3 Review(s)

The Odyssey is one of the world's greatest and best-loved poems. It has survived for twenty-eight centuries, through upheavals that have wiped out most of what was written in the ancient world. Now Barry B. Powell, one of the twenty-first century's leading Homeric scholars, has given us a powerful new translation. Powell's translation renders the Homeric Greek with a simplicity and dignity reminiscent of the original. The text immediately engrosses students with its tight and balanced rhythms, while the incantatory repetitions evoke a continuous "stream of sound" that offers as good an impression of Homer's Greek as one could hope to attain without learning the language. Accessible, poetic, and accurate, this translation is an excellent fit for today's students. Powell exposes them to all of the adventure, cunning, pathos, and humor that are Homer's Odyssey.