Abbreviations: a Roman numeral, followed by a period and Arabic numeral, indicates a book and line or lines in the Odyssey; thus, II.165 would mean Book 2, line 165.

G1a. Literature in translation, particularly Homer's Odyssey Like much of the world's literature, we will be reading Homer's Odyssey in English translation, in this instance, from the ancient Greek. For a sense of the problems in translating literary works, take a look at "A Note on Translation" at the end of NAWM. For a further sense of the differences that may occur in translation, inspect the translations of the opening lines of Homer's Odyssey included in the appendix of this document and compare and contrast them with the translation in NAWM by Robert Fitzgerald, a modern American poet and Classicist (specialist in Greek and Roman literature and culture), whose 1961 translation has become a standard.

List of Translators of the Odyssey; C = complete Homer, both Iliad and Odyssey; BV = blank or unrhymed verse; V = rhymed verse; P = prose; */asterisk = particularly important translation. Many of these translations are still in print, some in paperback. (Arranged by date, by the first column down, then the second column down, and then the third column down.) A slightly abridged CD set is available for the Allen Mandelbaum translation, and an unabridged audiocassette set is available for the Robert Fagles translation and the Rodney Merrill translation. Naxos audiobooks is scheduled to produce an audio version of the Ian Johnston translation.

 

*George Chapman (1616) C; V		*George H. Palmer, revised by Howard Porter (1891, 1962) P
John Ogilvy (1669) C	Arthur S. Way (1880, 1881) V	Preston H. Epps (1965) V
*Thomas Hobbes (1673)	William Morris (1887) V	*Albert Cook (1967) BV
*Alexander Pope, et al. (1725) C; V	*George Herbert Palmer (1891) P	*Richmond Lattimore (1967) BV
William H. Melmoth (1780) C	John G. Cordery (1897) V	*Samuel Butler, revised by M.M. Willcock (1900, 1969) P
*William Cowper (1791) BV	*Samuel Butler (1900) P	Denison Hull (1978)
Henry Cary (1823) P	John W. Mackail (1903-10; 1932) V	*Walter Shewring (1980) P
William Sotheby (1833)	Francis Caulfield (1911) V	*Allen Mandelbaum (1990) BV, V
Theodore A. Buckley (1851)	Henry B. Cotterill (1911) V	*E.V. Rieu, revised by D.C.H. Rieu and Peter V. Jones (1946, 1991) P
Philip S. Worsley (1862) V	*A.T. Murray (1919) P	R[oger] D[avid] Dawe (1993) P
Thomas S. Norgate (1863) BV	Sir William Marris (1925)	Brian Kemball-Cook (1993) BV
George Musgrave (1865) BV	Robert H. Hiller (1927)	*A.T. Murray, revised by George Dimock (1919, 1995) P
George W. Edington (1869) BV	Herbert Bates (1929) V	*Robert Fagles (1996); C; BV
Lovelace Bigge-Wither (1869) BV	*T.E. Shaw (= T.E. Lawrence = Lawrence of Arabia!; rent the video of the film classic Lawrence of Arabia, if you've never seen it) (1932) P	Martin Hammond (2000) P
Henry Alford (1860's) BV	*W.H.D. Rouse (1937) P	Stanley Lombardo (2000) BV
W. Lucas Collins (1870)	*E.V. Rieu (1946) P	Randy Eickhoff (2001)
*William Cullen Bryant (1871) C; BV	*S.O. Andrew (1953) C; BV	Rodney Merrill (2002)
Mordaunt Barnard (1876) BV		*Edward McCrorie (2004) BV
*S.H. Butcher and Andrew Lang (1879) C; P	*Ennis Rees (1960) BV	Ian Johnston (2006) C ; BV
George A. Schomberg (1879-82) V	*Robert Fitzgerald (1961) BV, V

To get a sense of the differences in translation, see the appendix of translation excerpts from Homer's Odyssey in section G9 of this pamphlet, along with notes on them.

G1b. The influence of this literary work on the English language

Like many of the world's great literary works, Homer's epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, have left their mark on the English language. From these works have come such terms as Achilles'  heel, mentor, odyssey, siren, and Trojan horse.

