Homer

Caroline Alexander

With her virtuoso translation, classicist and bestselling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless epic of the Trojan War Composed around 730 B.C., Homer’s Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted ten-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of Ilion. From the explosive confrontation between Achilles, the greatest warrior at Troy, and Agamemnon, the inept leader of the Greeks, through to its tragic conclusion, The Iliad explores the abiding, blighting facts of war. Soldier and civilian, victor and vanquished, hero and coward, men, women, young, old—The Iliad evokes in poignant, searing detail the fate of every life ravaged by the Trojan War. And, as told by Homer, this ancient tale of a particular Bronze Age conflict becomes a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war throughout the ages. Carved close to the original Greek, acclaimed classicist Caroline Alexander’s new translation is swift and lean, with the driving cadence of its source—a translation epic in scale and yet devastating in its precision and power.

A New Translation by Caroline Alexander

The Iliad

Homère

Pâris a enlevé la belle Hélène. Son mari Ménélas et tous les Grecs rassemblés crient vengeance et font le siège de Troie depuis neuf ans. Le divin Homère entonne alors le premier chant de l'Iliade. Il y en aura vingt-quatre, tous plus beaux les uns que les autres, tous centrés sur la colère d'Achille. Le roi des rois, Agamemnon, lui a enlevé sa compagne, l'esclave Briséis. En pleine bataille, Achille se retire sous sa tente, affaiblissant les rangs des Achéens. Il n'en sortira qu'à la mort de son ami Patrocle, pour combattre Hector.
On ne sait si Homère est bien l'auteur de tous ces chants, mais cette épopée a traversé les siècles par sa démesure et sa beauté. Au combat des hommes se superpose celui des dieux et des déesses. Tous sont nobles, héroïques et généreux mais Homère, réaliste, montre aussi leurs faiblesses. Cette histoire faite de larmes et de sang est le symbole de la destinée humaine ballottée par le hasard. Achille le sait bien, lui dont les exploits dépendent de la fantaisie des dieux.

Edition et Traduction de Mario Meunier

Iliade

Amira BEN

“Hector, où donc est passée l'ardeur qui t'animait naguère? Tu prétendais que, sans armée, sans alliés, seul avec tes frères et les époux de tes sœurs, tu tiendrais la cité. De tous ces guerriers, je n'en vois ni n’en découvre aucun; mais ils se terrent comme des chiens autour d'un lion. Nous, au contraire, qui ne sommes que vos alliés, nous combattons.”

À ce moment, Ajax, le fils de Télamnon, atteignit le fils mère, un jour, descendant de l'Ida, avait enfanté sur les bords du Simois, comme elle suivait ses parents pour visiter leurs troupeaux. De là son nom de Simoïsios. Mais il ne rendit pas à ses parents chéris les soins qu'il en avait reçus. Courte fut sa durée, et il tomba sous la lance d'Ajax au valeureux courage. En effet, comme il marchait en tête, Ajax l'atteignit à la poitrine, près de la mamelle droite. La lance lui traversa directement l'épaule, et Simoïsios tomba dans la poussière, […],et il reste étendu, tandis qu'il se dessèche, près des bords du ruisseau. 

Les boucliers bombés se heurtèrent les uns contre les autres, et grand fut le tumulte. Alors s'élevèrent en même temps les plaintes et les cris de triomphe des hommes qui frappaient ou qui étaient frappés, et le sang ruisselait sur la terre. De même que les torrents accrus par les hivers dévalent des montagnes, jettent et entremêlent, issues de grandes sources, les masses de leurs eaux dans le creux d'un ravin; le berger entend leur fracas retentir au loin dans les montagnes, de même, se perçurent les clameurs et les cris d'épouvante sortant de la mêlée.

Mais quand, marchant les uns contre les autres, les deux armées se trouvèrent en présence, Alexandre alors, beau comme un dieu, s'avança pour combattre en avant des Troyens, portant sur les épaules une peau de panthère, un arc recourbé et un glaive. Brandissant deux lances aux pointes de bronze, il provoquait tous les preux des Argiens à venir en un combat terrible, s'affronter avec lui.

