is listening to ancient texts like The Iliad easier?

I tried to read some ancient texts like The Iliad but it's so thick reading. I wonder if anyone has listened to any of them in audiobook, and whether that makes them more approachable? Or is it worse because you can't reread a line that was written in ancient-language-babble?

For what it's worth, I listened to a segment from the Iliad on Selected Shorts and was impressed with how easy it was to follow.

Back in Jr High Latin class, the teacher used to read us The Odyssey (in English!) at the end of the period; it was so suspenseful, we actually behaved in anticipation!

I find "the Classics" of all sorts are approachable on audio, whereas in print -- fuhgeddaboutit!

I agree. Lots of different books that are difficult in print are often easier in audio.

Well, it's worth recalling that the Homeric epics were intended to be spoken, not read. I listened to the Iliad read by Derek Jacobi (played the title role in I Claudius if anybody remembers that, and Senator Gracchus in Gladiator). I actually didn't like his version very much. But I stuck with it to the end, and even now can remember most of the plot, associated with sites on my long commute.

I'd recommend the audiobook version of Iliad produced by BlackStone Audio, translated by W.H.D.Rouse and narrated by Anthony Heald. I like Heald's dramatization better than Jacobi's. Rouse' prose translation is also very fluid and easy to follow.

I finished both Iliad and Odyssey on audiobooks and enjoyed them very much. On the other hand, the printed Aeneid has been sitting on my shelf for three weeks, and I've yet to start it.

I have listened to Stanley Lombardo reading his translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Susan Sarandon reads the chapter headings. There is also some primitive music in the background. I enjoyed them both. In the introduction of the print editions Lombardo said that as he worked on the translations he would read sections to a group, maybe his classes.

I tried The Decameronfrom overdrive. I couldn't get past the first sentence. I had no idea what the narrator was talking about. His accent was heavily British and
the audio required far more intense concentration then
I was able to give at that time.

It's probably easier to appreciate many of these ancient texts as stories by listening to them - after all, that's how many of them began: as oral experiences. The same would hold for more recent works, like Shakespeare's plays: see them first, then read the texts. And a lot of poetry works well when read aloud. I would have thought you would lose a lot if you simply relied on audiobooks without recourse to a text once the story has been apprehended. Personally, I often find I want to really read a book even though I have heard an audio rendering. As for The Odyssey, I found Ian McKellen's audiobook narration highly entertaining, even though I had previously read translations of the same work. Each time something new emerged. I could probably enjoy listening to any number of good audio versions.

I am totally blown away by how truly fantastic the Robert Fagles translations are and especially in audio format from Penguin. Derek Jacoby and Ian McKellen will introduce you to a whole new world.

In a sense, the audiobooks here are the portals that help you walk though........and never look back 8-)

Then to go from there to read Fagles printed editions is even better.

I'm so glad a few folks mentione that ancient texts were originally spoken word and that's how they were transmitted...I feel like I'm cheating to listen to an ancient classic on CD but that's the only way I'll get through it. I'm just not scholarly enough to slog through the written text. I listened to the ILIAD on CD and read along at the same time. It wasn't half bad.