Ray Ellis’s Reviews > The Iliad Translated by Samuel Butler > Status Update
Ray Ellis
is 12% done
Scroll 2: Zeus deceives Agamemnon into expecting victory, the Greek army is assembled after Odysseus restores order, and Homer lists the Greek and Trojan forces. Scroll 3: Paris agrees to duel Menelaus for Helen, Menelaus wins, but Aphrodite rescues Paris, so the war continues.
— Jul 31, 2026 10:30AM
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Ray’s Previous Updates
Ray Ellis
is 36% done
Book 8: Zeus forbids the other gods from intervening and grants the Trojans the upper hand, driving the Greeks back to their ships as Hector prepares for a final assault. Book 9: With the Greeks in crisis, Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to persuade Achilles to return to battle, but Achilles refuses despite their gifts and appeals.
— 6 hours, 50 min ago
Ray Ellis
is 28% done
Book 6: Hector returns to Troy, urges the women to pray to Athena, meets his wife Andromache and infant son Astyanax in a moving farewell, then returns to battle despite knowing the likely fate of the city. Book 7: Hector duels Ajax in an evenly matched contest that ends at nightfall with an exchange of gifts, after which both sides pause to bury their dead and the Greeks strengthen their camp with a defensive wall.
— Aug 02, 2026 09:42AM
Ray Ellis
is 20% done
Book 4: The truce collapses when Pandarus wounds Menelaus at Athena's prompting, and Agamemnon rallies the Greek leaders as the battle begins in earnest. Book 5: Diomedes, empowered by Athena, fights with extraordinary courage, wounds Aphrodite and Ares, and dominates the battlefield in one of the Greeks' greatest displays of heroism.
— Aug 01, 2026 03:02PM