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Homer

Author of The Odyssey

1,511+ Works 109,839 Members 1,012 Reviews 255 Favorited
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About the Author

Homer is the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the two greatest Greek epic poems. Nothing is known about Homer personally; it is not even known for certain whether there is only one true author of these two works. Homer is thought to have been an Ionian from the 9th or 8th century B.C. While show more historians argue over the man, his impact on literature, history, and philosophy is so significant as to be almost immeasurable. The Iliad relates the tale of the Trojan War, about the war between Greece and Troy, brought about by the kidnapping of the beautiful Greek princess, Helen, by Paris. It tells of the exploits of such legendary figures as Achilles, Ajax, and Odysseus. The Odyssey recounts the subsequent return of the Greek hero Odysseus after the defeat of the Trojans. On his return trip, Odysseus braves such terrors as the Cyclops, a one-eyed monster; the Sirens, beautiful temptresses; and Scylla and Charybdis, a deadly rock and whirlpool. Waiting for him at home is his wife who has remained faithful during his years in the war. Both the Iliad and the Odyssey have had numerous adaptations, including several film versions of each. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: from Wikipedia
Photograph taken of the bust of Homer
in the British Museum, London

Series

Works by Homer

The Odyssey (0750) 53,253 copies
The Iliad (0750) 40,091 copies
The Iliad / The Odyssey (0008) 5,822 copies
Homeric Hymns (0700) 1,769 copies
The Iliad, Books 1-12 (1924) 763 copies
The Odyssey, Books 1-12 (1919) 705 copies
The Iliad, Books 13-24 (1902) 630 copies
The Odyssey, Books 13-24 (1919) 535 copies
Circe and the Cyclops (1861) 170 copies
Classic Starts: The Odyssey (2011) 156 copies
The Voyages of Odysseus (1614) 132 copies
The Essential Iliad (2006) 121 copies
War Music (1981) — Author — 104 copies
Kings (1991) — Author — 97 copies
The Rage of Achilles (1996) 97 copies
Homeri Ilias (1853) 72 copies
Opera (1902) 71 copies
The Cave of the Cyclops (1815) 71 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 1 (2017) — Contributor — 58 copies
The Essential Odyssey (2007) 51 copies
The Iliad, Book 1 (2002) — Author — 40 copies
Homeros' Ilias (1960) 38 copies
Ulysses (1974) — Source Author — 33 copies
Homeros' Odyssee (1980) 32 copies
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (1948) 31 copies
Iliad Book IX (Iliad) (1995) 28 copies
Homer: Iliad I (1991) 24 copies
Homer: Iliad I (2000) — Author — 22 copies
The Odyssey, Books 1-4 (1986) 19 copies
The Odyssey, Books 5-8 (1982) 19 copies
Odissea (1986) 16 copies
ODISSÉIA I - TELEMAQUIA (2007) 16 copies
Odisséia III - Ítaca (2007) 14 copies
ODISSÉIA II - REGRESSO (2007) 14 copies
Hinos Homéricos (2010) 13 copies
The Odyssey Abridged (2008) 12 copies
The Odyssey, Books 9-12 (1986) 11 copies
L'Odyssée (2009) 10 copies
Homeros 10 copies
Iliad. Book 1 10 copies
Box Ilíada & Odisseia (2018) 10 copies
Odyssee (Auswahl) (2003) 9 copies
The Odyssey, Books 6-7 (1920) 9 copies
La Odisea ilustrada (2020) 8 copies
Ilias & Odysseia (2018) 8 copies
Iliade : chants IX à XVI (1998) 7 copies
Odyssey, Vol. 1 6 copies
Iliad (2022) 6 copies
Odyssey, Vol. 2 5 copies
Odissea I (2019) 5 copies
Odisseia : Homero (2018) 5 copies
Les aventures d'Ulisses (2006) 5 copies
Ilíada y Odisea (2022) 5 copies
Himnos (1999) 5 copies
Ilias (2004) 5 copies
Tout Homère (2019) 4 copies
Odisea (1995) 4 copies
Ilias - Odyssee [Greek] (2012) 4 copies
L'Iliade (2014) 4 copies
ILIADA 4 copies
Himnos homéricos (2005) 3 copies
Odissea 3 copies
Odisseia - Caixa Especial (2007) 3 copies
Stories from Homer (2009) 3 copies
