“
Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.
HomerThe Odyssey · Book 1
Telemachia: The Son’s Search
Book 1 of 24
The poem opens not at the beginning but near the end. Odysseus has been wandering for ten years since Troy fell. The gods are about to set his return in motion.
Why This Matters
The first line of Western literature’s greatest adventure. The Muse is asked to tell of polytropos — the man of many turns, many devices, many stories.
nostosmetisfame
Return of Odysseus
Bernardino Pinturicchio, 1509 · Public Domain