The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 5, Books 17-20

Name: The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 5, Books 17-20
Rating: 3.8681159420289855 (345 reviews)
Author: Homer
ISBN: 9780140275360

by Homer

3.9

(345 ratings)

704 pages1998PenguinISBN 9780140275360

Poetry Fiction Classics

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About this book

The great war epic of Western literature, translated by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, and featured in the Netflix series The OA A Penguin Classic Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.” This Penguin Classics Deluxe edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. 9780140275360

Publication Details

Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1998
Pages: 704
ISBN: 9780140275360
Language: en

About Homer

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