Storia di re Odisseo (1995) 3 copies
The Iliad of Homer. Books 1-9 — Author — 3 copies
The Iliad, book 1 of 2 (1992) 3 copies
odissea volume 5 (1985) 3 copies
Homers Werke 3 copies
Physics (2019) 3 copies
Homer: Everyman Poetry (1999) 3 copies
Homer 3 copies
The Iliad, book 2 of 2 (1992) 3 copies
Guerre de troie (1989) 3 copies
Tout Homère — Author — 3 copies
L'Odyssée I à IX (1985) 3 copies
Iliadis I - XII 2 copies
Iliada, #1 2 copies
Obras completas de Homero (1955) 2 copies
In Cyclop's Cave (2002) 2 copies
The Odyssey By Homer 1930 (1930) 2 copies
Iliada. N.Ed (2012) 2 copies
ILLIADA 2 copies
L'Odissea (1986) 2 copies
ODISSEA canto xxiii (1969) 2 copies
Iliade libro vi (1960) 2 copies
Iliade: Libro I 2 copies
Ettore e Andromaca (1990) 2 copies
Homer's Iliad 2 copies
Odisea 2 copies
Odyssevskvædet 2 copies
The Odyssey 2 copies
ILIADA LA (2013) 2 copies
Iliada, #1 2 copies
L'iliade Dessins (1986) 2 copies
L'Iliade. Introduction (1943) 2 copies
Odysseia I-XII (2011) 2 copies
Odysseia XIII-XXIV (2011) 2 copies
ULISSES (1986) 2 copies
Odissea II (1900) 2 copies
Ιλιάδα (1995) 2 copies
La Iliàda 2 copies
L'Odyssée (2011) 2 copies
Ilíada 2 copies
L'Odyssée 2 copies
L'Odyssée. Extraits (2000) 2 copies
L'Iliade (French Edition) (2013) 2 copies
Ilíada (1989) 2 copies
Odüsszeia 2 copies
Odüsszeia (2012) 2 copies
Iliaden i udvalg (1997) 2 copies
Odisea 2 copies
Homerus 2 copies
Uit de Ilias 2 copies
La Ilíada (1996) 2 copies
Ilijada I Odiseja (1977) 2 copies
Les héros de l'Iliade (2009) 2 copies
Iliade, chants I à VI (1958) 2 copies
L'ILIADE (2007) 1 copy
Iliade e Odissea (2012) 1 copy
Ilias 1 copy
Dall'Odissea 1 copy
Dall'Odissea : traduzioni — Author — 1 copy
Iliadis 1-12 1 copy
Odyssée (1982) 1 copy
I poemi 1 copy
Odissea. Libro 6. (1991) 1 copy
L'Odyssée : Extraits (2003) 1 copy
L' Iliade di Omero (2004) 1 copy
L'Odyssée. X à XXIV (1966) 1 copy
Íliász (1992) 1 copy
Ilíada (Antología) (1962) 1 copy
La Odisea (2022) 1 copy
Ilíada v.3 1 copy
: , , , , (2004) 1 copy
La muerte de Patroclo (1994) 1 copy
Ilâiada. 1, Rapsodia (1977) 1 copy
La Ilíada I 1 copy
ILIADA BOLSILLO (2000) 1 copy
A Ilídia 1 copy
La Ilíada 1 copy
Odisea (cómic) (2023) 1 copy
Ilíada (2022) 1 copy
Homeri Opera 1 copy
ODISEU 1 copy
La Odisea (2017) 1 copy
La Ilíada (1992) 1 copy
La Ilíada 1 copy
LA ILADA 1 copy
La Ilíada (1996) 1 copy
LA ODISEA 1 copy
Odisea (1985) 1 copy
Odissea. Libro 6º (1994) 1 copy
Odissea in prosa (2014) 1 copy
Odissea 1 copy
Illiade 1 copy
Omero, Iliade (2022) 1 copy
ILIADE VOLUME I (1952) 1 copy
Omero minore 1 copy
Odysseia 1 copy
L'Iliade 1 copy
La Ilíada 1 copy
Іліада 1 copy
The Odyssey1 1 copy
Odisseia 1 copy
Илiада 1 copy
Ulisszes azaz (2005) 1 copy
Iliasz 1 copy
The Iliad: 3 Editions (2014) 1 copy
Te Odyssey 1 copy
71009-1 1 copy
[Works] 1 copy
Iliad. Book XVIII (2019) 1 copy
O pesništvu 1 copy
The ILIAD: Annotated (2017) 1 copy
The Story of Odysseus (1937) 1 copy
The Odyssey of Homer, Vol. 2 — Author — 1 copy
The Odyssey of Homer, Vol. 1 — Author — 1 copy
Odessey II 1 copy
HOMER: THE ODYSSEY (1997) 1 copy
Opera, tomvs I-V — Author — 1 copy
Opera, I 1 copy
Agamemnon 1 copy
Opera, IV 1 copy
Troy 1 copy
Odyssey 2ND EDITION (1974) 1 copy
Iliade. odysée. (1954) 1 copy
Odyssée (1999) 1 copy
ILIADE T.2 (1937) 1 copy
Les Textes fondateurs (2009) 1 copy
Odyssée L' (2011) 1 copy
Revelation 1 copy
The Ilian 1 copy
L'Odyssée (extraits) (2002) 1 copy
Odysseia Çizgi (2016) 1 copy
Odisseya 1 copy
Odüsseia (1963) 1 copy
Odyss©♭n (2022) 1 copy
Odysséen 1 copy
Odyssey (2014) 1 copy
IliasOdyssea 1 copy
La Odisea (2017) 1 copy
L'Iliade (1993) 1 copy
L'Odyssée (1993) 1 copy
The Epics (2022) 1 copy
Ilias 1 copy
ODISEA, LA LB (2014) 1 copy
Lliad & Odyssey (2020) 1 copy
ODISSEA I (2010) 1 copy
Mutations (2023) 1 copy
Ilíada I 1 copy
The Iliad 1 copy
Iliász 1 copy

