Iliad

Homer is thought to have lived c.750-700 BC in Ionia and is believed to be the author of the earliest works of Western Literature: The Odyssey and The Iliad. E V Rieu was a celebrated translator from Latin and Greek, and editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-64. His son, D C H Rieu, has revised his work. Peter Jones is former lecturer in Classics at Newcastle. He co-founded the 'Friends of Classics' society and is the editor of their journal and a columnist for The Spectator.

“Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued translators of Homer. The narrative runs, the dialogue speaks, the military action is clear, and the repetitive epithets become useful text rather than exotic relics.” –Atlantic Monthly “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 “[Fitzgerald’s Odyssey and Iliad] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer’s art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase.” –The Yale Review“What an age can read in Homer, what its translators can manage to say in his presence, is one gauge of its morale, one index to its system of exultations and reticences. The supple, the iridescent, the ironic, these modes are among our strengths, and among Mr. Fitzgerald’s.” –National ReviewWith an Introduction by Gregory Nagy

• The IliadForewordIntroductionIntroduction to the 1950 EditionNotes on this RevisionThe Main CharactersFurther ReadingMaps:1. A reconstruction of Homer's imagined battlefields2. The Troad3. Trojan places and contingents4. Homeric Greece5. Greek contingents at TroyPreliminariesThe Iliad1. Plague and Wrath2. A Dream, a Testing and the Catalogue of Ships3. A Duel and a Trojan View of the Greeks4. The Oath is Broken and Battle Joined5. Diomedes' Heroics6. Hector and Andromache7. Ajax Fights Hector8. Hector Triumphant9. The Embassy to Achilles10. Diomedes and Odysseus: The Night Attack11. Achilles Takes Notice12. Hector Storms the Wall13. The Battle at the Ships14. Zeus Outmanoeuvred15. The Greeks at Bay16. The Death of Patroclus17. The Struggle Over Patroclus18. Achilles' Decision19. The Feud Ends20. Achilles on the Rampage21. Achilles Fights the River22. The Death of Hector23. The Funeral and the Games24. Priam and AchillesAppendices1. A Brief Glossary2. Ommitted Fathers' NamesIndex