πλέων ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον ἐπ' ἀλλοθρόους ἀνθρώπους, - 1.183 "sailing on the wine-dark sea to men of another language",   (Odyssey)

I recently watched Christopher Nolan’s new film version of ‘The Odyssey’ , which is an entire topic of its own (do go and watch it in an IMAX theatre if you possibly can). But the experience sent me back to my own bookshelves, to see which translations I had available of Homer’s original poem - a work which I first read almost 60 years ago as a young schoolboy, during a summer holiday heatwave rather like the present one.

By chance I stumbled across a recent YT video by EJ Borg called “Which Translation of Homer’s Odyssey Should you Read?”, and this provides a handy roundup of seven of the most popular English translations currently available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJD3PFlhFUI

For illustrative purposes, the video offers the same two sample passages (Book 1: 1-9 and Book 9: 473-482)  from each translation presented anonymously, and in random chronological order - and invites the viewer to grade them according to taste. The first passage contains the opening lines of the poem, and the second is the scene where Odysseus taunts the Cyclops as his men escape aboard their ships from the monster’s’ island.

The oldest translation on offer is by Alexander Pope (1721) which renders Homer’s dactylic hexameters in heroic couplets - rhyming pairs of lines in iambic pentameter English verse. The newest translations include  the one by Emily Wilson (2018) which is said to have inspired Christopher Nolan’s reading of the film, and the very latest one by Daniel Mendelsohn (2025) which like Emily Wilson’s translation offers a line-by line rendering of Homer’s original poem.

Honourable mentions include E.V Rieu’s lucid prose version (1946) which was the very first ever ‘Penguin Classic’ - a labour of love carried out during long nights spent in air-raid shelters during WW2, and that by American poet Robert Fagles (1996) who also translated ‘The Iliad’.

My own personal favourite English translation of ‘The Odyssey’ however is not mentioned in this video at all. It is one credited to T.E Shaw (1932) ‘Who he?” you may ask - well…  that translator is a pseudonym for T.E. Lawrence aka ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. Back in the early 1930s after publishing ’Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ (1926) a monumental first-hand account of his military experiences fighting in the Hejaz during WW1, Lawrence sought refuge from the public spotlight by secretly re-enlisting in the RAF under a false name as Aircraftman T.E. Shaw. He then spent four years translating ‘The Odyssey’ from the original Greek during his spare time from his RAF duties.

Lawrence’s translation fascinates me because of the remarkable background, he brings to the task as an archaeologist, scholar, linguist, traveller and war hero which perfectly complements a work he describes in a translator’s afterword as “the oldest book in the world worth reading for its story, and the first novel of Europe”.

First time I ever ran across a copy of it, I was maybe 5-6 years old, and it was in a foreign language that I assumed was Latin, but it may have been Greek. I was already familiar with the Iliad, the Odyssey and Aeneid, courtesy of a classical Italian education system ( those were our 'fairy' tales ).

I later watched a serialized black/white version on Italian TV ( about 1967 ), and to this day, I vividly recall the Cyclops ( Polyphemus ) eating Ulysses' men, blinding him after he was drunk, sneaking out under the bellies of the sheep, and the trickery with the 'nessuno' name ( Italian for 'nobody' ).
Being 7-8 years old, I couldn't sleep for weeks.

4 hours ago, toucana said:

It is one credited to T.E Shaw (1932) ‘Who he?” you may ask - well…  that translator is a pseudonym for T.E. Lawrence aka ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. Back in the early 1930s after publishing ’Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ (1926) a monumental first-hand account of his military experiences fighting in the Hejaz during WW1, Lawrence sought refuge from the public spotlight by secretly re-enlisting in the RAF under a false name as Aircraftman T.E. Shaw.

Apparently not his first alias. He previously enlisted under the name John Hume Ross, according to his Wikipedia article. I had no idea.

2 hours ago, MigL said:

First time I ever ran across a copy of it, I was maybe 5-6 years old, and it was in a foreign language that I assumed was Latin, but it may have been Greek. I was already familiar with the Iliad, the Odyssey and Aeneid, courtesy of a classical Italian education system ( those were our 'fairy' tales ).

I later watched a serialized black/white version on Italian TV ( about 1967 ), and to this day, I vividly recall the Cyclops ( Polyphemus ) eating Ulysses' men, blinding him after he was drunk, sneaking out under the bellies of the sheep, and the trickery with the 'nessuno' name ( Italian for 'nobody' ).
Being 7-8 years old, I couldn't sleep for weeks.

