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    The Iliad
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    The Iliad
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    The Iliad
    Audiobook (abridged)8 hours

    The Iliad

    Written by Homer

    Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Dating to the ninth century BC, 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 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.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 17, 2006
    ISBN9781101058077
    Author

    Homer

    Although recognized as one of the greatest ancient Greek poets, the life and figure of Homer remains shrouded in mystery. Credited with the authorship of the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, Homer, if he existed, is believed to have lived during the ninth century BC, and has been identified variously as a Babylonian, an Ithacan, or an Ionian. Regardless of his citizenship, Homer’s poems and speeches played a key role in shaping Greek culture, and Homeric studies remains one of the oldest continuous areas of scholarship, reaching from antiquity through to modern times.

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    Reviews for The Iliad

    4/5

    5,129 ratings119 reviews

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    • 4/5
      At long last! The Illiad by Homer DIfficult to rate a literary epic. However, the entire book takes place in the 10th and last year of the Trojan War. Achilles’ wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of this book. It seemed as if there were a lot of introductions to characters we never hear from again. The word refulgent was used dozen of times. All in all I'm glad I slogged my way through this. The novelized from of Song of Achilles was more satisfactory to me than the Illiad. I read the translation by Caroline Alexander because that's the one the library had. 3 1/2 stars 604 pages
    • 4/5
      Translated into English Prose by Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf and Ernest Myers
    • 5/5
      Brilliant.
    • 3/5
      Important in the history of literature and classical Greek thought.
    • 3/5
      Stanley Lombardo's translation of Homer's Iliad is wonderful and very readable, better evoking the grittiness and rage of warfare than most other translations. I think of it as the "Vietnam War version of the Iliad." However, there are also parts where Homer's humor shines through, particularly when the Greek warriors are ribbing each other.Though the translation is excellent, I only got through about half of the book. The plot moves quite slowly, and the long lists of characters and backstory become tiresome. Also, there also is a lot of conversation between the various warriors, which illuminates Greek values (such as what makes for heroism or cowardice) but does not advance the storyline. Parts can get repetitious. I preferred the Odyssey, which I read in the Robert Fagles translation.
    • 5/5
      Better than the movie! Once you get the rhythm it sucks you in like a time machine. Amazing.
    • 3/5
      A king offends his strongest ally in the middle of a war.Good. It's very repetitive, but its interesting.
    • 4/5
      The Iliad beings in the ninth year of the Trojan war and the Greeks laying siege to Troy's capital. The 24 book story covers about a seven week period that sees the Greeks beaten back to where their ships are laid up, enduring slaughter at Trojan hands because their hero Achilles refuses to fight; he's angry that Agamemnon took the Trojan woman he'd selected as his prize. Not until Achilles' battle buddy Patroclus is killed (in Achilles' armor) by the Trojan hero Hector does Achilles rise to fight. When Hector dies, we have a good sense that Troy won't be long either.Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey are oft referenced as a pair, but it's always the Odyssey that ends up assigned reading in American junior high and middle schools. They're both long (epic!) but I assume teachers pass on the Iliad due to the amount of violence and perhaps fewer "teachable moments." The Iliad is probably one of those 'must reads' in the profession of arms, especially for infantry. I would assign it to any elected official overseeing or directing military activity. The war between Greeks and Trojans isn't just a human affair, rather the gods of Olympus are ever meddling, sometimes influencing and at other times outright spiriting their favorites out of the field of battle to spare their lives. The gods are capricious, given to their own passions, and prone to change their minds, so they frankly bear strong resemblance to politicians if one wants to relate it to real life. It's a reminder that there are always two conflicts going on, one on the battle field and one back in the halls of government; they don't always combine well.I'm unable to vouch for the quality of the translation in terms of remaining true to the Greek, but Robert Fagles deserves much credit for turning it into beautiful, modern English epic poem. The usual complaints against the Iliad are the instances of repetition and a fathomless well of detail when it comes to describing mortal combat with spear, sword, and the occasional rock stoving a skull in. As much as the Iliad glorifies manly virtues in war (like courage, bravery, camaraderie) it also showcases its horrors (the violence, fear, and waste) to the same degree. One comes away with the feeling at the end: why did we bother with all of this? What did we gain? Can we even quantify what we lost, or is it immeasurable? Overall, a long read, but worth the epic journey from page to page, book to book.