G2A. Special aspects the Fitzgerald's translation Used in NAWM (G2a) Peculiar typographical (diacritical) marks in Fitzgerald's translation You will notice right away several peculiar typographical marks, which are "diacritical"--that is, the aim of which is to indicate something about pronunciation. For example, we find a short slash (/) mark over the names Aigisthos and Agamemnon in Book I, lines 42 and 43; this mark is used to indicate to us that the names should be accented on the second syllable of the first name, Aigisthos ("eye-GIHS-tohs"), and the third syllable of Agamemnon, respectively. The slash mark over the penultimate vowel in the name Skheria in Book V, line 40, and over the second a in Phaiakians, in Book VI, line 4, indicates that the names should be pronounced "Skeh-RI-ah" and "fay-AY-kyuns," respectively. We find a circumflex (small ^ over a letter) over the name Helios in Book I, line 13, or over the name Hermes in Book V, line 32, or Demeter in Book V, line 132; this mark is used because Greek has two letters for e, epsilon (sound like the e in the word met) and eta (sound like the e in the word wear). The circumflex indicates the letter eta, rather than the letter epsilon in the original Greek. (Cf. the name Hermes Agreiphontes in Book I, line 53.) The dieresis (two small dots above a letter) is used to indicate separate pronunciation of a letter, as in the name Thoosa, in Book 1, line 91, or Laertes in Book 5, line 212, or Nausithoos in Book 6, line 9; the dieresis tells us that we should pronounce the names "Thoh-OH-sah" or "Lay-EHR-teez" or "Naw-SIH-thoh-ohs." (G2b) Fitzgerald's spelling or transliteration from the Greek Fitzgerald, like some other translators, tries to adhere to the Greek alphabet and its spelling of words and names, rather than some traditional anglicizations of other translators into English. Thus, the goddess who holds Odysseus love slave (the nightmare of every male: just ask any male in our Humanities class) is given by Fitzgerald as Kalypso, rather than Calypso (somewhat more frequent in literary tradition), since Greek has only k (the letter kappa) and no c; likewise with Kirke, rather than Circe, and so on. (G2c) Fitzgerald's verse form and its relation to typography Fitzgerald, like some other translators of Homer, uses principally blank verse for his translation: poetry, in lines of approximately equal number of syllables (usually about ten), but no rhyme. (Occasionally, as in Book 5, in Hermes' announcement to Kalypso, Fitzgerald uses rhyme, which, as pointed out in the NAWM footnote, is not used in the original Greek; the question in such passages is why or what thematic reasons Fitzgerald shifts into rhyme. Also, in other places, Fitzgerald shifts from standard English into either colloquial or archaic English; the question would be what thematic or characterizational reasons account for these variations.) Fitzgerald uses verse paragraphs, like Chapman and Pope, but frequently doesn't indent for them, instead letting them stand alone, like "block style" in business correspondence (e.g., lines 39-44 in Book I [= a verse paragraph] and lines 45-59 [= verse paragraph]) or lines 1-9 [= verse paragraph] and 9-22 [= verse paragraph] in Book 5. In some places, Fitzgerald uses echeloned lines to indicate a verse paragraph or new speaker, as he does in Book I, line 5: a line breaks but is continued in an offset margin by what looks like, but is not, a new line immediately underneath. Thus line 5 of Book 1 runs from "on" through "townlands." Similarly there is echeloning in Book 5 in line 391 (from "and" through "'go on'") and line 395 (from "'for'" to "team"). Sometimes the printers and typesetters of NAWM get the line numbering wrong because they didn't have an English teacher like Prinsky to explain some elementary stuff that in fact isn't elementary until it's explained. (G2c) Fitzgerald's Consistent Use of Terminology from the Middle Ages Fitzgerald, like some other translators of Homer (e.g., E.V. Rieu), repeatedly uses such terms as "squire," "minstrel," and "manor," which connote the European Middle Ages and its feudalism; what parallels does Fitzgerald find between Odysseus' world and the Middle Ages and feudalism that evokes such terminology from him?

G2B. Books 1-4 of Homer's Odyssey in the Translation of A.T. Murray - Because some of the following Notes and Questions refer to or depend on Books 1-4 of The Odyssey, the following link has been provided to allow you to download and print out Books 1-4 in the important early translation of A.T. Murray (1919). This translation served as the basis of a modernization and revision by George Dimock in 1995 for the famous Loeb Classical Library series. To download or print out (or both) the translation of A.T. Murray, click anywhere on this underlined sentence.

