Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus – one of the most famous paintings depicting a subject of classical mythology or indeed any subject, imitated and parodied ever since in popular culture (public domain image)

(4) BULFINCH’S MYTHOLOGY (1867)

Yes, technically this doesn’t adapt the original but includes a summary version of it as part of general compendium of classical (and other) mythology.

Named for its American author Thomas Bulfinch and published as a collection of three volumes after his death in 1867, Bulfinch’s Mythology still remains a classic reference (and handily in the public domain) – as indeed it was for me as my introduction as a child to the world of classical mythology. Well, technically that was the first volume – the Age of Fable – but it did include a summary version of the Odyssey, that along with Evslin and Tennyson, was my childhood version of the epic.

Anyway, its impact as an introduction to classical mythology remains profound – if, deep within my psyche, there is any mythology that tempts me to actual religion, it’s classical mythology – and its summary version of the Odyssey is part of that.