De même que le feu destructeur, sur les sommets d'une montagne, embrase une immense forêt; la lueur de la flamme s'aperçoit de très loin; de même, du bronze prodigieux des guerriers qui marchaient, un flamboyant éclat, à travers l'éther, s'élevait jusqu'au ciel.

Que chacun aiguise bien sa lance et mette bien son bouclier en état; qu'il donne à ses chevaux rapides une bonne ration, et se prépare à l'assaut, en examinant bien son char de toutes parts, afin que, tant que dure le jour, nous prenions comme arbitre le redoutable Arès. 

Aussi, que personne ne se hâte de retourner chez lui, avant d'avoir dormi avec la femme d'un Troyen, et vengé le départ et les plaintes d'Hélène. Et si quelqu'un veut à toute force retourner chez lui, qu'il prenne son noir vaisseau solidement charpenté, afin d'aller, avant les autres, au-devant de la mort et de la destinée !

Zeus, en effet, vers l'Océan, chez les Éthiopiens sans reproche, est parti hier partager un banquet, et tous les dieux ensemble l’ont accompagné 

Or, tandis qu'il agitait ces pensées en son âme et son coeur, et que déjà il tirait sa grande épée du fourreau, Athéna du haut du ciel arriva. Héra, la déesse aux bras blancs, l'avait envoyée, car d'un cœur égal elle aimait ces deux chefs et leur portait un pareil intérêt. S'arrêtant derrière lui, visible pour lui seul, car aucun autre ne l'apercevait, elle tira le fils de Pélée par ses blonds cheveux. Surpris, Achille se retourna, et aussitot reconnut Pallas Athéna, car ses yeux terribles lui étaient apparus. 

Tout en le toisant d'un regard de travers, Achille aux pieds rapides lui répondit alors: 

-Ah ! malheureux revêtu d'impudence et chercheur de profits, comment un Achéen pourrait-il volontiers obéir à tes ordres, soit pour entreprendre une expédition, soit pour lutter avec vaillance contre des guerriers ? Pour moi, ce n'est pas à cause des Troyens lanceurs de piques que je suis ici venu pour me battre, puisqu'ils ne sont pas en cause pour moi. Jamais en effet ils ne m'ont ravi mes vaches ou mes cavales ; jamais, dans les champs fertiles de la Phthie, nourricière de héros, ils n'ont ravagé mes récoltes, car entre eux et moi s'étendent trop d'obstacles, des montagnes boisées et la mer aux flots retentissants. Mais c'est toi, ô superbe impudent, que nous avons suivi, pour te combler de joie, en réclamant, pour Ménélas et pour toi, face de chien, que les Troyens fassent réparation ! De tout cela tu n'as cure ni souci, et tu menaces encore de m'enlever toi-même la récompense pour laquelle j'ai eu tant de peine, et que m'ont attribuée les fils des Achéens ! 

Stephen Mitchell

Man seduces another's wife then kidnaps her. The husband and his brother get a gang together to steal her back and take revenge. The woman regrets being seduced and wants to escape whilst the man's entourage resent the position they have been placed in. Yet the battle lines have been drawn and there is no giong back... Not the plot of the latest Hollywood thriller, but the basis of The Iliad - the Greek classic that details the war between the Greeks and the Trojans after the kidnapping of Helen of Sparta.

Seher Mohsin

Homero,

Chronicles the Greek siege of Troy and the war that ensued.

paris (taylor’s version)

The centuries-old epic about the wrath of Achilles is rendered into modern English verse by a renowned translator

Chloé

I get it’s 500 AD but it is confusing that goddesses and gods are treated as equals but women and men are not.

It is impressive that many words of sons of fathers who have done this feat and throw their spear can be entertaining, and can even get more entertaining as the war reaches its pointy end. But not much else other than pulpy entertainment was to be had.

Geese Fish

I get it’s 500 AD but it is confusing that goddesses and gods are treated as equals but women and men are not.

It is impressive that many words of sons of fathers who have done this feat and throw their spear can be entertaining, and can even get more entertaining as the war reaches its pointy end. But not much else other than pulpy entertainment was to be had.

