Greek text of the Odyssey's opening passage

The Odyssey (Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odysseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature. It is believed to have been composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.^[1]

The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known in Roman myths) and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War.^[2] In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres (Greek: Μνηστῆρες) or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.

It continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into modern languages around the world. Many scholars believe that the original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos (epic poet/singer), perhaps a rhapsode (professional performer), and was more likely intended to be heard than read.^[1] The details of the ancient oral performance, and the story's conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a regionless poetic dialect of Greek and comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter.^[3] Among the most impressive elements of the text are its non-linear plot, and the influence on events of choices made by women and serfs, besides the actions of fighting men. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage.

Synopsis[link]

Exposition[link]

The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus' son Telemachus is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent father’s house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade Penelope to marry one of them, all the while enjoying the hospitality of Odysseus' household and eating up his wealth.

Odysseus’ protectress, the goddess Athena, discusses his fate with Zeus, king of the gods, at a moment when Odysseus' enemy, the god of the sea Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus. Then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes (otherwise known as “Mentor”), she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality; they observe the Suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a narrative poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius' theme, the "Return from Troy"^[4] because it reminds her of her missing husband, but Telemachus rebuts her objections.

That night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true Telemachus. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena (still disguised as Mentor), he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos. From there, Telemachus rides overland, accompanied by Nestor's son, Peisistratus, to Sparta, where he finds Menelaus and Helen, now reconciled. He is told that they returned to Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt. There, on the island of Pharos, Menelaus encountered the old sea-god Proteus, who told him that Odysseus was a captive of the nymph Calypso. Incidentally, Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks at Troy: he was murdered on his return home by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.

Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä

Escape to the Phaeacians[link]

Then the story of Odysseus is told. He has spent seven years in captivity on Calypso's island, Ogygia. Calypso falls deeply in love with him but he has consistently spurned her advances. She is persuaded to release him by Odysseus' great-grandfather, the messenger god Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food and drink by Calypso. When Poseidon finds out that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft, but Odysseus swims ashore on the island of Scherie (helped by a veil given by the sea nymph Ino), the home of the Phaeacians, where, naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep. The next morning, awakened by the laughter of girls, he sees the young Nausicaa, who has gone to the seashore with her maids to wash clothes, after Athena appeared to her in a dream and told her to do so. He appeals to her for help. She encourages him to seek the hospitality of her parents, Arete and Alcinous, or Alkinous. Odysseus is welcomed and is not at first asked for his name. He remains for several days, takes part in a pentathlon, and hears the blind singer Demodocus perform two narrative poems. The first is an otherwise obscure incident of the Trojan War, the "Quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles"; the second is the amusing tale of a love affair between two Olympian gods, Ares and Aphrodite. Finally, Odysseus asks Demodocus to return to the Trojan War theme and tell of the Trojan Horse, a stratagem in which Odysseus had played a leading role. Unable to hide his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his identity. He then begins to tell the story of his return from Troy.

Odysseus Overcome by Demodocus' Song, by Francesco Hayez, 1813-15

Odysseus' account of his adventures[link]

After a piratical raid on Ismaros in the land of the Cicones, he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters who gave two of his men their fruit which caused them to forget their homecoming, and then were captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon, that Odysseus had blinded him. Poseidon then curses Odysseus to wander the sea for ten years, during which he would lose all his crew and return home through the aid of others. After their escape, they stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds and he gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking that it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight.

After unsuccessfully pleading with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embarked and encountered the cannibalistic Laestrygonians. All of Odysseus’s ships except his own entered the harbor of the Laestrygonians’ Island and were immediately destroyed. He sailed on and visited the witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called moly which gave him resistance to Circe’s magic. Circe, being attracted to Odysseus' resistance, agreed to bargain with him. She agreed to change his men back to their human form in exchange for Odysseus' love. They remained with her on the island for one year, while they feasted and drank. Finally, guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead. He first encountered the spirit of crewmember Elpenor, who got drunk and fell from the roof before Odysseus departed, but was not noticed. He told Odysseus to bury his body, which Odysseus promised to do. Odysseus then summoned the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias to advise him of how to appease the gods upon his return home. Next Odysseus met the spirit of his own mother, who had died of grief during his long absence. From her, he learned for the first time news of his own household, threatened by the greed of the Suitors. Here, too, he met the spirits of famous men and women. Notably he encountered the spirit of Agamemnon, of whose murder he now learned, and Achilles, who told him about the woes of the land of the dead (for Odysseus' encounter with the dead, see also Nekuia).