G3. Some general themes and motifs in The Odyssey As you read, keep in mind how the following items are being dealt with in Homer's second epic:

I. Homeric or Greek values: admirable traits of personality and behavior
A. Intellect
B. Restraint
C. Bravery
D. Perseverance
E. Loyalty
F. (Lasting) fame
G. Capacity for deep feeling

II. Humanity's relationship with nature
A. The sea
B. Aeolous (the winds)
C. Scylla and Charybdis
D. Animals

III. Humanity's relationship with the gods
A. Omens
B. Sacrifice (especially wine)
C. Gods' will vs. free will
D. Respect or disrespect
E. Special or ordinary connections

IV. Human beings' relationships with each other
A. Individual
    1. Love
    2. Marriage
    3. Courtship
    4. Friendship
        a. Exchange of gifts
        b. Hospitality
    5. Parent-child
B. Social (defining "civilized" or true "civilization")
    1. Disordered society, uncivil(ized) household
        a. Ithaka (while Odysseus is absent)
        b. Kalypso's island
        c. Lotos eaters
        d. Kyklopes' island
        e. Kirke's island
    2. Ordered society, household (Greek oikos, meaning "manor," and giving us the word economy)
        a. Olympos (Bk. 1)
        b. Nestor (Bk. 3)
        c. Menelaos (Bk. 4)
        d. Phaiakians (Bks. 5-8, 13)
    3. Key issues
        a. Relationship between old and young
        b. Proper leader, king
        c. Arts and artists
        d. Artefacts, material goods, prosperity
        e. Hospitality, sociability
        f. Communication skills
        g. Diet (often related to both e and h)
        h. Reverence for gods
        i. The genders
 
All these themes emerge from Odysseus's journey and homecoming, which may be easier to visualize with the following map that attempts to chart that journey:
 

G4. The subjects of the visual arts, music, literature, and commerce or business in Homer's The Odyssey (G4a) Throughout Homer's second epic, the visual arts, music, and literature are constantly referred to; what do we learn about what the ancient Greeks thought about them through these references? What do we learn about the uses, value, or interrelationship of the visual arts, music, and literature in the repeated references to them in this literary work? (G4b) Although he emphasizes what we think of today as "culture," Homer does not disparage such practical spheres as business and economics in The Odyssey. How does Homer emphasize the importance of business and commerce in the disguise Athena adopts in Book 1 or Princess Nausikaa's description of some of the occupational activity of her people in Book 6, "The agora/ with fieldstone . . . cross the foaming sea" (lines 281-88)?

G5. The meaningfulness of Homer's apparently fancy poetic, "epic" language One question to ask repeatedly when reading the text is how and why some epithet (e.g., the color of Athena's eyes), formula (e.g., the description of sunrise at the opening of Book 2), or figure of speech (like an epic simile of several lines) is meaningful in itself and in its context. Although one motive for Homer's use of epithets was prompted by the oral situation of needing to stall for time while he (or another epic bard or reciter) was recalling what to recite next, what makes Homer's language of enduring literary worth is that it is meaningful or significant in itself and in its context. For example, the epic poet's use of (G5a) epithets, such as "grey-eyed goddess" for Athena (I.60; VI.30), "summoner of cloud" (I.82; V.23) for Zeus, "gentlemen with flowing hair" for the Akhaians (I.113), and "Wayfinder" (I.106; V.48) for Hermes, are not only part of epic style (for stalling to remember, filling out a line of poetry, and creating an elevated language appropriate to the grand subject) but also meaningful both overall and in the particular context in which the epithet or "formula" is used: Athena's epithet is appropriate because she has her eye on the troubles of her favorite, Odysseus, and sees clearly into both Poseidon and Zeus and Odysseus' circumstances; Zeus's epithet is appropriate as the absolute ruler who summons all mortals and gods, the latter being depicted in his ruling over an assembly, which implies summoning, implying the power that can command that Odysseus finally be freed from Poseidon's persecution; the epithet for the Akhaians suggests not only that they have longish hair (like your Humanities literature instructor in former times) but also that they are free-spirited and thus shouldn't tolerate the oppression they are suffering from Penelope's suitors (a Homeric irony is that they do put up with it); and Hermes' epithet is appropriate because the delivery of his message will enable Odysseus to begin to find his way home. (G5b) formulas All readers and students forced (encouraged? delighted?) to read Homer's Odyssey remember the epic formula of how sunrise is inevitably described at the opening of Book 2 and throughout this epic poem or poetic epic, as in "When Dawn spread out her finger tips of rose/ Odysseus pulled his tunic and his cloak on" (V.237-38). (Indeed, Cervantes is going to parody this style in paragraphs 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Chapter 2 of his novel Don Quixote, which you can inspect later in NAWM.) First, the lines work to describe quite accurately the streaking of clouds observable at dawn; second, the lines imply the outstretched fingers of an outstretched hand, which is appropriate to the context, since Telemakhos is on his way to plead or ask for help--to reach out for help--from his fellow Ithakans to oust the oppressive suitors, as well as mount an expedition to find his missing dad; or Odysseus is about to reach out literally, in building his raft, and figuratively, in reaching out to get back to his home. (G5c) Homer's verse form in the original Homer set the standard for the use in epic of dactylic hexameter: that is, six dactyls -- three-syllable units or "feet" of / U U (accented or long syllable followed by two unaccented or short syllables) per line. This is a long line of eighteen syllables, though variations were not uncommon: one or more dactyls might be replaced by a spondee (two accented or long syllables: / / ) and the last foot is almost always a spondee ( / / ). Following are examples, with English transliteration of the Greek text (double vertical lines indicate separation of one unit or "foot" from another):

