The Odyssey

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The Odyssey

Homer
Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William Allan

Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

A new translation of Homer's great epic poem by scholar Anthony Verity
Anthony Verity's rendering transmits the directness, power, and dignity of Homer's poetry in an elegant and accurate translation that respects the original line numbers
William Allan, an authority in classical Greek tragedy and epic, offers a full introduction that guides the reader in understanding the composition of the poem
The line-by-line format of the translation is invaluable for those wishing to coordinate it with the Greek text
Extensive notes offer book-by-book summaries and elucidate difficult words and passages.
The bibliography offers a succinct guide to further scholarship in English; a full index of names enables the reader to trace particular characters through the text; map showing the known Greek world traversed by Odysseus between Troy and Ithaca.

D

The Odyssey

Homer
Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William Allan

Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Description

"Tell me, Muse, of the man of many turns, who was driven / far and wide after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy"

Twenty years after setting out to fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus is yet to return home to Ithaca. His household is in disarray: a horde of over 100 disorderly and arrogant suitors are vying to claim Odysseus' wife Penelope, and his young son Telemachus is powerless to stop them. Meanwhile, Odysseus is driven beyond the limits of the known world, encountering countless divine and earthly challenges. But Odysseus is 'of many wiles' and his cunning and bravery eventually lead him home, to reclaim both his family and his kingdom.

The Odyssey rivals the Iliad as the greatest poem of Western culture and is perhaps the most influential text of classical literature. This elegant and compelling new translation is accompanied by a full introduction and notes that guide the reader in understanding the poem and the many different contexts in which it was performed and read.

D

The Odyssey

Homer
Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William Allan

Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Table of Contents

Introduction
Note on the Text
Note on the Translation
Select Bibliography
Map
THE ODYSSEY
Explanatory Notes
Index of Personal Names

D

The Odyssey

Homer
Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William Allan

Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Author Information

Translator Anthony Verity is a classical scholar and educationalist whose appointments include Head of Classics at Bristol Grammar School, Headmaster of Leeds Grammar School, and Master of Dulwich College from 1986 to 1995. His translations for Oxford World's Classics include Idylls by Theocritus, The Complete Odes by Pindar, and the Iliad.

William Allan is McConnell Laing Fellow and Tutor in Classical Languages and Literature at University College, Oxford. His previous publications include The Andromache and Euripidean Tragedy (2000), Euripides: The Children of Heracles (2001), Euripides: Medea (2002), Euripides: Helen (2008), Homer: The Iliad (2012), and Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction (2014).

D

The Odyssey

Homer
Translated by Anthony Verity and Introduction by William Allan

Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

From Our Blog

Homer's The Odyssey: challenges for the 21st century translator

Homeric word-order is unusually accommodating towards its English equivalent. Verbs usually come where you expect them, adjectives sit near their nouns. Compared to, say, the complex structures of a Pindaric ode, or the elliptical one-line exchanges of dramatic dialogue, Homer's largely paratactic progression of ''¦and'¦but'¦when'¦then'¦' presents his translator with few immediate problems.

Posted on October 27, 2016

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