Homer's Odyssey.

The war at Troy is over, but for one man the hardest journey is only beginning. Homer's Odyssey, rendered here in Samuel Butler's plain and readable prose, follows Odysseus across ten wandering years as he fights to reach home.

What it's about

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is kept from his island by shipwreck, enchantment, and the anger of the gods. As he endures ordeal after ordeal on the sea, his wife Penelope fends off a house full of suitors and his son Telemachus sets out in search of news. The threads draw together toward a long-delayed and hard-won return.

Themes

Homecoming and loyalty, cunning and endurance, hospitality and its abuse, the pull between the known hearth and the unknown horizon: these are the currents that run through the poem. Odysseus survives less by strength than by wit and patience, a hero measured by resilience.

Why it still matters

The Odyssey stands at the headwaters of Western storytelling, and its shape, the long journey home, has echoed through literature ever since. Butler's prose translation makes that foundational tale approachable for readers who want the story unencumbered by verse.

Who it's for

For newcomers to the classics who want an accessible way in, for lovers of adventure and myth, and for anyone drawn to the oldest and most enduring story of the traveller trying to get home.