Adventure & Exploration · Free digital edition
The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Samuel Butler – Free Edition with Read-Aloud and Reading Support Tools
By Homer, translated by Samuel Butler · 1900
Odysseus struggles through monsters, enchantments, storms, and the anger of gods on his long journey home to Ithaca.
About this free edition
Read The Odyssey online
The Odyssey opens with an invocation: "Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy." That hero is Odysseus, and Samuel Butler's 1900 translation follows his long, storm-battered journey home to Ithaca through encounters with monsters, enchantments, and the wrath of gods. This public domain epic is free to read in the Vocalini Open Library with no account or checkout required. Whether you are returning to a classic or reading it for the first time, this edition pairs the complete text with tools designed to make reading and listening easier at your own pace.
- Read or listen free with no account, download, or checkout required
- Synchronized word and sentence highlighting follows along as text-to-speech plays
- Select any passage to simplify, summarize, or ask a question using built-in AI tools
Source: Project Gutenberg illustrated HTML edition. Not restricted by U.S. copyright law; readers outside the United States should check their local laws.
Accessible reading tools
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Free text-to-speech
Listen to the visible book text at your pace without buying an audiobook or creating an account.
Synchronized highlighting
Sentence and word highlighting move with the voice, helping you follow the page and keep your place.
Built-in AI reading help
Select a passage to get key points, simplify difficult wording, request an explanation, or ask a question.
This edition includes several features intended to support a wider range of readers. Text-to-speech reads the visible page aloud, and sentence and word highlighting stay synchronized with playback so you can follow along visually and aurally at the same time. A built-in AI tool lets you select any passage to get key points, simplify the wording, request an explanation, or ask a specific question. These features may be especially helpful for readers with dyslexia, ADHD, visual-tracking needs, or learning differences, as well as for anyone reading in English as an additional language. No special setup is required to use them.
From the opening pages
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“Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.”
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