Without the monks who preserved and transmitted classical texts, the story of The Odyssey might never have reached us. 

Many classical texts from Antiquity were preserved solely thanks to medieval monks. In abbey scriptoria, they were copied for centuries. Thus, the oldest surviving version of Caesar's De Bello Gallico, originally written in the 1st century BC, comes from a 9th-century abbey (Fleury). 

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey have also reached us through a long tradition of scribes in monasteries and libraries. 

It is remarkable that monks did not only copy serious historical or philosophical works. Texts mentioning pagan gods, romantic adventures, and sometimes even licentious passages were preserved as well. 

For the scribes, literary and linguistic value often outweighed the content. They viewed these works as part of Antiquity's cultural heritage and not as a threat to their faith. 

In this, they could rely on the Church Father Saint Augustine, who stated that Christians could adopt and use for good purposes the valuable teachings from the pagan world. 

It is thanks to the work of generations of monks that an essential part of Classical Antiquity has been preserved to this day.