Returning to Circe’s island, they were advised by her on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the land of the Sirens, who sang an enchanting song that normally caused passing sailors to steer toward the rocks, only to hit them and sink. All of the sailors except for Odysseus, who was tied to the mast as he wanted to hear the song, had their ears plugged up with beeswax. They then passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, Odysseus losing six men to Scylla, and landed on the island of Thrinacia. There, Odysseus’ men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe after Zeus caused a storm which prevented them leaving, and hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios as their food runs short while Odysseus had left to pray. This sacrilege was punished by a shipwreck as they were driven towards Charybdis; after the Sun God threatened to Zeus to drive into the Underworld unless the men were punished; in which all but Odysseus drowned when he hung onto a fig tree above Charybdis. He was washed ashore on the island of Calypso, where she compelled him to remain as her lover for seven years before she was ordered by Zeus via Hermes to release Odysseus.

Return to Ithaca[link]

Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians, who are skilled mariners, agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own former slaves, the swineherd Eumaeus. Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar so he can see how things stand in his household. After dinner, he tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself: he was born in Crete, had led a party of Cretans to fight alongside other Greeks in the Trojan War, and had then spent seven years at the court of the king of Egypt; finally he had been shipwrecked in Thesprotia and crossed from there to Ithaca.

Meanwhile, Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set by the Suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and makes for Eumaeus’s hut. Father and son meet; Odysseus identifies himself to Telemachus (but still not to Eumaeus), and they decide that the Suitors must be killed. Telemachus goes home first. Accompanied by Eumaeus, Odysseus returns to his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He is ridiculed by the Suitors in his own home, especially by one extremely impertinent man named Antinous. Odysseus meets Penelope and tests her intentions by saying he once met Odysseus in Crete. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently been in Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus’s recent wanderings. Odysseus’s identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, when she recognizes an old scar as she is washing his feet. Odysseus had been hunting with the sons of Autolycus. They had been told to go boar hunting so that they could prepare a meal with the meat. The three climbed Mount Parnassus and eventually came across a boar in a large, deep meadow. Because of the meadow's depth, the three hunters were ambushed by the boar. When Odysseus first saw the animal, he rushed at it. It gored him in the right thigh, but Odysseus still hit his mark, stabbing the boar through the shoulder. His bleeding was staunched by a spell chanted by the sons of Autolycus, and he received great glory and treasure for his bravery.^[5] Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about the beggar's true identity, but Athena makes sure that Penelope cannot hear her. Meanwhile, Odysseus swears her to secrecy.

Slaying of the Suitors[link]

The next day, at Athena’s prompting, Penelope maneuvers the Suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus' bow. The man who can string the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition himself: he alone is strong enough to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. He then turns his arrows on the Suitors and with the help of Athena, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoteus the cowherd, he kills all the Suitors. Odysseus and Telemachus hang twelve of their household maids, who had betrayed Penelope or had sex with the Suitors, or both; they mutilate and kill the goatherd Melanthius, who had mocked and abused Odysseus. Now at last, Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She is hesitant, but accepts him when he mentions that their bed was made from an olive tree still rooted to the ground. Many modern and ancient scholars take this to be the original ending of the Odyssey, and the rest to be an interpolation.

The next day he and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laertes, who likewise accepts his identity only when Odysseus correctly describes the orchard that Laertes had previously given him.

The citizens of Ithaca have followed Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge the killing of the Suitors, their sons. Their leader points out that Odysseus has now caused the deaths of two generations of the men of Ithaca: his sailors, not one of whom survived; and the Suitors, whom he has now executed. The goddess Athena intervenes and persuades both sides to give up the vendetta, a deus ex machina. After this, Ithaca is at peace once more, concluding the Odyssey.

