Tales of Troy: Ulysses, the Sacker of Cities

Andrew Lang, the Scottish scholar who assembled the beloved Fairy Books, turns his classical expertise to the greatest war story ever told. This 1907 retelling captures the Trojan War in all its blood-soaked glory: the face that launched a thousand ships, the duel between Achilles and Hector, the stratagem of the Wooden Horse, and the long decade of siege that broke gods and men alike. But Lang saves his finest prose for Ulysses, the man the Greeks call Odysseus, whose cunning outmatches every warrior on the field. Here is a hero who survives not by strength alone but by wit, patience, and the willingness to endure ten years of wandering to return to his faithful Penelope. Also included are the adventures of Theseus and his deadly dance with the Minotaur, and the quest of Jason for the Golden Fleece. Lang writes with the elegance of the Edwardian scholar, making these ancient tales feel immediate and vivid. For readers who have always wanted to taste Homer but felt intimidated, this is a glorious gateway into the myth that shaped Western literature.