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Iliad
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Iliad
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Iliad
Audiobook20 hours

Iliad

Written by Homer

Narrated by Jeff Harding

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The Iliad is an epic Greek poem written by philosopher Homer, and is considered one of the oldest pieces of western literature still in existence. The story takes place during the last weeks of the ten year Trojan War, with a focus on the quarrels between King Agamemnon and the legendary warrior Achilles. However, this tale’s most famous scene is when the Greek’s give a gift to the Trojans of a large wooden horse, but one that is filled with soldiers, that allows the Greeks to infiltrate the high walls of the city of Troy. Many Scholars believe the Iliad was originally composed in an oral tradition, intended to be heard, not read, making this epic classic a must have for audiobook listeners!
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 19, 2016
ISBN9781520017396
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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Rating: 4.038184857170617 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    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
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Translated into English Prose by Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf and Ernest Myers
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Important in the history of literature and classical Greek thought.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Better than the movie! Once you get the rhythm it sucks you in like a time machine. Amazing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A king offends his strongest ally in the middle of a war.Good. It's very repetitive, but its interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Read it, love it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And so the Trojans buried Hector breaker of horses.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What exactly was the point? War sucks? Yeah, we already knew that. Really depressing, unrelenting testosterone-ridden crap.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I suppose that when something is called a "classic" it's meant to mean something that is inherently interesting, to "everyone". However, in dealing with the Illiad, I'm not really sure how it could appeal to anyone not interested in war. It begins with a very sordid little episode, and continues on and on and on with things that are either unspeakably cruel, or at best strange and difficult, or both. The Catalog of Ships in Book Two of the Illiad in particular stands out as something of truly bureaucratic, census-taking, skill. (Mighty Steve, who was a mighty man, a mighty man indeed, came from Keyport, whose motto is "Pearl of the Bayshore", and also from various surrounding towns like Hazlet, Union Beach and Matawan-Aberdeen, went with him came his seven sons Adam Brian Carl Dan Edmund Fergus and Hans and his uncle Schmitty. They were all warriors. They excelled at decapitation, and other skilled modes of combat. They came with thirty ships.....Mighty John, who was also a mighty man, a mighty, mighty, mighty man, who came from Metuchen, where you can find bookstores, and his various sons and male cousins came from places like Edison, famous for its diversity, and East Brunswick and New Brunswick, where British people used to live, and Keasbey, where there are warehouses. They were all warriors. In fact, they were bloodthirsty piratical skumbags bent on pillaging young women from burning cities. They were good at sharpening axes with their teeth. They came on twenty-five ships, big ones. And then there was Mighty Fred, oh what a Mighty Man he was.....) Sometimes, when they call sometimes a "classic", they mean-- "couldn't get away with it today". ................And then, dawg gone it, somebody else got slain too. (And then Steve slew Nick, son of Boris the Russian, who had come from that country. Mighty Steve speared him right in the face. Nick then fell down, dead. Oh, he's gone.).................And, worst of all, it can provide only a partial and distorted view of the old pagan religion, since, no matter who is doing this or that, Homer's Illiad makes the whole religion the house of Mars, the madness of Mars.... "Juno" can be portrayed as saying this or that, but nothing of her own matrimonial nature survives the bloodshed and the gore; it is really all Jove, Jove and Mars-- war and politics; it's all their game, and everyone else is just there to play as a pawn for this or that. ...........................You could actually get pretty angry if you took seriously some of the things that these guys say. ("Little girl! I'll kill you!") I certainly wouldn't call it great-hearted. ...................................And, if this isn't clear already, I don't understand the *wonder* of it, just because it's (happily!) removed from current circumstances. "You're just a little girl, but I'm not a little pussy like you! I'll smash your skull!"God, I wonder what he was *really* trying to say. *rolls eyes*.......................................Considering that Homer was trying to deify and glorify war, that most sordid of human episodes, I've come to be a little surprised, of what people say about him. (7/10)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I prefer the Lattimore version, regarding the Pope as an artifact in its own right. RL's translation flows extremely nicely, and I sort of sink into a light dose, in a smoky hall with a Crater of something soothing in front of me, and let it wash over me. Yes, Homer doesn't tell us how it ends at Troy, but there's always that roman fellow for winding it up, not to mention adding some very unlikely material. If you haven't read this version, you haven't really heard the POETRY of the piece!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The scholarly notes and illustrations add to the luster of this translation. However it is a text to be read and not recited. It lacks the poetic cadence of earlier translations. I was first introduced to Homer in College some fifty years ago and my personal preference is for Homer to have an orality that truly sings beyond any translation.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Such the fabulous tale. I've read it several times. Great piece to study as well, it is extraordinarily involved and interesting, not to mention quite funny at times, amidst all of the action and emotion.
    Read it.