Character of Odysseus[link]

Odysseus’ name means “trouble” in Greek, referring to both the giving and receiving of trouble—as is often the case in his wanderings. An early example of this is the previously mentioned boar hunt, in which Odysseus is injured by the boar and responds by killing it. Odysseus' heroic trait is his mētis, or "cunning intelligence": he is often described as the "Peer of Zeus in Counsel." This intelligence is most often manifested by his use of disguise and deceptive speech. His disguises take forms both physical (altering his appearance) and verbal, such as telling the Cyclops Polyphemus that his name is Οὖτις, "Nobody" or "nothing", then escaping after blinding Polyphemus. When asked by other Cyclopes why he is screaming, Polyphemus replies that "Nobody" is hurting him, so the others assume that, "If alone as you are [Polyphemus] none uses violence on you, why, there is no avoiding the sickness sent by great Zeus; so you had better pray to your father, the lord Poseidon".^[6] The most evident flaw that Odysseus sports is that of his arrogance and his pride, or hubris. As he sails away from the island of the Cyclopes, he shouts his name and boasts that nobody can defeat the "Great Odysseus". The Cyclops then throws the top half of a mountain at him and prays to his father, Poseidon, saying that Odysseus has blinded him. This enrages Poseidon, causing the god to thwart Odysseus' homecoming for a very long time.

Structure[link]

The Odyssey was written in the form of Dactylic Hexameter. The Odyssey opens in medias res (in the middle of things), meaning that the plot begins in the middle of the overall story, and that prior events are described through flashbacks or storytelling. This device is imitated by later authors of literary epics, for example, Virgil in the Aeneid, as well as modern poets such as Luís de Camões in Os Lusíadas or Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock.

In the first episodes, we trace Telemachus' efforts to assert control of the household, and then, at Athena’s advice, to search for news of his long-lost father. Then the scene shifts: Odysseus has been a captive of the beautiful nymph Calypso, with whom he has spent seven of his ten lost years. Released by the intercession of his patroness Athena, through the aid of Hermes, he departs, but his raft is destroyed by his divine enemy Poseidon, who is angry because Odysseus blinded his son, Polyphemus. When Odysseus washes up on Scherie, home to the Phaeacians, he is assisted by the young Nausicaa and is treated hospitably. In return, he satisfies the Phaeacians' curiosity, telling them, and the reader, of all his adventures since departing from Troy. The shipbuilding Phaeacians then loan him a ship to return to Ithaca, where he is aided by the swineherd Eumaeus, meets Telemachus, regains his household, kills the Suitors, and is reunited with his faithful wife, Penelope.

All ancient and nearly all modern editions and translations of the Odyssey are divided into 24 books. This division is convenient but it may not be original. Many scholars believe it was developed by Alexandrian editors of the 3rd century BC. In the Classical period, moreover, several of the books (individually and in groups) were given their own titles: the first four books, focusing on Telemachus, are commonly known as the Telemachy. Odysseus' narrative, Book 9, featuring his encounter with the cyclops Polyphemus, is traditionally called the Cyclopeia. Book 11, the section describing his meeting with the spirits of the dead is known as the Nekuia. Books 9 through 12, wherein Odysseus recalls his adventures for his Phaeacian hosts, are collectively referred to as the Apologoi: Odysseus' "stories". Book 22, wherein Odysseus kills all the Suitors, has been given the title Mnesterophonia: "slaughter of the Suitors". This concludes the Greek Epic Cycle, though fragments remain of the "alternative ending" of sorts known as the Telegony.

This Telegony aside, the last 548 lines of the Odyssey, corresponding to Book 24, are believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet. Several passages in earlier books seem to be setting up the events of Book 24, so if it were indeed a later addition, the offending editor would seem to have changed earlier text as well. For more about varying views on the origin, authorship and unity of the poem see Homeric scholarship.

[edit] Geography of the Odyssey

Events in the main sequence of the Odyssey (excluding Odysseus' embedded narrative of his wanderings) take place in the Peloponnese and in what are now called the Ionian Islands. There are difficulties in the apparently simple identification of Ithaca, the homeland of Odysseus, which may or may not be the same island that is now called Ithake. The wanderings of Odysseus as told to the Phaeacians, and the location of the Phaeacians' own island of Scheria, pose more fundamental problems, if geography is to be applied: scholars, both ancient and modern, are divided as to whether or not any of the places visited by Odysseus (after Ismaros and before his return to Ithaca) are real.

[edit] Dating the Odyssey

In 2008, scientists Marcelo O. Magnasco and Constantino Baikouzis at Rockefeller University used clues in the text and astronomical data to attempt to pinpoint the time of Odysseus's return from his journey after the Trojan War.^[7]

The first clue is Odysseus' sighting of Venus just before dawn as he arrives on Ithaca. The second is a new moon on the night before the massacre of the Suitors. The final clue is a total eclipse, falling over Ithaca around noon, when Penelope's Suitors sit down for their noon meal. The seer Theoclymenus approaches the Suitors and foretells their death, saying, "The Sun has been obliterated from the sky, and an unlucky darkness invades the world." The problem with this is that the 'eclipse' is only seen by Theoclymenus, and the Suitors toss him out, calling him mad. No one else sees the sky darken, and it is therefore not actually described as an eclipse within the story, merely a vision by Theoclymenus.

