Homer Homer

Gripping listeners and readers for more than 2,700 years, 'The Iliad' is the story of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. If 'The Iliad' is the world's greatest war story, then 'The Odyssey' is literature's greatest evocation of every man's journey through life. Here again, Fagles has performed the translator's task magnificently, giving us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Each volume contains a superb introduction with textual and critical commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox.

This book contains Alexander Pope's seminal interpretation of the original Homeric poem, published serially from 1715 to 1720. Hailed by Samuel Johnson as "a performance which no age or nation could hope to equal," this is a classic text that has moulded centuries of British and American culture through its beautiful and timeless poetry. This edition provides a perfect rendering of this fine English verse which captures wonderfully the song of Homer - a must-read for absolutely everyone. Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744), was an English poet most renowned for his satirical verse and for the writing of this book. He is also the third-most quoted writer in 'The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations' after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Most people are familiar, at least by repute, with Homer's two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but few are aware that other poems survive that were attributed to Homer in ancient times. The Homeric Hymns are now known to be the work of various poets working in the same tradition, probably during the seventh and sixth centuries BC. They honor the Greek gods, and recount some of the most attractive of the Greek myths. Four of them (Hymns 2-5) stand out by reason of their length and quality. The Hymn to Demeter tells what happened when Hades, lord of the dead, abducted Persephone, Demeter's daughter. The Hymn to Apollo describes Apollo's birth and the foundation of his Delphic oracle. In the Hymn to Hermes Apollo's cattle are stolen by a felonious infant--Hermes, the god of thieves. In the Hymn to Aphrodite the goddess of love herself becomes infatuated with a mortal man, the Trojan prince Ankhises. This volume offers a faithful verse translation of all the hymns, Explanatory Notes, and a Glossary of Names. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Penguin 60 excerpt from The Odyssey

Composed for recitation at festivals, these 33 songs were written in honour of the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon. They recount the key episodes in the lives of the gods, and dramatise the moments when they first appear before mortals. Together they offer the most vivid picture we have of the Greek view of the relationship between the divine and human worlds. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The most eloquent translation of Homer's epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus and his arduous journey home after the Trojan War

Préface Vous vous apprêtez à lire les derniers moments de la guerre de Troie ainsi que le retour d'Ulysse de cette guerre à sa patrie natale, l'île d'Ithaque. Ce document est basé sur le livre du même nom, copyright 1956 Édition des Deux Coqs d'Or, Paris, adapté du poème original d'Homère par Jane Werner Watson et illustré de magnifique façon par Alice et Martin Provensen. J'ai conçu ce document et le site Internet associé dans un but tout simple : communiquer et transmettre aux autres mon amour pour cette histoire et ce livre avec lesquels j'ai grandi pendant toutes ces années, à Athènes en Grèce. Je vous souhaite donc une agréable lecture… Jean-Philippe Marin

"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.

Il libro presenta l'edizione dell'Iliade, il più antico poema della civiltà occidentale, commentata e curata da Maria Grazia Ciani, docente di storia della filologia e della tradizione classica presso l'Università di Padova.

Consta el poema de 5675 hexámetros y describe solamente un episodio de la guerra, con una duración de cincuenta y un días, y haciendo especial énfasis en la disputa entre Aquiles y Agamenón, la cólera del primero y sus terribles consecuencias. El que pudiéramos llamar "ciclo troyano" comprende además de la Ilíada, los siguientes poemas: La Cípríada, Los Nostoí, Odísea (publicada también en esta colección) y La Telegonía.

Gripping listeners and readers for more than 2,700 years, 'The Iliad' is the story of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. If 'The Iliad' is the world's greatest war story, then 'The Odyssey' is literature's greatest evocation of every man's journey through life. Here again, Fagles has performed the translator's task magnificently, giving us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Each volume contains a superb introduction with textual and critical commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox.

Radnja Ilijade događa se poslednje, tj. desete godine trojanskog rata. Ona opeva srdnju Ahilejevu i njene posledice do sahrane Hektorove. Prema sadržaju mogu se razlikovati četiri dela Ilijade: u prvom delu, uvodu, peva se kako se Ahilej razgnevio što mu je Agamemnon, vrhovni vojskovođa, oteo robinju Brisejidu; u drugom delu opevaju se ahajske borbe s Trojancima dok se Ahilej gnevi; u trećem delu kako se Ahilej pomirio s Agamemnonom i polazi ponovo u borbu; u četvrtom se kazuje kako je Prijam otkupio Hektora. Homerov stih, koga nema ni u jednoj drugoj književnosti, nikad nije dosadan; on je čudesno elastičan, neprestano se menja, a ipak ostaje svagda jednak.

