A stunning verse translation of Homer’s epic tale about one man’s decade-long struggle to return home after years on the battlefields of Troy, from National Book Award–winning translator Allen Mandelbaum

“Muse, tell me of the man of many wiles . . .”

So begins one of the greatest adventures of world literature. Homer’s epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan War has inspired writers from Virgil to James Joyce. Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens’ song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope.

Allen Mandelbaum’s brilliant verse translation realizes the power and the beauty of the original Greek and demonstrates why the Odyssey has captured the human imagination for nearly three thousand years.