Homer's Odyssey 9-12: Greek Text with Facing Vocabulary and Commentary

I have just finished using Steadman's edition of Homer Odyssey 9-12 in my fourth semester Greek course here at Miami University. We read Book 11. 362-696 in seven class days, a little less than 50 lines a day. The students found this a reasonable amount of Homer to read, by their own account spending around two hours per class to write out an accurate translation. The amount of vocabulary and commentary was sufficient for them to read this amount of Greek with very few additional resources--although some of my students regularly use Perseus for parsing weird forms. There is a glossary of more common words in the back and a synopsis of the verb luo'''. As in Steadman's other volumes, the commentary is restricted to grammatical matters rather than literary matters. I think this works great in a classroom setting, since an instructor can decide what elements to emphasize in discussing the text. There are some basic introductory remarks about Homeric language and meter which are concise and useful.I use the JACT Reading Greek textbook and the Homer selection there is taken from Odyssey 6. Steadman has another volume covering books 6-8, and I toyed with the idea of using that to follow up the JACT selection. However, Odyssey 6-8 are not the most scintillating reading in the Odyssey, whereas books 9-12 are nothing if not scintillating. Steadman's texts are meant to be read from beginning to end, but they are also designed to be selectable, so there is no problem starting and stopping anywhere you please. All that students need is right there on the facing page. In fact it is possible to download the pdf for free and select a few pages if you just want to give a taste of Homer, but the book itself is so reasonably priced, it is worth it for students to buy.The text is based on T.W.Allen's 1908 Greek edition of the Odyssey, which is out of copyright. It is reproduced in a somewhat unattractive font that could be a little bigger in my humble opinion, but that is quibbling. Since the book is self-published, there are errors here and there, but not many. Moreover, it is possible to contact the author via his Blog with errors and he will correct them in future versions. This is a tremendous boon to Greek instructors everywhere, to have a low-priced intermediate text that has handy resources for students who are just starting to read Homer. Compared to other texts that have glossaries and commentaries inconveniently placed in the back of the book, this text reduces the tedium of flipping back and forth. Steadman has done for these books of the Odyssey what Clyde Pharr's version has done for the first half of the Aeneid.

Great text for beginning Greek students with vocabulary lists easily accessible and grammar notes.

For beginning and intermediate-level Greek readers, this text is enormously helpful. It provides both a vocabulary adjacent to the text one is reading, as well as notes that explicate the tense or mode. I highly recommend it for this audience.

Though there are some mistakes, overall Steadman's text are great for beginning and intermediate students.

This is the fourth book edited by Geoffrey Steadman which I have bought and it is another superb volume. I have made more progress in reading Homer with Mr Steadman's help than in all the years before. This volume is even more indispensable than the others since it incudes help with scansion and some basic grammar.This is a clear, beautifully printed and produced book which cotains everything you need for study on your own.I could not recommend this too highly!

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  In this video I speak in Ancient Greek and tell you why I think Steadman's book is so great.I cannot think of a better way to read Homer, with a large readable font and all the rare words glossed on facing pages. Once again, Steadman's notes are as helpful as they are concise. He includes a nice discussion of Homeric scansion and in this volume for the first time he includes the core vocabulary under the text the first time through. This makes it even easier for beginners to get started on Homer right away.In his previous volume, Steadman has some interesting things to say about how Odysseus might be slanting the story of his adventures so as to convince the Phaeacians to treat him better than the Cyclops and Calypso did. To, in a phrase, send him home. Steadman makes this same point in this volume with a quote from Marshall McLuhan: "The medium is the message."It took Homer almost three thousand years, but he himself now has the perfect medium for his message: One Geoffrey Steadman. TOUTO TO BIBLION KALON ESTIN.

If you have a basic background in classical Greek-- know how to conjugate verbs and are familiar with noun inflections, etc., Steadman's Odyssey books are a fantastic way to pick up more vocabulary and catch the subtleties of the Odyssey, making it very enjoyable.

Used it for a course I taught. Loved it. Follows the Clyde Pharr Aeneid model. Highly recommended.

I'm re-learning classical Greek after a gap of about 45 years (I graduated in Classics from UCL in 1970). I'm finding Geoffrey Steadman's editions invaluable. I wish they had been around in the sixties. The great downside of learning Greek is the wearisome flicking of pages to check forms and meanings. Geoffrey Steadman has cut out the drudgery, and I think he has made a huge contribution to preserving interest.Has anyone produced similar books (paper not Kindle) for Latin?

Although Mr Steadman offers the same content for free on his website, I'm more than happy to pay him for his troubles.

A really good way for students to read the Odyssey for pleasure. Facing vocabulary on each page, help with tricky phrases plus a vocabulary list for learning of the words which occur oftern

don,t know at present-have not finished it