The Iliad

by Homer

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
12,343	93	57	(4.09)	249

Add to your library

▾Book information

Info:	Mentor, Edition: Paperback
Member:	kristinmm
Collections:	Your library	Rating:
Tags:	fiction, poetry

all members

▾Members

numbers

show all

▾Tags

(38) achilles(55) adventure(21) Ancient(126) ancient greece(204) Ancient Greek(85) Ancient Greek Literature(21) ancient history(61) ancient literature(57) antiquity(46) classic(426) classic fiction(20) classic literature(53) Classical(101) Classical Literature(92) Classical Studies(37) classics(854) epic(501) epic poetry(259) fiction(602) greece(261) greek(566) greek literature(190) Greek mythology(70) greek poetry(36) historical(25) History(131) homer(325) Iliad(76) literature(455) myth(63) mythology(529) Novel(20) own(65) paperback(28) penguin classics(24) poetry(1,087) read(113) tbr(25) translated(23) translation(151) Trojan War(120) troy(118) Unread(112) verse(19) war(138)

▾Recommendations

Member recommendations

sirparsifal recommends The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys by Jan Kochanowski
Jitsusama recommends The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, "An ancient classic revolving around Greek Myth. A great help to better understand the mythology of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series."
benmartin79 recommends Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
inge87 recommends The Tain by Thomas Kinsella

contribute your own recommendation

▾Will you like it?

won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

▾Member reviews

English (90) Italian (1) Dutch (1) German (1) All languages (93)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 90 (next | show all)

Without parallel. A classic for 2500 years and still counting! (

)

sjstuckey | Jun 6, 2009 |

The Iliad is a genuine classic, sure to please aficionados and students of: poetry; mythology; ancient history; military literature; rhetoric; and epic fiction in general. Be that as it may, I must state that I wasn't entirely pleased with the most recent adaptation, in which: Menelaus was portrayed by Cheney; Agamemnon by Bush; Achilles by Rumsfeld; Ajax by Powell; Priam by Saddam; Paris by the rather abstract, but quite real, blowback from America's (specifically, the Reagan Administration's) foreign policy; Helen by Saddam's delusory and dramatically overstated weapons program, and so on and so forth... (

)

BGP | Jun 3, 2009 |

The fighting scenes can be a bit of a drag to read, but the storyline itself is fun, particularly the scenes with the gods/goddesses. This is an easy to read translation too. (

)

gaialover2 | May 27, 2009 |

One year of the epic battle of Troy takes center stage in Homer's Iliad. Full of gory war descriptions, hubris/pride, love, and passion, this classic show us the bottom line of human nature: that we work for ourselves, but also for a better cause (whatever that may be). (

)

06nwingert | Apr 19, 2009 |

Homer's Epic is the reason why legions of archaeologists are scowering the coast of Turkey looking for any sign of Troy. Achillies, Hector, Odysseus, Diomedes, it's an all-star cast that includes the Greek Gods of old like Zeus and Aphrodite.
Endless theme of the losses sustained during war, the fate of the soldier and the parents that made him, all these classic elements create THE greatest story of all time. It's the oldest and still one of the most loved and treasured and with very very very good reason. (

)

TiffGabler | Apr 15, 2009 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 90 (next | show all)

0.075 seconds to build listing

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Series (with order)

Homer's Epic Cycle

Canonical Title

The Iliad

Iliad

Original publication date

800 BCE to 601 BCE

1950 (English: Rieu)

1951 (English: Lattimore)

1974 (English: Fitzgerald)

1990 (English: Fagles)

(show all 8 items)

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Awards and honors

Benjamin Franklin Award (Audiobook - Adult Nonfiction, 2007) Stanley Lombardo translation

The Telegraph's 110 Best Books: The Perfect Library (2008)

Epigraph

Dedication

To the memory of my father and my mother
and for Lynne, Katya and Nina ...

(Fagles translation, 1996)

First words

Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Achilles' anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Achaens loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men - carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
(Fitzgerald translation, 1974)

Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.
(Fagles translation, 1996)

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus
and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the
Achaians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood in division of conflict
Atreus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.
(Lattimore, 1951)

Rage:

Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done
(Lombardo translation, 1997)

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Due to the "dead language exception" copies of the Iliad in the original Greek should not be combined with modern language translations.

Also, individual volumes should not be combined with other individual volumes or with the complete work.

Due to the "dead language exception" Greek version of the Iliad should NOT be combined with modern language translations

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Stanley Lombardo's Translation (2006) Parmenides Publishing

The first of Homer's great epic poems, the Iliad portrays the final days of the Trojan war. The Iliad has stood the test of time and is still one of (it not the) best depictions of ancient warfare. It is an essential precursor to the infamous journey of Odysseus.

Translated by Stanley Lombardo. Introduction by Susan Sarandon.

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com (ISBN 0140275363, Paperback)

This groundbreaking English version by Robert Fagles is the most important recent translation of Homer's great epic poem. The verse translation has been hailed by scholars as the new standard, providing an Iliad that delights modern sensibility and aesthetic without sacrificing the grandeur and particular genius of Homer's own style and language. The Iliad is one of the two great epics of Homer, and is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to say the Iliad is a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400)

(see all 5 descriptions)

▾Open Shelves Classification

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.