The Iliad

Name: The Iliad
Author: Homer; Caroline Alexander
ISBN: 9780062046291

by Homer; Caroline Alexander, Caroline Alexander

608 pages2015HarperCollinsISBN 9780062046291

Poetry

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About this book

With her virtuoso translation, classicist and bestselling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless heroic tale of the Trojan War. Composed around 730 B.C., Homer’s Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted ten-year military war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of Ilion. From the explosive confrontation between Achilles, the greatest warrior at Troy, and Agamemnon, the inept leader of the Greeks, through to its tragic conclusion, this foundational work of ancient Greek literature explores the abiding, blighting facts of war. Soldier and civilian, victor and vanquished, hero and coward, men, women, young, old—The Iliad evokes in poignant, searing detail the fate of every life ravaged by the Battle of Troy. And, as told by Homer, this ancient epic of a particular Bronze Age conflict becomes a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war throughout the ages. Carved close to the original Greek, acclaimed classicist Caroline Alexander’s new English translation is swift and lean, with the driving cadence of its source—a Homeric epic in scale and yet devastating in its precision and power. This essential translation of the foundational ancient epic offers: A New Translation: Experience the Trojan War through the eyes of acclaimed classicist Caroline Alexander, whose swift and lean prose is carved close to the original Homeric Greek. The Wrath of Achilles: Witness the explosive confrontation between the godlike warrior Achilles and the Greek leader Agamemnon—a bitter feud that changes the course of the war. Greek Mythology: Enter a world of gods and mortals, where the fates of soldiers, civilians, victors, and vanquished are tangled in a devastating conflict. Ancient Poetry: Discover the power of Homer's enduring Bronze Age masterpiece, a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war that resonates through the ages.

Publication Details

Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015
Pages: 608
ISBN: 9780062046291
Language: en

About Homer; Caroline Alexander

Ο Όμηρος είναι ο δημιουργός των ποιητικών έργων της Ιλιάδας και της Οδύσσειας, από τα πρώτα κείμενα της Ιστορικής περιόδου της αρχαίας Ελλάδας, γνωστών ως «Ομηρικά Έπη». Η Ιλιάδα αποτελείται από 15.693 στίχους και αναφέρεται στις τελευταίες πενήντα μία, αποφασιστικής σημασίας ημέρες του πολέμου της Τροίας, ο οποίος συνολικά διήρκεσε, σύμφωνα με τον μύθο, 10 χρόνια. Η Οδύσσεια αποτελείται από 12.110 στίχους και περιγράφει τον δεκαετή αγώνα του Οδυσσέα για τον νόστο (επιστροφή στην πατρίδα του Ιθάκη μετά την κατάληψη της Τροίας). Η γλώσσα των κειμένων είναι η ομηρική ελληνική, μια λογοτεχνική γλώσσα με ανάμειξη χαρακτηριστικών από την ιωνική και την αιολική διάλεκτο με κύρια επιρροή την ανατολική ιωνική διάλεκτο. Πολλοί ερευνητές πιστεύουν ότι αρχικά τα ποιήματα μεταδόθηκαν προφορικά. ---------- Homer (Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος) was an ancient Greek author and epic poet. He is the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two epic poems that are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education. From antiquity until the present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. The ancient Greeks generally believed that Homer was an historical individual, but modern scholars are skeptical: no reliable biographical information has been handed down from classical antiquity, and the poems themselves manifestly represent the culmination of many centuries of oral story-telling and a well-developed "formu