websites

The Adventures of Ulysses. "Ulysses" is the Latin equivalent of the Greek "Odysseus."  This site provides an online version of Chapter XXIX of Bulfinch's Mythology, which summarizes and provides background information on Homer's Odyssey.

The Homer Home Page.  Homerphilia by Dr. Steven Hale, Associate Professor, Humanities Division, Georgia Perimeter College (formerly Dekalb College).  Includes A Guided Web Tour of Homer's Greece.

Mythweb's Odysseus.  A commercial plot summary and glossary of Homer's Odyssey aimed at the K-12 audience (text by Joel Skidmore).

Odysseus.   A page from Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link summarizes the story of Odysseus, including his actions not only in the Odyssey, but also his role in the Trojan War as recorded in Homer's Iliad, his parentage, mates, and offspring, and includes images and art based on his story.

The Odyssey Project (currently unavailable).  "The Odyssey Project is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Professor Sarantis Symeonoglou of the Department of Art History &Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. The goal of the project is to determine the relationship between the ancient remains on the island of Ithaka and the Ithaka detailed in Homer's Odyssey."

Study Guide for Homer's Odyssey from Temple University--created for  Dr. Robin Mitchell-Boyask Department of Greek, Hebrew and Roman Classics. Includes annotations and chronology.

A Tale for All Ages: The Odyssey, a PBS online forum.  Includes an interview with Robert Fagles.

Reference Materials

Bulfinch's The Age of Fable.

Electronic Resources for Classicists.  A University of California at Irvine directory.

grkship-poseiden.gif (45761 bytes)  
POSEIDON, god of the sea, also known as Neptune (Roman) and the Earth-shaker. His attributes in iconography include the trident and the fish.

This page was created 20 August 2000. Revised 07 April 2005. Contents Copyright 2000-05 Gloria L. Floren. All rights reserved.  Gloria Floren, Letters Department, MiraCosta College, One Barnard Drive, Oceanside, California 92056. U.S.A.: gfloren@miracosta.edu

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