High on Olympus, Zeus and the assembled deities look down on the world of men, to the city of Troy where a bitter and bloody war has dragged into its tenth year, and a quarrel rages between a legendary warrior and his commander. Greek ships decay, men languish, exhausted, and behind the walls of Troy a desperate people await the next turn of fate. This is the Iliad: an ancient story of enduring power; magnetic characters defined by stirring and momentous speeches; a panorama of human lives locked in a heroic struggle beneath a mischievous or indifferent heaven. Above all, this is a tale of the devastation, waste and pity of war. Caroline Alexander's virtuoso translation captures the rhythms and energy of Homer's original Greek while making the text as accessible as possible to a modern reader, accompanied by extensive extra material to provide a background to the poem. The result of three thousand years of story-telling, Homer's epic tale of the fall of Troy has resonated with every age and every human conflict: this is the Iliad at its most electrifying and vital.

Marcy Pursell 

For fans of mythology, and the Trojan War, the Iliad is a classic. So full of war stories and tragedy, not too mention so much interference from the gods. Book IX was probably my favorite, Achilles pining over Briseis. I wasn't sure what to expect from this audiobook, but it was very easy to listen to. I'm aware that this translation by Stephen Mitchell may be shorter than other versions as he removed some stories that were thought to have been added later, including the entirety of Book X.

Kendall McClain

"The bossed shields beat one upon another, and there was a tramp as of a great multitude – death-cry and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red with blood."
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The ancient Greeks knew what they were doing. With an abundance of sex, blood, and tantalizing high stakes, they pretty much invented the foundation that Hollywood is built on today. How else can you explain how an epic poem written almost 3000 years ago can still be so gripping and relevant in 2021?

The Iliad doesn’t really need an introduction. Telling the tale of fears, hopes, pride, hubris, lust and greed of men in vicious battles at the mercy of capricious gods, it is as classical Greek as it gets. However, what needs to be said is how surprisingly accessible and entertaining it all is. I am not even talking about the captivating and incredibly imaginative (“the spear went in WHERE now?”) battle scenes, and the hilariously petty fights among the gods. There is so much to take away here: Taking a cheeky little break during the battle to tell your adversary about your lineage? You got it! Attacking an actual RIVER because your lover has been killed? Reasonable. Organizing mini Olympics in the middle of a month-long battle to honor the dead? If you ain’t having fun during this carnage, you are doing it WRONG.

I would, however, recommend the prose version of The Iliad if you are averse to poems like myself. After giving the poem a try, I found that I enjoyed the tale so much more in its fluid prose version. I think it loses nothing from its original text, but then again, I am no academician.

My only disappointment was that it ended too soon. The story itself ends with the death of Hector (do NOT come for me for spoilers about a 2800 year old story PLEASE). Not a sight of the famous Trojan horse to be seen! Not a word on how the battle ends. The author(s?) really said, “Ask Virgil if you want more” and then DIPPED.

4.5/5

Wynter

Not an easy read, but very fulfilling if you give it proper attention. Do not expect to just casually fly through it on the weekend while sipping sangria on the patio (not that I did that all day today, ahem). I took my time, thoughtfully reading one book at a time and looking up summaries and analyses online after each. I made notes, I looked up classical artwork, and I let myself have all the time in the world to finish The Iliad. 

The ancient epic does tend to drag in some spots, especially when describing battles and military procedures. It indulges in every gory detail about how some hapless chap gets a spear in his neck, or some other fella gets disemboweled. I bet it was a hoot to listen to in some tavern back in the day! To this reader though, it just went on and on. But a large part of the poem is also super fascinating and even entertaining. The petty fights of gods, the machinations, the odd comedic relief, the prophecies, and surprising character-focused moments are all worth it. Some scenes were downright cinematic - straight out of 300! So glad I finally tackles this beast.

Michael Springer

Okay, there's a lot of this poem that could be edited out for conciseness. But, the thing I remember loving about the Iliad is the violence! The metaphors and details used in my translation made this the goriest book I've read.

