The epic poem The Odyssey has 12,111 verses divided into 24 chants, corresponding to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, which denote chants in Greek.

The narrative of the Odyssey follows the events described in the epic Illias, which recounts the course of the Trojan War. Now that the war is over, the Ithacan king Odysseus returns home, but has succeeded in angering Poseidon, the god of the seas. He tries his best to prevent him from returning home.

First, Odysseus sails to the city of Ismarus in the land of the Kikons, which he burns. The Kikons then kill many of Odysseus' companions in retaliation and drive his ships to the Lothophages (lotus-eaters). The sailors who had tasted the lotus decided to stay on the island, so Odysseus had to bring them to the ship by force.

Odysseus' next stop was the land of the Cyclopes. One of the Cyclopes imprisoned the hero and his companions and gradually ate them. Odysseus, however, managed to escape and, after blinding the Cyclops, made it back to the ship.

Next, Odysseus sailed to Aiolus, who sent the sailors home and gave them a tied bellows filled with winds. Unfortunately, Odysseus' sailors untied the bellows prematurely and the winds carried them back out to sea.

The next stop for Odysseus' party was the island of the Laistrygons (man-eating giants). They destroyed 11 of Odysseus' ships and ate their crews. The only ship with Odysseus managed to escape to the island of Aiaia, where the sorceress Kirke dwelt. She turned some of the crew into pigs, but Odysseus, with the help of the god Hermes, avoided this fate. Kirké gradually fell in love with him, and then sent him to the underworld to ask the blind seer Teiresias about his next journey. The answer was that he would sail to the island of Thrinakia, where the flocks of Helios would graze. However, if he wants to return to Ithaca, he must not kill any of the animals in the herd. Subsequently, on Ithaca, he must confront Penelope's suitors and appease Poseidon with a sacrifice.

On his return to Aiaia, Kirké also warns him of other pitfalls on the journey, namely the Sirens and the sea monsters Skylla and Charybdis. Against the Sirens' enticing song, he plugged his companions' ears with wax and had himself tied to the mast to prevent the Sirens from luring him as well. They also sailed between Skylla and Charybdis, who captivated several sailors.

Then they anchored off an island where Helios' flocks were grazing. Here, Ulysses' sailors decided to kill a few to eat. Zeus, however, smashed their ship as they sailed away, killing all the sailors. The only survivor was Odysseus, who was blown by the wind along the Charybdis to the island of the nymph Calypso, Ógygia. She kept him there for seven long years until the council of the gods on Olympus decided to help Odysseus return home. Hermes had to persuade the nymph to release the hero. Meanwhile, Pallas Athena urged the hero's son Telemachus and friend Mentor to begin a search for their father and friend in one person.

Upon returning to Ithaca, Athena gave Odysseus the form of an old beggar. Odysseus, however, made himself known to Telemachus and together they agreed to defeat the suitors of his wife Penelope. In Penelope's house, the hero was recognized only by his dog Argos and the old maid Eurycleia. Penelope brought Odysseus's bow and declared that she would marry whoever could draw the bow and shoot it through the ears of twelve axes in succession. No one succeeded - except Odysseus himself. Then, with the help of Eumaeus and Telemachus, he shot all the suitors. Penelope remained unsure whether he was her husband, so she had their marriage bed, known only to the two of them, brought in for Ulysses to identify. But he wondered greatly what they had brought, for their bed had once been made by himself from a log cut into the floor, and so could not be removed from the bedroom. Penelope was convinced by this statement that the old beggar was really her husband, and Ulysses again became king of Ithaca.