Doctors Baikouzis and Magnasco state that "[t]he odds that purely fictional references to these phenomena (so hard to satisfy simultaneously) would coincide by accident with the only eclipse of the century are minute." They conclude that these three astronomical references "'cohere,' in the sense that the astronomical phenomena pinpoint the date of 16 April 1178 BC" as the most likely date of Odysseus' return.

This dating places the destruction of Troy, ten years before, to 1188 BC, which is close to the archaeologically dated destruction of Troy VIIa circa 1190 BC.

[edit] Influences on the Odyssey

Scholars have seen strong influences from Near Eastern mythology and literature in the Odyssey. Martin West has noted substantial parallels between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey.^[8] Both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are known for traveling to the ends of the earth, and on their journeys go to the land of the dead. On his voyage to the underworld, Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, a goddess who is the daughter of the sun-god Helios. Her island, Aeaea, is located at the edges of the world, and seems to have close associations with the sun. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on how to reach the land of the dead from a divine helper: in this case, the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth. Her home is also associated with the sun: Gilgamesh reaches Siduri's house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mt. Mashu, the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky. West argues that the similarity of Odysseus' and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the Odyssey.

The Cyclops' origins have also been surmised to be the results of Ancient Greeks finding an elephant skull, by paleontologist Othenio Abel in 1914. The enormous nasal passage in the middle of the forehead could have looked like the eye socket of a giant, to those who had never seen a living elephant.^[9]

Text history[link]

• The Athenian tyrant Peisistratos, who ruled between 546 and 527 BC, is believed to have established a Commission of Editors of Homer to edit the text of the poems and remove any errors and interpolations, thus establishing a canonical text.^[10]
• The earliest papyrus fragments date back to the 3rd century BC.^[10]
• The oldest complete manuscript is the Laurentianus from the 10th or 11th century.^[10]
• The editio princeps of both the Iliad and the Odyssey is by Demetrius Chalcondyles in Florence, most likely from 1488.

Cultural impact[link]

• Cyclops by Euripides, the only extant satyr play, retells the respective episode with a humorous twist.
• True Story, written by Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD, is a parody of the Odyssey describing a journey beyond the Pillars of Hercules and to the moon.
• Some of the tales of Sinbad the Sailor from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights were taken from the Odyssey.^{[citation needed]}
• Merugud Uilix maicc Leirtis ("On the Wandering of Ulysses, son of Laertes") is an eccentric Old Irish version of the material; the work exists in a 12th-century AD manuscript that linguists believe is based on an 8th-century original.^{[citation needed]}
• Dante Alighieri has Odysseus append a new ending to the Odyssey in canto XXVI of the Inferno.
• Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, first performed in 1640, is an opera by Monteverdi based on the second half of Homer's Odyssey.
• Every episode of James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses (1922) has an assigned theme, technique and correspondences between its characters and those of Homer's Odyssey.
• The first canto of Ezra Pound's The Cantos (1922) is both a translation and a retelling of Odysseus' journey to the underworld.
• Nikos Kazantzakis aspires to continue the poem and explore more modern concerns in The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938).
• The 1954 Broadway musical The Golden Apple by librettist John Treville Latouche and composer Jerome Moross is freely adapted from the Iliad and the Odyssey, re-setting the action to the American state of Washington in the years after the Spanish-American War, with events inspired by the Iliad in Act One and events inspired by the Odyssey in Act Two.
• In Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (1963), German film director Fritz Lang plays himself attempting to direct a film adaptation of the Odyssey.
• The Japanese-French anime Ulysses 31 (1981) updates the ancient setting into a 31st-century space opera.
• Omeros (1991), an epic poem by Derek Walcott, is in part a retelling of the Odyssey, set on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
• The Odyssey (1997), a made-for-TV movie directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, is a slightly abbreviated version of the epic.
• Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain (1997) borrows much from the Odyssey to tell the story of an American Civil War veteran's homecoming.
• Similarly, Daniel Wallace's Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (1998) adapts the epic to the American South, while also incorporating tall tales into its first-person narrative much as Odysseus does in the Apologoi (Books 9-12).
• The Coen Brothers' 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is loosely based on Homer's poem.^[11]
• American progressive metal band Symphony X interprets multiple scenes of the epic in their song, The Odyssey (2002).
• Zachary Mason's The Lost Books of the Odyssey (2007) is a series of short stories that rework Homer's original plot in a contemporary style reminiscent of Italo Calvino.
• Dominic Allen's stage play Odyssey loosely adapts the story into a post-apocalyptic setting, basing the Odysseus character on Ezra Pound.
• The film Pandorum has many story elements of the Odyssey.
• The film Ulysses' Gaze (1995) directed by Theo Angelopoulos has many of the elements of the Odyssey set against the backdrop of the most recent and previous Balkan Wars.
• An excerpt from the Odyssey appears in graphic-novel form, with art by Gareth Hinds, in volume one of the anthology The Graphic Canon. The anthology is edited by Russ Kick and published by Seven Stories Press.

