The Odyssey
At your speed≈ 8½ hrs
Pages300
Audiobook≈ 14½ hrs
Every reading time on the site updates to your pace. Page counts are an estimate, so treat the hours as a good guide, not a stopwatch.
The complete text runs to 129,885 words, counted word for word. At an average 250 words a minute that is 8½ hrs — a weekend's reading.
Readers on Hardcover rate it 3.88 out of 5, from 1,603 ratings.
Worth-it score 6.1/10 — Worth it for some readers. Readers 6.3 (Hardcover's 3.88★ from 1,603 ratings) − length 0.2 = 6.1. How the score works →
How long does it take to read The Odyssey?
The complete text of The Odyssey runs to 129,885 words — about 300 pages in the edition we list. How long that takes depends on how fast you read:
| Your pace | Words per minute | Time to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Slow | 175 | 12½ hrs |
| Average | 250 | 8½ hrs |
| Fast | 400 | 5½ hrs |
Counted word for word from the complete public-domain text on Project Gutenberg, so these times don't depend on any one edition's page count. Most adults read between 200 and 300 words a minute — set your own pace and every time on the site adjusts. Prefer to listen? At a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute the audiobook runs about 14½ hrs — an estimate from the word count, since narrators vary.
Common questions
- How long does it take to read The Odyssey?
- About 8½ hrs at an average reading speed of 250 words per minute. The complete text of The Odyssey runs to 129,885 words — so at a slower 175 wpm it is nearer 12½ hrs, and at 400 wpm closer to 5½ hrs.
- How many pages is The Odyssey?
- About 300 pages, though editions of a book this old vary a great deal — which is why its reading time comes from the complete text instead: 129,885 words, about 8½ hrs of reading at an average pace.
- Is The Odyssey worth reading?
- We score it 6.1 out of 10 for the time it takes — worth it for some readers. Readers on Hardcover rate it 3.88 out of 5 from 1,603 ratings, which counts for 6.3; at about 8½ hrs at an average pace it gives back 0.2 for its length.
- How long is The Odyssey audiobook?
- About 14½ hrs, estimated from the 130,000 words at a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute. Real editions vary by narrator, usually by well under an hour.
From the publisher
This epic poem follows Odysseus, one of the Greek leaders that brought an end to the ten-year-long Trojan war. Longing for home, he travels across the Mediterranean Sea to return to his kingdom in Ithaca; unfortunately, our hero manages to anger Neptune, the god of the sea, making his trip home agonizingly slow and extremely dangerous.…
While Ulysses is trying to return home, his family in Ithaca is also in danger. Suitors have traveled to the home of Ulysses to marry his wife, Penelope, believing that her husband did not survive the war. These men are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way. The Odyssey is one of the oldest works of Western literature, dating back to classical antiquity. Homer’s epic poem belongs in a collection called the Epic Cycle, which includes the Iliad. It was originally written in ancient Greek, utilizing a dactylic hexameter rhyme scheme.
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234 pages · 3.94★ on Hardcover