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Iliad

by Homer

3.72 · rating details · 59,356 ratings · 1,749 reviews

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 tw...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published June 30th 2009 by Book Sales, Inc. (first published -750)

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Mar 03, 2009

Abigail rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone Who Reads...

Shelves: greek-roman-antiquity, literature-classics, poetry, epics-sagas

Translation is everything, so let me begin my review of this foundational masterpiece of Western literature by noting that as it pertains to the question of translators, I am an unabashed partisan for the Richard Lattimore camp. I have had the pleasure of reading Homer's Iliad in the original classical Greek, and have also read three of the major modern translations - Lattimore, Fitzgerald, and Fagles. As an aside, I have also read selections from Alexander Pope's eighteenth-century "transl...moreTranslation is everything, so let me begin my review of this foundational masterpiece of Western literature by noting that as it pertains to the question of translators, I am an unabashed partisan for the Richard Lattimore camp. I have had the pleasure of reading Homer's Iliad in the original classical Greek, and have also read three of the major modern translations - Lattimore, Fitzgerald, and Fagles. As an aside, I have also read selections from Alexander Pope's eighteenth-century "translation," and have to say that the transformation of dactylic hexameter into rhyming couplets strikes me as somehow akin to trying to trick an Irish wolfhound out as a miniature poodle.

It is not my intention to dispute the poetic skill of either Mr. Fitzgerald or Fagles, and indeed, I retain a nostalgic loyalty to the former's translation of The Odyssey, it being my first exposure to Homer. I suppose that it comes down to what expectations we as readers bring to a translation. Do we expect the translator to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, or do we want him to preference meaning over language? Do we want him to translate form, as well as words, and is that even possible? And just where does one draw the line between "translation" of form and meaning, and adaptation - that impulse to modernize?

These issues took on a more concrete reality for me a few years ago, when I was given the assignment of translating one short passage of this great work, and comparing my efforts to the three works mentioned above. I chose as my selection the lovely and deeply moving exchange between Hector and Andromache in Book 6 (lines 466-481 in the original). For weeks I walked around parsing these sixteen lines, wrestling with their meaning, examining every minute detail, from the opening correlative adverb onward.

In the end, I found that I was not entirely satisfied with either my own humble efforts, or any of the three versions I was to compare it to. A useful reminder that all translation is flawed. I did discover however, that my own instinctive approach to world literature is to attempt to approach it in its own milieu, seeking to understand its meaning while leaving its structure in as pristine a condition as possible. Homer's word choice matters, and so does his line structure.

Which brings me back to Lattimore. His meticulous translation manages to account for almost every word in the original, and to retain its basic shape and structure, while still offering a beautiful and fluid reading experience. An astonishing achievement! He resists the urge to insert vocabulary that has no direct corollary in the text, something for which Fitzgerald is notorious, and even Fagles indulges in upon occasion. I do not doubt that Lattimore is a more difficult read for the modern reader, and it is entirely possible that other versions offer better "poems." But readers who long to have Homer's form "translated" into something more palatable for the modern taste, might want to consider that part of what gives The Iliad meaning, are the culturally-specific forms and vocabulary of the original.

As for The Iliad itself, it is the quintessential expression of the heroic ethos in Western culture, and ranks up there with the Bible as a book one "must" read. Even those who object to the idea of a canon, should know what they are seeking to deconstruct.

I have a difficult time accounting for my great love of this epic poem, as I am rarely in sympathy with the hero, and do not, generally speaking, enjoy war stories. Perhaps it is the occasional flash of humanity that pierces the self-aggrandizing preoccupation with honor? The exchange between Hector and Andromache, for instance. No doubt it is also partly my appreciation for the astonishing beauty and strength of Homer's language.

Of course, for me, the tragedy of The Iliad is not the destruction brought on by Achilles' wrath, but the fall of Ilium itself, and of Hector...(less)

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Apr 09, 2011

Sandybanks rated it

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Shelves: 2011, classics, doorstoppers

What I learned from this book (in no particular order):

1. Victory or defeat in ancient Greek wars is primarily the result of marital spats and/or petty sibling rivalry in Zeus and Hera’s dysfunctional divine household.

2. Zeus “the father of gods and men” is a henpecked husband who is also prone to domestic abuse.

3. If you take a pretty girl who is the daughter of a priest of Apollo as war booty and refuse to have her ransomed, Apollo will rain plague on your t...more

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Joje "'The two together come across as a more detailed and very long Candide, if you're looking for related great books.'
Could you elaborate on t...more"'The two together come across as a more detailed and very long Candide, if you're looking for related great books.'
Could you elaborate on that? That sounds interesting. (I've read Candide, BTW)...
'Ulysses and Jack Bauer are related across the millenia, too.' Let me guess: they are both hero archetypes?"

