The Iliad [Kindle Edition]

Homer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 517 KB
• Print Length: 480 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (July 1, 2004)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQUHX0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sea Adventures

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading cover image is of wrong version!, September 21, 2010

By 

James Walley (Maple Valley, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Iliad (Kindle Edition)

If you rely on the user-submitted image of the cover attached to this item, you might think that this is the highly-praised modern Richmond Lattimore translation (which would be one of the great bargains of classic literature!). However, the actual version you download will be an 1864 prose translation by "Edward, Earl of Derby." Not bad, if you like older language, don't mind prose instead of poetry, and can't afford any but the free version, but it certainly isn't Lattimore's translation.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 19th Century verse translation, formatted as prose, September 14, 2010

By 

A. Williams (Colorado Plateau) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Iliad (Kindle Edition)

This is a decent if somewhat archaic 19th century translation by the Earl of Derby, but the verse appears as prose, which is distracting. There seems to be a pattern of Kindle editions mangling verse.

118 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Translation is Everything, August 19, 2010

By 

Charles J. Budde (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Iliad (Kindle Edition)

As with the Bible, the translation or more specifically the translator is key. Not everyone can move poetry in one language into another. This is true of the Iliad, certainly true the the myriad mistranslations of the Bible. Kindle must include this information on the books being offered. There is no way to assess whether the book is worth downloading if the translator is not advertised. The Iliad and the Bible have suffered greatly at the hands of hacks and those who intentionally want to 'improve' the text. Please include the translator when presenting classic works. If it's just a reprint of someone else's work, (as so many reissues of the Bible are) than please say so. Republishing crap does not improve the smell.