andra moi ennepe, Mous, polytropon, hos mala polla

/    U    U  ||  /  U  U  ||   /   U  U  ||   /   U  U  ||  /  U  U  ||  /  /

[Book 1, line 1]
 

Eos d'ek lecheon par'agauou Tithonoio

/  /  /   ||  /  U  U  ||  /  /  U  U  ||  /  /  /  ||  /  /  /   ||  /  /

[Book 5, line 1]

G6. Homer as artistic storyteller (G6a) Excitement, action, and suspense How exciting is Homer's Odyssey? Before Hercules: The Legendary Adventures, Hercules: The Further Adventures, and (even more exciting for some of the male gender) Xena: Warrior Princess, there was Ulysses, a 1955 Italian flick, starring Kirk Douglas (!) based on the Odyssey (Ulysses is the Latin version of the Greek name Odysseus). In 1997, a made-for-TV movie, The Odyssey, appeared, starring Armand Assante as the epic hero. (Both are available commercially on videocassette.) The end of Book 4 is one of the great cliff hangers of all time: will the suitors ambush and kill Telemakhos on the return trip seeking Odysseus or not? We won't find out definitely for fifteen books. (Cf. the cliffhanger that Cervantes pulls in Ch. 7 of Part 1 of Don Quixote, suddenly stopping the description of the battle between Don Quixote and the Biscayan with the disingenuous explanation that his source for the story gave out.) How will Odysseus survive imprisonment by a cannibalistic giant (Polyphemos)? How will Odysseus survive in a Clint Eastwood (particularly Eastwood's The Gauntlet [1977]) shootout with over a hundred suitors and henchmen in the last books of the epic, with only a force of three to help him? Behind all the excitement, suspense, and action, of course, themes and values are implied: for example, about what component(s) define true heroism. (The same is true, on a lesser scale, for Clint Eastwood movies, and their like.) (G6b) Juxtaposition, comparison-and-contrast Homer's opening of his second epic in Book 1 with the in medias res device, causes the emphasis to be placed on an agora or assembly of the gods; through Homer's narrative art or storytelling, this assembly is immediately juxtaposed, with consequent comparison and contrast, to the society depicted in Ithaka. What results is a comparison and contrast, through juxtaposition, of an orderly society under a strong leader (Olympos, Zeus) with a disordered society lacking a strong leader (Ithaka, the absent Odysseus). A similar comparison-contrast through juxtaposition is made at the opening of Book 5, between "societies" of Olympos (Zeus and company) and Ogygia (Kalypso and her boy toy, Odysseus). In Book 5, juxtaposition and comparison contrast work to suggest how the principles of very human rationalizing and face-saving work even in a goddess by the contrast between what Hermes tells Kalypso about Odysseus' leaving the island and what Kalypso tells Odysseus about his leaving the island. Clearly, even before Homer teamed up with Jethro (and started playing bluegrass music on his epic harp), he knew how to pull narrative strings to convey harmony or discord. (c) Depiction of character, psychology, and human (or divine) nature With the exception of individuals like Richard Speck, Jeffrey Daumer, and the Unabomber, we all have to get along with other people in various ways throughout our, and their, lives. Constantly throughout life we need to be able to analyze others and to engage in persuasion (or be aware of how others--advertisers, friends, loved ones, etc.--are trying to persuade us to do or believe or feel something). How is Athena indeed portrayed as extremely clear-seeing in her speech (Speech 101 and 201, yea!) to Zeus at the opening of Book 1 (lines 60-119) or Book 5 (lines 10-22)? Why is it a smart rhetorical or tactical move to begin her speeches (Book 1 lines 61, 103; Book 5, line 10) the way she does? How does she relate the material or subject matter of her speech, what's on her mind, to what Zeus has just been talking about in Book 1 (lines 45-59) or appealing in several ways to paternity in Book 5? How does Homer portray Athena as a pro whom we'd all want on our "dream team" if we got into serious legal or physical jeopardy that called for argumentation or persuasion? What psychological components in Zeus is Athena working on, and how, in her persuasion of him? Be on the lookout throughout this epic for striking instances of effective communication and persuasion, which was highly prized by the Greeks, who, incidentally, in later times (the fifth century B.C.) were no strangers to rampant lawsuits (an epidemic that also flourished in Renaissance England; as noted in Ecclesiastes in the Bible, very little, like American litigation, is all that new). (d) Humor in Homer (a Phrase with a Nice Ring), Homeric Irony An ancient TV show (not quite as old as Homer's Odyssey) hosted by Art Linkletter was called People Are Funny, and this humorous dimension of humanity is often depicted and explored in literature, including serious or even tragic literature. An example of Homeric irony is to be found in the opening of Book 1 in the description of the struggle of Odysseus and demise of his shipmates:

