The Odyssey (
Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) 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 oldest extant work of
Western literature, the Iliad being the oldest. It is believed to have been composed near the end of the
8th century BC, somewhere in
Ionia, the Greek coastal region of
Anatolia.
The poem mainly centers on the
Greek hero Odysseus (known as
Ulysses 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.
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 poetic dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of
Aeolic Greek,
Ionic Greek, and other
Ancient Greek dialects—and comprises 12,
110 lines of dactylic hexameter. Among the most noteworthy 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.
The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer. It was usually attributed in
Antiquity to
Cinaethon of Sparta, but in one source was said to have been stolen from
Musaeus by Eugamon or
Eugammon of Cyrene.
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, mentions the Odysseus of the
Odyssey as the first to make up fantastical tales.
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer%27s_odyssey
- published: 03 Jun 2013
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