The Iliad / The Odyssey
by Homer
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Book Reviews of The Iliad / The Odyssey
Book Review: The Bible before the Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
This set of books by Homer was the guiding light of Western culture for about 1000 years: from ~700 B.C. until ~300 A.D. and beyond, until it was replaced by the Old and New Testaments in cultural importance. The philosophers were not nearly so important as Homer. In Egypt, more than half the scraps of papyri (dating from the time of Greek dominance in the area) found with segments of books written on them are parts of Homer's works. Plato and Aristotle account for less than ten percent, playwrights make up the remainder. It was thought good to memorize both epics. Education focussed on them almost exclusively as did art, and other works of literature tended to base themselves on them or to echo them strongly. In the poems was seen the art of persuasive speaking and bravery: the two most important attributes for a person living at that time. We can still learn the same from the epics today. About half of the epics are eloquently and powerfully worded speeches, their other half describes a brutally tough, nearly merciless, view of the world which instills first fear and then courage in a reader (if read with full absorption). I could almost not bear to read the Iliad the first time due to the utter violence and gore of many of the scenes. But now, having read it for the seventeenth time, and having considered the real state of affairs in most of the world even today, I have accepted all the unfairness, loss, early death and carelessness experienced by the characters as all too indicative of the human condition. The complacent incompetence and/or lack of care displayed by both leaders and gods in the epics is frighteningly realistic and all too telling of how power really does work in our world. The pure mercilessness of the epics and the total solitude of individuals in the face of dangerous forces is a cruelly real portrayal of our human lives. This set is not for somewhone who wants to read a cute fantasy story where the good beat down the bad and everyone lives happily ever after, enough to fill a summer's afternoon. These are books for the tough minded, for the ambitious and if I may be permitted to say so, for those of a powerful intellect (of which the reviewer is perhaps the exception that proves the rule). They were written as convincing tales for the Greeks about their Mycenaean warrior ancestors whom they expected to be stronger, braver and cleverer than themselves. Only the greatest of storytellers and the keenest observers of human affairs can provide such an epic for a people while at the same time create an exciting read (or listen, in Homer's time). This set is a holder of wisdom and not of fine words only. It is of the greatest benefit for the serious reader. A note on the translation: I have compared sections of this set with the originals. These translations are not word-for-word. Be this as it may, there is often more to desire in a translation than mere rigid attention to exactness if one wishes to create a modern classic and not merely a dusty reference book for some scholars. The greeks themselves continually made new versions of the Iliad, updating the language for the reading public (never discarding the original of course, which was memorized, studied, quoted etc). The Romans as well had their line by line translations into up-to-date latin. We need ours too. This set by Robert Fagles with his most excellent sensitivity to the force and passion of the English language fulfills this need for us. The original still sits there for reference and for those sufficiently skilled among us for reading, but these wonderful translations are necessary so as to make the Iliad useful for english speakers in our english speaking lives. The epics of Homer have carried in them the essence of our Western soul from our very beginnings as a civilization and now Robert Fagles has equipped us with their majestic thunder and bright flash so that they are ever ready for us if ever we wish to be reinvigourated by them.Book Review: The ground is dark with blood
Summary: 5 Stars
The Iliad
With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad.
For example:
"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls. But made their bodies carrion,
feasts for dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles."
-Translated by Robert Fagles
"Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another."
-Translated by Samuel Butler
Our story takes place in the ninth year of the ongoing war. We get some introduction to the first nine years but they are just a background to this tale of pride, sorrow and revenge. The story will also end abruptly before the end of the war.
We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields.
Although the more focused conflict is the power struggle between two different types of power. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warier and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, who's power comes form position.
We are treated to a blow by blow inside story as to what each is thinking and an unvarnished description of the perils of war.
The Odyssey
"I long to be homeward bound" Simon and Garfunkle
The Trojan War is over and one of our hero kings is lost. His son (Telemachus) travels to find any information about his father's fait. His wife (Penelope) must cunningly hold off suitors that are eating them out of house and home.
If he ever makes it home Odysseus will have to detect those servants loyal from those who are not. One absent king against rows of suitors; how will he give them their just deserts? We look to Bright Eyed Pallas Athena to help prophecy come true.
Interestingly all the tales of monsters and gods on the sea voyage was told by Odysseus. Notice that no on else survives to tell the tale. So we have to rely on Odysseus' word.
Many movies took sections of The Odyssey, and expanded them to make interesting stories those selves.
Not just the story but the way in which it is told will keep you up late at night reading.
Troy (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
The Archaeology of Heinrich Schliemann: An Annotated Bibliographic Handlist
Book Review: Only the dead...
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Iliad":
It is obvious that, as Santayana wrote in 1924, "Only the dead have seen the end of war" and, as elegantly shown in Fagles' translation of, "The Iliad", the tradition of military brutality coupled with the equally obvious fact that, "Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin" (Odyssey) are elements of the human condition; they exert a compelling attraction in their various forms and facets to humans of all stripes, but especially, perhaps, to poets, historians and novelists.
"The Iliad", as is known to any high school student, recounts the siege of Troy by the Achaens and the "rage of Achilles" directed both toward his putative ally and commander (Agamemnon) and to his enemy, Troy. The machinations of the gods underpin the tale, with the Judgement of Paris (arousing the ire of Hera, Queen of the Gods) as the motive force. There is gore galore in the epic poem and plenty of raw emotion, tellingly conveyed in the new English text. The extensive introductory remarks by Bernard Knox place the work in historical and literary context.