We had the E V Rieu translation read to us when we were kids. But I'm intrigued by the T E Lawrence version. Maybe I should look for it. I did read the 7 Pillars of Wisdom while I was working in the Middle East - thought it would be a good idea to see how an Englishman adapted to the Arab world.

1 hour ago, swansont said:

Apparently not his first alias. He previously enlisted under the name John Hume Ross, according to his Wikipedia article. I had no idea.

Yes he was forced to leave the RAF in 1923 after that alias was exposed by the press, but he managed to rejoin the RAF in 1925 under a new alias 'T.E Shaw' after a brief and unhappy stint in the Royal Tank Corps. Air Marshal Hugh Dowding who subsequently became the head of RAF fighter command authorised the enlistment.

I should perhaps have appended T.E. Lawrence's translation of the same two passages cited from the other versions mentioned in the video:

"Oh divine poesy, goddess-daughter of Zeus! Sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who after he had plundered the the inmost citadel of hallowed Troy was made to stray grievously about the coasts of men, the sport of their customs good or bad, while his heart through all the sea-faring ached in agony to redeem himself and bring his company safe home. Vain hope - for them ! For his fellows he strove in vain; their own witlessness cast them away. The fools !  To destroy for meat the oxen of the most exalted sun: wherefore the sun-god blotted out the day of their return". (Book 1: 1-9)

"But when we were just as far from the land as a man’s shout might carry, then I hailed the Cyclops in malignant derision.’So Cyclops, you were unlucky and did not quite have the strength to eat all of the followers of this puny man within your cave? Instead the luck returned your wickedness upon yourself in fit punishment for the impiety that had dared to eat the guests in your house. Zeus has repaid you, the other Gods agreeing’. My cry stung his heart more terribly yet. He tore the crest from  a great mountain and flung it at the black-prowed ship, but overcast by a hair’s breadth." (Book 9: 473-482)

My translation remains ambiguous as to whether or not Odysseus gave up gluten. Matt Damon did, in order to better fill his character's shoes, or sandals.

There is a fragment which has been attributed to Homer, "sailing upon the wine-dark sea to another land where none may partake of wheat or barley, and each man having minimal torso fat thereby..." Though not usually included in translations, as some scholars hold it to be a later forgery, it's possible Mr Damon drew inspiration there.

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

My translation remains ambiguous as to whether or not Odysseus gave up gluten. Matt Damon did, in order to better fill his character's shoes, or sandals.

There is a fragment which has been attributed to Homer, "sailing upon the wine-dark sea to another land where none may partake of wheat or barley, and each man having minimal torso fat thereby..." Though not usually included in translations, as some scholars hold it to be a later forgery, it's possible Mr Damon drew inspiration there.

I wonder if lotus eating was an entirely gluten-free past-time ? Who knows ? The Lotus eaters or λωτοφάγοι, appear in book ix. of ‘The Odyssey’, but there is some dispute as to who they were and what they ate. Back in the 5th century BC , Herodotus reckoned the λωτοφάγοι, lived in coastal Libya, but Polybius said no, it was on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia.

Some say the lotus was the jujube fruit, but as its leaves contains saponin and ziziphin which inhibit the ability to taste sweet things, and the lotus was said to be “as sweet as honey” this seems unlikely. The Egyptian Blue Lotus which was a type of mildly narcotic water lily doesn’t quite fit the bill either.

No doubt all will become clear later this year when Elon Musk deploys his trillions of dollars and Grok AI to create a "historically accurate" version of ‘The Odyssey’ spoken  in perfect Homeric Greek by an all-white cast in non gender-fluid roles :-P

11 hours ago, toucana said:

I wonder if lotus eating was an entirely gluten-free past-time ? Who knows ? The Lotus eaters or λωτοφάγοι, appear in book ix. of ‘The Odyssey’, but there is some dispute as to who they were and what they ate. Back in the 5th century BC , Herodotus reckoned the λωτοφάγοι, lived in coastal Libya, but Polybius said no, it was on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia.

Some say the lotus was the jujube fruit, but as its leaves contains saponin and ziziphin which inhibit the ability to taste sweet things, and the lotus was said to be “as sweet as honey” this seems unlikely. The Egyptian Blue Lotus which was a type of mildly narcotic water lily doesn’t quite fit the bill either.

No doubt all will become clear later this year when Elon Musk deploys his trillions of dollars and Grok AI to create a "historically accurate" version of ‘The Odyssey’ spoken  in perfect Homeric Greek by an all-white cast in non gender-fluid roles :-P

Arf arf.😆