How Long Does It Take to Read The Odyssey?
The Odyssey by Homer (750 BC) runs about 134,000 words — roughly 560 pages in a standard paperback. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that is 9 hours and 23 minutes of reading. The tables below break it down by pace and by daily reading sessions, and you can calculate reading time for any book or test how well you know this one with the Odyssey book quiz.
Reading time by speed
| Reading pace | Time to finish The Odyssey |
|---|---|
| Slow (150 wpm) | 14 hours and 53 minutes |
| Average (238 wpm) | 9 hours and 23 minutes |
| Fast (350 wpm) | 6 hours and 23 minutes |
| Speed reader (450 wpm) | 4 hours and 58 minutes |
Reading in daily sessions
Prefer a nightly page goal? Here is how long the book lasts as a daily habit:
| Session length | Days to finish |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes per day | 38 days |
| 30 minutes per day | 19 days |
| 60 minutes per day | 10 days |
Where the numbers come from
The average adult reads 238 words per minute for non-fiction and around 238–300 wpm for easy fiction, according to Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading-rate studies — the number most reading-time tools use. The Odyssey’s word count (134,000) is an estimate for a standard text or translation; translations and editions vary, so treat both word and page counts as planning figures. For a custom edition or your own pace, the reading time calculator does the math for any word count.
Is The Odyssey hard to read?
Moderate — episodic and formulaic; translations (Fagles, Wilson, Lombardo) vary widely in ease.
Homer's epic of Odysseus's ten-year voyage home from Troy to Ithaca — cyclops, sorceress, sirens, underworld — while his wife Penelope holds off a hundred suitors and their son Telemachus searches for him. The template for every journey story since. Think you know it already? Take the Odyssey book quiz — eight questions, two minutes — or see how you do on the full mixed-classics book quiz.
A realistic pace plan for The Odyssey
Numbers help, but habits finish books. At 30 minutes a day — one coffee break or one commute — you are done in 19 days. Prefer the one-sitting test? You would need about 9 hours and 23 minutes in a single stretch, which most readers split over a weekend. And if you read 56 pages a night, the book lasts roughly 10 nights — the point is that a 560-page classic shrinks fast once the session is fixed. Readers who finish long books almost never “find time”; they pick the session size first and let the days accumulate.
Your pace may vary from chapter to chapter, especially when the language or ideas are unfamiliar. Leave a little room in your plan for slower passages. When you turn the last page, the Odyssey book quiz is a quick way to see how much stayed with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Odyssey?
At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, The Odyssey takes about 9 hours and 23 minutes. At a fast 350 wpm it is 6 hours and 23 minutes; a slow, careful 150 wpm reader needs about 14 hours and 53 minutes.
How many pages is The Odyssey?
About 560 pages in a standard paperback edition — editions vary, so treat it as a close estimate.
How many words is The Odyssey?
Approximately 134,000 words, the figure used for every calculation on this page.
Is The Odyssey hard to read?
Moderate — episodic and formulaic; translations (Fagles, Wilson, Lombardo) vary widely in ease.
Is The Odyssey worth the time?
Homer's epic of Odysseus's ten-year voyage home from Troy to Ithaca — cyclops, sorceress, sirens, underworld — while his wife Penelope holds off a hundred suitors and their son Telemachus searches for him. If that sounds like your kind of book, 9 hours and 23 minutes is a reasonable price for one of the most-read titles in its genre — and the quiz linked above tells you whether an earlier read already stuck.
What reading level is The Odyssey?
About Grades 10-12, typically read by ages 14+. The suggested age is a guide; reading experience varies from person to person.
How long other classics take
Counting sessions instead of hours? The Odyssey has 24 books, about 5,583 words each. Every title on the shelf is timed the same way in how long to read: 133 classics, timed — from Animal Farm’s single afternoon to War and Peace’s two-week campaign. For scale, The Odyssey is the 34th longest of the 133 classics timed here — shorter than A Tale of Two Cities but longer than New Moon.
Planning a whole-author project? The Homer books in order guide lists the full shelf in reading order.