Since their composition almost 3,000 years ago the Homeric epics have lost none of their power to grip audiences and fire the imagination: with their stories of life and death, love and loss, war and peace they continue to speak to us at the deepest level about who we are across the span of generations. That being said, the world of Homer is in many ways distant from that in which we live today, with fundamental differences not only in language, social order, and religion, but in basic assumptions about the world and human nature. This volume offers a detailed yet accessible introduction to ancient Greek culture through the lens of Book One of the Odyssey, covering all of these aspects and more in a comprehensive Introduction designed to orient students in their studies of Greek literature and history. The full Greek text is included alongside a facing English translation which aims to reproduce as far as feasible the word order and sound play of the Greek original and is supplemented by a Glossary of Technical Terms and a full vocabulary keyed to the specific ways that words are used in Odyssey I. At the heart of the volume is a full-length line-by-line commentary, the first in English since the 1980s and updated to bring the latest scholarship to bear on the text: focusing on philological and linguistic issues, its close engagement with the original Greek yields insights that will be of use to scholars and advanced students as well as to those coming to the text for the first time.

About the Author
Simon Pulleyn read Classics at Oxford in the 1980s and stayed on to write his doctoral thesis on prayer in Ancient Greek religion. He taught Latin and Greek at Oxford for most of the 1990s, at the end of which he trained as a lawyer. After a longish spell as a solicitor in the City of London, he taught law for a few years before deciding to give himself over to full-time research and writing. He has published numerous articles and reviews in learned journals, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

Reviews
anyone teaching Odyssey 1 will find the commentary a valuable companion. * Gary Vos, Cambridge Core *
To offer new perspectives on one of the most hallowed oeuvres of the Western literary canon certainly is a daunting task. Yet Pulleyn fearlessly takes up the challenge, and, unlike the epic protagonist of his text, manages in the course of his meanderings to bring his readers back to port unscathed...If this volume will help more readers to approach it in the original Greek, it will have fulfilled its purpose. * Alexander Andree, University of Toronto, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Homer, Odyssey I can certainly be recommended to anyone who wants to explore this classic work more closely, and specifically to engage with the Greek text. * M. A. Orthofer, Complete Review *
It is a pleasure to welcome this new commentary on dyssey 1 . . . a wholly admirable edition. * Colin Leach, Classi cs for All *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198824206
Author Simon Pulleyn
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 398g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 147mm * 17mm