    • 3/5
      I decided not to finish reading this. There were parts I was thoroughly caught up in and loving, but then they were followed by sections with the gods interfering and being a nuisance. The human drama and description of battle was terrific, but the gods ruined everything the humans were about to achieve. I don't have the patience to work through it at this time of my life, and so decided I would move on.
    • 5/5
      I love The Illiad only a little bit less than The Odyssey, the other epic poem attributed to Homer. Together the two works are considered among the oldest surviving works of Western literature, dating to probably the eighth century BCE, and are certainly among the most influential. The Illiad deals with just a few weeks in the last year of the decade-long Trojan War. As the opening lines state, it deals with how the quarrel between the Greek's great hero Achilles and their leader Agamemnon "caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss and crowded brave souls into the undergloom."So, essentially, this is a war story. One close to three thousand years old with a mindset very alien to ours. One where unending glory was seen as a great good over personal survival or family. One where all felt that their ends were fated. And one with curiously human, or at least petty, gods. Some see the work as jingoistic, even pro-war, and I suppose it can be read that way, but what struck me was the compassion with which Homer wrote of both sides. We certainly care for the Trojan Hector as much as or more (in my case much more) than for the sulky and explosive Achilles. For the Trojan King Priam as much or more (in my case much more) than King Agamemnon. Homer certainly doesn't obscure the pity, the waste, and the grief war brings. And there are plenty of scenes in the work that I found unforgettable: The humorous scene where Aphrodite is wounded and driven from the field. The moving scene between Hector and his wife and child. The grief Helen feels in losing a friend. The confrontation between Priam and Achilles.This is one work where translations make a huge difference. Keats poem "On Chapman's Homer" is all about how a translation opened his eyes to "realms of gold" in The Illiad he had not appreciated before. I was forced to read Homer in high school (I suspect the Lattimore translation) and hated it as boring and tedious. Maturity might have helped change how I felt on reread--but I had my own "Keats Experience" when I discovered Robert Fitzgerald's translation. I've never read the Fagles translation some reviewers are recommending, but you might want to look up various translations to see which one speaks to you before embarking on a full read.
    • 5/5
      This version was quite the tome and I suffered from RSI just from holding the book. I have embarked upon the Great Books series as set out by Hutchins and Adler at the University of Chicago and this great tale is number 1. This is no small task but it is essential. Time and again I have seen movies about Achilles and the fall of Troy but there is something to be said about the various translations and notes that direct the reader to a long history of debates, arguments, and disagreements over Homer (or whether it was Homers), and then the translations that incorporate the Latin amendments (such as Samuel Butler's), and then how the "folk tradition" has twisted and turned this nation-building epic to suit different times. The movies have it that Hector was simply out-classed, not that he ran three laps around the walls of Troy trying to escape Achilles, not that the gods intervened time and again, even helping to kill other soldiers and so on. I like the introduction's idea of Hector as a complete man, husband, father, prince, warrior; whereas Achilles is the unbalanced warrior, hell-bent on death and glory. I have now started on The Odyssey and I did not know that the Trojan horse was not of the first book, I had suspicions but I did not know that Ulysses was the Latin name, and so on. Even the unpacking of these issues helps with my reading of Plato and Aristotle. I felt I had arrived at a place where reading more of the classic scholars made no sense unless I had at least a working grasp of Homer. But the manly ideal that has been bastardised by Hollywood and others has set me thinking deeply. Honour didn't mean masculine aggression at all costs, or that any man could do anything, or that class could not hold one back and so on. In the translation (rather than bastardisation) of the original, an entirely different view of masculinity emerges. These people were all fallible, all helped or thwarted by fortune, the gods played a major role in the plot (religion is all but excluded from the Brad Pitt version of the story), and Paris, a snivelling coward, is not helped out by Hector. Hector hates him! So much to unlearn from reading one of the oldest "western" texts. I shirk at this title - much like the re-writing of Greek ideas about masculinity, all of a sudden the Eastern Europeans get a guernsey in the Great Race Race because they were so brilliant. But it really does set me at ease to now see the portrayals of the Greek ideal and be able to see it for what it was meant to be. This does not help me to feel more secure in the world, but it does help me to see the world differently, and, maybe, more accurately.