Sure, but haven't time to go into lots of detail. Candide has lots of violence and the 3 main characters get through it like the cartoon characters they are, with the exception of the long discussions with Pangloss. I call this sort of hero "Roadrunners", if that's an archetype for you.
It gets worse, then they move into some solution that then also gets worse. That is the pattern I remember in the book I read and taught eons ago. It is a masterwork for predicting so much of our own world, too. Remember how ugly Cunegonde is by the end, but she joins them at the end. Each step in that and in all the other wounds are described in as much detail and gore as the book uses, which isn't a lot, but it's awful nonetheless.
At any rate, first parallels: gore, getting worse by steps (not the same as the Trojan war, but wars there are), and the love story. No I don't mean with Helen but between peace-loving Ulysses and Penelope over all that time. He is a home body, a farmer, a builder, and a gentleman, a negotiator but one who can and will step in with force and trickery. This is the character of the 2nd book, though I believe it's there in the Iliad, just that he has to act there and does so, when not advising and negotiating, right? Since I'm in the last season of 24, then the parallels with your review reminding me of the Iliad are stronger, especially considering this is the season where Bauer also makes his moral position clear (or the writers put it together more clearly, or were forced to, whichever applies): "I just wish that I lived in a world where people like me weren't needed to do what I do."
Ulysses returns to win back his own beloved wife and go back to tending their garden as old as they may be now, though neither is ugly, even if he was in his last disguise.
Voltaire apparently believed in that final solution and did just that himself according to a New Yorker article I read a while ago. Not that ironic after all.(less)
Apr 12, 2011 03:12am

Sandybanks Joje wrote: ""'The two together come across as a more detailed and very long Candide, if you're looking for related great books.'
Could ...more
Apr 12, 2011 09:02am

May 22, 2008

Alison rated it

· review of another edition

I'm often kept up at night brooding on my troubles, wishing I could find some solace that would help me sleep. But now I know that the best way to keep insomnia at bay is to get out of bed, hitch up my chariot, tie the corpse of my mortal enemy to the back, and drive around for a few hours, dragging him, until I cheer up and can go back to sleep. The Iliad is unmatched, in my reading, for works that describe the bloody, ridiculous, selfish lengths people will go in order to feel better. The s...moreI'm often kept up at night brooding on my troubles, wishing I could find some solace that would help me sleep. But now I know that the best way to keep insomnia at bay is to get out of bed, hitch up my chariot, tie the corpse of my mortal enemy to the back, and drive around for a few hours, dragging him, until I cheer up and can go back to sleep. The Iliad is unmatched, in my reading, for works that describe the bloody, ridiculous, selfish lengths people will go in order to feel better. The sticks and stones fly (and gouge out eyes, smash skulls, slash livers and veins until the blood sprays--this poem is definitely not for the squeamish), but the real weapons of the Trojan War are name-calling, cheating at games, and stealing your best buddy's girlfriend or mixing bowl or ox. Most of the action occurs when somebody gets his feelings hurt, the baddie won't apologize, and the sensitive one throws a fit, which can involve letting all of his friends die while he gets an olive-oil massage, or else razing a city, raping the women, and joyriding over other men's bones. The Iliad suggests that even at its most glorious, war can be advocated only by people with the emotional lives of spoiled four-year-olds.

Indeed, most people are like spoiled four-year-olds, and truisms like that have resulted in some very tedious books and movies, but the Iliad is never tedious, or rather, only ever horrifically tedious (more on that below), first because it's good art, and secondly because, while many artists have stated, "My emotional life is a shambles," Achilles' emotional life results in the destruction of the rules of engagement, of "civilized" warfare, and of a civilization itself: babies thrown from ramparts, old men cut down at their altars, generations murdered, while Zeus snickers. The Iliad demands that the individual reflect on his or her engagement with the world at large, and the world is not a comfort zone: is it okay to decimate a town, in retaliation for your best friend's death? (Yes.) When you're kidnapped from home and thrown to the soldiers for sexual sport, are you supposed to be grateful? (Yes, and cook them some cheese to show it.) When a man murders your son and desecrates his corpse, what will the gods, to whom you and your son have given many, many sacrifices, do to help you out? (Send you groveling to kiss the murderer's hands, give him some fancy shirts, and have him treat you to some barbecue.)

What else does The Iliad say? That every life matters, and every death. The poem is a rolling casualty list, in which every man who dies has a name, a home, friends, and family who love or mourn or curse or disown him, sometimes a specified quantity of livestock who wonder where he is at milking time. Characters are introduced only to be killed, but their deaths are unique, and nobody dies without causing a change in the fortunes of his comrades or enemies, mostly by precipitating their own deaths. This is where the tedium comes in, but it's a harrowing kind of tedium: gruesome deaths, piled on, can cease to move Achilles, Agamemnon, or us, but they don't stop happening just because we've ceased to pay attention.

