The Odyssey
Translated by Samuel Butler
A soldier tries to get home from a war that ended ten years ago. His wife is holding off a house full of suitors. His son has gone looking for him. Nobody knows whether he is alive.
In 1897 Samuel Butler published a book arguing that the Odyssey had been written by a woman. Almost nobody agreed with him, then or since. Three years later he published his own translation (the one you are reading here), made deliberately in plain prose rather than verse, for people who wanted to follow the story rather than admire the metre. This is that 1900 translation, read aloud complete. Butler's English is now itself a hundred and twenty-five years old, so there is also a plain-English edition of the same text, with old-fashioned words updated and long sentences broken up, which you can read beside his paragraph for paragraph.
Switching keeps your place: the same chapter opens in the other edition. Side by side opens the same chapter with the two texts paragraph beside paragraph.
Things worth knowing
- Samuel Butler published a book in 1897 arguing that the Odyssey was written by a woman.
- It grew out of a centuries-old tradition in which singers inherited familiar phrases, scenes and plots and reshaped them in performance.
Checked against source.
Listen, or read along
Every chapter has the recording and the same chapter as text. Open both if you like: the text is the words you are hearing. Each has a short spoken introduction just above it, to play first or to pass by.
-
Introduction to Book One 3 min
-
1 Book One 22 min
-
Introduction to Book Two 3 min
-
2 Book Two 22 min
-
Introduction to Book Three 2 min
-
3 Book Three 26 min
-
Introduction to Book Four, Part One 2 min
-
4 Book Four, Part One 22 min
-
Introduction to Book Four, Part Two 3 min
-
5 Book Four, Part Two 21 min
-
Introduction to Book Five 2 min
-
6 Book Five 25 min
-
Introduction to Book Six 3 min
-
7 Book Six 18 min
-
Introduction to Book Seven 2 min
-
8 Book Seven 18 min
-
Introduction to Book Eight 3 min
-
9 Book Eight 31 min
-
Introduction to Book Nine 3 min
-
10 Book Nine 30 min
-
Introduction to Book Ten 3 min
-
11 Book Ten 29 min
-
Introduction to Book Eleven 2 min
-
12 Book Eleven 32 min
-
Introduction to Book Twelve 2 min
-
13 Book Twelve 24 min
-
Introduction to Book Thirteen 3 min
-
14 Book Thirteen 23 min
-
Introduction to Book Fourteen 2 min
-
15 Book Fourteen 28 min
-
Introduction to Book Fifteen 2 min
-
16 Book Fifteen 29 min
-
Introduction to Book Sixteen 2 min
-
17 Book Sixteen 24 min
-
Introduction to Book Seventeen 2 min
-
18 Book Seventeen 31 min
-
Introduction to Book Eighteen 2 min
-
19 Book Eighteen 22 min
-
Introduction to Book Nineteen 2 min
-
20 Book Nineteen 32 min
-
Introduction to Book Twenty 3 min
-
21 Book Twenty 21 min
-
Introduction to Book Twenty-One 2 min
-
22 Book Twenty-One 22 min
-
Introduction to Book Twenty-Two 2 min
-
23 Book Twenty-Two 25 min
-
Introduction to Book Twenty-Three 2 min
-
24 Book Twenty-Three 19 min
-
Introduction to Book Twenty-Four 2 min
-
25 Book Twenty-Four 28 min
Where this comes from
Translated by Samuel Butler, 1900.
This recording uses Samuel Butler's prose translation, published in 1900. Butler died in 1902, so the translation, like Homer's poem itself, is in the public domain in the United States and in countries that protect a work for seventy years after the author's death.
Cover image: John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1891, National Gallery of Victoria.
Narration: text-to-speech.
Want a copy for your bookshelf?
Enjoyed this audiobook? Add a printed copy to your personal library, or share the experience by gifting one to a friend or family member.
Open Ear Books earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. Open Ear Books is also the publisher of this paperback edition. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
If you want the poetry, read Emily Wilson.
Butler gave up the verse to get the story across, and this recording inherits that trade. Emily Wilson's 2017 translation does the opposite and does it superbly: line for line with the Greek, in iambic pentameter, fast and clear and meant to be spoken aloud.
Emily Wilson’s translation on Amazon (paid link)
The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson. W. W. Norton, 2017. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.