Associated Works

O Brother, Where Art Thou? [2000 film] (2000) — Original story — 703 copies
Troy [2004 film] (2004) — Poem — 645 copies
The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis (2001) — Contributor — 548 copies
The Portable Greek Reader (1948) — Contributor, some editions — 401 copies
The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (1992) — Contributor — 392 copies
Memorial (2011) — Author — 303 copies
Greek Lyric Poetry (1994) — Author — 284 copies
The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse (1983) — Contributor — 237 copies
The Penguin Book of Hell (2018) — Contributor — 187 copies
Great Stories of the Sea & Ships (1940) — Contributor — 174 copies
The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature (1998) — Contributor — 159 copies
The Faber Book of Beasts (1997) — Contributor — 141 copies
The Oxford Book of Villains (1992) — Contributor — 136 copies
The Norton Book of Friendship (1991) — Contributor — 96 copies
Heroic Fantasy Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) (2017) — Contributor — 82 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad (2008) — Contributor — 68 copies
Pirates & Ghosts Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) (2017) — Contributor — 55 copies
The Odyssey (2012) — Original work — 51 copies
The Faber Book of Gardens (2007) — Contributor — 45 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey (2009) — Contributor — 44 copies
The Book of the Sea (1954) — Contributor — 36 copies
Komt een Griek bij de dokter humor in de oudheid (2007) — Contributor — 25 copies
The Odyssey (Classic Fiction) (2017) — Contributor — 19 copies
The Iliad (Classic Fiction) (2017) — Contributor — 18 copies
Modern School Classics : Four Greek authors (1968) — Contributor — 12 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #1 (of 8) (2007) — Contributor — 9 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #2 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 7 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #3 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 7 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #4 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 7 copies
Mon cher Papa... : Des écrivains et leur père (2007) — Contributor — 5 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #7 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 5 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #8 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 5 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #6 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 5 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #5 (of 8) (2008) — Contributor — 5 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #1 (of 8) — Contributor — 3 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #2 (of 8) — Contributor — 3 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #3 (of 8) — Contributor — 2 copies
Historier fra de syv have — Author, some editions — 2 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #4 (of 8) — Contributor — 2 copies
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #8 (of 8) — Contributor — 1 copy
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #7 (of 8) — Contributor — 1 copy
The Odyssey (Dramatized) (2005) — Story — 1 copy
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #6 (of 8) — Contributor — 1 copy
Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #5 (of 8) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

(3,851) adventure (433) ancient (767) Ancient Greece (1,864) Ancient Greek (526) Ancient Greek Literature (357) ancient history (363) ancient literature (504) antiquity (513) classic (2,677) classic literature (520) classical (559) classical literature (821) classics (6,259) epic (2,573) epic poem (310) epic poetry (1,544) fantasy (313) fiction (4,665) Greece (1,964) Greek (3,475) Greek literature (1,844) Greek mythology (999) history (933) Homer (2,673) Iliad (448) Kindle (338) literature (3,235) myth (400) Odysseus (337) Odyssey (360) own (374) poetry (7,639) read (817) to-read (2,496) translation (883) Trojan War (675) Troy (441) unread (389) war (523)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Homeros
Other names
Homeros
Homerus
Birthdate
c. 9th Century BCE (disputed)
Date of death
c. 8th Century BCE (disputed)
Burial location
unknown
Gender
male
Nationality
Ancient Greece
Ionia
Country (for map)
Greece
Birthplace
Smyrna (Anatolia, Ancient Greece [reputed])
Athens (Ancient Greece [reputed])
Ithaca (Ancient Greece [reputed])
Pylos (Ancient Greece [reputed])
Colophon (Ancient Greece [reputed])
Argos (Ancient Greece [reputed]) (show all 7)
Chios (Ancient Greece [reputed])
Place of death
Ios, Greece (reputed)
Occupations
poet
Short biography
Homer is the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are the central works of ancient Greek literature. Many accounts of Homer's life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary.

