The Illiad: The Story of Achilles

by Homer, W.H.D. Rouse (Translator)

Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1938

About the author

Homer (Greek: Όμηρος born c. 8th century BC) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history.
Homer's Iliad centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The Odyssey chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Despite being predominantly known for its tragic and serious themes, the Homeric poems also contain instances of comedy and laughter.
Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece" (τὴν Ἑλλάδα πεπαίδευκεν). In Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Virgil refers to Homer as "Poet sovereign", king of all poets; in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, Alexander Pope acknowledges that Homer has always been considered the "greatest of poets". From antiquity to the present day, Homeric epics have inspired many famous works of literature, music, art, and film.
The question of by whom, when, where and under what circumstances the Iliad and Odyssey were composed continues to be debated. Scholars remain divided as to whether the two works are the product of a single author. It is thought that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC. Many accounts of Homer's life circulated in classical antiquity; the most widespread account was that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary.

French: Homère, Italian: Omero, Portuguese, Spanish: Homero.

Reviews

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 2 out of 5]

This translation of the Iliad, by W.H.D. Rouse in 1938, shows its age along with some dubious choices. It is a prose translation from another age, when the Classics were the be all and end all of education. But Rouse's translation is very prosaic indeed, and conveys few hints of the glories of the poem which have made it last through the ages, but still requires many explanatory footnotes (most of which would be better put in the text even though they are not in the Greek - for instance, describing passing food and drink "moving round rightways" in the translation is glossed in the footnote as "as the sun goes, as the clock goes, through the buttonhole: keeping the company on the right hand side" - why not just say "clockwise"? There is no claim that the translation is literal, so surely it would be helpful to the reader to make the translation here understandable without a footnote at the small cost of using a word which would have meant nothing to the ancient Greeks? The epithets given to the heroes and gods are mostly translated literally, which clearly improves comprehension, but "Zeus Cloudgatherer" and "Flashlightning" (also Zeus) just appear clumsy.

One to avoid.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally, I think a war epic just really isn't my taste; I mostly read this for background before reading The Odyssey. I found it honestly comical at times with how steeped in toxic masculinity these characters are and if men today are looking to these war heroes of the distant past with admiration then maybe there's where some of our problems lie as a society. Sure, the scenes of clashing, fighting, and killing were tragic, but the way the men spoke about themselves and each other and their goals and how they'd like to be remembered was eye-roll inducing. The quarrels on Olympus provided additional, seemingly intentional comedy as well. I did appreciate the ending as it had some of the more reasonable character interactions and acceptance and acknowledgement of true feelings and human reactions. Maybe it was just all too dramatic for my liking, but I know that is the point. Maybe I'm missing something due to my own ignorance. Hopefully the adventures of the Odyssey will be more appealing.