The Illiad by Homer ,

by Samuel Butler

book, binding and text all in fine condition, tan cloth binding with gilt stamped title on red on spine cover, binding tight and square no damage top edge red, text clean and unmarked no names no stamps

391 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

For the author of Hudibras, see Samuel Butler.

Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works, including the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh, his two best-known works, but also extending to examinations of Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler also made prose translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which remain in use to this day.

See also: Samuel H. Butcher, Anglo-Irish classicist, who also undertook prose translations of Homer's works (in collaboration with Andrew Lang.

Reviews

[Isaak Sanders]

Difficult to read. Decided to read this and the Odyssey before the move comes out this summer (07/17/26). It might have been better to read the Alexander Pope version, but that will have to be next time. The story shows a lot of human stupidity and arrogance, not to follow after. The character’s decisions, especially Achilles and Agamemnon, lead to much death. Achilles was a powerful fellow. The Gods seem to do things at a whim. Which is acknowledged in the poem. The ending didn’t seem to completely resolve the war. Are the Acheans going back to Greece? They never retrieved Helen. The Acheans are apt to win now with Achilles still around and on their side. There must be more to the story. This is my second epic poem, and I enjoyed it. There are some nice poetic phrases and the different way of looking at the world from the point of view of the characters in the story is interesting. I think if it was actually poetry, it would have been more enjoyable.

[TeArohaDiane Harmer]

Not the fault of Samuel butler but I found this translation hard to understand