This brief but sensitive, lucid, non-technical introduction to Homer's Odyssey has long proved a reliable stand-by for students coming to the epic for the first time. In guiding readers through the poems main sections, it identifies those elements of character and action, of symbol and setting, which have made this poem a literature classic and a seminal work in the western literary tradition. It connects the travels of Odysseus with more than a rattling good collection of sailors' yarns. Frequently cited as still the best introduction to the poem. This edition includes a chronology, extensive notes and an updated section of further reading and endnotes taking account of recent Homeric scholarship.