‘The Odyssey’: A Map to Understand the Ancient Greeks and Ourselves

In this installment of ‘The Reissue,’ Daniel Mendelsohn discusses translating Homer’s epic and how it accurately reflects the human experience.

Homer's "The Odyssey" is translated by literature professor Daniel Mendelsohn. Matt Mendelsohn

Since George Chapman published the first English translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” in 1615, more than 60 translations have followed. Homer’s “Iliad” received more than 100 English translations in the same period. Daniel Mendelsohn, professor of literature at Bard College and one of the leading scholars on Greek literature, has added his name to the list of translators with his recent translation of “The Odyssey,” published by University of Chicago Press.

“There’s always been a very strong demand for the classics, especially Homer,” Mendelsohn said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “Homer is the beginning of Western literature.”