Iliad

Rating:
Summary: An excellent read
Review: This book was a pleasure to read. The Iliad itself is a fantastic epic with great characters and plot. This translation simply brings it all to life in a very readable format.

If you have hesitated reading Homer before, give this book a try.

Rating:
Summary: Homer for the modern student
Review: This isn't the same Iliad you read in high school! Lombardo's translation literally comes alive for the reader. By updating the archaic language Lombardo allows the reader easier access to Homer's ideals and a better understanding of the events leading up to and after Achilles period of Rage.

The books biggest strength is the language used to describe battle. The horrors of war become much more real with these graphic descriptions of blood and gore.

This may not be the best translation for the serious scholar, as much of the poetry from the oringial is lost, but for students this translation is a life saver.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST TRANSLATION!
Review: What do I mean by the best translation? I mean that this is most fun to read. Better than Fagels.

Yes ancient Greek poetry, in order to survive, must be fun to read. Don't try to isolate it, you'll only freeze it, and young people won't pay any attention. Homer is competing with sex, Sony Playstation, and MTV's TRL and every other form of entertainment. Can he compete? Of course, but you can't keep him frozen away as a dusty "classic." He has to breath and adapt, like Shakespeare.

Is Lombardo's Homer fun? HECK YES. And I'm sure it's pretty acurate too, but only an expert in ancient Greek could tell you. The author/translator delivers more butcherings than any hollywood action movie. The taunts are great too. There's one scene where Diomedes (or some other Greek) spears a Trojan, then stands over him and says, looking at the spear embeded in the dying Trojan's midsection, "Why, that's a nice crutch you have there. You can use it on your way to hell!" Now THAT'S a taunt--forget that tame stuff in the NFL.

Of course, along the way you get all the criques of the Greek/soldier society and what not--you know Achilles slams the wooden staff to the ground symbolizing his rejection of the social order . . . blah blah blah. Whatever. Read this one like you would watch any good action movie. Homer knew how to mix deep thought with action packed images of bloodletting. No one I've read has done it any better.

Rating:
Summary: Too good to pass up or put down!
Review: Wow! This is some Iliad. I read Richmond Lattimore's translation about thirty years ago and what mainly stuck in my mind were phrases like "rosy fingered dawn" and the "wine dark sea" etc., and my reading as whole had a feeling of cultural duty about it. Stanley Lombardo's translation is a different story. Since I bought it, I'm having a hard time putting it down. Reading this Iliad is truly reading for pleasure. If you've never read the Iliad, this translation is a great place to start. If you've read other Iliads before, don't ignore this one. It's a tremendous experience.

Rating:
Summary: Not Homer
Review: Yes, it reads easily, but please do not be deceived into thinking you are reading Homer's Iliad. This is Lombardo's Iliad, and he has taken incredible liberties with the original epic. The hard Parryists-- those who would have you believe that everything in Homer is essentially derivative metrical 'filler', thus expendable, may be satisfied with this butchering of the poem, but I would rather let it stand as it has been read and appreciated for the last, oh, going on three thousand years.

Lattimore's translation is still the best. It's getting a little old, and may sound a little archaic, but if you want to read what Homer wrote (and don't have years to spend studying Greek), it's the best thing widely available. Read Fitzgerald if you want, or Fagles if you must... but this version is best left on the shelf.