Synopsis

The epic story of the struggles of the men of Greece and Troy, caught up in the machinations of the gods. The Iliad focuses mainly on Achilles, following his reluctant role in the war. Helen is abducted from Greece by the King of Troy.

History

First publication:

The Iliad is the the first of two volumes of epic poetry and is one of the oldest exisiting works of literature. Attributed to a blind wandering poet named Homer, it may have been a compilation of stories told by many different wandering bards and was handed down through oral tradition before it was committed to writing. The exact date then is unknown, but likely dates to 700 B.C. or earlier.

Review

This book is the standard for telling stories of epic war. You can see here the elements that influence a lot of epic battles in modern fantasy. I do have some nitpicks about it. Way too much time is devoted to listing all the different cities that joined with Agememnon and all of their ships. It just goes on and on, much like chapters of the bible that just list all of the generations. Makes very tedious reading, especially with the very large number of Greek names that I can’t pronounce. The W.H.D. Rouse translation is kind of dry and not very exciting to read. Almost like he was too caught up in the technical process of the translation and forgot he was writing a book that people would be entertained by. Also reading the Alexander Pope verse edition. I’m enjoying that a lot more than the Rouse prose. I think it is all who is translating it. Definitely reached my end with the Rouse translation. Switched to a copy of the Butler translation that I am much more engaged by. Lots of women being treated like vases or other property in this, but then that was their society back then. A lot of graphic violence, and I mean really graphic! You do not expect that in older books. We tend to think we have loosened up on the sex and violence in stories and that they did not talk about such things in the past, but this definitely has very graphic depictions of violence. Not really suitable for the kids. These are really minor things. When you are reading a book that is almost three thousand years old, you really do have to excuse the ways that it is different from modern storytelling. Once you do, The Iliad is an exciting war novel, filled with battles, and with intrigues amongs the gods of Olympus. The mythology adds that fantasy side to it for the modern reader. This is one of the greatest stories of all time.