The Odyssey, Books 11 & 12

Two of The Odyssey’s most unforgettable chapters come alive in this gripping performance of Samuel Butler’s lucid prose translation. In Book 11, Odysseus sails to the shadowed shores of Oceanus and summons the dead: he speaks with the seer Teiresias, embraces the shade of his mother Anticlea, hears the grim fate of Agamemnon, and trades words with Achilles and Ajax, while witnessing the torments of Tantalus and Sisyphus. In Book 12, forewarned by Circe, he hears the fatal song of the Sirens lashed to his mast, threads the deadly strait between Scylla and Charybdis, and watches doom fall when his starving crew slaughter the sacred Cattle of the Sun—until Zeus’s storm leaves him the sole survivor, drifting toward Calypso’s isle. William Johnston’s resonant narration captures the awe, terror, and hard-won wisdom of these episodes, distilling the Odyssey’s grand themes—temptation, leadership, fate, and the longing for home—into a taut, thrilling listen. A perfect entry point for newcomers and a vivid return for devoted classics lovers.