Who wrote the Odyssey?

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. You've probably caught some of the recent hype about new film The Odyssey, and, in the latest of our Sunday series, Kev Lochan will be speaking to classicist and author Dr. Daisy Dunn about this ancient Greek epic. In today's episode, they're exploring what the Odyssey is and what we know of its author. Around twenty eight hundred years ago, a poet, or perhaps many poets, set down a story that had been travelling by word of mouth for centuries.

It told of a king trying to get home from a war. It should have taken him weeks. Instead, it took ten years. The king was Odysseus, and the poem The Odyssey.

You might know some of his stories of the one eyed Cyclops, the sweet song of the sirens, or the witch that turned his crew into pigs. But beneath the gods and the monsters and the wine dark sea are there historical truths to be found? I'm Kev Lochin, and I'm joined by Doctor Daisy Dunn, award winning classicist Author and all-round expert on the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Her books include the Ladybird Expert book on Homer and The Missing Thread, a new history of the ancient world through the women who shaped it.

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