Please note: This audiobook has been created using AI voice.
The Odyssey is one of the oldest works of Western literature, dating back to classical antiquity. Homer's epic poem belongs in a collection called the Epic Cycle, which includes the Iliad. It was originally written in ancient Greek, utilizing a dactylic hexameter rhyme scheme. Although this rhyme scheme sounds beautiful in its native language, in modern English it can sound awkward and, as Eric McMillan humorously describes it, resembles "pumpkins rolling on a barn floor." William Cullen Bryant avoided this problem by composing his translation in blank verse, a rhyme scheme that sounds natural in English.
This epic poem follows Ulysses, one of the Greek leaders that brought an end to the tenyearlong Trojan war. Longing for home, he travels across the Mediterranean Sea to return to his kingdom in Ithaca; unfortunately, our hero manages to anger Neptune, the god of the sea, making his trip home agonizingly slow and extremely dangerous. While Ulysses is trying to return home, his family in Ithaca is also in danger. Suitors have traveled to the home of Ulysses to marry his wife, Penelope, believing that her husband did not survive the war. These men are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way.
Homer
**Homère** est une figure majeure de la littérature occidentale, traditionnellement considéré comme l’auteur de *L’Iliade* et de *L’Odyssée*, deux épopées fondatrices composées aux alentours du VIIIᵉ siècle avant J.-C. Son œuvre, transmise oralement avant d’être fixée par écrit, puise dans les légendes de la guerre de Troie et les récits mythologiques grecs. Bien que peu de choses soient connues avec certitude sur sa vie, son influence sur la culture, la philosophie et l’art est immense, faisant de lui le « père » de la poésie épique. *The Iliad* reste, près de trois mille ans après sa composition, un pilier de la réflexion sur la guerre, l’héroïsme et la condition humaine.
