The Odyssey (Greek: Οδύσσεια, Odusseia) is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems (the other being the Iliad), attributed to the poet Homer. The poem is commonly dated to between 800 and 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, and concerns the events that befall the Greek hero Odysseus in his long journey back to his native land Ithaca after the fall of Troy.

It takes Odysseus ten years to return to his native land of Ithaca after 10 years of war; during his 20-year absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group of unruly suitors who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage, since it is assumed that Odysseus has died.

The poem is considered one of the foundational texts of the Western canon and continues to be read in both Homeric Greek and translations around the world. While today's Odyssey is usually a printed text, the original poem was an oral composition sung by a trained bard, in an amalgamated Ancient Greek dialect, using a regular metrical pattern called dactylic hexameter. Each of the 12,110 hexameter lines of the original Greek consists of six feet; each foot is a dactyl or a spondee. Among the most impressive elements of the text are its strikingly modern non-linear plot, and its elevation of the status of women and the lower classes. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage.