Reading Homer presents two highlights of the Iliad: Book 16, where Patroclus fights and dies, and Book 18, where Achilles grieves for him and is awarded new armour before he returns to battle. It enables students who have been learning Greek for perhaps a year to approach Homer for the first time, and to have the satisfaction of reading two whole books in the original language. Full and detailed help is given with vocabulary, accidence and syntax. Homeric forms are introduced and set alongside Attic ones, enabling students to consolidate their existing knowledge at the same time as extending it. The Introduction and notes enable students to see these two books in the context of the whole epic, and the epic itself in the context of early Greek society. They also encourage students to consider why the Greeks themselves regarded Homer as the master poet.
