Launched this week
Homer's Odyssey
Actually finish the Odyssey — one swipeable card at a time
15 followers
Actually finish the Odyssey — one swipeable card at a time
15 followers
Homer's Odyssey turns the epic into short, swipeable story cards in clear modern prose. Flip any card to compare the classic public-domain translations side by side. Characters, monsters, places, and quotes quietly collect as you read — filling a chart of the whole voyage. Built for anyone curious about Homer but intimidated by the original. iOS + Android, free to start.
Hi PH 👋 I am the maker behind Odyssey : Epic Journey.
I wanted a version of the *Odyssey* you could actually finish — so it's built as short, swipeable cards in clear modern prose, and every card flips to the original public-domain translators (Butler, Butcher & Lang, Murray) so the source is always one tap away. As you read, characters, monsters, places, and quotes collect themselves and fill a map of the voyage — reading is the whole game.
Under the hood it's a custom Flutter transition engine (~337 hand-painted animations).
On "is this AI?": the modern prose is human-edited, and the translator comparison on every card lets you check it against the real text. That transparency is the point.
Free unlock for everyone here today: https://www.knovella.com/odyssey....
Thank you for giving it away for free. I am half way reading through it, and it is pretty fun.
The animations are a nice touch too. Any plans to add The Illiad ?
@chuc_beta Thanks so much for reading! So glad to hear you're having fun with it and enjoying the animations—those were a lot of fun to build. And yes! The Iliad is absolutely on my radar. I want to get feedback on Odyssey and incorporate it before I expand it to The Iliad but it is definitely in the works and will soon be releasing it. If you have any feedback or suggestions, I am happy to hear.
the side by side translation comparison is honestly such a nice touch, would love to see an audio option for each card though, like a short narrated clip you can play while reading. would make it feel way more immersive and help with the pronunciation of all the names and places
@aklmemet64294 Thank you for your feedback. Adding audio is a good idea. I will definitely look into it.
the side by side translations are honestly such a smart touch, makes it way less intimidating to actually dig into. wish i had this back in school
@devran1236463 That is the ultimate compliment, thank you! Making these ancient epics feel less intimidating was my absolute biggest goal. A lot of us felt the exact same way about reading this in school! Do you think the current layout is something students today would easily click with?
The side-by-side translations are a really clever touch, makes the language feel less intimidating. I gave it a spin last night and ended up playing with the character chart way longer than I planned.
@dconkaya92829 It's amazing to hear that the translations helped make the language feel less intimidating—that was our number one goal! Out of curiosity, did you stumble across any surprising connections or favorite characters while playing around with the chart?
the side-by-side translations are a really smart hook, but i'd love a quick audio narration for each card so i could listen during my commute instead of reading. even just a handful of professionally recorded lines per chapter would make the whole experience feel way more immersive and pull me back more often.
@anl135651133311 Thanks so much for checking it out! Really glad you like the side-by-side translations. Audio narration for commuting is a fantastic suggestion—adding that extra layer of immersion is definitely something we'd love to explore as we continue to build this out. I really appreciate the thoughtful feedback!
Love how approachable this makes the Odyssey, the side by side translations are a really smart touch for picking up the poetry. One thing that would seal it for me is an audio read along on each card so I can hear the names pronounced while I read, pronunciation has always been the thing that keeps me from confidently talking about it afterward.
@lyas1084401 Thank you so much! You hit the nail on the head—worrying about mispronouncing names like 'Telemachus' or 'Eurycleia' is a universal struggle when discussing the classics! While full audio narration is something I am looking into, your comment makes me think I should add a quick pronunciation button next to the names in the character chart in the meantime. Would a quick audio snippet for just the names help build that confidence?