The Odyssey: A Companion to Homer's Epic, Mythology, History, and Archaeology

The oldest adventure story in the world is also the most human. Now, with a major new film adaptation of The Odyssey bringing Homer's hero to the screen, the widest audience in a generation is asking the same question: what does Homer actually say?

This is the book that answers it. A complete, single-volume companion to the Odyssey, written for the film-goer, the first-time reader, and the returning reader who wants to understand the poem more deeply. It assumes no prior knowledge and asks for none. It simply opens the door.

Inside this companion:


The full story and its unforgettable characters, from Odysseus and Penelope to Circe, Calypso, and the suitors


The Bronze Age world that produced the poem, and the archaeology that proved that world was real


The enduring themes of homecoming, cunning, loyalty, and survival


The gods, monsters, and mythology behind the voyage


The 2,800 years of art and literature the poem set in motion


The new film is addressed directly and fairly, so a reader arriving from the cinema can see exactly how the screen version relates to Homer's original text.

Authoritative without being academic, and warm without being slight, this is the work of a writer who reads the Greek and has stood on the ground where the story is set. Every book of the poem opens in his own rendering from the ancient Greek, so you hear Homer directly before the guide steps in.

The poem has outlasted everything built or buried since it was composed. This is the book that carries a new generation of readers back to it.