I read this for my Classics course (Epic Heroes and Poems). 

liya n

The  Iliad

Trish

I can't believe I've finally read Homer's The Iliad. It incited less emotion from me than I expected. It's a strange feeling when you've heard and read so many different, elaborate versions of a story and then you actually read the original that all the others stemmed from and realize that it was a simple narrative to begin with. 

I thoroughly loved my experience reading The Iliad and it helped that my English professor is super passionate about it too. Now on to tackling The Odyssey!

Anna

"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus / and its devastation." For sixty years, that's how Homer has begun the Iliad in English, in Richmond Lattimore's faithful translation—the gold standard for generations of students and general readers. This long-awaited new edition of Lattimore's Iliad is designed to bring the book into the twenty-first century—while leaving the poem as firmly rooted in ancient Greece as ever. Lattimore's elegant, fluent verses—with their memorably phrased heroic epithets and remarkable fidelity to the Greek—remain unchanged, but classicist Richard Martin has added a wealth of supplementary materials designed to aid new generations of readers. A new introduction sets the poem in the wider context of Greek life, warfare, society, and poetry, while line-by-line notes at the back of the volume offer explanations of unfamiliar terms, information about the Greek gods and heroes, and literary appreciation. A glossary and maps round out the book. The result is a volume that actively invites readers into Homer's poem, helping them to understand fully the worlds in which he and his heroes lived—and thus enabling them to marvel, as so many have for centuries, at Hektor and Ajax, Paris and Helen, and the devastating rage of Achilleus.

The Iliad of Homer

Isabela H 

Omlllllllll I knew that I'd probably enjoy this book but I didn't know that I would love it this much!

I didn't know if I'd ever pick up this book and read it on my own time and school was definitely a big motivator in the fact that I did eventually read it all but I don't regret it at all!

The Iliad And The Odyssey

This book is a wonder of historical concept and it gives such context of the myths and the gods that the Greeks believed in. It does go on one too many rants of lineage and such. (Achilles is the best)

james smartt

yes. i am reviewing the iliad. where else am i going to scream cry and yell about the scene of hector taking off his helmet so he doesn't scare his son, making both him and his loving wife andromache chuckle at their son's reaction, then he prays for the betterment of his son and his future when a few pages ago, he refused to pray for himself? yeah. that's what i thought.

vera

Elisabeth Frink

One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's "Iliad" tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan War. At its center is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his conflict with his leader Agamemnon.

Celeste Richardson

Hallelujah. It’s over. Well, at least The Iliad is, though the story continues in The Odyssey. I had forgotten how much the beginning of this epic sounds like a giant group of toddlers fighting over toys. These toddlers just happen to command warships and armies, and the toys happen to be women they view as war prizes. Frankly, it’s disgusting. If these idiotic “heroes” would just view women as actual people who can make their own decisions instead of pretty toys over which to wage war, every single event in this story could have been avoided. Had they just asked Helen who she wanted to be with and respected that decision, hundreds of lives would have been saved. The amount of bloodshed over the “taking” of this woman is just insanely wasteful, even if it’s fictional.
“Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
The gods are so incredibly petty. If Monopoly is the board game that ruins families, the gods of Olympus are playing something similar with cities and human lives. Men and women are literal pawns to them, game pieces and very little else. They claim to care about some of these people, but it’s a very shallow kind of care. Seriously, they’re terrible. And as 70% of Greek mythology is directly tied to Zeus’s inability to keep it in his toga and Hera’s rage over that fact, it can’t even be pretended that the gods cared about much outside of their own desires and fury.
“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”
Honestly, this is a cast completely comprised of hypocrites. All of these men deeply believe they commit a travesty against another person but is then surprised and horrified if something similar is done to themselves or someone close to them.  For instance, if the whole war is occurring due to the theft of a woman (more on that above), then why on earth would you take the “prize” of your greatest warrior because you’re feeling slighted? How did you think that was going to work out for you? And if your heart is set on desecrating the dead body of said warrior’s bestie, who isn’t even fighting in the war because of the aforementioned lady theft, why on earth would you be shocked that he decides to not only finally engage in the war but that he’s out for your blood and intends to disrespect your corpse in the same ways? Seriously, people. What the heck?
“Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.”
These warriors are also insanely self-absorbed. To a man, every single one of them act as if their feelings are the only ones that matter. Their mourning is the only true mourning. Their rage is the only true rage. This is doubly true for the divine beings that populate the story, as stated earlier. I seriously cannot fathom being this level of selfish, and I sincerely pray that I never become this wrapped up in myself. If I do, some one please punch me in the throat and snap me out of it, will you? 
“Why so much grief for me? No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate. And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you - it’s born with us the day that we are born.”
Unrelated to anything, but I could also go the rest of my life without hearing anyone else referred to as “god-like” or their speech referred to as “winged words.” Those terms were exasperatingly overused. However, there are some truly beautiful lines mixed into the free verse, and those almost made up for the repetition mentioned. I know both of these observations are subject to change based on which translation you choose to read. I bounced between the Caroline Alexander translation and the Robert Fagles translation, both of which were lovely.
“No man or woman born, coward or brave, can shun his destiny.”
I respect The Iliad. I know it’s among the earliest literary pieces we have, and that it paved the way for countless stories that followed. But, as with the times I read this epic in the past, whether in part or entirety, I just can’t enjoy something that makes me roll my eyes this hard or groan this often. That opinion is incredibly subjective, and I know many people who disagree. But the abundance of wholly preventable violence, and the lack of anything else to break up said violence, just isn’t at all enjoyable for me. Thankfully, The Odyssey comes after this, and I know that it’s far and above more entertaining. I may not care for the tale of the Trojan War, but Odysseus’s return trip is wild and I’m eager to dive back into it.

