Which Odyssey translation should you read?
The fastest way to feel the difference between translations is the first line, where a single Greek word, polytropos, comes out four different ways:
“Tell me about a complicated man.” — Wilson
“the man of twists and turns” — Fagles
“skilled in all ways of contending” — Fitzgerald
“the man of many ways” — Lattimore
| Translation | Opening line | Meter | Vibe | Length | Audiobook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emily Wilson (2017) | “Tell me about a complicated man.” | Iambic pentameter, exact line count | Plain and radically clear | ≈12 hrs | Claire Danes |
| Robert Fagles (1996) | “the man of twists and turns” | Free verse, propulsive | Muscular and cinematic | ≈12 hrs | Ian McKellen |
| Robert Fitzgerald (1961) | “skilled in all ways of contending” | Lyric free verse | Musical and strange | ≈11–12 hrs | — |
| Richmond Lattimore (1965) | “the man of many ways” | Long six-beat line, literal | Scholarly and austere | ≈12–13 hrs | — |
Honest verdicts
The Emily Wilson Translation (2017)
You want Homer, but you want him clear, and you suspect the question of who chose these words is part of the story. the whole poem, in strict iambic pentameter, with the same number of lines as the Greek.
Other ways to get it: Ebook — Kobo ↗ · Kindle — Amazon ↗ · Audiobook — Libro.fm ↗
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby ↗ · Find at your library — WorldCat ↗
The Robert Fagles Translation (1996)
You think an epic should feel epic: big, fast, and built for reading aloud. the full poem and all of Homer’s momentum. This is the version built to be read aloud.
Other ways to get it: Ebook — Kobo ↗ · Kindle — Amazon ↗ · Audiobook — Libro.fm ↗
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby ↗ · Find at your library — WorldCat ↗
The Robert Fitzgerald Translation (1961)
You read for the music. You want the strange, beautiful, lyric-poet version, even where it wanders from the literal. the whole story, rendered in a lyric poet’s English that follows sound as much as sense.
Other ways to get it: Ebook — Kobo ↗ · Kindle — Amazon ↗
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby ↗ · Find at your library — WorldCat ↗
The Richmond Lattimore Translation (1965)
You want to know what Homer actually said, line for line, with no smoothing. Hand me the scholarly one. the most of any translation: line-for-line fidelity, Greek word order, the epithets, a long six-beat line.
Other ways to get it: Ebook — Kobo ↗ · Kindle — Amazon ↗
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby ↗ · Find at your library — WorldCat ↗
Common questions
Which Odyssey translation should I read first?
Start with Emily Wilson's 2017 translation. It's in clear modern English, it keeps a real meter, and nothing has been dumbed down. If you want something more cinematic, Fagles is the usual runner-up.
Is the Emily Wilson translation good for first-time readers?
Yes. It's the most common recommendation for first-time readers: plain modern English in iambic pentameter, quick to read, and faithful to Homer's structure. It's also the first published English translation of the Odyssey by a woman, and her choices about how to describe the poem's enslaved women are part of what makes it interesting.
Wilson vs Fagles — what's the difference?
Wilson is clearer and more restrained; Fagles is bigger and more propulsive, and his audiobook is read by Ian McKellen. Their opening lines tell you most of it: Wilson's “Tell me about a complicated man” against Fagles's “the man of twists and turns.”
What's the most literal Odyssey translation?
Richmond Lattimore's, from 1965. It preserves Greek word order and epithets in a long six-beat line, at some cost to easy English, which is why scholars tend to assign it. Fitzgerald's 1961 version is the most lyrical of that generation.
How long does it take to read the Odyssey?
Around 11 to 13 hours for a full translation. Fitzgerald runs a little shorter and Lattimore a little longer, and the audiobooks land in the same range: Claire Danes reads Wilson in about 13.5 hours, Ian McKellen reads Fagles in about 13.