Translations of the Odyssey

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The Odyssey, an epic poem of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer, has a long history of translation. The inaccessibility of Homeric Greek to most readers has driven continued interest in translations, which have played a crucial role in the epic's cultural penetration through adaptation, selective reading, and linguistic transformation. The artificial literary nature of Homeric Greek presents some challenges for translators. Approaches to translation range from literal equivalence—attempts to replicate the formal meaning of the original text—to dynamic or communicative equivalence, which tries to translate the cultural context; translators also differ in their preferences for prose or rhyme schemes, with some opting for intermediary variants such as free verse and blank verse. The earliest known translation of Odysseus' travels is Livius Andronicus' Latin Odusia (3rd century BCE)—surviving only in fragments, it was one of the first Latin literary texts. Threatened with disappearance...

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