What language was Homer's 'The Odyssey' originally written in?

It's common assumption that Homer actually put it into writing, so it was Homeric (8th century) Greek. It is also quite sure that it goes back to a number of orally transmitted epics of the three/four centuries before that. read more

It's common assumption that Homer actually put it into writing, so it was Homeric (8th century) Greek. It is also quite sure that it goes back to a number of orally transmitted epics of the three/four centuries before that. These were not written, and their languages were various intermediate stages between Mycenean and Homeric Greek. read more

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, first performed in 1640, is an opera by Claudio Monteverdi based on the second half of Homer's Odyssey. The first canto of Ezra Pound's The Cantos (1917) is both a translation and a retelling of Odysseus' journey to the underworld. read more

Since the answers so far were good, I would just like to add a few things about the oral nature of poetry. Some people might believe that Homer's Iliad an Odyssey are too long for there to be any accurate transmission from oral poetry to written language. read more