Members

Discussions

Bruce Rogers' design of T. E. Shaw's Odyssey in Fine Press Forum (April 25)
"Best" translation of Iliad & Odyssey? in Folio Society Devotees (June 2023)
Recommend a fine press edition of The Odyssey? in Fine Press Forum (March 2023)
The Odyssey in Fine Press Forum (March 2023)
Homer's Iliad in Ancient Greek in Fine Press Forum (January 2022)
Best translation of the Iliad? in Geeks who love the Classics (May 2020)
Le Salon reads the Iliad in Le Salon Littéraire du Peuple pour le Peuple (April 2020)
Companion Books to the Iliad in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (July 2017)
The best English translation of Iliad in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (January 2017)
Iliad by George Chapman in Ancient History (December 2016)
The New Iliad Translation in Ancient History (June 2015)
Lifetime Reading Plan in 1001 Books to read before you die (July 2014)
Homer in Ancient History (November 2012)
Reading Homer in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (November 2011)
Odyssey v Iliad in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (June 2010)
Odyssey questions in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (June 2010)
Homeric allusions in Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece (December 2009)
Troy/Homer in Ancient History (May 2008)

Reviews

It's just such a lovely translation of one of my favourite books.
 
Flagged
HalcyoneCollections | 474 other reviews | May 1, 2024 |
Reread after 20+ years. Strange how superstitious people were in antiquity. Hard to imagine believing gods could be so interactive in your life. Chybylla? and Cyclops were my favorite episodes though I thoroughly enjoyed every trial that O went through.

My updated version of 1946 book was very outdated as far as scholarship though the authors commentary was well organized and thought through.
 
Flagged
delta351 | 474 other reviews | Apr 19, 2024 |
Great translation that illuminates slave culture and women’s issues
 
Flagged
Cansorge | 474 other reviews | Mar 27, 2024 |
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-odyssey-by-homer-tr-emily-wilson/

I got myself this as a late Christmas present, having read positive reviews and also having slogged through a couple of other translations. I was familiar with the high points of The Odyssey, which is fairly approachable, if oddly structured. But this is definitely worth getting. I really appreciated Wilson’s paring down of the language to take only as much space as the original words – most other English translators seem to have been rather verbose (cf Lawrence and Chapman above, three centuries apart).

As you would expect, given where Wilson is coming from, she boosts the voices of the women characters more than other translators do – and let’s bear in mind that Odysseus has love affairs with Calypso and Circe, and less explicitly with Nausicaa, while poor old Penelope has to stay faithful to him despite his years of absence. I also felt I got a much better sense of Telemachus here.

The book comes with an 80-page introduction and another 12 pages of preliminary notes, and it’s really worth it – a very good survey of both the society which the poem depicts, and the efforts that others have made to interpret the text for later times and places. And crucially the language is crystal clear. I have been told that this is now the standard translation used to teach The Odyssey, and I can see why.
… (more)
 
