A major new translation of Homer`s great epic poem, that out of an episode from the Trojan war encapsulates the great tragedy of war, and the meaning of life and death.
Anthony Verity`s rendering transmits the directness, power, and dignity of Homer`s poetry in an elegant and accurate translation that respects the original line numbers.
Barbara Graziosi, an authority on Homeric poetry, offers a full introduction that guides the reader in understanding the composition of the poem, its literary qualities, and the many different contexts in which it was performed and read.
Extensive notes offer book-by-book summaries and elucidate difficult words and passages, mythological allusions, references to ancient practices and artefacts, and geographical names.
An annotated bibliography offers a succinct guide to further scholarship in English; a full index of names enables the reader to trace particular characters through the text; two maps elucidate the Catalogue of Ships (i.e. the geography of Greece) and the Catalogue of the Trojans (i.e. the geography of Asia Minor).
The translation, introduction, notes, and maps are fully informed by up-to-date Homeric scholarship. The line-by-line translation is invaluable for anyone wishing to coordinate the text with the secondary literature.
`War, the bringer of tears...`

For 2,700 years the Iliad has gripped listeners and readers with the story of Achilles` anger and Hector`s death. This tragic episode during the siege of Troy, sparked by a quarrel between the leader of the Greek army and its mightiest warrior, Achilles, is played out between mortals and gods, with devastating human consequences. It is a story of many truths, speaking of awesome emotions, the quest for fame and revenge, the plight of women, and the lighthearted laughter of the gods. Above all, it confronts us with war in all its brutality - and with fleeting images of peace, which punctuate the poem as distant memories, startling comparisons, and doomed aspirations. The Iliad`s extraordinary power testifies to the commitment of its many readers, who have turned to it in their own struggles to understand life and death.

This elegant and compelling new translation is accompanied by a full introduction and notes that guide the reader in understanding the poem and the many different contexts in which it was performed and read.