Customer Reviews

The Iliad (Penguin Classics)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
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The Iliad is a magnificent poem, and has, appropriately, been translated numerous times. Rieu's translation is a somewhat older translation, and it is showing its age.

Whatever your desires, there are better translations.

If you want the poem in poetic form that most closely tracks the majesty and glory of the original, choose either the Lattimore or the more difficult to find Fitzgerald translations. Lattimore is the more generally preferred translation for scholars who don't read Homer in the original Greek.

If you want a more colloquial version, but one that still brings poetic grandeur to the poem, choose the newer Fagles translation.

If you want an easier to read, prose translation that doesn't have to adapt its language to the poetic form, Butler's translation is probably your best bet.

If you want the most literally accurate translation, you could choose the Loeb Classical Library edition, though it is more costly and in several volumes -- it has the Greek on the left page and the translation on the right, and because it is designed to assist Greek students with their translation it tends to be the most literal translation.

But for the most Homeric experience outside of reading it in Greek, the Lattimore translation is the way to go. It is a bit more difficult than Fagles or Butler, but worth the effort.

The Iliad is an intoxicating masterpiece, and well worth reading. I read it with my kids over the course of a year and all of us were totally captivated.

I have compared a pretty good number of translations with each other trying to ascertain which was most faithful, and I disagree with the reviewer on here who puts this translation down the list a ways. I think this is the best translation for the general reader. The Lattimore is a fairly difficult go; the Fagles is an easy enough read but has the disadvantage of not being all that faithful to the original. For the average person, I think the Rieu/Jones is the best. It combines fidelity to the original with a graceful comprehensibility.

Good luck.

I have read all other translations of Homer's Iliad, including Alexander Pope's and Fagles, and can unequivocally say that E.V. Rieu's translation is the most readable and forceful. It reads like a novel, not iambic pentameter verse, and therefore is more enriching to the modern 21st century reader.

This book was great. I sometimes find reading epic poems in their poetic form distracting so the prose translation was perfect for me. The introduction was brief and general, which is nice in a book that some would call long and difficult. Other than that, one of the greatest stories of all time. The only person I would steer away from this particular version of The Iliad is someone looking for a poetic translation.

Rieu's pioneering Iliad of 1950 brought Homer to millions, it was constantly re-published throughout the decades...

...but in 2002 it was revised by Peter Jones and Rieu's son. This time taking away much of E.V. Rieu's lovely poetic storytelling genius and a lot of the original "Joie de Vivre".

Not only that but there are constant interferences all throughout the book...I mean in the middles of the text! References, side notes, top notes, bottom notes, summaries etc. interrupt the flow of the revised translation. They may be useful to intellectuals but overall I find them very annoying.

Please take a look at the two versions (original and revised). As well as recommending Rieu's "oringal", I also resommend Stanley Lombardo's powerful, accurate, and incredibly poetic translation of the Iliad on a publishing company called Hackett.

*** I think Rieu's original Iliad in Penguin's re-release from the 60's and 70's (with the colorful covers and spines) is the most attractive and the most successful. Amazon Marketplace sellers have tons, or you can find them easily at used bookshops around the nation.***

I absolutley adored this book. I am reading the Odyssey now. I recommend you read both. It adds depth to the whole tale.

In the introduction it is claimed THE ODYSSEY is romance, THE ILIAD is tragedy. A simple plot yields the points that King Agamemnon, with his brother, Menelaus of Sparta, induced the princes to join forces with him against King Priam of Troy whose son, Paris, has run away with Menelaus's wife, Helen of Argos. The action covers fifty days in a war of ten years. The translator believed THE ODYSSEY and THE ILIAD were composed by a single author for reason of parallels in the construction of the epics and evidence of consistency in characterization. When Achilles is deprived of his concubine by Agamemnon, he asks his mother Thetis to intervene with Zeus to right the wrong. It had been prophesied that in the tenth year the Achaeans would take Troy.

Patroclus came to wear the armor of Achilles when Nestor encouraged him to urge Achilles to re-enter the fray and Achilles refused, but permitted Patroclus to wear his armor. Sarpedon called on Glaucus to go forward, leading the Lycian force. They sought to breach the Aachaean ramparts. In the end, Hector handled it alone, he broke down the gate. Hector and the Trojans were brought up to the Argive ships by Zeus. Poseidon pitied the Achaeans and was enraged with Zeus. Here devised a plan to entice Zeus into her arms and distract him from following the battle waged near the ships. From Aphrodite Here received love and desire. Sleep advised Poseidon of Zeus's state. Zeus awaking recounts the end of the fighting. Patroclus, killing among others Sarpedon, will fall to Hector's spear, and Hector will be killed by Achilles. The spirit of Patroclus sought cremation by Achilles after Achilles killed Hector. Achilles held funeral games. The gods arranged for Priam to go to the ships to ransom Hector's body from Achilles. Achilles granted an eleven day hiatus from fighting for the funeral of Hector.

A helpful glossary appears at the end of the volume to enable the reader to identify the Greeks and distinguish them from the Trojans and their allies. The brilliant prose translation is colorful and compact.

With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad. Each translation can give a different insight and feel to the story. Everyone will have a favorite. I have several.

For example:

"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls. But made their bodies carrion,
feasts for dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles."
-Translated by Robert Fagles

"Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another."
-Translated by Samuel Butler

"Rage:
Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades' dark,
And let their bodies rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.
Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--
The Greek Warlord--and godlike Achilles."
-Translated by Stanley Lombardo

"Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men--carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
Begin it when the two men first contending
broke with one another--
the Lord Marshal Agamémnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus."
-Translated by Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son of Achilleus and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achains,
hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood the division of conflict Atrecus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus."
-Translated by Richmond Lattimore

You will find that some translations are easier to read but others are easier to listen to on recordings, lectures, Kindle, and the like.

Our story takes place in the ninth year of the ongoing war. We get some introduction to the first nine years but they are just a background to this tale of pride, sorrow and revenge. The story will also end abruptly before the end of the war.

We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields.

Although the more focused conflict is the power struggle between two different types of power. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes form position.

We are treated to a blow by blow inside story as to what each is thinking and an unvarnished description of the perils of war and the search for Aręte (to be more like Aries, God of War.)

Troy - The Director's Cut [Blu-ray]

This is a great prose translation, updated and modernized by Peter Jones. The text crackles with energy and is much better than many verse translations (my favorite verse translations are by Lombardo and Lattimore). Many people - like myself - have an eye that is more comfortable with prose and modern English prose is very expressive. So this is probably a very good translation for most people. If you don't mind verse, try the fresh translation by Stanley Lombardo.

As for the story itself, what is there to say? It's a classic and, interestingly enough, is the first piece of written literature that introduces us to the ancient Greek gods and goddesses. But it is the story of Achilles and his anger (or rage), first at the Greek leader, Agammenon, and then at Hector and the Trojans. The latter kill Achilles' best friend, Patrokles.

I don't think anyone interested in the Iliad will find fault with this lively translation.

This is a good introduction to the Iliad. Short of reading the original Greek Richard Lattimore's translation is the best but Rieu's translation is written in straightforward, clear prose and is a good way to introduce yourself to the basic narrative and get a sense of the story. It is colloquial at times but not jarringly so. Then, move on to Lattimore and the Greek.