Flagged
nwhyte | 474 other reviews | Mar 24, 2024 |

Lists

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Awards

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Associated Authors

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John Webster Contributor
Theodor Fontane Contributor
Mary Shelley Contributor
Arthur Machen Contributor
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Contributor
George Sand Contributor
Emily Brontë Contributor
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Alphonse Daudet Contributor
Guy de Maupassant Contributor
Anne Brontë Contributor
Henri Barbusse Contributor
Honore de Balzac Contributor
Blaise Pascal Contributor
Honoré de Balzac Contributor
Mark Twain Contributor
Jane Austen Contributor
Oscar Wilde Contributor
Jack London Contributor
Marcel Proust Contributor
Bram Stoker Contributor
Henry Fielding Contributor
Theodore Dreiser Contributor
Stendhal Contributor
Washington Irving Contributor
Victor Hugo Contributor
Aldous Huxley Contributor
Leo Tolstoy Contributor
Louisa May Alcott Contributor
Dante Alighieri Contributor
Gustave Flaubert Contributor
Henry James Contributor
Joseph Conrad Contributor
Alexandre Dumas Contributor
D. H. Lawrence Contributor
George Eliot Contributor
Lewis Carroll Contributor
Charlotte Brontë Contributor
E. M. Forster Contributor
Edgar Allan Poe Contributor
Sun Tzu Contributor
H. P. Lovecraft Contributor
Virginia Woolf Contributor
Gaston Leroux Contributor
Sir Walter Scott Contributor
Arthur Conan Doyle Contributor
Jacques Lob Author, Script Writer
Georges Pichard Author, Illustrator
W.E.J. Kuiper Translator, Composer
T. A. Buckley Translator
Rita Petruccioli Illustrator
Miguel Lalor Imbiriba Dessins, Couleurs
Paul Cauer Editor
Walter Leaf Translator, Editor
A. T. Murray Translator
T. E. Page Editor
Emo Verkerk Illustrator
George Chapman Translator
Theodore Alois Buckley Translator, Editor
Robert Graves Translator
George Steiner Translator
Nicolas Duffaut Illustrator
Coluthus Contributor
Tryphiodorus Contributor
Robert Fagles Translator, Editor
S. H. Butcher Translator, Introduction
Bernard Knox Introduction
John Flaxman Illustrator
Dan Stevens Narrator
Augusts Ģiezens Translator
Hans Erni Illustrator
Stanley Lombardo Translator
C. Vosmaer Translator
Sheila Murnaghan Introduction
Edwin Linkomies Preface, Foreword
Kurts Fridrihsons Illustrator
Otto Manninen Translator
Emily R. Wilson Translator
Gerhard Bendz Translator
Otto Steen Due Translator
G. S. Kirk Introduction
Martin Clarentius Gertz Translator, Editor
Gail Belenson Cover designer
Ennis Rees Translator
Jan Stolpe Editor
Erland Lagerlöf Translator
Wolfgang Schadewaldt Translator, Introduction
Carles Riba Translator
William Morris Translator
E. V. Rieu Translator
Richard Wilding Translator
Robert Squillace Introduction
Anton Christian Illustrator
José Manuel Pabón Editor literario
Dugas Montbel Translator
Anthony Heald Narrator
Peter Østbye Translator
Claire Danes Narrator
Arthur S. Way Translator
Kurt Steinmann Translator
T. E. Lawrence Translator
Ben Shaw Afterword
Imme Dros Translator
Fausto Codino Foreword
P.C. Boutens Translator
Bertus Aafjes Translator
Ian McKellen Narrator
Leo Dillon Cover artist
C H Rieu Editor
Barry Moser Illustrator
W. H. D. Rouse Translator
Allen Mandelbaum Translator
Walter Burkert Afterword
T. E. Shaw Translator
Yuri Rasovsky Narrator
George E. Dimock Translator
Otto Gelsted Translator
Diane Dillon Cover artist
Vincenzo Monti Translator
F. Melian Stawell Introduction
Thomas Clark Translator
Raoul Schrott Translator
Leonard Baskin Illustrator
José Alsina Clota Introduction
Antonietta Gostoli Contributor
Patrick Lateur Translator
Steele Savage Illustrator
Thomas Parnell Contributor
Garry Wills Preface
Stephen Mitchell Translator
Tom Holland Afterword
C.J. Kelfkens Cover designer
Anton Lesser Narrator
Giovanni Cerri Translator
E. V. Rieu Translator
Herbert J. Muller Contributor
Derek Jacobi Narrator
Martin Hammond Introduction
Ernest Myers Translator
William Broome Contributor
Alfred Molina Narrator
Ian C. Johnston Translator
Gábor Devecseri Translator
Rolf Boysen Narrator
M.A. Schwartz Translator
Gilbert Highet Introduction
Jean Humbert Translator
Charles Boer Translator
Diane J. Rayor Translator
Jules Cashford Translator
Sheila Murnachan Introduction and Notes
Exekias Cover artist
Thelma Sargent Translator
Sarah Ruden Translator
Albert Cook Translator
Parris Wakefield Cover designer
Michael Koch Translator
Sean Kelly Translator
T. Parnell Translator
Gilbert P. Rose Translator
Valerie Marchant Translator
Alberto Bernabé Pajares Editor literario
Aemilius Portus Translator
Wilhelm Dindorf Translator
呉 茂一 Translator
松平 千秋 Translator
Norman Dietz Narrator
William Cowper Translator
Gabriele Santini Illustrator
Anna Dacier Translator

Statistics

Works
1,511
Also by
59
Members
109,839
Popularity
#79
Rating
4.0
Reviews
1,012
ISBNs
3,111
Languages
39
Favorited
255

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