Notable English translations[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Odyssey

Wikisource has original text related to this article: ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑ

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Odyssey

This is a partial list of translations into English of Homer's Odyssey.

• George Chapman, 1616 (couplets)
• Alexander Pope, 1713 (iambic pentameter couplets); Project Gutenberg edition; Gutenberg.org
• William Cowper, 1791 (blank verse) An audio CD recording abridged by Perry Keenlyside and read by Anton Lesser is available (ISBN 962 634 5312), 1995.
• Samuel Henry Butcher and Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg edition; Gutenberg.org
• William Cullen Bryant, 1871 (blank verse)
• Mordaunt Roger Barnard 1876 (blank verse)
• William Morris, 1887
• Samuel Butler, 1898 (prose), Project Gutenberg edition; Gutenberg.org or Perseus Project Od.1.1
• Padraic Colum, 1918 (prose), Bartleby.com
• A. T. Murray (revised by George E. Dimock), 1919; Loeb Classical Library (ISBN 0-674-99561-9)
• George Herbert Palmer, 1921, prose. An audio CD recording read by Norman Deitz is available (ISBN 1-4025-2325-4), 1989.
• T. E. Shaw (T. E. Lawrence), 1932
• W. H. D. Rouse, 1937, prose
• E. V. Rieu, 1945, prose (later revised by D.C.H. Rieu for increased literal accuracy)
• Robert Fitzgerald, 1963, unrhymed poetry with varied-length lines (ISBN 0-679-72813-9) An audio CD recording read by John Lee is available (ISBN 1-4159-3605-6) 2006
• Richmond Lattimore, 1965, poetry (ISBN 0-06-093195-7)
• Albert Cook, 1967 (Norton Critical Edition), poetry, very accurate line by line version^{[citation needed]}
• Walter Shewring, 1980 (ISBN 0-19-283375-8), Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics), prose
• Allen Mandelbaum, 1990
• Robert Fagles, poetry, 1996 (ISBN 0-14-026886-3); an unabridged audio recording by Ian McKellen is also available (ISBN 0-14-086430-X).
• Stanley Lombardo, Hackett Publishing Company, 2000 (ISBN 0-87220-484-7). An audio CD recording read by the translator is also available (ISBN 1-930972-06-7).
• Martin Hammond, 2000, prose
• Rodney Merrill, 2002, unrhymed dactylic hexameter, accurate line by line version, University of Michigan Press
• Edward McCrorie, 2004 (ISBN 0-8018-8267-2), Johns Hopkins University Press.

[edit] Themes in the Odyssey

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

There is a strong theme of homecoming (nostos) in the Odyssey, because Odysseus is on a journey home after the Trojan war has finally ended.

The theme of temptation as a psychological peril is portrayed by the sirens who lure sailors to their deaths by seduction. They represent the ideal audience—they sing about the most glorious moment of your life, thus tempting you to stay the hero or warrior they are portraying you as. Your own weakness makes you vulnerable; your greatest weakness comes from inside you.

Another significant theme is that of disguise, in the case of the gods; they disguise themselves so that they can interact with mortals. Athena in particular assumes many disguises including a shepherd, a girl, Telemachus, and Mentor. Odysseus is also able to disguise his identity, though not physically, by telling Polyphemus his name is ‘Nobody’ so that he will not be identified as the one who blinded the Cyclops. He also disguises himself as a beggar when he returns to Ithaca to protect himself from being killed by the Suitors.