And what else? That war can make for great poetry. Fagles' translation is awesome (apart from a couple infelicities--the first "So help me" was hilarious. The fourth one was a little old). The verse is crisp, lucid, immediate, and very, very violent: the accessibility of the syntax and vocabulary make you read faster and faster, so the terrible scenes come upon you like an onslaught, entrails flying, chariots mowing people down, goddesses getting punched in the boobs, and behind it all the ever-present weeping. Egad.(less)

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Mar 07, 2009

Trevor rated it

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Shelves: history, literature

I read the Odyssey at Uni and really loved it. A romp off to parts unknown with a man who is good company from a distance. As with much of fiction, the people I am delighted to spend lots of time with on the page are not necessarily those I would want to spend anytime with otherwise.

I’ve always meant to get around to reading this. I mean, this Homer guy only wrote two books and I had enjoyed the other one, so … so, a mere twenty years later (how time flies) I got around to reading...more

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Feb 17, 2008

Stevelvis rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. THE ILIAD by HOMER translated by Robert Fagles

Oh My God, I absolutely HATED the Iliad. If you want to read a bunch of reviews by people who loved this book, go to Amazon and read the reviews there. The fans of this book will say that this is the ultimate book of war and this is the best translation ever, that this story shows the courage and manliness and heroics of the soldiers on both sides of the Trojan war even as they are being manipulated by the gods who are having their own...moreTHE ILIAD by HOMER translated by Robert Fagles

Oh My God, I absolutely HATED the Iliad. If you want to read a bunch of reviews by people who loved this book, go to Amazon and read the reviews there. The fans of this book will say that this is the ultimate book of war and this is the best translation ever, that this story shows the courage and manliness and heroics of the soldiers on both sides of the Trojan war even as they are being manipulated by the gods who are having their own arguments amongst themselves. Perhaps I have simply read the wrong translation as there seems to be the opinion that the translation by Rouse while less poetic is more prosaic and a better read as much of the repetitious poem is edited out.

The Iliad takes place in the 10th year of the Trojan War and its location is between the Argive Greek ships on the beach, the city of Troy, the battlegrounds between the beach and the city, and a tiny bit of story among the Olympiad gods. Actually there is very little of the action that isn't a bloody fight to the death on the battlegrounds. The story takes place in only about 40 days of the 10th year of the war and leaves out all of the most interesting action: the abduction of the princess Helen by Paris the Prince of Troy which starts the war, and the final days of the war in which the city is sacked and Achilles and many of the heroes are killed. What you are left with is an argument at the beginning of the story between Achilles and King Agamemnon, followed by nearly nonstop bloody fighting leading up to the death of Hector the hero of Troy. The story begins by saying that so many thousands of soldiers were killed in the war that it would be impossible to name them all. Then in the next paragraph, the attempt to name all of them begins as you have almost 600 pages of characters who are strangers with no part other than to be introduced and led off the stage as they have been killed by one or another of the heroes.

I read the Iliad because I wanted to read the Odyssey and so decided to read both of the epics together and in order. For anyone else I can now recommend skipping the Iliad altogether, and just go on to the Odyssey. The Iliad was a struggle for me, a very experienced reader, to make it all the way through. More than once I wondered if I should just stop or was it worth reading to the end. Well, now I can say with no problem that I should have skipped it entirely. It was a total waste of my time. I can't imagine being forced to read this as a book assignment in school. It might have turned me off of reading forever. If you're a teacher, please, have mercy on your students, just assign the 10 or 20 good pages. If you're thinking of reading the Iliad for pleasure, go to the bookstore and pick it up and read a few pages and then flip it forward and read another page. Try that a few times and you'll probably decide against it like I should have. The Odyssey on the other hand is a wonderful book that is thoroughly enjoyable, and full of the adventure, mystery and mythology that I had wrongly expected out of the Iliad.(less)

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Oct 09, 2010

Christopher H. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, classics-of-antiquity, my-western-canon, poetry, favorites, read-in-2010, favorite-rereads, translations, mythology, american-authors-translators, iliad-odyssey-homer

This review of The Iliad is associated with the translation by Robert Fagles (1990)--

"Homer makes us Hearers, and Virgil leaves us Readers." So wrote Alexander Pope, in 1715, in the preface to his translation of The Iliad.