Junto con la “Ilíada”, la “Odisea” constituye una de las piedras angulares de la cultura occidental. El relato que hace Homero de las aventuras de Odiseo en su camino de regreso desde Troya hasta su patria, Ítaca, ha sido desde siempre una mina inagotable de motivos e imágenes para escritores y artistas. Episodios como el del encuentro con los Cíclopes y Polifemo, con las Sirenas, con la maga Circe o la ninfa Calipso, así como la venganza que Odiseo lleva a cabo sobre los pretendientes de su mujer, Penélope, son sólo algunas de las semillas que han fecundado sin cesar la imaginación de los hombres. La presente versión en prosa de la "Odisea", de tersura y elegancia extraordinarias, hace justicia a un relato inolvidable, cuyo protagonista, rico en recursos, se mueve por intereses y motivaciones cercanos a los del hombre y la mujer de todos los tiempos. Versión de Carlos García Gual

Dans la petite île d'Ithaque, Pénélope et son fils Télémaque attendent Ulysse, leur époux et père. Voilà vingt ans qu'il est parti pour Troie et qu'ils sont sans nouvelles de lui. De l'autre côté des mers, Ulysse a pris le chemin du retour depuis longtemps déjà. Mais les tempêtes, les monstres, les géants, les dieux parfois, l'arrêtent ou le détournent de sa route. Premier grand voyageur, Ulysse découvre l'Inconnu où naissent les rêves et les peurs des hommes depuis la nuit des temps ; l'Odyssée nous dit cette aventure au terme de laquelle le héros retrouve enfin, aux côtés de Pénélope, "la joie du lit ancien".

Pope laboured on this English translation for over six years, and published it, by subscription, in six parts between 1715 and 1720. Ultimately, it earned Pope the grand sum of £5,000 and allowed him to live on his own means as a professional author. Samuel Johnson described it as ‘the greatest version of poetry which the world has ever seen’ The thing that best distinguishes this from all other translations of Homer is that it alone equals the original in its ceaseless pour of verbal music. When Pope's contemporaries praised him for his ''numbers,'' they were referring not to the fairly obvious metrical system of the heroic couplet but to the euphony he achieved within its constraints. The relatively enclosed nature of the system concentrates attention on every syllable in the line, on continual shifts in the position and degree of pause marked by metrical breaks (caesuras), on sound effects used to emphasize the careful alterations in word order. Dryden, working a generation earlier on his translation of Virgil, had complained that the raspy consonants of English denied him the smooth vowel effects of the ancient languages. Pope worked miracles in highlighting the play of vowels through his lines. This edition combines two volumes also published separately.

'You must be Odysseus, man of twists and turns...' The tales of Odysseus's struggle with a man-eating Cyclops and Circe, the beautiful enchantress who turns men into swine. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Next to nothing is known about Homer's life. His works available in Penguin Classics are The Homeric Hymns, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Šis epas - vienas iš seniausių antikinės Graikijos kultūros paminklų, sukurtas IX-VIII a. pr. Kr. legendinio dainiaus Homero. Epo veiksmą sudaro karo tarp graikų achajų ir Trojos gyventojų epizodas. Jame daug ką nulemia Achilo ginčas su achajų vadu Agamemnonu, atėmusiu gražiąją belaisvę Briseidę.

Odisėjas (gr. Ὀδυσσεὺς arba Λαερτιάδης) graikų mitologijoje – Laerto ir Antiklėjos sūnus, Itakėje ir aplinkinėse salose gyvenusių kefalėnų karalius, Penelopės vyras, Telemacho tėvas, Trojos karo didvyris. Odisėjas buvo vienas iš nesuskaičiuojamų valdovo dukters Helenės jaunikių, bet Helenei ištekėjus už Menelajo pasirinko jos pusseserę Penelopę. Odisėjas yra svarbus Homero „Iliados“ ir pagrindinis „Odisėjos“ herojus. „Odisėjoje“ aprašoma jo dešimt metų trukusi kelionė į namus po Trojos karo.