. . . He fought only
to save his life, to bring his shipmates home.
But not by will nor valor could he save them,
for their own recklessness destroyed them all --
children and fools, they killed and feasted on
the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun,
and he who moves all day through heaven
took from their eyes the dawn of their return.
        (I.8-15)

Ironically, the sun god deprives the greedy shipmates from seeing the sunrise. Another example of Homeric irony occurs in the opening of Book 5, the first three lines describing Dawn rising from her marriage couch with Tithonos; this union of an immortal, Dawn, with a mortal, Tithonos, is just the subject of the discussion, a bit later in the book, of Hermes and Kalypso, and the principal source of Kalypso's grievance.

G7. Parallels between Homer's Odyssey and Greek Art

One interesting feature of ancient Greek art, particularly in architecture, is that what appears to be straight is in fact somewhat crooked -- made crooked to seem straight (see the comments about this in the art textbook). A parallel of this craftiness (in several senses of craft) can be found in Homer's use of in medias res and flashback, rather than telling the story completely straight, as well as Homer's suspension of the narrative at moments of suspense to indulge in an epic simile. Hence, just at the moment when Odysseus gives Polyphemos a sharp stick in the eye, in Book 9 (lines 391 ff.), Homer chooses to halt the narrative for an epic simile describing a blacksmith's work, rather than immediately telling what Polyphemos' reaction is, what Polyphemos does in response; or in Book 19 (lines 389 ff.), when Odysseus' cover is about to be blown because his old nurse is about to recognize him, Homer halts the narrative for a substantial digression explaining how Odysseus got the scar that his nurse may or will recognize.

Another feature of ancient Greek art, and especially pertinent to the Geometric period, which corresponds to the time Homer is thought to have composed his epics, is symmetry -- even to the point of mathematical symmetry. The Greeks found this symmetry in mathematics, in music as well as art, and the very symmetrical, indeed mathematically symmetrical structure of Homer's Odyssey can be seen in the following diagrams (e.g., 12 books prior to Odysseus' return to Ithaka; 12 books after the return; 4 books about the Telemakhos story vs. 8 books for Odysseus the central figure, in a ratio of 1 to 2 or fraction of 1/3 and 2/3):
 

Yet another diagram also shows the same mathematical symmetry embedded in the work:
 
 

G8. Homer's Odyssey in Music, Literature, Film, and Painting

Homer's Odyssey has inspired several art music (the new term for "classical music") pieces, mainly operas, as well as some pieces of popular music.  Operas would include the following:

Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (1640) by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) [music] and G. Badoaro (words; libretto)

Ulysse (1703) by Francois Rebel (1701-1775) [music] and H. Guichard [libretto]

Ulysses (1722) by Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) [music] and F.M. Lersner, based on the libretto by H. Guichard

Penelope (1785) by Niccolo Piccinni (1728-1800)

Penelope (1795) by Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)

Penelope (1913) by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) [music] and René Fauchois (libretto)

Penelope (1954) by Rolf Liebermann (1910- ) [music] and H. Strobel (libretto)

An interesting Rock version of Homer's Odyssey material can be found in *"Tales of Brave Ulysses" (1968) by Cream and included on the 1995 CD The Very Best of Cream (Polydor 31452 3752-2).