    • 4/5
      {Review of E.V. Rieu's prose translation, Penguin Classics} Reading a prose version of The Iliad is like having your learned friend read the poem silently to himself and occasionally pausing to explain to you what's going on. This is a very thorough translation of the action, but you won't grasp why Homer is called a master bard or find his genius. For all the translator's efforts this reads almost like a comic book version minus the pictures. That makes it simple to breeze through and there's no question you'll know the whole story by the end, but you'll not have been swept up by it as you would if you've any ear for poetry. Since I don't, I judge little harm was done in my case. Like the Bible and Shakespeare this tale of men and gods permeates Western culture, but if you've no familiarity with it at all then you might want some context. The Iliad only covers two months of the Greeks' decade-long seige of Troy, and is neither the beginning nor the end of that event. The warriors are larger-than-life, there are powerful interferring gods supporting either side, violent combat is graphically described, and every death gets its eulogy. I always sympathize with the Trojans, which is remarkable in light of the Greek author. A number of the differently spelled names in this edition threw me off. Hera becomes "Here" (leading to many initial misreads of a sentence where I mistook the noun), and Athena is similarly rendered "Athene". Where I expected a Greek named Ajax, here he is "Aias". Prose emphasizes (introduces?) flaws, at least by modern standards: characters bursting into speeches at the most inopportune times, curious repetitions/echoes, lengthy descriptive asides. The battles are mostly an unlikely sequence of staged set pieces that don't transmit the chaos and bewilderment of an actual field of battle. At the conclusion there is a miniature Olympics I wasn't expecting that has some farcical moments. The story is still epic and entertaining no matter how it's told. It's something you'll want familiarity with if you're a student of Western literature, but read a poetic version if you can.
    • 4/5
      Homer's epic poem about the war between the Greeks and Trojans requires no review. However, Stanley Lombardo's translation deserves high praise. Lombardo brings the poem to life. In some places the language is gorgeously poetic and evocative as he describes the sea or a sunrise, and in others it is horrifically blunt describing a spear crashing through someone's skull and grey matter oozing out. While Homer's narrative meanders a bit, Lombardo manages to build in tension from the moment Patroclus puts on Achilles armour to the moment where Hector and Achilles finally battle. Lombardo's work is a great translation that really brings the poem to life for a modern audience.
    • 4/5
      As much as I love the Greeks in general, the Illiad is never as good a read as the Odyssey mostly because it's 80% horrible violent fighting and despair at a neverending war and then 20% interesting characters, speeches, and god/mortal interaction. I'll admit, I always end up doing a fair bit of skimming. The emotional resonance and epic descriptions are still as strong as the Odyssey, it just doesn't have the same fluid narrative. And then there's the fact that hearing how hundreds of people die in excruciating detail over and over again might be a good lesson against glorifying war, but it's just depressing. Personally, Achilles is just less likable a character. The really enjoyable part of this book is the relations between the gods and the mortals and the question of the inevitability of Fate.
    • 5/5
      Three things about The Iliad. 1. There are quite a few metaphors about lions, who either kill cattle or sheep or are hunted in turn. 3,000 years ago Greece was overrun with lions.2. It's interesting that one of the first long narratives in human has no suspense. The sack of Troy is a foregone conclusion. Even Achilles knows his fate. 3. I read Fagles' translation. I love it, but I think Fitzgerald is slightly better at conveying the strangeness of this world even if that does lead him astray sometimes.
    • 3/5
      The translation is a little dated
    • 4/5
      What a great translation.....
    • 5/5
      I listened to the audio version of this and I will have to listen to it again, probably more than once. It's a rambling story, but a great window onto another time and place, and perhaps more importantly, a pre-modern, oral mode of storytelling which I could stand some more of.
    • 5/5
      The back cover of lombardo's translation of the Iliad boldly states "this is as good as Homer gets in English". I don't doubt it. The language is clearly more modern than other translations I have sampled and its pace is gripping.

