The Iliad of Homer (International Collectors Library)

By Richard (translator) Lattimore

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00TZ7JGYU
• Release Date: January 1962
• Publisher: International Collectors Library
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The ground is dark with blood.

With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions: one is the Bible, and surprisingly, the other is The Iliad. Each translation can give a different insight and feel to the story. Everyone will have a favorite. I have several. There are partial translations that are worth reading, but as with any abridgment or incomplete Iliad, you will never know what is missing. For example: "Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son of Achilleus and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achains, hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hade's 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 the division of conflict Atrecus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus." -Translated by Richmond Lattimore, 1951 Our story takes place in the ninth year of the ongoing war. We get an introduction to the first nine years, but they serve merely as background to this tale of pride, sorrow, and revenge. The story will also end abruptly before the war comes to a close. We have a wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields. Although the more focused conflict is the power struggle between two different types of power. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior, and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes from his position. We are treated to a blow-by-blow inside story as to what each is thinking and an unvarnished description of the perils of war and the search for Arête (to be more like Aries, God of War). Next, before reading the Odyssey, you will want to bridge the gap with “The War at Troy: What Homer Didn't Tell” by Quintus of Smyrna.