Classics and the Western Canon discussion

A thread for offering information about resources you have found helpful, both on the Internet and otherwise (books, tapes, etc.)

Here's one of numerous on-line copies of the Iliad. It's the Butler translation, which is a prose translation without line numbering and also uses, regrettably, the Roman rather than the Greek names for the gods, but it's useful to cut and paste longer passages you don't want to type in from your translation.
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey...

Here is the Perseus presentation of the Odyssey, which is the Murray translation. I find it a bit harder to read fluidly, but it does have the benefit of line numbers, and also has both the Butler translation and the original Greek text in sidebars, and also some notes and other supporting materials.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/t...

max kindly posted this reference in the Reading Schedule thread, but it really belongs here:

I highly recommend the audiobook reading of Sir Ian McKellen (Fagles' translation) -- it is beautifully rendered, and listening to the poem, rather than reading it, is what Homer's original audience would have done.

BTW, I have requested this on Interlibrary Loan, and others may want to consider that also. The reading is 13 hours, which should be easily manageable by most of us over the 12 weeks of the discussion.

Just a warning on translation. Do not read the Fagles if you feel you'll get sick of hearing modern english phrases (like 'to their heart's content' and 'bit the dust') out of the mouths of Ancient Greeks. I guess he uses it to make the poem more accessible but found it somewhat off-putting. That aside, the Fagles translation is pretty good. Its the only one I've read so I can't I can't really make comments with too much weight.

Now that we're getting into the part of the Odyssey that discusses Odysseus's travels, a few web sites may be information. But be warned, most of these have massive spoilers, because most of those who put the sites together do so as interpretive aids for those who don't care about spoilers.

There is no agreement among scholars (is there ever about anything?? ) about where most of the places Odysseus visited on his travels are. There are a few generally agreed on, such as that Scylla and Charybdis are between Sicily and Italy, or that the Lotus Eaters are on the north coast of Africa. But beyond that, it's mostly speculation. (Even the location of Ithaca is speculation, with some scholars, including an entire book, arguing that Homer's Ithaca is not the modern day island of Ithaca).

But it can be fun to look at various speculations. This site, from the University of Pennsylvania,
http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/ph...
has a nice interactive map (click on the Homeric maps link, and when you have the interactive map open click on the locations to get the visuals), and an alternate map.

It also has a nice timeline, in two columns, one the events as they happened in time, the second as they happen in the Odyssey. But, major spoilers! The timeline tells you basically all that happens.

Here's another map of the sites, different of course from the first two:
http://www.irasov.com/odyssey_map.htm

And I'm sure there are many others out there. (The Fagles and Lombardo translations, interesting, have maps of the Aegean and mainland Greece but none of the wanderings.) If you find a good one, cite it here!

Everyman wrote: "max kindly posted this reference in the Reading Schedule thread, but it really belongs here:

I highly recommend the audiobook reading of Sir Ian McKellen (Fagles' translation) -- it is beautifully..."

Just catching up and jumping in here. I am listening to the Lombardo translation on audiobook, as I much prefer to hear it rather than read it. (I am an English teacher and writer, so obviously not averse to reading!) The colloquialisms don't bother me. They aren't too numerous, and I hear them as attempts to make colloquial for us what would have sounded colloquial to the original listeners. Plus Lombardo is a compelling reader and easy to listen to.