The Odyssey Compact disc - 2005

Name: The Odyssey
Price: 18.38 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Homer; Ian McKellen [Narrator]; Robert Fagles [Translator]; Bernard Knox [Introduction];
ISBN: 9780143058243

by Homer; Read by Ian McKellen

NOW AVAILABLE - Digitally remastered, and on CD for the first time

Translated by Robert Fagles, with an introduction by Bernard Knox
Read by Sir Ian McKellen

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About this book

Listen, O Muse, and hear my song, Of the great adventures that took so long, Of the noble Odysseus, king of Ithaca, Whose journey was filled with many a setback.

The tale begins with the end of the Trojan War, When the Greeks set sail from the Trojan shore. Odysseus and his men faced many a danger, From the wrath of the gods to the Cyclops' anger.

They sailed through storms and fought with beasts, But despite all odds, they made it to their feast, And there, in the halls of the goddess Circe, Odysseus learned of the dangers he'd soon see.

He sailed on to the land of the dead, To hear from the spirits what lay ahead, And learned of Scylla and Charybdis' might, And the Sirens' song that would lead to his plight.

But he pressed on, through trials and strife, And with the help of Athena, he saved his life. He arrived home to Ithaca, his wife and son, But his troubles were far from done.

His kingdom was overrun with suitors bold, Who sought to claim his wife and gold, But with cunning and strength, he won the day, And all the suitors were slain or driven away.

And so ends the tale of Odysseus' quest, His trials and tribulations put to rest. But his story lives on through the ages, A masterpiece of literature on history's pages.

Published in ancient Greece so long ago, By Homer, a poet whose name we all know, "The Odyssey" remains a classic work of art, A testament to the human spirit and heart. -

The Odyssey - a summary in poetry by Chatgpt

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems (along with The Iliad) attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature, also important because it is still studied and read widely today. Originally written around the 8th or 7th century BC in Homeric Greek, The Odyssey was passed down mainly by oral tradition. The text was used in schools and studied by scholars as early as the 4th century. Scholars in Alexandria organized the 12,000-line poem into 24 books. The first English translation of The Odyssey was produced in the 16th century.

Summary

The Odyssey (Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon. Indeed it is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature. It was probably composed near the end of the eighth century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek-speaking coastal region of what is now Turkey. - [Wikipedia][1] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey

From the publisher

The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of every man's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, the energy and poetry of Homer's original is captured in a bold, contemporary idiom, giving us an edition of The Odyssey that is a joy to listen to, worth savoring treasuring for its sheer lyrical mastery. This audiobook is sure to delight both the classicist and the general reader, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.

First Edition Identification

The first printed edition of The Odyssey was produced in 1488 by the Greek scholar Demetrios Chalkokondyles and printed in Milan by a Greek printer named Antonios Damilas.

George Chapman's English translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad, published together in 1616, enjoyed widespread success. Since then, there have been many translations of the poem.

Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Homer's Odyssey, first published by Doubleday in 1961, is the best and best-loved modern translation of the greatest of all epic poems. W. W. Norton & Company released a highly regarded translation by Emily Wilson in 2017, the first English translation by a woman.

More about the "A 3,000 Year Publishing and Translation History of the Iliad and the Odyssey" can be found in Philip H. Young's book The Printed Homer.

Details

Title The Odyssey
Author Homer; Read by Ian McKellen
Binding Compact Disc
Edition Unabridged
Volumes 11
Language ENG
Publisher Penguin Audiobooks, New York
Date October 20, 2005
ISBN 9780143058243 / 014305824X
Weight 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)
Dimensions 6.03 x 5.05 x 1.81 in (15.32 x 12.83 x 4.60 cm)
Ages 18 to UP years
Grade levels 13 - UP
Library of Congress subjects Audiobooks, Odysseus (Greek mythology)
Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.

He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey - are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.

In the Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.

We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact 'Homer' may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps 'the hostage' or 'the blind one'. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.