The Great Books: The Odyssey, an epic ancient world adventure

This great work laid the groundwork for the adventure story. It also has a homecoming theme with a hero who has to overcome many obstacles in order to get home. As a matter of fact it takes Odysseus twenty years to return home. It is also a father and son story. The main character is held back for a good part of the story, which begins with his son Telemachus searching for a father, whom he knows little about. There is a question of whether Odysseus is alive or dead. It has been ten years after the Trojan War and everyone else has returned. 
The many encounters Odysseus has with witches and monsters marks this tale as the first science fiction story.

When we first meet Odysseus, he is captive on the remote island Ogygia with the goddess Calypso, who has fallen in love with him and refuses to let him leave. Calypso is beautiful and will never age, yet Odysseus is found weeping because he can only think of getting home to his wife Penelope. When he finally returns it will be in disguise and after 20 years, yet he and Penelope recognize one another. So this is a kind of love story as well.

I leave the reader to their own interpretations. I think we can agree at least that Homer recognized the simple truths of life and the Odyssey is about life & survival as opposed to it's dark cousin the Iliad . Those simple truths were true then as they are now.





"The Odyssey 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 Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon; it is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, while the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy.
It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.The Odyssey continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into modern languages around the world. Many scholars believe 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 slaves, 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."

amazon.com/Odyssey-Global-Classics-Homer/dp/B08C8XFC8Q/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?