29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"...whether the prophecies of Calchas are true or not...", January 31, 2004
The Loeb editions of the classical Greek and Roman
writers are remarkable -- both for their scholarly
contents as well as for the very readable English
translations which accompany the classical words.
The Greek or Latin texts appear on the left side
pages -- and the immediate English translations
appear on the right hand side, opposite.
This Loeb edition of -The Iliad- comes in 2 volumes:
Vol. 1 (ISBN: 0674995791) contains Books I - 12
of -The Iliad-, with an English translation by
A.T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt. Vol. 2
(ISBN: 0674995805) contains Books 13 - 24. This
is a 2nd edition of these volumes, issued in 1999.
In explaining why a revision of Murray's translation
was needed, Wyatt says in the "Preface": "A.T.
Murray's translation of the -Iliad- has long set
a standard for accuracy and style. But its archaic
language no longer seems as appropriate as it did
to earlier generations of readers. In revising it to
fit the expectations of today's readers I have changed
little substantively, but have modernized diction
throughout." And Wyatt is true to his word -- the
revised translation reads easily, but still gives
the flavor of Homer's poetic style through repeated
introductory formulas such as: "Then in answer to
him spoke Achilles, swift of foot" and "Then the
incomparable seer took heart, and spoke, saying...".
Also included are the wondrous Homeric similes
with the full force of their acute observations,
poetic flow, and telling imagery. Here is an
example describing the spread of the Achaeans
throughout the camp: "Just as a consuming fire makes
a boundless forest blaze on the peaks of a mountain,
and from afar can the glare be seen, so from their
magnificent bronze, as they marched out, went the
dazzling gleam through the sky to the heavens."
Included in Vol. 1 is an Introduction as well as
an updated short Bibliography of critical text
citations, Editions and commentaries, Recent
translations, Reference, Linguistic, General
works on Homer, and Studies on the Iliad.
And as Achilles says after he has slain Hector,
"There lies by the ships a dead man unwept, unburied --
Patroclus; him will I not forget so long as I am
among the living, and my knees are quick. And even
if in the house of Hades men forget their dead, yet
will I even there remember my dear comrade."
-- Robert Kilgore.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great edition of a great book, March 11, 2006
Homer, The Iliad, Loeb Classical Library Nos. 170 & 171, translated by A.T. Murray (1924), revised by William F. Wyatt (1999). ISBNs 0674995791 and 0674995805.
The Loeb books are small, as the dimensions on the Amazon product page will show you, and they're all hardcover. All volumes have the original Latin or Greek text on the left and an English translation on the right. Greek Loebs are bound in green and Latin volumes in red. Many Loeb volumes were originally issued in the early part of the twentieth century (the series was started in 1911) and so those which have not been updated can sound stilted to modern ears. A.T. Murray's Loeb translation of the Iliad was published in 1924. The professor of classics at Brown University, William F. Wyatt, has updated Murray's rendering, taking out the thees and thous and adding a few notes to Murray's already very helpful annotations.
I first read the Iliad in Butler's translation. I decided to read it again, and chose the Loeb version for the series' translations, which as mentioned above, tend toward the literal side of things to help students who are reading the Greek text and using the translation as a "crib." Of course, the Iliad really is "Greek" to me, and so the translation is the only useful thing to me in the Loeb edition. But the translation is well worth the forty bucks or so it costs for both volumes. The sentences can get a bit long and involved, but nothing worse than you'll find in older English literature, and I know enough about Greek to know it has long sentences. So from someone who knows no Greek, take it for what it's worth.
As for the Iliad itself: it might take a bit of getting used to for the modern reader, should he be unused to anything outside of his own century. Every time a warrior dies, it's "and over him his armor clanged," or "and his knees were loosed," or another formula phrase. Characters most likely have a descriptive handle: "Odysseus of many wiles," "ox-eyed queenly Hera," "swift-footed Achilles." But I quickly got the point where I was enjoying the formulas and not resenting them. Battle scenes are rather graphic: we're told exactly where the spearpointed entered and where it came out, and exactly which body parts fell out in the process; although a lot of us moderns brought up on Hollywood gore won't mind that.
So should you read the Iliad? If you do, you put yourself in company with Aeschylus, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Johnson, our Founding Fathers, Tolstoy, and J.R.R. Tolkien, just to name a few. So do yourself a favor and give it a try.
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