I have just completed reading a magnificent translation of Homer's The Iliad, and couldn't have enjoyed the experience more. I had read bits and pieces of The Iliad over the course of my life, but I had never read the entire poem from start t...more

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Oct 28, 2010

Ian rated it

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Shelves: kicked-my-ass, love-strong-women

How could one so humble as I and so disfavored by the gods as to have the poetic ability of a blind cosmetics-testing monkey rate a work so great as The Iliad, a poetic masterpiece that has astounded and inspired for over 3,000 years, anything less than five stars? The answer to that question, which you seek with the zealous lust of tigress in heat, is, of course, that I could not. I dare not, lest I risk the wrath of Olympus. As a cow stands lowing over her first calf, so will I jealously gu...more

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Jun 30, 2009

Keely rated it

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Shelves: epic-poetry, reviewed, greek, favorites

Pablo Picasso spent his entire life trying desperately to do something new, something unique. He moved from style to style, mastering and then abandoning both modern and classical methods, even trying to teach his trained artist's hand to paint like a child.

In 1940, four French teens and a dog stumbled upon a cave that had lain hidden for 16,000 years. Inside, they found the walls covered in beautiful drawings of men and animals. When the Lascaux caves were opened to the public, Pabl...morePablo Picasso spent his entire life trying desperately to do something new, something unique. He moved from style to style, mastering and then abandoning both modern and classical methods, even trying to teach his trained artist's hand to paint like a child.

In 1940, four French teens and a dog stumbled upon a cave that had lain hidden for 16,000 years. Inside, they found the walls covered in beautiful drawings of men and animals. When the Lascaux caves were opened to the public, Pablo Picasso visited them, and as he stared at the prehistoric hunting scenes, was heard to remark in a despondent tone: "We have invented nothing".

The Iliad is equally as humbling to a writer, as complex, beautiful, and honest as any other work. The war scenes play out like a modern film, gory and fast-paced, the ever-present shock of death. Though some have been annoyed at how each man is named (or even given a past) before his death, this gives weight to the action. Each death is has consequence, and as each man steps onto the stage to meet glory or death, Homer gives us a moment to recognize him, to see him amidst the whirling action, and to witness the fate Zeus metes.

The psychological complexity and humanism of this work often shocked me. Homer's depiction of human beings as fundamentally flawed and unable to direct their own lives predicts existentialism. The even hand he gives both the Trojans and the Argives places his work above the later moralizing allegories of Turold, Tasso, or even Milton.

Of course, Homer's is a different world than theirs, one where the sword has not yet become a symbol for righteousness. In Homer, good men die unavenged, and bad men make their way up in the world. Noble empires fall to ravenous fire and the corpses of fresh-limbed young men are desecrated.

Fate does not favor the kind, the weak, the moral, or even the strong. Fate favors some men now, others later, and in the end, none escapes the emptiness of death. Though Homer paints some men as great, as noble and kind and brave, these men do not uphold these ideals for some promised paradise, but simply because they are such men.

There is something refreshing in the purity of the philosophy of living life for yourself and yet expecting no entitlement for your deeds. A philosophy which accepts the uncontrollable winds of fate; that when the dark mist comes across our eyes, no man knows whence he goes.

Later traditions make other claims: that the righteous will be rewarded, that the lives of good men will be good and the bad will be punished. In thousands of years of thinking, of writing, of acting, have we gained nothing but comforting, untenable ideals? Then Picasso was wrong, we have invented something, but it is only a machine which perpetuates itself by peddling self-satisfaction.

I read and enjoyed the Fagles translation, which may not be the most faithful, but strikes that oft-discussed balance between joy of reading and fidelity. He makes no attempt to translate the meter into English, which is a blessing to us. The English language does a few meters well, and Homer's is not one of them.

The footnotes were competent and interesting, though I could have stood a few more of them; perhaps I am in the minority. I also thoroughly enjoyed Knox's introductory essay. I would normally have had to research the scholarly history of the book myself, and so Knox's catch-me-up was much appreciated.(less)

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Jan 01, 2008

Jim Coughenour rated it

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Shelves: greekmythology

"Sprung out of bitterness, the philosophy of the Iliad excludes resentment." Thus Rachel Bespaloff, stating the seemingly impossible. Years ago I read the Iliad in Fitzgerald's fine translation, but every page had the heavy cadence of a "classic." Now I'm reading Fagles' and Lombardo's translations back to back, and am surprised how much I'm enjoying the poem. I don't dispute those who judge Fagles the superior translator, but for me the Lombardo version is far more stirring....more

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Jul 12, 2011

htanzil rated it

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Tahukah Anda kalau di dunia ini ada dua kisah peperangan yang begitu melegenda dan abadi? Jika kita bagi dunia menjadi dua kultur (Barat dan Timur) di timur kita mengenal perang Bratayudha, sedangkan di kultur Barat kita mengenal kisah Perang Troya.

