O is for — Odysseus, from Homer’s The Odyssey
“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end,
after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.”
I had to memorize those first four lines, along with some other passages, in one of my high school English classes, some thirty-plus years ago. To this day, I can still recite the first two lines from memory, which amazes me since half the time, I can’t remember what day of the week it is.
This is another one of those books I had fully expected to dislike or be bored with. But the more I read, the more I realized the poetic translation from the Greek original wasn’t that difficult to understand, and the exciting adventure it told made the reading well worth the effort. Who can forget Odysseus’ battles with Polyphemus the Cyclops, or the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis? His ten-year struggle to return home after the fall of Troy is truly epic.
The story has been brought to the big screen a number of times with varying results. I enjoyed the 1954 version, entitled Ulysses (Odysseus in Roman mythology), with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. The movie takes liberties with the book as all movies do, but it’s still an entertaining production. From what I’ve read, the 1997 TV miniseries, The Odyssey, with Armand Assante is also quite good. It’s currently on my very long to-be-watched list.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams 
I’m a hard-core Anthony Quinn fan! I’ll have to introduce my daughter to that version this weekend as she has netflicks. She loves the old movies.
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Sounds like fun!
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I haven’t seen the version with Armand Assante. I will have to check it out now.
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I’m looking forward to watching it.
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Ooo! Those are some beautiful books you’ve got there. I enjoyed the Odyssey when I read it, not so sure about Odysseus. I mean, you can cry and get upset about your misfortunes all you want, but when they’re all your own doing, at some point you’ve gotta ask yourself, “Is it all because I’m an unapologetic egoist?” I’m also not buying the whole, “I totally didn’t want to sleep with that beautiful nymph every night for seven years! Honest!” … Right. 😛
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Thanks! You certainly have a point. If Odysseus hadn’t taunted Polyphemus and told the cyclops his name, but had just sailed away quietly, it likely wouldn’t have taken him ten years to get home.
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The Odyssey is a great story, though I’ll admit it was a long time ago when I read it. I never did have to memorize any of it for school, though. That was reserved for Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” monologue. 😛
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I had to read Hamlet, but not memorize it. I enjoy Shakespeare’s comedies, but I’m not so much into the tragedies.
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I don’t think I’ve seen the 1954 movie version or the TV series. Sounds like they need to come out with an updated version of this classic! 🙂
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That sounds like a great idea! With all the modern special effects, it ought to be really good!
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I made a point to stay away from classes that taught this so I never read it’
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Ha. Yes, it does take some work to get through it. Not everybody’s into that kind of thing.
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