Penguin Classics Homer The Iliad

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An ancient Greek epic which underpins the whole of western literature, Homer's The Iliad is a timeless evocation of the struggle to retain a sense of honour and virtue amidst the horrors of war. MARIA CHICCO, DHMSA, MBBS, MRCS, graduated in Medicine from King’s College London in 2016 and is currently a surgical trainee in the Oxford deanery. As part of her studies, she completed the Diploma in the History of Medicine awarded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London. In this framework, she conducted research on several topics in medical humanities and published on the development of medical manuals and on the history of the Italian Hospital in London.

Odyssey on other hand is about the craftiness and mindfulness of man (or μήτις, a word that disappeared even from ancient Greek, but important enough for books to be written about it - referring especially to the amazing work by Vernant Jean-pierre and Detienne Marcel). Seven Greek cities claim the honour of being the birthplace of Homer (c. 8th-7th century BC), the poet to whom the composition of the Iliad and Odyssey are attributed. The Iliad is the oldest surviving work of Western literature, but the identity - or even the existence - of Homer himself is a complete mystery, with no reliable biographical information having survived. Martin Hammond's acclaimed translation is accompanied by a full introduction and a comprehensive index. E.V. Rieu's acclaimed translation of The Iliad was one of the first titles published in Penguin Classics, and now has classic status itself. For this edition, Rieu's text has been revised, and now a new introduction and notes by Peter Jones complement the original introduction. Also, you probably realised the author of the article is Crespo, the translator of Clasicos Gredos' Iliad. My first.

Fitzgerald’s swift rhythms, bright images, and superb English make Homer live as never before…This is for every reader in our time and possibly for all time.”– Library Journal This is a magnificent piece of work….I enjoyed reading [Hammond’s] Odyssey enormously. It is more years than I care to think since I read the work from end to end. Hammond’s translation moved me to do so within a day, and that is a tribute indeed. This is a first-class work which should give pleasure to both those who read Greek and those who do not – and deserves to attract many to read Homer for whom that is as yet a pleasure in store The lion is a very popular animal-motif of the Mycenaean iconography. On this subject, see, e.g., E. Bloedow, On Lions in Mycenaean and Minoan Culture, in “Aegaeum” 8, (1992), pp. 295-305; Löwenjagd im spätbronzezeitlichen Griechenland, in “Altertum” 38 (1993), pp. 241-250; more recently, “Hector is a lion”: New Light on Warfare from the Homeric Simile and Bronze Age Iconography, in “Aegaeum” 19 (1999), pp. 285-295, where the scholar has observed that a comparison of lions in Homeric similes and lions in Mycenaean iconography can also enable us to gain new insights into Bronze Age war and warfare. The Iliad is the first of the world's great tragedies. Martin Hammond's acclaimed translation is accompanied by a full introduction and a comprehensive index.

Beginning with a table of contents and a short Preface (p. 7), this book contains a List of Technicalities (pp. 9-10), a General Introduction to the whole Iliad, divided into five paragraphs (pp. 11-43), a line-by-line commentary on each book of the poem, based on three selected translations (pp. 45-323), an Appendix, entitled The ‘Truce’ in Book 3 (pp. 325-327), a rather extensive Bibliography, a useful Index of the subjects discussed. Jones also never introduces the concept of geras, which is actually what provokes the quarrel (see E. Benveniste, Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes, Paris 1969, vol. II, espec. pp. 43-44). As to how the time / aidos issue affects the reaction of Achilles and his desire of revenge, Jones nevertheless later talks of “revenge for his own [Achilles] slighted honour” (p. 311). Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.

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Verse translations by W. Cowper, R. Fagles, R. Fitzgerald, R. Lattimore, S. Lombardo, and G. Chapman are available at most bookstores; for prose, those by G. Palmer, E.V. Rieu, and W. Shrewing. More advanced students are served by A. Cook’s translation, and the edition with extensive commentary by R.D. Dawe. For a comprehensive history of English translations of Homer, see Homer in English (New York: Penguin, 1996), ed. George Steiner, pp. 350-355. A NOTE ON THIS PRINTING: This printing contains minor revisions of the text. R.E and B.K. June 2001