Hospitality (xenia) is also a recurring theme as fundamental as the heroic code in the Odyssey. During that time, beggars or travelers often knocked on a stranger’s door in hopes of procuring a place to stay. There are specific steps for proper hospitality beginning with the feeding of the guest, which is of utmost importance since food is rare at that time and beggars beg for food, not money. Before the food is given, a bath is offered to the stranger, done by a woman or a servant—often different depending on the status of the visitor. After the food is given, the beggar is asked who he is and where he is from and stories are exchanged. Next, they are offered a bed to sleep on and it is understood that that they can stay overnight and at the most another night. When the beggar is leaving, there is an exchange of gifts, if the beggar does not have a gift to give, they will still be given one.

Finally, identity and exile are also themes present in the poem.

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up odyssey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikisource has original works on the topic: The Odyssey

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Οδύσσεια

• Odyssey on Perseus Project:
  • Ancient Greek
  • English translation by Samuel Butler
  • 1919 English translation
• Homer's Odyssey: A Commentary by Denton Jaques Snider on Project Gutenberg
• BBC audio file. In our time BBC Radio 4 discussion programme. 45 minutes.
• The Odyssey in Greek with translation to English
• The Meaning of Tradition in Homer's Odyssey in English

v t e Works attributed to Homer Batrachomyomachia Cypria Epigoni Homeric Hymns Iliad Little Iliad Margites Nostoi Odyssey Capture of Oechalia Phocais Thebaid

Symphony X
performing live in San Francisco, California, 2007
Background information
Origin	Middletown, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Progressive metal, neo-classical metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast, Inside Out, Zero Corporation
Website	www.symphonyx.com
Members
Michael Romeo Michael Pinnella Jason Rullo Russell Allen Michael Lepond
Past members
Thomas Miller Rod Tyler Thomas Walling

Symphony X /ˌsɪmfəni ˈɛks/ is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey. Founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo, their albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community. They also have achieved more commercial success with the 2007 album Paradise Lost; the band's 2011 album Iconoclast is the highest chart position and the most first-week sales in the band's history.

Biography[link]

[edit] The Dark Chapter, Symphony X and The Damnation Game (1994−1995)

In early 1994 Michael Romeo (ex-Phantom's Opera, ex-Gemini) recorded a studio album entitled The Dark Chapter, which featured himself and keyboard player Michael Pinnella.^[1] The tape attracted a fair share of attention, particularly in Japan.^[1] He then recruited bassist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo, and vocalist Rod Tyler.^[2] Their self-titled debut album was recorded in the same year, and released to a positive reception in Japan by the now-extinct record company Zero Corporation Label.^[3] The band's second studio album, The Damnation Game, followed six months later. Singer Rod Tyler had left the band by then and was replaced by current singer Russell Allen.^[4]

[edit] The Divine Wings of Tragedy and Twilight in Olympus (1996−1998)

The Divine Wings of Tragedy was the album that first gave Symphony X exposure in metal circles. It took a considerable time to record the album, with the recording sessions beginning in 1996 and concluding in 1997. The positive feedback from the specialized press served to establish Symphony X in Europe; their success in Japan only continued to grow.

At the end of 1997 and for part of the next year, Jason Rullo, their drummer, had to stay away from the band in order to solve personal issues. He was temporarily replaced by Thomas Walling. Even with a temporary drummer, the band recorded Twilight in Olympus, released in early 1998. That year also saw the first live performances from the band, which by then had already gathered many fans from around the globe. Their first official show happened in 1998, in Japan. It was soon followed by a world tour. Bassist Thomas Miller left the band and was replaced by Michael Lepond in that year.

A compilation album, Prelude to the Millennium, was released by the end of 1998. As an extra, it featured a second version of the song "Masquerade" from the first album, with Russell Allen on vocals.

[edit] V: The New Mythology Suite and The Odyssey (1999−2002)

Jason Rullo returned to the drums for the band's fifth album, V: The New Mythology Suite, released in 2000. It was the band's first release on major progressive label InsideOut Music. The album was their first concept album, dealing with the myth of Atlantis. The album features classics such as "Communion and the Oracle," "Egypt" and the mini-suite "Rediscovery," and includes pieces of classical music.

The band went on a European and South American tour shortly after its release and recorded their first live album, Live on the Edge of Forever.