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« Il m'est difficile de montrer tout cela comme si j'étais un dieu », écrit Homère. Et pourtant. Voici le texte fondateur de toute la poésie épique occidentale et, plus encore, de toute littérature qui se veut poésie. Le récit transcende son sujet même : l'affrontement des Troyens et des Achéens, menés par les héros Hector et Achille, sous la tutelle des dieux. C'est qu'il exprime l'essence des passions humaines (la colère, la jalousie, l'envie), des conflits, de l'amitié, de l'héroïsme. C'est qu'il dit, de manière universelle, la peur et le courage face à la mort. « Zeus père, sauve du brouillard les fils des Achéens. Rends-nous le grand jour, donne à nos yeux de voir. Fais-nous mourir, puisqu'il te plaît, mais dans la lumière. » Chant XVII

Nearly three thousand years after they were composed, The Iliad and The Odyssey remain two of the most celebrated and widely read stories ever told, yet next to nothing is known about their author. He was certainly an accomplished Greek bard, and he probably lived in the late eighth and early seventh centuries BCE Authorship is traditionally ascribed to a blind poet named Homer, and it is under this name that the works are still published. Greeks of the third and second centuries BCE, however, already questioned whether Homer existed and whether the two epics were even written by a single individual.Most modern scholars believe that even if a single person wrote the epics, his work owed a tremendous debt to a long tradition of unwritten, oral poetry. Stories of a glorious expedition to the East and of its leaders’ fateful journeys home had been circulating in Greece for hundreds of years before The Iliad and The Odyssey were composed. Casual storytellers and semiprofessional minstrels passed these stories down through generations, with each artist developing and polishing the story as he told it. According to this theory, one poet, multiple poets working in collaboration, or perhaps even a series of poets handing down their work in succession finally turned these stories into written works, again with each adding his own touch and expanding or contracting certain episodes in the overall narrative to fit his taste.

Danish version of The Illiad of Homer, translated by Otto Sten Due Sagnet om prins Paris, hvis bortførelse af den smukke Helene, gift med spartanerkongen Menelaos, bliver optakten til den bitre 10 år lange hævnkrig ved Troja.

I za Grke, kao i za nas, na početku književnosti bio je Homer. Istina, Grci su imali nejasna sjećanja na polumitske pjevače i pjesnike poput Orfeja, Museja, Olimpa ili Lina, ali to su i za njih bila samo imena problematične opstojnosti i nikakvih njihovih djela nisu poznavali. Homer tako i za nas ostaje prvi pjesnik europske književnosti, a njegovi su epovi Ilijada i Odiseja prva njezina djela. Tako bi se moglo reći da je Homer prva stvarno povijesna osoba, prvi stvaralac u europskoj književnosti od koga imamo cjelovita i značajna pjesnička djela - kad ne bi bilo paradoksalne činjenice da je baš taj praotac grčke i europske književne tradicije tako nejasan, neodređen, pa i problematičan, da se oko pitanja o njegovoj povijesnosti razvilo ono što se naziva homerskim pitanjem.

A narrativa do regresso de Ulisses a sua terra natal é uma obra de importância sem paralelos na tradição literária ocidental. Sua influência atravessa os séculos e se espalha por todas as formas de arte, dos primórdios do teatro e da ópera até a produção cinematográfica recente. Odisseia se tornou também um substantivo comum, que denomina jornadas marcadas por perigos e eventos inesperados, e Homero um adjetivo usado para relatar feitos grandiosos. Seus episódios e personagens - a esposa fiel Penélope, o filho virtuoso Telêmaco, a possessiva ninfa Calipso, as sedutoras e perigosas sereias - são parte integrante e indelével de nosso repertório cultural. O enredo pode ser resumido em poucas palavras. Em seu tratado conhecido como Poética, Aristóteles escreve: “Um homem encontra-se no estrangeiro há muitos anos; está sozinho e o deus Posêidon o mantém sob vigilância hostil. Em casa, os pretendentes à mão de sua mulher estão esgotando seus recursos e conspirando para matar seu filho. Então, após enfrentar tempestades e sofrer um naufrágio, ele volta para casa, dá-se a conhecer e ataca os pretendentes: ele sobrevive e os pretendentes são exterminados”. Esta edição de Odisseia traz uma excelente introdução de Bernard Knox, que enriquece o debate dos estudiosos mas principalmente serve de guia para estudantes e leitores, curiosos por conhecer o mais famoso épico de nossa literatura.