      Obviously, the are tons if ink spilled in reviewing the Iliad, so I will not even attempt to add to it in describing Homer's story.

      But, I will say it is, at essence a war story and Lombardo has captured it in English incredibly well. The average reader may dread the suggestion of reading Homer as it has a reputation as dense ancient poetry. Not so with Lombardo.

      Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      I read Homer in my teens and finding I didn't much like him, thought it might be down to the translator. Having just read this version (it's Robert Fagles') I think I must conclude that Homer and I are not made for each other. There is some good stuff in here, like the argument over Briseis mirroring the taking Helen and the cause of the war. The poem is essentially about the folly of mankind and everything feeds through to that theme (the incompetent prosecution of the war, war itself, the petty squabbles etc) but it's not enough to justify the mindless battle scenes that dominate most of the book and the loss of the thread of the narrative. I did appreciate it more than last time though as since my first reading I've read the Greek tragedies. There's a brief altercation between Agamemnon and the high priest. If you're reading it cold it means nothing but if you've read a bit of Euripides you know that Agamemnon has murdered his own daughter at the instigation of the priest.As to the translation itself I notice that the English line count is much greater than the Greek. I think Fagles may have expanded the action. It's certainly much easier to understand what is physically happening than it was in the other translation. Unfortunately Fagles is a poor poet. What he's written is not poetry at all but prose with line breaks. The sentence structure is amateurish. Perhaps you think me very old fashioned, expecting the translator of a classic work of poetry to be a good poet, but there you are. The introduction on the other hand is superb.Anyway, I hope you enjoy it more than me. As this book has been preserved so carefully down the centuries my opinion would appear to be in the minority.
    • 4/5
      Quite the epic adventure. I love The Iliad, but it sure is long and tedious. All those battle scenes get old. And all that wailing in grief.But despite all the repetition, it really is good. Lots of bickering gods, vengeful heroes, and, well, wailing.
    • 3/5
      So I don't much like flying. Like really, I do not like flying. And I had to fly to the US for work. In which case the coping mechanism is tranquilisers and a book I have to concentrate on - it serves to distract me. Having read [The Odyssey] earlier in the year, I figured I'd go all classical and try [The Illiad] this time. It's one of those occasions when you know what's going to happen, this is all about how you arrive at the ending. It's quite intense, being set over a limited number of weeks towards the end of the 10 year siege of Troy. Despite the intervention of the gods, the entire thing is very human, with the whole gamut of emotions present, from the great and heroic to the petty. It's all very sad, and there's no sense of resolution at the end of the book, the war continues without seeming to have resolved anything, despite the bloodshed. I found the introductory notes interesting and informative and it was worth wading through them initially.
    • 5/5
      It's the Iliad; it is what you make of it. If you compare it to modern story telling, I think a lot of readers will find it lacking, especially with the constant battle scenes. We're used to getting petty drama in our petty dramas, tragic deaths in our tragedies, gory action in our gory action thrillers. This oral tradition has it all mashed up together.
    • 4/5
      Dit lijkt een vrij saai boek met vooral talloze, bloederige strijdtaferelen en de erbij horende redevoeringen. Een overdaad aan herhalingen dus. Het werk vormt een mooie eenheid en is veel minder complex van structuur dan bijvoorbeeld de Odyssee. Bovendien is de moraal van het verhaal nogal simplistisch: ieder ondergaat zijn lot, maar de grote helden zorgen ervoor dat ze dat met roem en eer doen.Aan de andere kant steken er tal van verfrissende elementen in:1. de po?tische kracht die uitgaat van de taal (de epitheta), en vooral van sommige scenes: afscheid van Hektor en Andromache, het verdriet van Achilles om zijn vriend Patroklos,...2. de open en stoutmoedige confrontatie tussen de meerderen en hun ondergeschikten, vooral in de controverse rond koning Agamemnoon: herhaaldelijk wordt die door verschillende helden voor vuile vis uitgemaakt en verbaal vernederd. 3. Bovenal getuigt het beeld dat van de godenwereld wordt opgehangen in de eerste plaats van een heel dynamisch en modern aandoend mensbeeld: de goden zijn als mensen met humeuren en luimen, met een hi?rarchie die regelmatig opzij wordt gezet maar toch wordt gerespecteerd als het er op aankomt, met een moraal die wel enkele formele regels volgt maar die tegelijk te pas en te onpas links wordt gelaten. Kortom: het archetype van de vrijheid?Nog enkele andere elementen over het wereld- en mensbeeld:1. De dood is onvermijdelijk en door het lot bepaald (zelfs de goden moeten er zich naar schikken), maar toch kan enige vorm van onsterfelijkheid worden nagestreefd door roemrijke daden te stellen. Dat belet niet dat de Onderwereld voor ieder een oord van verschrikkelijke ellende is. 2. Vrouwen zijn volstrekt ondergeschikt en hun waarde wordt zelfs voor een stuk uitgedrukt in runderen, tenzij voor de echtgenotes of moeders van de helden cfr Andromache (Hektor heeft een "hoofse" relatie tot haar). Uitzondering hierop vormen de vrouwelijke goden die als het erop aankomt wel ondergeschikt zijn, maar geen enkele gelegenheid onbenut laten om hun eigen weg te gaan (Hera, Athene, Afrodite). 3. Het standpunt van de verteller is heel objectivistisch: hij kiest globaal geen partij; wel worden in het verhaal sommige figuren in een minder daglicht gesteld (aan Griekse kant vooral de broers Agamemnoon en Menelaos, aan Trojaanse Paris). 4. De typisch griekse lichaamcultuur is hier al aanwezig: bij de persoonsbeschrijvingen worden vooral de fysieke kenmerken onderstreept; heel veel belang wordt gehecht aan het conserveren van het lichaam na de dood (en omgekeerd voor vijanden aan het zo wreed mogelijk verminken).
    • 5/5
      Interestingly enough I was able to get through it easily. I didn't skip at all even though there was mostly a lot of fighting. Who killed whom- how they died. Gods were interesting. (I did actually skip the 2nd chapter about who went to the Trojan War- Gods kept switching sides.
    • 3/5
      Glad I read it, but it was a long haul getting through.
    • 3/5
      Read it, love it!
    • 3/5
      I read The Iliad Penguin Classic edition. This will contain the whole story, as it is good for me to write it out as revision material for my classics exam - if you want just the review part, skip to the paragraph starting with: "In review..."