Jika Perang Brathayuda yang merupakan klimaks dari kisah Ramayana ditulis di India oleh Begawan Vyasa Dwaipayana pada 1500 SM, kisah perang Troya ditulis oleh Homer pada tahun 800 SM dalam dua buku karyanya yaitu The Iliad dan Oddysey. Sa...more

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Aug 06, 2007

Robert Rubin rated it

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Recommends it for: anyone

Richmond Lattimore's is the definitive translation into English of Homer's masterwork. It comes closest to the original in word for word meaning, and in poetic form, and in spirit. I've re-read this for almost 40 years, and it never fails to reveal new beauties and new depths. Through the prism of a civilization different from our own, Homer sees the human essence. Homer describes almost all that's admirable or despicable in people, and almost all that drives them, with clarity, feeling, and an ...more

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Jan 23, 2012

Крис rated it

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I have only made it all the way through Homer's celebrated wonder once: the decent prose version crafted by E. V. Rieu. Otherwise, I have taken bits and pieces from Lattimore's - and pieces and bits from Fitzgerald's - verse translations, preferring the lordly grandeur of the latter, though I have been advised that the former holds truer to Homer's original Greek. Two years ago I purchased Fagles' well-received kick-at-the-can, but again have never made it beyond flipping through favorite passag...more

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Jul 05, 2007

Ryan rated it

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Wow, what can I say about this book? First of all, it’s 600 pages of pure, incredibly gruesome action. It is also the first war book I’ve ever read that names every single soldier who takes part in the battle, their background, and, of course, an incredibly detailed account of how they are slain. Let me give you an example of poor Erýmas’ fate (Book Sixteen, Line 403):

“Idómeneus thrust hard at Erýmas’ mouth
with his hard bronze. The spearhead passed on through
beneath h...more

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Jan 03, 2009

Joe rated it

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Shelves: poetry

Man, this is THE textbook for a constellation of representational issues surrounding the intersection of torsos and javelins.

Also, any study of war texts should include this or at least keep it in mind. It's just a hop, skip and jump from here to Mallory, Chretien de Troyes and all those other bedrock narratives from which other English language romanticizations of war and combat spring.

It's kind of stupid to rate a book like this. But here it is: 4 stars. Because Chapman...more

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Mar 13, 2009

Terence rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: audio-books, poetry, mythologies

Up to now, I’ve only read fragments of The Iliad. First as an undergrad in various Western Civ and Greek history classes, then as a TA in grad school (for the same classes just from the other side of the podium). I even got to translate fragments in my Greek-language classes. But I never had a desire to read it on my own. Three things have militated against reading it up to now: Until recently, I hadn’t done a lot of poetry reading. That prejudice began to crack about 15 years ago when a former ...moreUp to now, I’ve only read fragments of The Iliad. First as an undergrad in various Western Civ and Greek history classes, then as a TA in grad school (for the same classes just from the other side of the podium). I even got to translate fragments in my Greek-language classes. But I never had a desire to read it on my own. Three things have militated against reading it up to now: Until recently, I hadn’t done a lot of poetry reading. That prejudice began to crack about 15 years ago when a former flame introduced me to Dickinson and Plath. I then read John Gardner’s epic recasting of Medea’s myth. The “block” is still pretty high but I’m far more open to poetry now than in my youth.

A second factor in my reluctance was that The Iliad lacks any reasonably sympathetic character. Among the “heroes” there’s Odysseus (perhaps) but he doesn’t really get a chance to shine until Homer gives him his own epic. Even then, for me, Odysseus has always been an anti-hero rather than someone to admire or emulate. Hector, too, generates some sympathy but not for anything “heroic.” Rather it’s his interplay with Andromache and Astyanax that makes him a real person.

The final impediment to reading this classic is that I already know why it’s so important – why read the original when I have a wealth of analyses by men and women who’ve done it for me?

Yet – there’s always been a nagging guilt that I hadn’t read it. When I saw that an audio cassette of the Fagles translation was available at the library, I decided this was a prime opportunity to assuage that guilt (after all, I had enjoyed both Gilgamesh and Beowulf much more in their audio incarnations).

So, having finished it, did I learn anything? Were my perceptions and preconceptions challenged and/or changed? Up to cassette 6, side A, I would have had to say “no.” But then I heard a line that fundamentally altered my view of the poem and made it pertinent in a wholly unexpected way. It was the point where Homer says that Paris chose Aphrodite (as the fairest) for love. The whole poem fell into place then, and I understood what it meant to me and why Homer had written it (or had sung it) in the manner he did. After all, there’s this schizophrenic attitude apparent on the author’s part: Though much of the tale revolves around the “glorious” exploits of Akhaia’s and Troy’s greatest warriors or the machinations of the gods, there is yet a sense that Homer despises his subjects, finding worth only in those human moments when they exhibit glimpses of love, charity and compassion.

