The Authoress of the Odyssey: Where and When She Wrote, Who She Was, the Use She Made of the Illiad, and How the Poem Grew Under her Hands

by Samuel Butler

Today it is obvious to all but the most tradition-bound that women can achieve anything that men can. This was not so obvious in the last decade of the 19th century when Samuel Butler, a maverick classicist, proposed this unique theory that the Odyssey was written by a woman. This was, to say the least, a shocking proposal for his contemporaries. Aside from the perceived diminution of the role of 'Homer,' this was too far outside the box for most scholars. At the time Butler wrote, women couldn't vote or own property in many industrialized countries, and some female authors adopted male pseudonyms to get published. Biology was considered a limiting factor for the female sex, and historic contributions of women were ignored.

Based on textual analysis, geography, history and a bit of speculation, Butler came to the conclusion that the Odyssey was a sequel written several generations after the Iliad, by a woman residing in Sicily. Some of his best evidence is simple literary criticism--Butler's observation that women in the Odyssey are much better dimensionalized than the ones in the Iliad.

Although his specific theory of who wrote the Odyssey is still controversial (and probably unverifiable), today scholars are much more open to the idea of a separate authorship of the two epics. Butler's concept that the text of both epics was pieced together from pre-existing bardic material about the Trojan war is also considered an acceptable thesis. This is why this book is still read and discussed a century later, as a milestone in the history of thought about classical authorship, even though it was not completely vindicated.

It may seem a minor point, but it didn't help the establishment perception of this book that Butler insisted on using Roman equivalents for Greek deities (and the principal) throughout. Specifically,

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

For the author of Hudibras, see Samuel Butler.

Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works, including the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh, his two best-known works, but also extending to examinations of Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler also made prose translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which remain in use to this day.

See also: Samuel H. Butcher, Anglo-Irish classicist, who also undertook prose translations of Homer's works (in collaboration with Andrew Lang.

Reviews

[Emil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most contemporary Homeric scholars agree that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not written by the same author; the Odyssey was most likely composed at a later time by someone very accustomed to the Iliad.

If we assume that the Odyssey was not written by Homer and we take a closer look at the narrative manner, themes, style and portrayal of men and women, we can't help but agree that the Odyssey might have been composed by a woman. This would be by no means a singular event. Hedyle, Telesilla, Sappho, Megalostrata or Anyte of Tegea are just some examples of renowned ancient Greek female poets.

In his "The Authoress of the Odyssey" (1897), Samuel Butler went further than stating that the author is a female. He identified her as a greek speaking young princess from Trapani, west coast of Sicily. Moreover, the author presumably added herself to the poem as Nausicaa, the princess of Phaeacia.

How about that? Nausicaa, one of the most charming characters ever conceived could have been the author of the Odyssey. Fascinating,  but mere speculation.

The Sicilian genesis argument stands, though. Everyone agrees that Scylla and Charybdis correspond to Sicily and Calabria at the Straits of Messina. The Island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago is the house of Calypso.

I have visited both Trapani with the Aegadian Islands and the Ionian islands. I agree with Butler. All the Ithacan scenes of the Odyssey are resembling Trapani and its neighbourhood ( like Cefalu and Mt. Erice). The Ionian islands in the poem resemble Aegadean Islands west of Sicily, not the actual Ionian islands in Greece.

When we put everything together we will notice that most of Ulysses adventures are taking place near the Island of Sicily, so it's safe to say that the author was very accustomed to that region, probably born and raised on the west coast of Sicily.



All in all, it's a very interesting read, although Samuel Butler patronising and jesting tone can be somehow annoying.

[LS · Rating 3 out of 5]

CHAPTER VII: FURTHER INDICATIONS THAT THE WRITER IS A WOMAN - YOUNG - HEADSTRONG - AND UNMARRIED

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samuel Butler, author of The Way of All Flesh and translator (to prose) of The Iliad and The Odyssey, believed that The Odyssey was written by a young woman. This is his argument in defense of that theory.

This book feels like the books that try to prove that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare's plays.

He points out many anomalies and unexpected details in The Odyssey. But his "evidence" is a matter of speculating that a man wouldn't have described a certain scene that way or wouldn't have repeatedly given precedence to women rather than men.

The discussion is amusing, but not convincing.

He then makes the far weaker claim that the woman author lived in a particular town in Sicily (Tapani), and that the descriptions of both Scheria (Phaeacia) and Ithaca are based on her knowledge of Trapani, and that she wrote before 1000 BC.

Only a true lover of Homers' work would read this entire book. But such a person would enjoy it, as I did.

[Richard Epstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just because book espouses a crackpot notion doesn't mean it isn't fun to read or worth your time. Cf., The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting conjecture which becomes more and more outlandish but is at least intriguing and makes you reexamine the text (and your biases).

[Meg Lendrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butler's prologue presents a promising feminist-like argument in which he claims that the Odyssey was written by a woman. However, his justification for his claim that the Odyssey was written by a woman is overtly misogynistic. He started his prologue with such promise and a refreshing interpretation of the Odyssey but, much like his contemporaries, his misogyny and sexist beliefs are explicitly stated.

[Javier Galeano · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este ensayo Samuel Butler, el traductor de la versión que me leí de la Odisea, desarrolla la teoría de que la persona que escribió la Odisea fue una mujer joven y probablemente que vivía en Sicilia. Además incluye un buen resumen de la Odisea. El libro es interesante, aunque muchas veces se vuelve muy técnica. Introduce algunas ideas de factura propia, que intenta defender con mejor o peor fortuna.

[Ana Maria Echeverria · Rating 4 out of 5]

muy interesante