Search Results - The Odyssey
Odyssey
![Oldest-known manuscript fragment of the ''Odyssey'', produced in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] during the 3rd century BC and unearthed in Medinet Ghoram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Fragment_Odyssee_2245_2.jpg)
The ''Odyssey'' was first written down in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as true, but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes that the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' were composed independently, forming as part of long oral traditions. Given widespread illiteracy, the poem was performed for an audience by an or rhapsode.
Key themes in the epic include the ideas of (; 'return', homecoming), wandering, (; 'guest-friendship'), testing, and omens. Scholars still explore on the narrative significance of certain groups in the poem, such as women and slaves, who have larger roles than in other works of ancient literature. This focus is especially remarkable when contrasted with the ''Iliad'', which centres the exploits of soldiers and kings during the Trojan War.
The ''Odyssey'' is regarded as one of the most significant works of the Western canon. The first English translation of the ''Odyssey'' was in the 16th century. Adaptations and re-imaginings continue to be produced across a wide variety of media. In 2018, when ''BBC Culture'' polled experts around the world to find literature's most enduring narrative, the ''Odyssey'' topped the list. Provided by Wikipedia