When I heard that line, though, I knew how to see the poem: As a cri de coeur against a world where Love seems unable to prevail against the brutality of War (Ares/Athena) and the cold rationalism and realpolitik of Wisdom (Hera/Athena). At that moment, I saw Paris in an utterly new light. He’s still a fool but not because he chose Aphrodite so much as that he chose her without considering the consequences. Heck, in this light, I could argue that he does realize what he’s doing but chose Love regardless, making him the bravest figure in the poem (it reminds me of a line from the song “You’ll Never Be the Sun” – “You won’t find that love comes easy, but that love is always right”).

So let this be a lesson: Works of art do not survive 3,000 years because of a fluke. They survive because they speak to audiences across time, space & culture. Perhaps not clearly, perhaps not in the way the author originally intended, but speak they do.

Sidebar: This version of The Iliad is not harmed by Derek Jacobi’s wonderful reading. He makes the poem come vibrantly alive with a masterful command of its rhythms, characters and voices without distracting from the content.(less)

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Oct 11, 2011

Christopher H. rated it

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Shelves: adventure, american-authors-translators, favorite-rereads, favorites, classics-of-antiquity, my-western-canon, poetry, read-in-2011, translations, mythology, iliad-odyssey-homer

This is my review of Robert Fitzgerald's translation (1974) of Homer's The Iliad--

This makes the third translation of The Iliad that I've read over the past year or so, and I quite liked it. While Fitzgerald's translation is perhaps not as rhythmically poetic as that of Robert Fagles (1990), or perhaps as ruthlessly faithful to the Greek text as Richmond Lattimore's verse translation (1951), it really is incredibly lyrical and reads very, very well. The Iliad is one of the greatest...moreThis is my review of Robert Fitzgerald's translation (1974) of Homer's The Iliad--

This makes the third translation of The Iliad that I've read over the past year or so, and I quite liked it. While Fitzgerald's translation is perhaps not as rhythmically poetic as that of Robert Fagles (1990), or perhaps as ruthlessly faithful to the Greek text as Richmond Lattimore's verse translation (1951), it really is incredibly lyrical and reads very, very well. The Iliad is one of the greatest works of literature of all time, and this translation stands up tall with the best of them, in my opinion.

I think what I really came to love the most about Fitzgerald's blank verse translation was that he doesn't waste any words. It is spare and remarkably hard-hitting, but still maintains a rugged and distinctly powerful lyricism. You can almost feel the 'tramp' of marching feet and the reverberation of bronze swords crashing against ox-hide shields, or hear the 'thrum' of bow-strings snapping as they launch arrows into the sky. It is visceral and living poetry that Fitzgerald has assembled and presented in his translation. Of course, I can't read the original Greek text and I can't judge if his translation fully captures and incorporates the essence of those ancient words, but I can tell you that this text is compelling and enthralling from the get-go.

One of my favorite examples of the eloquence and pathos of Fitzgerald's translation is in Book 24, near the end of the poem, when Akhilleus and Priam meet late at night, and Akhilleus says to the King--

"Come, then, and sit down.
We'll probe our wounds no more but let them rest,
though grief lies heavy on us. Tears heal nothing,
drying so stiff and cold. This is the way
the gods ordained the destiny of men,
to bear such burdens in our lives, while they
feel no affliction. At the door of Zeus
are those two urns of good and evil gifts
that he may choose for us; and one for whom
the lightning's joyous king dips in both urns
will have by turns bad luck and good."

That small section has always very powerfully affected me, and I have come to realize that young Akhilleus is an amazingly mature and astute man, wise well beyond his years.

Personally, I am of the opinion that Fitzgerald's translation is a very comfortable fit for a modern reader in our modern time who is reading an epic poem of nearly 16,000 lines that was first written down nearly three millenia in the past, but may well have existed in the oral tradition a thousand years before that. I think what I'm really trying to say is that Fitzgerald has crafted an interpretation of the poem that flows with regularity and dignity, and is very respectful of Homer and his legacy. In so doing, Fitzgerald has not simply made his blank verse contemporary, nor has he erred and slipped into sounding stilted, archaic or pedantic. This translation is a good one--a very good, and one that I highly and unhesitatingly recommend. Read it, savor it, speak and hear it; and most of all, just enjoy it!(less)

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Sep 14, 2010

Kate Weiskopf rated it

· review of another edition

Truly an awesome story. There's a reason it stayed around for over 3,000 years. Definitely something you want to read with a class though...and with a good teacher to help you along.

