The Odyssey: Books 1-12 (The Loeb Classical Library, No 104) [Hardcover]

Homer (Author), George E. Dimock (Editor), A. T. Murray (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674995619 | ISBN-13: 978-0674995611 | Publication Date: 1995 | Edition: 2nd

Here is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of the resplendent epic tale of Odysseus's long journey home from the Trojan War and the legendary temptations, delays, and perils he faced at every turn. Homer's classic poem features Odysseus's encounters with the beautiful nymph Calypso; the queenly but wily Circe; the Lotus-eaters, who fed his men their memory-stealing drug; the man-eating, one-eyed Cyclops; the Laestrygonian giants; the souls of the dead in Hades; the beguiling Sirens; the treacherous Scylla and Charybdis. Here, too, is the hero's faithful wife, Penelope, weaving a shroud by day and unraveling it by night, in order to thwart the numerous suitors attempting to take Odysseus's place.

The works attributed to Homer include the two oldest and greatest European epic poems, the Odyssey and Iliad. These texts have long stood in the Loeb Classical Library with a faithful and literate prose translation by A. T. Murray. George Dimock now brings the Loeb's Odyssey up to date, with a rendering that retains Murray's admirable style but is worded for today's readers. The two-volume edition includes a new introduction, notes, and index.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Greek (translation)
Original Language: Greek

About the Author

William F. Wyatt is Professor of Classics, Brown University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library; 2nd edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674995619
• ISBN-13: 978-0674995611
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensable Aid for Greek Students, November 4, 2002

By 

Mark Cooper (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Odyssey: Books 1-12 (The Loeb Classical Library, No 104) (Hardcover)

Talking to other students of Greek, I'm fascinated by the ambivalence they feel for the Loeb series. For some, to read a Greek text in a Loeb edition is an act of sacrilege for which burning at the stake is not sufficient punishment. According to these Greek students, one should have only the Greek text furnished with an appropriately massive critical apparatus. Amusingly, the one person I know who is most vociferously against the Loeb series was quite upset when, a few months ago, I ran into him at a university bookstore and found, horror of horrors, that he was purchasing a Loeb. Needless to say, I have no such prejudice against the Loeb series and find certain volumes to be quite helpful in learning Greek.

Unfortunately, many of the translations that come alongside the Greek texts in the Loeb series are not particulalry faithful to the original text and are therefore useless if one is looking for a simple crib to help construe the meaning of this or that word or construction.

Fortunately, the translation for the Loeb edition of the Odyssey is a great crib. It is, for the most part, painstakingly faithful to the Greek, although there are a few strange lapses here and there where the translator(s) have decided to add a few words that are not in the Greek.

As for those who are Greekless and are simply looking for an accurate translation of the Odyssey, I'm not sure that I can recommend the translation. On the one hand, it is faithful to the sense of the text, but capture none of the sensuality of the text; that is to say, the rhythm and sound that make Homer so pleasurable are not reproduced in the translation. So, the translation is an excellent crib for construing the sense of Homer's text, but that's the extent of its merit.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dated translation; a work that never ages, April 4, 2001

By 

Ezra Lagberg (Stanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Odyssey: Books 1-12 (The Loeb Classical Library, No 104) (Hardcover)

Every generation must have its own translations of Homer, but a good place for an aspiring translator to start will always be the Loeb library: translations facing the original Greek, a reasonable price, a cover design that doesn't try to look especially modern. Of course, if you're just looking to read Homer in English, there are better translations (my own personal favorite is Fagles).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loeb always a classic, March 11, 2006

By 

R. Ancona "re-learner" (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Odyssey: Books 1-12 (The Loeb Classical Library, No 104) (Hardcover)

Dimock's revision of Murray's translation has updated the text so that it seems a little less archaic. However, as an aid for translation of the Greek, the line by line literal translations have no equals.
Excellent for those learning, or relearning, reading Homeric Greek in the "original"