Editing Odyssey (section)

==Structure==
The ''Odyssey'' is written in [[dactylic hexameter]]. It opens ''[[in medias res]]'', in the middle of the overall story, with prior events described through [[Flashback (narrative)|flashbacks]] or storytelling. This device is also used by later authors of literary epics, such as [[Virgil]] in the ''[[Aeneid]]'', [[Luís de Camões]] in ''[[Os Lusíadas]]''<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11198/ |title = The Lusiads |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1800–1882 |accessdate = 2013-08-31 }}</ref> and [[Alexander Pope]] in ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]''.

The first four books of the poem trace [[Telemachus]]' efforts to assert control of the household, and then, at Athena's advice, his efforts to search for news of his long-lost father. Then the scene shifts: Odysseus has been a captive of the beautiful nymph [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]], with whom he has spent seven of his ten lost years. Released by the intercession of his patroness [[Athena]], through the aid of [[Hermes]], he departs, but his raft is destroyed by his divine enemy [[Poseidon]], who is angry because Odysseus blinded his son, [[Polyphemus]].  When Odysseus washes up on [[Scheria|Scherie]], home to the [[Phaeacians]], he is assisted by the young [[Nausicaä]] and is treated hospitably. In return, he satisfies the Phaeacians' curiosity, telling them, and the reader, of all his adventures since departing from Troy. The shipbuilding Phaeacians then loan him a ship to return to [[Ithaca]], where he is aided by the swineherd [[Eumaeus]], meets Telemachus, regains his household by killing the Suitors, and is reunited with his faithful wife, [[Penelope]].

All ancient and nearly all modern editions and translations of the ''Odyssey'' are divided into 24 books. This division is convenient, but it may not be original. Many scholars{{who|date=June 2017}} believe it was developed by [[Alexandrian scholarship|Alexandrian]] editors of the 3rd century BC. In the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]], moreover, several of the books (individually and in groups) were given their own titles: the first four books, focusing on Telemachus, are commonly known as the ''[[Telemachy]]''. Odysseus' narrative, Book 9, featuring his encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus, is traditionally called the ''Cyclopeia''. Book 11, the section describing his meeting with the spirits of the dead is known as the ''[[Nekuia]]''. Books 9 through 12, wherein Odysseus recalls his adventures for his Phaeacian hosts, are collectively referred to as the ''Apologoi'': Odysseus' "stories". Book 22, wherein Odysseus kills all the Suitors, has been given the title ''Mnesterophonia'': "slaughter of the Suitors". This concludes the Greek [[Epic Cycle]], though fragments remain of the "alternative ending" of sorts known as the ''[[Telegony]]''.

''Telegony'' aside, the last 548 lines of the ''Odyssey'', corresponding to Book 24, are believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carne-Ross|first1=D. S.|article=The Poem of Odysseus|title=The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald|date=1998|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|location=New York|isbn=978-0-374-52574-3|page=lxi}}</ref> Several passages in earlier books seem to be setting up the events of Book 24, so if it were indeed a later addition, the offending editor would seem to have changed earlier text as well. For more about varying views on the origin, authorship and unity of the poem see [[Homeric scholarship]].