The Odyssey of Homer

Translator name not noted above: Andrew Lang.

Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name "Harvard Classics," this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature, philosophy, history, and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926), Harvard University's longest-serving president. Also known as "Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf," it represented Eliot's belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf.

Volume XXII features a translation by Irish scholar SAMUEL HENRY BUTCHER (1850-1910) and Scottish academic ANDREW LANG (1844-1912) of the epic 8th-century BC Greek adventure The Odyssey, attributed to the poet Homer but originally told in oral form. The foundational text not merely of modern literature but of all of Western civilization, it is the story of the nine-year journey of the soldier Odysseus as he returns home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Nearly three thousand years after it was first written, it remains as entertaining as it is edifying, and it absolutely required reading for anyone who wishes to be considered truly educated and literate.