While this translation has been extolled by a pantheon of reviewers as the "climax" of the art, I still favor the E.V. Rieu (founder of Penguin Classics) prose version of 1946 of both this epic and "The Odyssey". Rieu's effort (acknowledged by the translator, but not considered on par with others) carries the reader in a more "Victorian" and perhaps fastidious fashion to the harrowing conclusion (Achilles triumph over Hector, killer of Patroclus). I am not able to compare the various versions with respect to the original; I only express my opinion as a lay reader.
"The Odyssey":
The "sequel" to "The Iliad", this recounts the eponymous saga of Odysseus (Ulysses) in his attempts to return home from the siege of Troy. It is truly an epic and is, like "The Iliad", one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Really, one cannot claim to be "educated" in Western civilization without a working knowledge of these two books. The claimant to the throne of "best book of the 20th Century" , James Joyce's, "Ulysses" simply cannot be fully appreciated nor understood without a knowledge of this work. As I wrote for, "The Iliad", the new Fagles translation is outstanding, but I again favor Rieu's version; a minority opinion.
In conclusion, these are magnificent works which deserve the recent attention the Fagles/Knox collaboration has engendered. "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" should be read and appreciated in any translation, but these are probably the best. Both also prove that, "...fate takes hold and lays them out at last" (Athena to Telemachus, "Odyssey"). So also does hubris and the lure of revenge, because, like fate, the lust for revenge cannot be tricked.
Incidentally, the boxed set/deluxe edition is well worth owning, compared to the "trade" paperback edition.
Book Review: Simply wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply wonderful Robert Fagles is the finest translator of Homer I have ever read. I have loved classical history and classical myths since I was seven; Robert Fagles' translation makes me feel as if I am reading these stories for the very first time.
His poetical vision reawakens Homer; he makes the agony and glory of the Iliad and Odyssey a living, vibrant and above all human force. This is literature like a trumpet blast; these are words to wake the imagination and emotions.
Few moments are more moving in any literature, than when Hector speaks to his beloved wife Andromache for what will be the last time. As he turns to his baby son Astynax, the child cries in terror at the crested helmet masking his father's face. Hector pulls the helmet away and laughs, and hugs his son.
Hector will die that day. Andromache will end her days as a slave in a far country. Their son will be thrown to his death from the walls of burning Troy. All this the Greeks knew.
Achilles is the great Greek hero. He needs a worthy enemy to kill, a warrior of skill and courage and resolve. Homer carefully depicts the doomed Hector as the greatest Trojan solider, a man with deep regard for his peoples' welfare, who inspires fear from his enemies, a leader of renown and a man for all men to honour.
Yet Homer does more than this - he deliberately makes Hector human and every Greek who knew and loved the Iliad knew Hector to be human, to be a man like himself.
Enemies in our century are demonised. They are communists, they are capitalists, they are Arabs or Moslems or the great Satan America. They are very carefully portrayed as inhuman (and undeserving of any humanity?)
There is no sentimentality in the Iliad. It is brutal. Death upon death, the warriors fight for their honours and die alone and in pain. There is no afterlife here. A man lives on through his name only, and he buys his name with blood and fear. This is grim, not gratuitous - heroism is applauded but the sheer waste of war is laid bare.
Yet - the enemy are never less than human, they are not despised for being "different". Individuals are honoured or loathed, but emotions rest with individuals not races or nations.
I cannot convey in either spoken or written words just how much I recommend these translations to anyone, whether they are already familiar with the Iliad and Odyssey or are coming to Homer for the first Review: More interesting as a historical document than poetry
Summary: 3 Stars
This poem is the first contribution to western literature. The plot deals with a short part of the Greek Trojan War. Archilles the Greek warrior has had a dispute with another Greek Agamemnon the leader of the expedition over the spoils of war. He is upset that he has not been given a particular slave girl. He withdraws from the fight in a sulk. This leads to a considerable advantage to the Trojans. It means that their champion Hector is able to dominate the battlefield.
Archilles's friend Patroclus decides to use Archilles's armor in battle to swing the tide for the Greeks. He meets Hector in battle and is killed. Archilles hears of the death and is enraged. (To the modern reader one suspects that Archilles swang both ways.) He meets Hector in battle and kills him. He drags the body of Hector around the city of Troy to further humiliate him. Hectors father Priam meets Archilles and buys his sons body so that it can be given a good funeral.
It is rather hard for someone reading an English translation to understand the original beauty of the language. One can only look at the story and how it is told. The Iliad is a tale that is bound up in the history of the ancient world. Alexander the Great traveled to Archilles tomb. Ancient Greeks and Romans admired him and the poem formed the basis of countless statues and pictures.
To the modern mind the story comes across strangely and the characters are flawed. Archilles the main character is willing to betray his countrymen over an argument. He allows his passion to control his life. His decision to enter the fray again is the result of another outbreak of bad temper. His treatment of Hecotor's body suggest vindictiveness and lack of control. The people in the poem act in a way that would have been inconceivable for Romans or Chinese. In fact the Trojans come across as the more virtuous and deserving.
Still the work is a classic of the highest importance in understanding the basis of our culture. It is a work populated by heroes a world in which gods also intervene in the affairs of men and are subject to the same temper tantrums as the mortal characters.
As an a work in English it is however difficult to see as a work of art or literature. The characters act more like some people down at the local pub having a brawl rather than rational men.