The Iliad

The very first book I purchased to download onto my Christmas Kindle was Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad (#1,217).  Since we were going to be visiting Troy amongst other ports on a cruise, what could be better or more atmospheric than reading the words of Homer as we glided across the "wine dark sea" towards the place where it all happened?  I'd never read any version of this classic work since the Classics Illustrated comic book version as a child.

Ms. Wilson's translation, as it turned out, was ideal for my purposes.  Her aim was to make the English poetry "sing" as it had in the ancient Greek dialects.  This is a work meant to be spoken, not just read, and it was hard sometimes to stop myself from disturbing everyone else around me with the rhythms of the verses.  Also, her introductory section sets up the work perfectly for the non-scholastic reader in providing context for the poem.  No wonder The New York Times named this particular translation to the top 100 books of the year when it came out several years ago!

With that said: Yikes!!!  There was so much sex and violence in The Iliad that I'm amazed that the Classics Illustrated folks even attempted to produce a kiddie version.  I think we tend to conflate The Iliad and The Odyssey, so to me it was somewhat surprising what didn't happen in The Iliad.  For instance, the Trojan Horse doesn't appear until The Odyssey.  And Achilles spends most of the poem pouting in his tent over a wrong done him by Agamemnon over a woman.  I've always thought of him as an action hero, but not so much here.  And to be honest, Trojan Hector wasn't much better.  The ancient Greeks did love their gossip!  It's wonderful to still be surprised by a classic that you think you know so well...

If you've never read The Iliad, there's no time like the present, but do yourself a favor and make sure you find Emily Wilson's translation.  You won't regret it.