The Odyssey: Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original

A little about the story

The war at Troy is over, but Odysseus has still not returned to the island where his family waits. At home, Penelope and Telemachus face the increasing demands of men who treat his absence as an opportunity. Far away, the wandering king encounters islands, strangers, divine interference, and situations in which strength alone offers no reliable way forward. Reaching familiar ground requires patience, invention, and a difficult understanding of how to tell one’s own story.

This prose translation makes the epic’s movement accessible without removing its strangeness. Adventures involving danger and temptation share space with scenes of hospitality, storytelling, household labor, and recognition. The poem repeatedly asks what distinguishes a welcome from a threat, a convincing disguise from an honest identity, and a successful journey from a meaningful return. Its scale includes gods and monsters, yet much of its emotional force comes from a question recognizable in ordinary life: how much can change while a person is away, and what does it take to become at home again?

Things You May Not Know About The Odyssey

• An English prose version. Samuel Butler’s translation renders the ancient poem as prose rather than attempting to reproduce its original verse form.
• Twenty-four books. The epic is conventionally divided into twenty-four books, allowing the long narrative to move between different characters and places.
• The son has an opening journey. Telemachus receives considerable attention near the beginning, giving the absent father’s household a story of its own.
• Names depend on the translation. Butler often uses familiar Latinized names, including Ulysses for Odysseus and Minerva for the goddess usually called Athena.
• Homecoming rather than the Trojan battle. The work takes place after the Trojan War; the war itself belongs chiefly to its characters’ memories and earlier stories.