The Odyssey contains 24 books, the traditional divisions used to organize Homer’s epic poem. These sections are often casually called chapters, but “books” is the more accurate classical term.
The poem follows Odysseus’s difficult return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Books 1–4 are commonly called the Telemachy because they focus on Odysseus’s son, Telemachus. Books 9–12 contain Odysseus’s own account of his adventures, including the Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis.
The 24-part structure is shared with the Iliad. Ancient scholars and later editors preserved this arrangement, although the divisions were probably made after the poem was composed and performed orally. A popular old theory claimed that the 24 books corresponded to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, but modern scholarship generally considers that explanation historically doubtful.
Readers sometimes confuse the Odyssey’s 24 books with its 12,109 lines or with the ten-year duration of Odysseus’s journey home. Those are separate details: the poem has 24 books, while Odysseus spends ten years trying to reach Ithaca after the war.