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• Synopsis
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Synopsis

‘Look at me. I am the son of a great man. A goddess was my mother. Yet death and inexorable destiny are waiting for me’

One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer’s Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles’ close friend Patroclus, he storms back into battle to take revenge – although knowing this will ensure his own early death. Interwoven with this tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, of the domestic world inside Troy’s besieged city of Ilium, and of the conflicts between the Gods on Olympus as they argue over the fate of mortals.

E. V. Rieu’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s Iliad was one of the first titles published in Penguin Classics, and now has classic status itself. For this edition, Rieu’s text has been revised, and a new introduction and notes by Peter Jones complement the original introduction.

Reviews

Customer Review: 04 September 2012

Reviewer: Martin Jones

'If you only read one book from the classical cannon, read the Iliad and read E V Rieu''s translation - I am no classical scholar, nor even particularly literary minded, but everything about humanity is here - arrogance, scheming, aggression, compassion, love, loyalty, duplicity and above all the finiteness of human endeavour. '

Table of contents

The Iliad
1. Plague and Wrath
2. A Dream, a Testing and the Catalogue of Ships
3. A Duel and a Trojan View of the Greeks
4. The Oath is Broken and Battle Joined
5. Diomedes' Heroics
6. Hector and Andromache
7. Ajax Fights Hector
8. Hector Triumphant
9. The Embassy to Achilles
10. Diomedes and Odysseus: The Night Attack
11. Achilles Takes Notice
12. Hector Storms the Wall
13. The Battle at the Ships
14. Zeus Outmanoeuvred
15. The Greeks at Bay
16. The Death of Patroclus
17. The Struggle Over Patroclus
18. Achilles' Decision
19. The Feud Ends
20. Achilles on the Rampage
21. Achilles Fights the River
22. The Death of Hector
23. The Funeral and the Games
24. Priam and Achilles

Appendices
1. A Brief Glossary
2. Ommitted Fathers' Names

Index

Product details

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