Another buddy read with TS!

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Yulande Lindsay

Just on the introduction, now. It describes the history of the Iliad from a linguistic etc., point of view among other things.

Marsh Wu

dana

”Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.”

An accessible Iliad for twenty-first-century readers

Donald

Herbert Jordan's translation really moves. I read it 6 books at a time.

This translation is mostly ignored, but it's much better than Fagles or Lattimore.

Rose Stanley

I highly recommend reading Homer to your 12 year old brother...brilliant fun. Liked this but so much simile!! Preferred the Odyssey.

I realised that this was the fourth time I’ve read the Iliad. I won’t be able to quote lines from this or say I read it oh so closely each time, but it never bores me. I feel like there is something I can take it from each time.

I’ll also add that this is the second time I’m reading the Stephen Mitchell translation. He wrote the most beautiful introduction to the book! 

Simon Elliott Stegall

I used to think that the term "epic poem" was a reference to a work's length.... how wrong I was. This is truly one of the most epic things I've ever read. 

It seems funny to me that Greek literature is a niche taste these days. The Iliad has everything that American audiences are cheeping for: lust, betrayal, violence, epic speeches, heroes, anti-heroes, massive battles, and a testy relationship with the deity. It's basically Marvel, except with some thought put into the storytelling. We haven't changed a bit. People were telling each other superhero stories since before Plato. 

Reading the Iliad makes me wish our current superhero genre storytellers would take a leaf out of Homer's book and make me CARE about the heroes. Of no contemporary superhero could one imagine a god saying, as he does in the Iliad: "My heart for Hector grieves."

I happen to think superhero stories are important, and we need good ones. They represent a part of us that remains from a pagan age where the only thing between man and Hades was the Hero, who, if he couldn't save mankind, could at least give it dignity in the shadow of crazy Olympus.

We're not pagans anymore, but we owe them a lot, and I wish our superhero stories dignified us like theirs did. Maybe the problem is that we don't have an Olympus to be overshadowed by anymore. Liberated, perforated storytellers we are.

My heart for Hector grieves.

talataia

read a german summary and the greek version. i needed some time to get used to the mess of names and events but after a while i enjoyed it

The Iliadis the first and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization - an epic poem without rival in the literature of the world, and the cornerstone of Western culture. The story centres on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan War, which lead to Achilleus' killing of Hektor and determine the fate of Troy. But Homer's theme is not simply war or heroism. With compassion and humanity, he presents a universal and tragic view of the world, of human life lived under the shadow of suffering and death, set against a vast and largely unpitying divine background.

5 stars because greek mythology > anything

The Iliad A New Translation by Caroline Alexander

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