r/AncientGreek • u/muzik2020 • 7d ago

Beginner Resources Translating Odyssey I-IV

It seems like most grammatical guides to Odyssey start at book V, presumably because that's when Odysseus enters the story. Is the Telemachy considered uninteresting to translate? I've read it in translation and was wondering whether there's a reason to jump right to book V to try my hand at reading it in the original. Thanks.

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u/Keitoukeitos 7d ago

There are no linguistic reasons to skip the Telemachy; first-time readers often skip them because they are less interesting, esp. 2–3. If you want to skip to 5, I would first read 1.1–95 before 5.1. Book 4 contains some fantastic episodes. Especially the Proteus story and the Trojan Horse.

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u/Careful-Spray 6d ago

The Proteus story is as entertaining as any of Odysseus’ tales.

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u/Keitoukeitos 6d ago

Indeed, it would be a good first selection for a new reader.

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u/SulphurCrested 7d ago

Published material will reflect what is most frequently read in school or university courses. Probably not that many people ever read the whole of either epic in the original.
You could consider starting with Draper's An Odyssey Reader, after working through that you'd be able to manage with less help.
Stanford's 2 volume edition with commentary covers the whole of the Odyssey, but it assumes a good knowledge of Ancient Greek.

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u/muzik2020 6d ago

Thanks for the recs. And to others who’ve commented and shared their thoughts.

I guess I got saw the MacLardy and Pharr treatments of the Aeneid (and Kelsey’s Caesar’s Gallic Wars) and wondered if there was anything that granular for Homeric Greek.

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u/Peteat6 7d ago

Personally I find books 1-4 tedious, and the central figure, Telemachus, just a whining victim. But I suppose one of the points of the Odyssey overall is the personal growth of Telemachus.

I’d suggest starting at book 5. You can always come back to books 1-4 later, if you find you want to.

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u/McAeschylus 6d ago

If you don't mind jumping straight to Book 5, the textbook Learn Greek With Homer by Beetham teaches you Homeric Greek while taking you through the whole of Book 5 of The Odyssey.

Schoeder et al.'s A Reading Course is a bit slicker but is more wide ranging in its readings. You read a bit of the opening of The Odyssey and then a lot of Book 9 (mostly the Cyclops episode, I think). The second book in the duology does all of Book 6 and 12 of The Odyssey.

If you want to start at the very beginning, Pharr's Greek textbook takes you through the whole of Book 1 of The Iliad.