Homer's Odyssey

Little is known for certain about the life of Homer, the Greek poet credited as the author of the great epics The Iliad and The Odyssey, although he is believed to have been born sometime between the twelfth and eighth centuries BC. The Odyssey describes the trials of the hero Odysseus on his journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. It has had a huge influence on Western literature, inspiring extensive translations, poems, plays and novels.Jan Haywood is Associate Professor in Ancient History at the University of Leicester. He is the co-author, with Naoíse Mac Sweeney, of a book on cross-cultural receptions of the Trojan War tradition ('Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War: Dialogues on Tradition', London, Bloomsbury, 2018), and has also published several articles and book chapters on ancient Greek literature, including contemporary responses to the Homeric poems. He is deeply committed to opening up the study of the classical world to wider audiences and is the co-founder of the Herodotus Helpline – a free online seminar series open to anyone interested in the ancient Greek historian Herodotus and his world.Jake Jackson (General Editor) has written, edited and contributed to over 20 books. Related works include studies of Babylonian creation myths, the philosophy to time and William Blake's use of mythology in his visionary literature.