The Odyssey, a work of genius by the legendary Greek epic poet Homer, is one of the greatest works of world literature, a creation imbued with vibrant life, vivid fantasy, and poetic brilliance. The perilous adventures of the cunning and long-suffering Odysseus (he, passionately yearning to return to Ithaca, must confront Poseidon, visit the land of cruel cannibals and the island of the sorceress Circe, and then journey to the threshold of the underworld), the tender feelings of the characters and the passions raging within the poem's pages, the legends and mysteries that permeate the past, and finally, the very language in which Homer's poem is written, extraordinarily figurative and vivid—all this continually attracts the attention of new readers and inspires poets and artists.