Gripping listeners and readers for more than 2,700 years, 'The Iliad' is the story of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. If 'The Iliad' is the world's greatest war story, then 'The Odyssey' is literature's greatest evocation of every man's journey through life. Here again, Fagles has performed the translator's task magnificently, giving us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Each volume contains a superb introduction with textual and critical commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox.

No home library is complete without the classics! Iliad & Odyssey brings together the two essential Greek epics from the poet Homer in an elegant, leather-bound, omnibus edition-a keepsake to be read and treasured. The Iliad and The Odyssey are two of the oldest works of western literature--yet these ancient myths still offer powerful lessons for our times. From the fascinating fall of Troy to Odysseus' perilous journey home, from the gods and goddesses to the Sirens and the suitors, the events and characters of these epic tales captivate us, teach us, and inspire us. Their influence can be seen far and wide, from James Joyce's Ulysses to the movie sensation Troy , starring Brad Pitt. Whether you've read Homer's original stories or you've only enjoyed their modern-day descendants, you'll love this Canterbury Classics edition of Iliad & Odyssey . The perfect book to complete any bookshelf, Iliad & Odyssey features an eye-catching leather-bound cover with gold foil stamping, as well as fine ivory paper with gilded edges. You'll be moved by these magical works, and then delight in displaying this beautiful book in your home. A classic keepsake for fans of Greek mythology, as well as all great literature, Iliad & Odyssey is the perfect addition to any library.

Secondo dei poemi omerici, l'Odissea è uno dei testi fondanti della civiltà greca e dell'intera cultura occidentale. All'eroismo guerriero dell'Iliade, fa seguire la narrazione del nosfos, il viaggio di ritorno a casa, di Odisseo, eroe versatile e temerario, forte di mille astuzie. Navigando verso Itaca, perdendo continuamente la strada a causa dell'ira degli dei, Odisseo si inoltra in un oltremondo fatto di oblìo, pericoli e terribili prove. Quando infine torna a varcare la soglia del suo palazzo è un uomo diverso, padrone del proprio destino, capace di resistere ai colpi della sorte. Il viaggio di Odisseo diventa così simbolo di un'aspirazione all'oltre che non conosce tregua, dell'affrancamento dell'uomo dalle proprie paure. Introduzione di Fausto Codino. Guida bibliografica ragionata di Claudio Bevegni. Dizionario dei luoghi e dei personaggi.

“A revelation. Never have I been so aware at once of the beauty of the poetry, the physicality of Homer’s world, and the moral ambiguity of those who inhabit it.” —SUSAN CHIRA, New York Times Book Review, “New & Noteworthy”“‘Each generation must translate for itself,’ T. S. Eliot declared. Emily Wilson has convincingly answered this hers is a vital Odyssey for the twenty-first century that brings into rhythmic English the power, dignity, variety, and immediacy of this great poem.” —LAURA SLATKIN, New York University This Norton Critical Edition   Emily Wilson’s authoritative translation of Homer’s masterpiece, accompanied by her informative introduction, explanatory footnotes, and book-by-book summaries.Four maps, created especially for this translation.Contextual materials including sources and analogues by Homer, Sappho, Pindar, and others. Also included are carefully chosen passages from (mainly) ancient texts that provide insight into The Odyssey and its reception by Plato, Aristotle, Ovid, Pseudo-Longinus, Lucian, Apollodorus, Heraclitus, Porphyry, Proclus, Hyginus, Dante Alighieri, Alfred Lord Tennyson, C. P. Cavafy, Derek Walcott, and Margaret Atwood.Nine critical essays addressing key topics—composition; representation of religion and the gods; class and slavery; gender; colonization and the meaning of home; trickery, intelligence, and lying; and more— essential to the study of The Odyssey. Essays by Robert Fowler, Laurel Fulkerson, Barbara Graziosi, Laura M. Slatkin, Sheila Murnaghan, Patrice Rankine, Helene P. Foley, Egbert J. Bakker, and Lillian Eileen Doherty are included.A glossary and a list of suggested further readings.  About the SeriesRead by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts, and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyze, and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

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. Interwoven in the tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, the besieged city of Ilium, the feud between the gods, and the fate of mortals.

