Introduction: The Odyssey, Book by Book

So, you want to know what happens in the Odyssey, but don't have 13 hours and 32 minutes to listen to the Audiobook version of Emily Wilson's translation? And the book feels a bit daunting? Then allow me to give you the tl;dr version.

But first, some context.

The Odyssey is a Heroic Epic from Ancient Greece. It was originally composed orally and then transcribed between roughly 750 and 650 BCE. Oral poetry was a long-lived tradition before the introduction of the alphabet to Greece, so there is no real way of knowing how old the Odyssey really is, or how many iterations and variations there have been.

We have Homer to thank for the version we have today, or do we? Unfortunately, we can't be certain if Homer was a real person or even if he was an individual. For all we know, there could have been many people using the name Homer. Perhaps it was a name given to anyone who learned and recited the epic poems, like a title or job description. That is a bit of speculation on my part.

The Odyssey is split into 24 books, but you can think of them as more like modern-day chapters in length. I often wonder if, when being performed, the speaker would have their favourite book and perform those books more often, or as one-off, shorter performances at dinner parties. It tells the story of Odysseus, who is attempting to return home after the Trojan War. Maybe 'attempting' should be in italics there (if you know, you know). It is described as a Nostos, which means 'homecoming' in Ancient Greek.

I'd like to make it clear that as I am only just starting to learn Attic Greek, my version is based on the different translations I have read and the tiny bit of Greek that I can read. This could mean I have missed out some themes or elements. I want to treat the Odyssey the same way I'd treat stories from my own culture, and the sass with which I am writing it is exactly how I would (and will) tell other stories too. I mean no disrespect with how I word things, and I am open to constructive criticism.

This version is intended as a tl;dr for those who want a general idea of the story, and I will write a more in-depth version once this one is complete.