Cover: Cover of the Project Gutenberg edition (eBook #1727) · Public domain · source
The Odyssey
Ten years after the fall of Troy, Odysseus is still trying to get home — past the Cyclops, the Sirens and his own pride — while his wife Penelope holds a house full of suitors at bay and his son grows up without him. The first great story of the long way home, in a plain prose translation.
- First published
- c. 8th–7th century BCE
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Reading time
- About 8½ hours
- Translation
- Samuel Butler
Reading time: 118,054 words in Project Gutenberg text #1727, the poem only (translator's preface and notes excluded), read at 238 words per minute.
Samuel Butler's English prose translation, London: A. C. Fifield, 1900.
- homecoming
- cunning
- loyalty
- identity
- hospitality
Where to read it
- Read free — Project GutenbergPublic domain in the USA; check your local law outside it. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Read free — WikisourcePublic domain transcription. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
Copyright
- Kenya
- Public domain (translator d. 1902)
- United States
- Public domain
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Questions for discussion
Odysseus survives by cunning and lies. Is he a hero?
Penelope's weaving and unweaving is its own kind of strategy. What is she really doing?
What is 'home' in the Odyssey — a place, a person or a self?
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