    Oh and P.S. Achilles was a ginger--yes!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was great. I sometimes find reading epic poems in their poetic form distracting so the prose translation was perfect for me. The introduction was brief and general, which is nice in a book that some would call long and difficult. Other than that, one of the greatest stories of all time. The only person I would steer away from this particular version of The Iliad is someone looking for a poetic translation.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I ended up following the dimly-remembered advice of a high school teacher from long ago: "Read The Iliad in prose first to understand the story, then re-read it in a good verse translation to appreciate the language." I didn't set out that way—I started with the Richmond Lattimore verse translation. However, I found it very hard to follow the story and the myriad relationships between the characters while struggling with some of the difficult passages that were (according to the introduction) rendered rather literally. So, I switched.All in all, I liked The Odyssey better, preferring its "adventure story" style to the "history roll call" style of The Iliad. I felt that the latter was a fast-moving action story that, unfortunately, found itself embedded within a rather repetitious and verbose structure that diminished the excitement. I don't know if I'll take the second part of the advice and try another verse translation.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favourite book/poem ever. I read the Robert Fagles edition (Penguin Classics) of both the Iliad and Odyssey and highly recommend it. I had no problem following the story and enjoying the style.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have read Homer before but reread it recently to rediscover the wonder of the Greeks and Trojans, Achilles, Agamemnon and Hector. It is a delight to wonder at the Gods and mortals and the role of fate in their enterprise. This mythic epic still speaks to us more than twenty-five hundred years after it first began to be recited by the poet Homer. After withstanding the rage of Achilles, the Greeks go up against the Trojans led by Achilles friend Patroclus. But, fate has decreed and with Apollo's help Hector brings the final blow down on Patroclus. At this point you realize why this poem has been read for millenia and loved by many. But just as touching, perhaps more moving are moments like the one described in the epigraph above. For in the next book as Menelaus leads the Greeks to retrieve Patroclus body and the Trojans battle the Argives we are told of Achilles' horses who "wept from the time they had first sensed their driver's death," (lines 493-4, p. 456). This brings home the momentous occasion of Patroclus' death in a way that transcends the battle scenes and suggests it is the fabric of their life that has been rent - not just another battle death.Achilles takes his fight to the Trojans as Book 21 of the Iliad begins with the Trojans routed, one half blocked by Hera with the other half "packed in the silver-whirling river," (line 9). Achilles slays Lycaon, son of Priam, and Asteropaeus, son of Pelegon. Then he goes after the Trojan's allies from Paeona, beating and hacking them "in a blur of kills" (line 235). The blood of the men is so thick that the river rose. But Achilles proceeds to attack and fight the river itself. Continuing until the gods recognize that this cannot stay. Poseidon and Athena come to him and advise him, "It's not your fate to be swallowed by a river:" (line 328). The gods take over from this point and the book chronicles the spectacle of battles among the gods, mirroring the battles of the men below. even through this the river remains a thread that cannot be forgotten. The Trojan's and Hector's days in particular are numbered from this point onward.The final book of The Iliad begins with the games over and the armies scattered, but Achilles remains in grief over the death of his friend Patrocles. He slowly is persuaded that he must return Hector's body to Priam. Even as his mother Thetis mourns the future fate of her son who is also doomed to die, the gods gather and continue to argue over the situation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although I've long been a fan of these stories, I've never read Homer himself. I enjoyed this in parts, and the Fagles translation seems readable. However, narrative styles have changed so much over the centuries that this is somewhat hard work for the unaccustomed modern reader, at least me. The long battle scenes and the many tangential stories are sometimes challenging for the reader. I hadn't quite realised what a small portion of the Trojan War the Iliad covers. I was surprised quite how much it is really a study of the character of Achilles.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First, this is a very enjoyable, readable translation. I'm no Greek scholar, but Fagle's translation maintained beautiful, dramatic images without confusing the reader as to the progression of plot and dialogue. As for the story itself, it largely revolves around an impending confrontation between Hector (Trojan) and Achilles (Argive), but Homer shows us the full battle. He gives us life stories of soldiers as they fall on the battlefield, lets us into the manipulative ways of the immortals as they control human lives, and slips in metaphors that reveal much of ancient Greek life. Large chunks of the text are dialogue, split with snippets of bloody deaths, but the plot moves along at a decent pace. While Fagle's translation is not a difficult read, it did take me a while to finish the book, but even weeks later, I'm left with strong images of the Trojan war, and I think that's what Homer would want.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    06-19-2003I am not the first person who, coming to this late in life, and reading no Greek, have been amazed. I searched for and found Keats' response to it: "On first looking into Chapman's Homer," which eloquently describes a reader's experience and the awe that it produces.This is the first of 'the great books' - first on everyone's list, first written. Now I understand why it is the first book in the western canon. Full of human characters, detailed and evocative description of nature and common life, heart-rending fates meted out by the gods and gruesome battle. I was deeply impressed and wish two things: 1) that I had time to read it again and 2) that I could read it in Greek.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If over 600 pages of lyrically-rendered death, blood, and mayhem sound like your cup of tea, than you'll definitely want to read this. People get eviscerated, skewered, decapitated, hewed, trampled, hacked, cleaved, etc, and it's all really very poetic. I just wasn't wildly enthusiastic about it.