Iliad of Homer (Lombardo translation) » (1st Edition)

Ancient Greek poet Homer established the gold standard for heroic quests and sweeping journeys with his pair of classic epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Homer's Iliad has captivated readers and influenced writers and artists for more than two thousand years. Reading the poem in its original language provides an experience as challenging as it is rewarding. Most students encountering Homeric Greek for the first time need considerable help, especially with vocabulary and constructions that differ from the more familiar Attic forms. For anyone who has completed studies in elementary Greek, this edition provides the assistance necessary to read, understand, and appreciate the first book of the Iliad in its original language.

Structured to maximize reading ease, P. A. Draper's volume stands out among introductions to the Greek Iliad. Readers of this edition will appreciate the positioning of all notes facing the Greek text; the frequent vocabulary entries; the complete glossary; the appendix on basic Homeric forms and grammar; and the copious annotations on vocabulary, grammar, meter, historical and mythological allusions, and literary interpretation.

Primarily designed as a textbook, this volume will be an effective classroom tool and a useful acquisition for any library supporting a classics program. The book will find readers among high school and college Greek students, advanced students in Homer or epic poetry classes, graduate students working on reading-list requirements, and anyone interested in maintaining Greek reading skills.

P. A. Draper is Humanities Librarian, Cooper Library, Clemson University.

Daniel Mendelsohn

Lombardo 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 sometimes disarmingly hard-bitten reworking of a great classic. . . . Not all of Lombardo's gambles pay off, and his attention-grabbing colloquialisms sometimes undermine the force of the original. . . . Still, thesuccess of so many of Lombardo's choices more than makes up for the false notes. . . . That {Lombardo's} daring new 'Iliad' is so specifically of and for our time reminds us--and right now it's a point worth being reminded of--that Homer's poem is for all time. - The New York Times