Incidentally, I recommend this edition and this translator, Fagles to the person more interested in getting to know the story really well as opposed to exact word-by-word translation. This was the edition we used in my Greek and Roman Studies class and my teacher did her graduate work at Harvard and he...more

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Sep 11, 2011

Jessica rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: those with many hours to spare

Recommended to Jessica by: nobody

Shelves: never-read-again

I was disappointed; I suppose, it had been 'so bigged up' that was to some extent inevitable. While it was an interesting story, familiar since childhood to some extent to all of us,there were many parts that I had to force myself through. This was particularly so of the battle scenes, which I know many (particularly male) readers find fascinating. Someone said that he was so rivited by it that he even read it on the bus, but sadly I had no such urges,on the bus or anywhere else. I found these ...more

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Jul 11, 2010

Keivan rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm reading a collection of books called the " Great Books of the Western World", door to door salesmen used to sell these hardcover sets door to door in the 50s. Most sets end up as furnishings for a den. I dusted my grandparents set off and I found them quite interesting, they represent the progression of thought in the western hemisphere in the last 3000 years..homer...plato..euclid...dante..mantainge...shakespeare...gallileo...Newton...Lock...swif...Smith...Goethe...Darwin...Freud....more

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Oct 14, 2007

Russell rated it

· review of another edition

The Iliad was a slow read for me. I don’t know if it was because of the translator, or the story, or a bit of both, but I just seemed to slog along in the book. I am not saying it was bad, or even boring, but it just was a slow read for me. In the end I am glad I read it, seeing how it is a basic building block for Western literature and culture.

A few things surprised me. The war had been going on for 10 years before the book takes up the story. I had no idea. That Paris must have be...more

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Jul 25, 2007

Kenghis Khan rated it

· review of another edition

Homer opens this work, and perhaps all of Western literary history, with an appeal for help and a clearly defined thesis. He asks a muse to help him relate the story of the rage of Achilles. Forgive me for uninvitedly calling Homer's own description of the work lacking. The richness of questions brought up in this work will be apparent to anybody on a first reading. The central preoccupations of the work go beyond the anger of a single man - spanning from the finitude of human existence to the s...moreHomer opens this work, and perhaps all of Western literary history, with an appeal for help and a clearly defined thesis. He asks a muse to help him relate the story of the rage of Achilles. Forgive me for uninvitedly calling Homer's own description of the work lacking. The richness of questions brought up in this work will be apparent to anybody on a first reading. The central preoccupations of the work go beyond the anger of a single man - spanning from the finitude of human existence to the sociopolitical duties of a citizen. It is awe-inspiring that a work written so long ago can strike such a powerful chord in so many of us. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that this is a work of art, and, as a consequence, Homer strives to describe and to make us all too painfully aware of the basics of life. We are asked to reflect on not only the standard issues of family and friends, but on our roots, on our attachment to the land, and on our birth and death. Of course, not every squabble of the Gods or cataloguing of the ships strike us as particularly intriguing. Yet in every delightful passage where Homer taunts his genius by pretending to keep substantial issues at bay, proviking issues are to be found. Unsurprisingly, Homer offers us little in the means of answers for the question as to how we are to deal with the profound circumstances that surround us as humans. His use of the "divine" in controlling human affairs may sound too much like an awkwardly familiar tone of existential resignation. For those seeking "answers in life," whatever that may mean, the Illiad is not a bad starting point. We have much in common with Achilles - knowledgable about our own mortality, yet all to eager to presume otherwise. We also sympathize with Hector and the Greek soldiers - it is for the soap operas of the rich and powerful that too many of us shed blood. The striking beauty and emotive appeal of this work cannot be classified as uplifting. Yet the subtlety and craftiness of the spark of joy to be found in our peculiar human condition to which this work speaks should be ample answer for any reader as to why this work has survived for so long.(less)

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Jul 15, 2007

Archgallo rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: greek geeks

Endless descriptions of ships, soldiers, who came from where, who their families were, who killed whom, and in what matter -- but I still love this book. Everyone with a love for the classics should read this. It doesn't run, as many would think, between the start of the Trojan War until the end; instead, it begins at Achilles' famous grudge against Agamemnon who stole his slave, until the burning of Hector, Priam's son. Some background knowledge is perhaps required (who is Paris and why did he ...more

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Apr 01, 2009

Andy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: epic

This is my second time reading the Iliad, and I loved it. I came up with a routine. A few times a week, I'd walk with my wife to our favorite local, independent coffee shop (about a mile away), order a small, soy mocha, loop the Sigur Ros album () on my iPod, read one book and then walk home. It worked great. I feel as if ancient Greeks couldn't have appreciated it more. I've already started reading the Odyssey with the same routine (except with a different Sigur Ros album).

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Dec 21, 2008

Valerie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Ian

Recommended to Valerie by: Mr. Petrianos

When I was in High School, my favorite teacher, Paul Petrianos had us read this. It started me on an obsession with epic poetry. I still remember him pounding on desks, having us stand on our chairs to recite bits, and taking us off campus for coffee and used book store shopping at Stanford to inspire us to go to college. He was part of my inspiration to become a high school teacher.