      The theme of this epic poem is 'the wrath of Achilleus', a great Greek warrior who has his new prize-girl taken from him by military commander, Agamemnon during the siege of Troy. Achilleus is livid with Agamemnon and refuses to fight for the Greek forces, allowing the Trojans to win many battles against them.

      However, Achilleus' coup does not last long, as his dearest friend Patroklos is killed in battle by the great Trojan warrior, Hektor, whilst wearing Achilleus' armour to inspire his troops and strike fear into the Trojans. Hektor is a family man, and the favourite son of Priam, King of Troy. He is loved throughout Troy, and poses a serious threat for the Greeks in battle - his only match in a fight is Achilleus.

      Achilleus is distraught about Patroklos' death and grieves for him and feels suicidal. After a visit from his mother, a goddess named Thetis, he resolves to make up with Agamemnon and join the fighting once again in order to exact revenge on Hektor.

      Hektor and Achilleus eventually meet in one-on-one combat, and Hektor is confident that he will either win the battle and secure the Trojan victory over the Achaian forces, or he will die a glorious death and be remembered for all eternity. What Hektor does not realise is the true extent of the wrath of Achilleus. Achilleus strikes Hektor with a spear with the help (trickery) of the gods, and whilst Hektor is still breathing, informs him that his corpse will be treated without a shred of respect. From there, Achilleus finishes him off and drags him in circles around the walls of Troy three times before bringing him back to the Greek camp and throwing him in the dust. Achilleus wakes every morning to drag Hektor's body around the tomb of his friend Patroklos as the sun is rising - but the gods prevent Hektor's corpse from coming to any harm.

      It is worth mentioning that Priam eventually receives word from the gods that he must go to the Greek camp to beg for the body of his son from Achilleus. Priam does so, and manages to win the affection of Achilleus, yet he is still dangerous and warns Priam not to anger him further or he will slay him on the spot. Achilleus hands over Hektor's body, and the book ends with an account of Hektor's funeral.

      IN REVIEW, The Iliad was a good book to read when learning to write like a professional writer. Homer uses his traditional formulae and tricks of the trade; remember that this was a recited poem and wasn't put down on paper until centuries after Homer's death - despite this, The Iliad is detailed and descriptive, but is often repetitive, as is the feature of a classic epic poem. In retrospect, if you are looking for an account of the fall of Troy, coupled with an Odyssean adventure, read Virgil's Aeneid which tells the story of Aeneas and the founding of Rome. Otherwise, if you are happy with the stale scenery of war, and don't mind the common features of an epic poem, The Iliad is enjoyable.

      I gave this three stars to reflect the fact that I liked it, but preferred The Odyssey and The Aeneid.
    • 4/5
      I read this on the tail of reading The Song of Achilles by Emmy Miller--I wanted to see if I could detect the homoerotic subtext between Achilles and Patroclus myself. The answer to that is definitely Yes, but now I'm curious what other translations are like. This one--by Stanley Lombardo--is pretty jocular, which suits a poem about battle, I guess. So I wonder how other translators handle it.
    • 2/5
      What exactly was the point? War sucks? Yeah, we already knew that. Really depressing, unrelenting testosterone-ridden crap.