The Odyssey

Homer's epic of Odysseus's ten-year voyage home from Troy to Ithaca and his wife Penelope's patient defense.

Specifications & Metrics

author

Homer

type

Epic poem

era

Archaic Greece (c. 8th century BC)

language

Ancient Greek (Homeric dialect)

verse form

Dactylic hexameter

cantos count

24

Core Principles & Analysis

• Twenty-four books track the voyage, the homecoming, and the revenge on the suitors.
• It begins in medias res, with Odysseus held by Calypso eight years into his return.
• Joyce's Ulysses maps one Dublin day onto its structure.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Odyssey