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Sep 12, 2008

Jim rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fantasy, sword-sorcery, historical

I'm not sure, but I think this was the edition I read & liked the best - I've read several over the years. I liked the 'full' or 'best translated' versions & the highly edited versions the least. There's a happy medium in there. The full versions have a lot characters & stuff going on that doesn't add to the story & just confuses me. When edited too much, the story loses its flavor.

The story line, plot, can't be beat. Much of the motivation of the characters seems weak or over-u...more

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Sep 28, 2007

Albert rated it

· review of another edition

For real, this is the goriest, most graphically violent book I've ever read, by a factor of about ten. And, shockingly, one of the most surprisingly enjoyable - none of that stiff, bloodless appreciation, either. It's just flat-out a fun read. I don't know jack about translating Ancient Greek, but Stanley Lombardo has done a pretty incredible job of bringing out the punchy, gritty, pungent style of the Iliad in fresh, modern language without detaching it from its roots in an ancient - and ver...more

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May 31, 2009

Tiffany who finally decided to change her name marked it as to-read · review of another edition

IS KRONOS IN HERE???? And I will only read it if KRONOS! is in here!

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Nov 26, 2008

Dj rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: greek-classics, poetry

Having just finished reading Robert Fagles’s translation of the Iliad, I remember why I’ve only read it twice before. During college, I twice read Robert Fitzgerald’s translation. His stilted language made a difficult book almost impenetrable. Even with the mastery of prose and poetry that Fagles brings, I don’t believe this work can be saved. The back cover of Fagles’s translation bills it as the world’s greatest war story. I do protest that and let me approach that in two parts.

Gre...moreHaving just finished reading Robert Fagles’s translation of the Iliad, I remember why I’ve only read it twice before. During college, I twice read Robert Fitzgerald’s translation. His stilted language made a difficult book almost impenetrable. Even with the mastery of prose and poetry that Fagles brings, I don’t believe this work can be saved. The back cover of Fagles’s translation bills it as the world’s greatest war story. I do protest that and let me approach that in two parts.

Greatest story? It is slow and plodding, even though it starts crisply and ends wisely. The intervening books of slaughter and cataloging, while attempting to show the scale and scope of the Trojan battle, fail to keep me engaged. This epic could have been 1/4 the size, perhaps less. The book opens with “Rage– Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles…” However, after a brief display of his hubris and childish behavior, we barely see him in the next 16 chapters. The highlight of the story is the final chapter, where King Priam comes to the Greek camp to petition Achilles for the body of the King’s son, Hector. In this short section, humanity wells to the top, in the actions of Priam and partially with Achilles.

As for the Iliad being the greatest war story, the depiction of battles have been sanitized and glorified. Death is vicious, but quick; horrible, yet honorable; driven by gods, not chosen by men. War is seen as a means to an end, and that end is revenge or greed. If one wants to read a great war story, turn to Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. That takes off the rose-colored glasses and adds chop to the wine dark seas.

If one is to read Homer, and I think one should, turn to the Odyssey, especially Fagles’s translation of it. There is a book that is the height of epic poetry. It is a good story, well-told, that bears many lessons for yesterday, today and tomorrow. As I’ve said in the past, the key to life is the journey itself, not the battles or end result.

Epilogue: Sadly, Robert Fagles has left us, so we must engage with him now through his works. And even though I didn’t enjoy the tale of the rage of Achilles, Fagles’s telling is phenomenal and without parallel.(less)

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Feb 01, 2012

Stefan rated it

· review of another edition

The Grand-Daddy of all epic tales!

I had never read the Iliad before now, and since it was assigned to me in my current college course, I really had no choice but to embrace it. What a great read! I knew most of the storyline of course through general knowledge of mythology and Greek legend and also (though I cringe a little to say it) from the film, Troy.

If you haven't read the Iliad and fancy yourself a fan of legend or fantasy novels, I would highly recommend it. For those...more

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Jan 13, 2012

Ricky Ganci rated it

· review of another edition

24 books of meticulously-translated epic Greek poetry is pretty difficult to read in two weeks, especially while conducting a college-level study, but the quality of the translation, as well as the fun of the story and the absolute importance of it all, makes this a reading experience that stands out from the rest.

What strikes me first about THE ILIAD was the attention that the Greeks paid to violence in battle. Homer doesn't just describe the killing, he characterizes it, giving sp...more

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About Homer

Homer (ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος), or Omero (in Italian), is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally considered the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. No reliable biographical information about Homer survives from classical antiquity, and he is generally considered a legendary, rather than a historical figure. The Iliad and the Odyssey are now considered by many to be the p...more

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“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” — 75 people liked it

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