In 2002, the University of Michigan Press published Rodney Merrill's translation of Homer's Odyssey, an interpretation of the classic that was unique in employing the meter of Homer's original. Praising Merrill's translation of the Odyssey, Gregory Nagy of Harvard wrote, "Merrill's fine ear for the sound of ancient Greek makes the experience of reading his Homer the nearest thing in English to actually hearing Homer. The translator's English renders most faithfully the poet's ancient Greek---not only the words and meaning but even the voice." Merrill has now produced an edition of Homer's Iliad, following the same approach. This form of rendering is particularly relevant to the Iliad, producing a strong musical setting that many elements of the narrative require to come truly to life. Most notable are the many battle scenes, to which the strong meter gives an impetus embodying and making credible the "war-lust" in the deeds of the combatants. For many years, until his retirement, Rodney Merrill taught English composition and comparative literature at Stanford and Berkeley. In addition to his translation of Homer's Odyssey, he is the author of "Chaucer's Broche of Thebes." Jacket photograph © 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston "Other competent translations of Homer exist, but none accomplish what Merrill aims for: to convey to the reader-listener in translation the meaning and the sounds of Homer, coming as close as possible to the poetry of the original. Merrill accomplishes this virtuosic achievement by translating Homer's Greek into English hexameters, a process requiring not only a full understanding of the original Greek, but also an unusual mastery of the sounds, rhythms, and nuances of English." ---Stephen G. Daitz, Professor Emeritus of Classics, City University of New York "This is a faithful and powerful rendition of the original Greek. With his deep understanding of the language, [Merrill] has succeeded in capturing the heroic essence of the Homeric Iliad." ---Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, and author of Poetry as Performance: Homer and Beyond

An accessible Iliad for twenty-first-century readers A classic of Western literature for three millennia, Homer’s Iliad captivates modern readers—as it did ancient listeners—with its tale of gods and warriors at the siege of Troy. Now Herbert Jordan’s line-for-line translation brilliantly renders the original Greek into English blank verse—the poetic form most closely resembling our spoken language. Raising the bar set by Richmond Lattimore in 1951, Jordan employs a pleasing five-beat meter and avoids unnecessary filler. Whereas other verse renditions are longer than the original, owing to the translators’ indulgence in personal poetics, Jordan avoids “line inflation.” The result, an economical translation, captures the force and vigor of the original poem. E. Christian Kopff’s introduction to this volume sets the stage and credits Jordan with conveying the action and movement of the Iliad in “contemporary language and a supple verse.” This new Iliad offers twenty-first-century readers the thrill of a timeless epic and affords instructors a much-needed alternative for literature surveys.

"Gripping... Lombardo's achievement is all the more striking when you consider the difficulties of his task... (He) manages to be respectful of Homer's dire spirit while providing on nearly every page some wonderfully fresh refashioning of his Greek. The result is a vivid and disarmingly hardbitten reworking of a great classic." — Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Times Book Review

This volume is a distinctive critical introduction to Homer's Iliad, the earliest epic poem, and the earliest known work of literature in ancient Greece. Michael Silk deals with the poem's historical context, its composition and its extensive influence, and relates its literary power to the peculiar coherence and inter-relation of such aspects of the poem as its style, character-portrayal and ideology. This revised edition takes account of recent scholarship in the field and includes an updated guide to further reading. It is essential reading for students of literature and classics.

REA's MAXnotes for Homer's The Illiad MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

If you are contemplating buying The Iliad, sure that you know what the book is about. Thus, why to buy a Knowledge Management Edition instead of a normal one? There are several reasons, among them saving time -you do not have much time to read, or you have to read it aloud to youngsters or elders-, catching up quickly with its contents -for a second reading, for catching up with classic literature, before watching the film-, of having two versions in one -for english students with different levels of proficiency; etc. This book will be officially published in 2006. Therefore, get it at pre-publishing prices (cheaper, of course!) before the official launch!

In the course of re-establishing the value and importance of Books VII-XII of Virgil's Aeneid, this study also explores in some detail his use of Homer's Iliad.

By focusing on the story of Hector, James M. Redfield presents an imaginative perspective not only on the Iliad but also on the whole of Homeric culture. In an expansive discussion informed by a reinterpretation of Aristotle's Poetics and a reflection on the human meaning of narrative art, the analysis of Hector leads to an inquiry into the fundamental features of Homeric culture and of culture generally in its relation to nature. Through Hector, as the "true tragic hero of the poem," the events and themes of the Iliad are understood and the function of tragedy within culture is examined. Redfield's work represents a significant application of anthropological perspectives to Homeric poetry. Originally published in 1975 (University of Chicago Press), this revised edition includes a new preface and concluding chapter by the author.

While preserving the basic narrative of the Iliad, this bare-bones abridgment highlights the epic's high poetic moments and essential mythological content, and will prove especially useful in surveys of world literature, and in Western civilization surveys.