Material from Homer's Odyssey is used by fourteenth-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri in Inferno (Ulysses actually appears in one of the cantos), English Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poems "Ulysses" and "The Lotos Eaters," twentieth-century Irish/British novelist James Joyce's Ulysses (1922), twentieth-century Greek novelist and poet Nikos Kazantzakis's The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938), and Derek Walcott's modern poetic epic Omeros (1989). Lyric poems have included "Circe" (1963) by A.D. Hope, as well as "Circe" (1977) by Olga Broumas; "Odysseus" (1910) by Alfred Noyes; "Odysseus" (1956) by W.S. Merwin; "Odysseus" (1959) and "The Sirens" (1959) by Donald Finkel, as well as "Siren Song" (1974) by Margaret Atwood; "The Return of Odysseus" (1943) and "Telemachos Remembers" (1956) by Edwin Muir; "Ulysses" (1933) by Robert Graves; "Ulysses" (1959) by John Ciardi; "Odyssey: 20 Years Later" (1995) by Peter Ulisse; "Ulysses and the Siren" (1603) by Samuel Daniel; "Penelope's Song" (1996) by Louise Gluck; "An Ancient Gesture" (1931) by Edna St. Vincent Millay; and "The Suitor" (1988) by Linda Pastan.

Feature films based on Homer's Odyssey have included Ulysses (1955), an Italian production, starring Kirk Douglas (!), and The Odyssey (made-for-TV, 1997), starring Armand Assante.

In the visual arts, Homer's Odyssey and its myths and tales were depicted from about the eighth century through the fifth century BCE in ancient Greek art, particularly on vases, as made clear in many general art history textbooks (both in explanatory material as well as illustrations), and in such books as John Boardman's Athenian Black Figure Vases: A Handbook (Thames and Hudson, 1974),  John Boardman's Greek Art (3rd ed.; Thames and Hudson, 1985), and T.H. Carpenter's Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (Thames and Hudson, 1991). Art historians put such art into the three main categories of black-figure, red-figure, and white-ground painted-vase decoration.   Several episodes from the Odyssey are illustrated on vases.  Drawn (in more than one sense) from Book 6 is Odysseus's meeting with Nausikaa.  From Book 9, one of the most popular and repeatedly pictorialized episodes is Odysseus' battle with the Cyclops (Kyklops) Polyphemos, illustrated again (1), and again (2), and again (3), and again (4), and again (5), and again (6) -- both on ancient vases and in modern art books. From Book 10, at least one ancient vase painter found the encounter of Odysseus and Circe (Kirke) bewitching; one book illustration gives an "unrolled" view of the vase, while another illustration shows the placement from two angles.  From Book 11, a vase painting helping to illuminate the background of the coolness Odysseus finds with Ajax (or Aias) is the suicide of Ajax (or Aias), provoked when Ajax lost a debate with Odysseus about what warrior -- Odysseus or Ajax -- should be rewarded with the armor of the recently slain Achilles.  Almost as alluring to ancient vase painters as Odysseus' combat with the Cyclops (Kyklops) was, from Book 12, the encounter of Odysseus and his crew with the Sirens (Seirenes); at least two paintings depict the episode, one with a giant and elongated Odysseus on the right side of the painting, almost lost from view or seeming to be part of the ship's mast, another, with the main participants much more clearly presented.  From Book 19, the meeting of Odysseus with his nurse, Eurykleia, is illustrated; from Books 21-22, Odysseus' fight with the suitors is illustrated; and from Books 19 and 23, Odysseus' reunion with Penelope is illustrated. 

Important visual art works include -- besides numerous ancient Greek vase paintings -- Nestor's Tales of the Trojan War (etching; 1930) by Pablo Picasso; Penelope Weaving (1500) by Pintoricchio, Landscape with Polyphemus (1649) by Nicholas Poussin; Poseidon with Odysseus' Ship (1560) by P. Tibaldi; Telemachus and Mentor [Athena] (1757) by G. Tiepolo; The Trojan Horse (1475) by N. dell'Abate; Ulysses and Circe (1600) by B. Spranger; Ulysses and Nausicaa (1609) by P. Lastman; Ulysses and Nausicaa (1830) by C. Gleyre; Ulysses and Penelope (1563) by F. Primaticcio; Ulysses and the Sirens (1837) by William Etty; Ulysses and the Sirens (1845) by E. Calvert; Ulysses Deriding Polyphemos (1829) by J.M. W. Turner.
 
G9. Excerpts from  English Translations of Homer's Odysssey, Plus Notes

G10-1. Notes and Questions on Book 1 of Homer's Odyssey (Butcher & Lang Translation; with references to other translations)