Book 1
The Goddess at the Gate
A son who has never known his father gets a visit from a stranger who is not a stranger.
Book 2
The Assembly and the Secret Voyage
Telemachus calls the men of Ithaca to council, defies the suitors, and slips away by sea to seek his father.
Book 3
The Old Horseman of Pylos
Telemachus reaches Nestor and hears how the Greeks scattered after Troy, and how Agamemnon died at home.
Book 4
The Old Man of the Sea
In Sparta, Menelaus tells of his own long road home, while killers wait for Telemachus.
Book 5
The Raft and the Wave
Set free at last, Odysseus builds a raft, and the angry sea-god nearly drowns him.
Book 6
The Girl at the River
Washed up and naked, Odysseus wakes to laughter and finds the princess who will save him.
Book 7
The House of Bronze
A stranger walks unseen through a glittering city to beg his way home.
Book 8
The Stranger Who Cried at the Song
A blind bard sings of Troy, and the unknown guest cannot hide his tears.
Book 9
The Eye of the Cyclops
Odysseus names himself at last, and tells how he blinded a one-eyed monster to escape.
Book 10
The Bag of Winds and the Witch’s Pigs
A gift of wind squandered, an island of giants, and a goddess who turns men to swine.
Book 11
The Land of the Dead
Odysseus crosses to the world’s edge and calls up the dead to learn his way home.
Book 12
The Singing Rocks and the Cattle of the Sun
Sirens that lure with song, two monsters in a narrow strait, and a hunger that dooms a crew.
Book 13
The Sleeping Sailor Comes Home
The Phaeacians carry Odysseus home at last, and Athena meets him on the shore he no longer knows.
Book 14
The Swineherd’s Hut
Odysseus, disguised as a ragged old man, finds shelter and loyalty with the faithful pigkeeper Eumaeus.
Book 15
The Road Home and the Hawk’s Sign
Athena calls Telemachus home; a hunted seer joins him, and Eumaeus tells how he was stolen as a child.
Book 16
The Father and the Son
A swineherd’s hut, a beggar transformed, and a boy who finds his father alive.
Book 17
The Beggar at His Own Door
Odysseus walks home in rags, kicked and struck, recognized only by a dying dog.
Book 18
The Beggar’s Brawl
A street beggar challenges Odysseus to fight, and the suitors heap insults on a stranger in his own hall.
Book 19
The Scar
A beggar talks with the queen by firelight, and an old nurse knows him by an old wound.
Book 20
The Last Feast
Odysseus lies awake plotting, omens gather, and the suitors laugh their way toward ruin.
Book 21
The Bow
Penelope sets the great bow as a contest, and a beggar bends it.
Book 22
The Killing in the Hall
Odysseus throws off his rags and turns the contest into slaughter — no mercy for the suitors.
Book 23
The Bed That Cannot Move
Penelope tests the stranger, recognizes her husband, and they share their long-divided night.
Book 24
The Souls of the Suitors
The dead suitors descend to Hades; Odysseus reveals himself to his father, and a final battle is stopped.