A Ilíada é o primeiro livro da literatura europeia e, sob certo ponto de vista, nenhum outro livro que se lhe tenha seguido conseguiu superá-la – nem mesmo a Odisseia. Lida hoje, no século XXI depois de Cristo, a Ilíada mantém inalterada a sua capacidade de comover e de perturbar. As civilizações passam, mas a cultura sobrevive? É nesse sentido que parece apontar a mensagem deste extraordinário poema épico, que decorre durante o décimo ano da guerra de Tróia, tratando da ira, do heroísmo e das aventuras e desventuras de Aquiles (em luta contra Agamémnon), apresentando-nos personagens como Heitor, Eneias, Helena, Ájax e Menelau, bem como episódios que marcam toda a história da nossa civilização. Nas palavras de Frederico Lourenço, é um «canto de sangue e lágrimas, em que os próprios deuses são feridos e os cavalos do maior herói choram». «A Ilíada, primeiro livro da literatura europeia, terá surgido no século VIII a.C., no fim de uma longa tradição épica oral; extraordinário canto de sangue e lágrimas, em que os próprios deuses são feridos e os cavalos do maior herói choram, este poema de guerra em 24 cantos mantém inalterada a sua capacidade esmagadora de comover e perturbar. O título remete imediatamente para Ílio ou Ílion – Tróia – e, embora tivesse sido possível, num poema com 16.000 versos, narrar toda a guerra de Tróia, Homero isola um período de pouco mais de cinquenta dias, já na fase final das hostilidades, do qual nos descreve, em termos de acção efectivamente narrada, catorze dias. Concentra, assim, simbolicamente uma guerra de dez anos em duas semanas. Repetindo a proeza alcançada com a sua magnífica Odisseia, Frederico Lourenço oferece-nos agora a primeira tradução integral portuguesa, em verso, desta obra máxima da literatura mundial.»

Uno de los más grandes poemas épicos de todos los tiempos He aquí uno de los más grandes poemas épicos de todos los tiempos: Odisea. En él se narra el regreso del héroe, Odiseo, a su patria, Ítaca, después de la conquista de Troya. Compuesta como la Ilíada en hexámetros, recoge numerosos cuentos populares y leyendas que, adaptadas, se integran en la epopeya. De este modo, mientras que en la Ilíada el tema central, la cólera de Aquiles, va avanzando inexorablemente, verso a verso, desde su planteamiento hasta su desenlace, en Odisea el regreso del héroe es narrado, con arte magistral, sin recelar de las vueltas atrás o de las digresiones, porque el objetivo supremo es lograr mayor gozo en la narración de bellas historias. Todo ello se logra, además, sin que merme en absoluto la cohesión que mantiene unidos sus episodios.

Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans… So begins Homer’s The Iliad, the classic account of the final year of the Trojan War, a vicious, 10-year bloodbath between the Greeks and the Trojans following the abduction of Helen of Sparta. In this prose retelling of Homer’s poem, we follow the mighty Greek hero Achilles and his comrades as they battle against the Trojans, the gods, and even fate itself.

Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.”

Lombardo's Odyssey offers the distinctive speed, clarity, and boldness that so distinguished his 1997 Iliad . "[Lombardo] has brought his laconic wit and love of the ribald . . . to his version of the Odyssey . His carefully honed syntax gives the narrative energy and a whirlwind pace. The lines, rhythmic and clipped, have the tautness and force of Odysseus' bow." —Chris Hedges, The New York Times Book Review

"Gripping. . . . Lombardo's achievement is all the more striking when you consider the difficulties of his task. . . . [He] manages to be respectful of Homer's dire spirit while providing on nearly every page some wonderfully fresh refashioning of his Greek. The result is a vivid and disarmingly hardbitten reworking of a great classic." —Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Times Book Review

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world's greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns, the heroism and treachery of its combatants unmatched in song and story. Driven by fierce passions and loyalties, men and gods battle to a devastating conclusion. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife, Penelope. Though the stormy god of the ocean has sworn vengeance against him, and witches and sirens try to lure him off course, Odysseus is clever and has the brilliant goddess Athena on his side.

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey. If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, then the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' translation. This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students. -- Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation.

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.