In 2002, the band released The Odyssey, an album prominently featuring a 24-minute long musical interpretation of the Homeric epic, the Odyssey.

Solo albums (2003−2006)[link]

Keyboardist Michael Pinnella released a solo album, entitled Enter By the Twelfth Gate, on October 12, 2004.^[5] Vocalist Russell Allen's solo debut, entitled Atomic Soul, was released in the summer of 2005. With this album, Allen took a different musical direction from that seen in his work with Symphony X. It was considered by many—including Allen himself—to be a hard rock album.^[6] Also in 2005, he recorded an album called The Battle with former Masterplan vocalist Jørn Lande under the moniker "Allen/Lande."^[7] The two would later record a follow-up album entitled The Revenge, released May 11, 2007.^[8] In 2005 Symphony X was featured on Gigantour, a summer festival headlined by Megadeth with Dream Theater and Anthrax. Two Symphony X songs from the tour, "Inferno" and "Of Sins and Shadows," are featured on the Gigantour DVD and CD-set, released in September 2006.^[9][10]

[edit] Paradise Lost (2007-2010)

Lead vocalist Russell Allen performing at a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 27, 2007.

The band's album Paradise Lost, a concept album loosely inspired by John Milton's epic poem of the same name, was recorded in Romeo's studio and released worldwide on June 26, 2007. The band claimed this work had darker themes musically.^[11] The album included a special DVD of footage shot by the band throughout their history, available in FYE stores.^[12] The release coincided with a 14-month world tour, including a tour through all of Europe with Dream Theater in the fall of 2007.^[13] The band also revealed plans to perform in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as appear for the first time ever in Russia, India, and the Middle East.^[13]

Paradise Lost debuted at number 123 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, selling 6,300 copies in its first week. The record also debuted at number 1 on the Top Heatseekers Chart.^[14][15]

Symphony X released their first music video for the song "Serpent's Kiss" on July 28, 2007.^[16] It was followed by a video for "Set the World on Fire," released on January 11, 2008.^[17] The band toured North and South America from October to November 2008, and toured Asia in February 2009.

[edit] Iconoclast (2011-present)

On March 1, 2010, an update on the Symphony X official website announced that the band had recorded most of their next album and that Romeo and Allen were working on lyrics; Romeo was getting ready to start doing tracking for the album.^[18][19][20] The album's name and lyrical concept were revealed on January 29, 2011 in an interview by DJ JC Green of Metal Messiah Radio's "Heavy Metal Thunder" show with Russell Allen: the follow-up to Paradise Lost will be titled Iconoclast and will have its lyrics centered around "machines taking over everything and all this technology we put our society into pretty much being our demise."^[21] When asked about a release date, Allen said, "We are in post-production, so the album is pretty much almost done. At this point, mixes are being wrapped up and finalized and it's off to mastering and should be ready for release in a few months, definitely first quarter of 2011. We've got the artworks all done, we're taking pictures next week... all that good stuff. So everything's on track for release pretty soon. Allen also commented that "Sonically, it's in the realm of [Paradise Lost] in a way, in terms of the sound of things; the guitar sound is a little different. Basically, the album is pretty intense, probably the most intense record we've ever done... "This album will contain a good body of work that harkens back to a lot of early metal, some early metal, and a lot of Symphony X standards that you guys know already, and a little bit of a newer sound too, here and there, just a newer direction."^[21]

On February 25, 2011, Symphony X played the first show of their 2011 tour in Stuttgart, Germany, where they performed two songs from Iconoclast: "End of Innocence" and "Dehumanized." Some days later, in Antwerp, Belgium, they performed yet another new song, "Heretic." During their show in London, England, the band debuted another new song titled "Prometheus."

On March 25, 2011, it was announced on the Nuclear Blast website and Blabbermouth.net that the new Symphony X album, Iconoclast, would be released in Europe on June 17 and in North America on June 21,^[22] as a Standard Edition as well as a 2-CD Digipack.

Iconoclast debuted at number 76 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, selling more than 7,300 copies in its first week. The record also debuted at number 7 on the Top Hard Rock Chart, number 19 on the Top Rock Chart and number 13 on the Top Independent Chart.^[23][24] The album showcases the highest chart position and the most first-week sales in the band's history.

