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The Odyssey

By Homer (translated by Samuel Butler)

Cover of The Odyssey

Cover: Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses (1891) by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) · Wikimedia Commons (Gallery Oldham) · Public domain

The Odyssey is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the ten-year-long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are killed.

Summary source: Wikipedia: Odyssey · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Table of contents

  1. 1: The Gods in Council—Minerva’s Visit to Ithaca—the Challenge from Telemachus to the Suitors
  2. 2: Assembly of the People of Ithaca—Speeches of Telemachus and of the Suitors—Telemachus Makes His Preparations and Starts for Pylos with Minerva Disguised As Mentor
  3. 3: Telemachus Visits Nestor at Pylos
  4. 4: The Visit to King Menelaus, Who Tells His Story—Meanwhile the Suitors in Ithaca Plot Against Telemachus
  5. 5: Calypso—Ulysses Reaches Scheria on a Raft
  6. 6: The Meeting Between Nausicaa and Ulysses
  7. 7: Reception of Ulysses at the Palace of King Alcinous
  8. 8: Banquet in the House of Alcinous—the Games
  9. 9: Ulysses Declares Himself and Begins His Story—-the Cicons, Lotophagi, and Cyclopes
  10. 10: Aeolus, the Laestrygones, Circe
  11. 11: The Visit to the Dead.88
  12. 12: The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Cattle of the Sun
  13. 13: Ulysses Leaves Scheria and Returns to Ithaca
  14. 14: Ulysses in the Hut with Eumaeus
  15. 15: Minerva Summons Telemachus from Lacedaemon—He Meets with Theoclymenus at Pylos and Brings Him to Ithaca—on Landing He Goes to the Hut of Eumaeus
  16. 16: Ulysses Reveals Himself to Telemachus
  17. 17: Book 17
  18. 18: The Fight with Irus—Ulysses Warns Amphinomus—Penelope Gets Presents from the Suitors—the Braziers—Ulysses Rebukes Eurymachus
  19. 19: Telemachus and Ulysses Remove the Armour—Ulysses Interviews Penelope—Euryclea Washes His Feet and Recognises the Scar on His Leg—Penelope Tells Her Dream to Ulysses
  20. 20: Book 20
  21. 21: The Trial of the Axes, During Which Ulysses Reveals Himself to Eumaeus and Philoetius
  22. 22: The Killing of the Suitors—the Maids Who Have Misconducted Themselves Are Made to Cleanse the Cloisters and Are Then Hanged
  23. 23: Penelope Eventually Recognises Her Husband—Early in the Morning Ulysses, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Philoetius Leave the Town
  24. 24: The Ghosts of the Suitors in Hades—Ulysses and His Men Go to the House of Laertes—the People of Ithaca Come Out to Attack Ulysses, but Minerva Concludes a Peace