Homer's Odyssey: A Companion to the English Translation of Richard Lattimore, Paperback

Peter Jones provides a line-by-line commentary on Homer's Odyssey that explains the factual details, mythological allusions, and Homeric conventions that a student or general reader could not be expected to bring to an initial encounter with the Odyssey. It also illuminates epic style, Homer's methods of composition, the structure of work, and his characterization. The introduction describes the features of oral poetry and looks at the history of the text of the Odyssey.

The commentary based on Richard Lattimore's translation, since it is both widely read and technically accurate, but it will be equally relevant to other translations.

This series of Companions is designed for readers who approach the authors of the ancient world with little or no knowledge of Latin or Greek, or of the classical world. The commentaries accompany readily available translations, and the series should be of value to students of classical civilization studies, and history, for GCSE and A Level and at university. Each volume in the series includes the following: an introduction to the author and his work, with reference to scholarly views; a commentary providing explanation of detail, historical background, and a discussion of difficult or key passages; and periodic summaries of situation or content.

Peter Jones was co-founder of The Friends of Classics, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Newcastle, and one of the best-known figures in the teaching of the Classics. He regular contributed to national newspapers (The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and TLS), and the author of highly successful books such as Learn Latin, Learn Ancient Greek and the Classics in Translation (also published by Bloomsbury).