Homer
- Books on site
- 2
- Total words
- 280,801
- Reading time
- 15.6 h
- Years covered
- 750 BC–700 BC
- Longest
- The Iliad
Homer is the name the Greeks gave to the poet, or poets, who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey in the eighth century BCE, and nothing certain is known about him beyond the poems. The epics collected here are the oldest works on this site and the foundation of the Western literary canon: the Iliad on the wrath of Achilles in the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Odyssey on the ten-year voyage home.
The epics are free here in William Cullen Bryant’s blank-verse translations — 1870 for the Iliad, 1879 for the Odyssey — the first American verse translations of the two poems, made by a poet who taught himself Greek in his fifties for the purpose.
Every Homer title on editions.ink
In publication order, with word counts and reading time. The list is generated from the book pages themselves, so a new release appears here automatically.
The Iliad
The Odyssey| Year | Title | Words | Reading time |
|---|---|---|---|
| -750 | The Iliad | 155,801 | ~10 h |
| -700 | The Odyssey | 125,000 | ~8 h |
Still only at Project Gutenberg
Further Homer titles are in the public domain but not yet built here. They are listed so you can see the shape of the whole bibliography; the links go to Project Gutenberg, where the plain text is available today.
- The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who canno… (Gutenberg #1727)
- The Odyssey of Homer (Gutenberg #1728)
Read next
Authors whose books sit closest on the shelf:
Leo TolstoyMark TwainRobert Louis StevensonGeorge Eliot
Questions readers ask
How many Homer books are free on editions.ink?
There are 2 editions on the site, together about 280,801 words, or roughly 19 hours of reading. Each page has the full text as EPUB, AZW3 and KEPUB.
What is the best Homer book to start with?
The Odyssey (1879): it is a full novel but the most approachable of the long ones, at about 8.3 hours.
Are these editions complete or abridged?
Complete. The text comes from the public-domain transcription and is checked against the printed edition named on each book page; nothing is cut, modernised or annotated away.
Which format should I download?
EPUB is the safest default for phones, tablets, Kobo and most reading apps. AZW3 suits older Kindles, and KEPUB is the Kobo-native format with better page-turn and footnote handling on a Kobo device.
Do I need an account or an app?
No. The download links are direct files served from the site; no account, newsletter or paywall is involved.
How long does The Iliad take?
About 10.4 hours at 300 words per minute for 156,000 words — the longest title on this page. The whole list runs to roughly 19 hours.
Part of the author index and the complete catalogue. Every book page carries the full text, chapter summaries, characters, themes and the download links.