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The Iliad

The Iliad Paperback - 1991

by Homer; Robert Fagles (Translator)

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  • Paperback

In this widely acclaimed verse translation of Homer's great epic, Robert Fagles combines the skills of poet and scholar. He brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic work, but maintains the drive and metric music of Homer's poetry and evokes the impact and nuance of Homer's mesmerizing repeated phrases.

Description

New York: Penguin Classics, 1991. Later printing. Paperback. New. 683pp. Octavo [19.5cm]. Illustrated wraps.
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Details

  • Title The Iliad
  • Author Homer; Robert Fagles (Translator)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Later printing
  • Condition New
  • Pages 704
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Classics, New York
  • Date 1991
  • Features Glossary, Maps, Table of Contents
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 59734
  • ISBN 9780140445923 / 0140445927
  • Weight 1.1 lbs (0.50 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.7 x 5 x 1.5 in (19.56 x 12.70 x 3.81 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 1330
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
  • Library of Congress subjects Trojan War, Achilles (Greek mythology)
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 89070695
  • Dewey Decimal Code 883.01

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Summary

Newly updated by D. C. H. Rieu, son of E. V. Rieu

 

One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan War. At its center is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his conflict with his leader Agamemnon. Interwoven in the tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, the besieged city of Ilium, the feud between the gods, and the fate of mortals.


 

 

About the author

Homer was probably born around 725 B.C. on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.

He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer--the Iliad and the Odyssey--are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time. In the Iliad, Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.

We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact, "Homer" may not be a real name but a kind of nickname, meaning perhaps "the hostage" or "the blind one." Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.

Robert Fagles (1933-2008) was Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Comparative Literature, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His translations include Sophocles's Three Theban Plays, Aeschylus's Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer's Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer's Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid.

Bernard Knox (1914-2010) was Director Emeritus of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He taught at Yale University for many years. Among his numerous honors are awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles' Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).

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