I can't speak to the translation, as I neither read Greek nor have read a non-Lattimore translation, but it seemed very good to my unqualified eye. On...moreI can't speak to the translation, as I neither read Greek nor have read a non-Lattimore translation, but it seemed very good to my unqualified eye. On the other hand, having just recently read some translations of Aristophanes that I loathed, I think I have a handle on what makes one decent, so... I don't know.
The story, however, was magnificent. I came in knowing the story, or so I thought, but in retrospect I had no idea what to expect. The story is told through the three perspectives of the Greeks, the Trojans, and the Olympians, and I was very surprised to find that it wasn't the Greeks (neither Odysseus, nor Achilles, nor Agamemnon, or even Ajax) that were the heroes, but it was the Trojan, Hector. The story is really a tragedy, and, if I may say, it is a better told tragedy that anything from Shakespeare.
Odd, surprising, and wonderfully done. (Okay, maybe the battles and endless lists of Greek names were a little much, but the ending made up for that.)(less)
It may not be entirely comprehensible, and far too much has been lost over time (not just in the technical sense that what we have is full of gaping h...moreIt may not be entirely comprehensible, and far too much has been lost over time (not just in the technical sense that what we have is full of gaping holes, but in the fact that we really have no idea how contemporary viewers would interpret the various allusions and situations presented (and whatever allusions we can't even see because even that source has been lost ... ugh)), but I'm still glad I read it.(less)
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