Sound[link]

Symphony X is often compared to other progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Shadow Gallery.^[25] Their music includes complex timings and odd meters while incorporating elements of symphonic metal and more traditional heavy metal. It also contains strong neo-classical elements reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen, Cacophony, Randy Rhoads, and other neo-classical metal artists.^[26]

Recording studio: The Dungeon[link]

The Dungeon is the studio located at the home of Symphony X's guitarist and composer Michael Romeo. The albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite were partly recorded in The Dungeon, while The Odyssey, Paradise Lost and Iconoclast were fully recorded there and produced by Romeo himself. Symphony X spent a sum of money upgrading The Dungeon and buying state of the art orchestration software and tools for the rich symphonic arrangements in their songs.

Line-up[link]

Current members

• Michael Romeo − guitar, backing vocals (1994–present)
• Michael Pinnella − keyboards, backing vocals (1994–present)
• Jason Rullo – drums (1994–1997, 2000–present)
• Russell Allen − lead vocals (1995–present)
• Michael Lepond − bass guitar, backing vocals (1998–present)

Former members

• Thomas Miller − bass guitar (1994−1998)
• Rod Tyler − vocals (1994)
• Thomas Walling − drums (1998−2000)

Timeline

 id:Guitar              value:teal           legend:Guitar
 id:Vocals              value:orange         legend:Lead vocals
 id:Bass                value:blue           legend:Bass
 id:Drums               value:gray(0.45)     legend:Drums
 id:Keyboards           value:purple         legend:Keyboards
 id:Lines               value:black          legend:Studio releases

 at:06/25/1994 color:black layer:back
 at:10/08/1995 color:black layer:back
 at:01/01/1997 color:black layer:back
 at:03/27/1998 color:black layer:back
 at:10/10/2000 color:black layer:back
 at:01/05/2002 color:black layer:back
 at:06/26/2007 color:black layer:back
 at:06/17/2011 color:black layer:back

 bar:Romeo        text:"Michael Romeo"
 bar:Pinnella     text:"Michael Pinnella"
 bar:Rullo        text:"Jason Rullo"
 bar:Walling      text:"Thomas Walling"
 bar:Allen        text:"Russell Allen"
 bar:Tyler        text:"Rod Tyler"
 bar:Lepond       text:"Michael Lepond"
 bar:Miller       text:"Thomas Miller"

 width:14 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Romeo        from:01/01/1994 till:end        color:Guitar
 bar:Pinnella     from:01/01/1994 till:end        color:Keyboards
 bar:Rullo        from:01/01/1994 till:08/01/1997 color:Drums
 bar:Rullo        from:08/01/2000 till:end        color:Drums
 bar:Walling      from:08/01/1997 till:08/01/2000 color:Drums
 bar:Allen        from:08/07/1995 till:end        color:Vocals
 bar:Tyler        from:01/01/1994 till:08/07/1995 color:Vocals
 bar:Lepond       from:05/01/1998 till:end        color:Bass
 bar:Miller       from:01/01/1994 till:04/30/1998 color:Bass

Discography[link]

Music videos[link]

• "The Serpent's Kiss" – 2007
• "Set The World On Fire" – 2008
• "Electric Messiah" - 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Symphony X

• Symphony X's official website
• Symphony X's official MySpace page
• Official French website

Ruby Frost (born Jane de Jong) is a pop singer-songwriter from Auckland, New Zealand. After winning the nationwide MTV 42Unheard competition^[1] in 2009, Frost signed with Universal Music NZ and began work on her debut album. Since then, she has been working with a range of producers in Australia and the U.S., and also won the Grand Prize for the Pop category in Section I of the international 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest,^[2] with her song 'Hazy'. In 2010, Ruby Frost travelled to the U.S. to perform at The Viper Room and play at two CMJ showcases, and she also travelled to Brisbane to perform at Big Sound 2010. Her parents run the annual Christian Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Releases[link]

In December 2010, Ruby Frost released her debut single 'Moonlight' on bFM, which stayed in the radio station's Top 10 for ten consecutive weeks.^[3] The accompanying video was directed by Veronica Crockford-Pound.^[4] A 'Moonlight EP' was then released which went to #3 on the NZ iTunes Albums Chart.^[5]
Ruby Frost's song 'O That I Had' (off her debut EP) has been remixed by Mt. Eden Dubstep, and her songs 'Moonlight' and 'Pressure' have also been remixed by NZ artist Leno Lovecraft. She is currently working with U.S. producer Chris Zane (Passion Pit, Mumford & Sons) on her forthcoming album.^[6]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Records[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]