The Iliad: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

I've been wanting to read this for quite a while. this is a great translation if this is your first reading of the story, its written largely in modern idiom making it easy to understand. this is a story every western child grows up knowing and i was even visting the very ruins of troy when i was reading this. Homer's account of the epic siege of Troy is a story we all know yet still it takes you away as you read through it. it does drag a bit at times yet in others its simply epic. Definitely give it a try and persist with it, my advice would be to read it as if you were reading it out to a group of people just as it was originally written to be read, it seems to flow better and feel even more epic this way.

I bought this PB edition of Fagles' translation specifically for the deckled page edges. Anyone not considering deckled page edges to be an enhancement might consider the (non-Deluxe) Penguin Classics edition. The book cover also has French flaps.

Fagles great translation and telling of this great epic. It is accompanied by an excellent essay on the background and history of rhe ten years war between the Greek city-states and Troy,fomented and maintained by the gods. It has very helpful notes on the background, the pronunciation of names, the places and a very full index. Even those who know the basic story well will find that the book sheds new light on the pre-classical world and on human behaviour.The introduction alone is worth the price

Maybe the translation isn't always correct line-for-line - I don't know, I don't read ancient Greek - all I can tell you is that this version feels fast-flowing and epic, draws you into the action and really lets you engage with the heroes. I'd take less word-for-word correctness if it means replicating the true feel and flow of the poem, which I imagine it must do well. Only 4 stars because of the occasional typo and seemingly misplaced apostrophe.

Not a bad version. I'd like to find a copy where Hector kills the insufferable git Achilles mind. Hector gets such a bad press and he is, apart from possibly Patroclus, the only real hero in the book, the chap who overcomes his fear to face his worst nightmare. OK so he get's killed but heroism is facing and overcoming fear not being an unstoppable murderous thug in impenetrable armour who has numerous hissy fits.

Beautiful book, lovely translation. I bought this when it first can out decades ago and I’m really happy it feels the same. Isn’t that enough advice already?

An excellent translation of a truly bloodthirsty tale. It is no wonder that the mythical figures live on in Western cultural memory.

5 stars due to the pace and energy of the translation! I've read other versions, and this is the most powerful.