The Iliad

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.

Table of Contents:
The IliadForeword Introduction Introduction to the 1950 Edition Notes on this Revision The Main Characters Further Reading Maps: 1. A reconstruction of Homer's imagined battlefields 2. The Troad 3. Trojan places and contingents 4. Homeric Greece 5. Greek contingents at Troy Preliminaries 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

About the Author :
Homer is thought to have lived c.750-700 BC in Ionia and is believed to be the author of the earliest works of Western Literature- The Odyssey and The Iliad. E V Rieu was a celebrated translator from Latin and Greek, and editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-64. His son, D C H Rieu, has revised his work. Peter Jones is former lecturer in Classics at Newcastle. He co-founded the 'Friends of Classics' society and is the editor of their journal and a columnist for The Spectator.

Review :
“Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued translators of Homer. The narrative runs, the dialogue speaks, the military action is clear, and the repetitive epithets become useful text rather than exotic relics.” –Atlantic Monthly “Fitzgerald’s swift rhythms, bright images, and superb English make Homer live as never before…This is for every reader in our time and possibly for all time.”–Library Journal “[Fitzgerald’s Odyssey and Iliad] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer’s art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase.” –The Yale Review “What an age can read in Homer, what its translators can manage to say in his presence, is one gauge of its morale, one index to its system of exultations and reticences. The supple, the iridescent, the ironic, these modes are among our strengths, and among Mr. Fitzgerald’s.” –National Review With an Introduction by Gregory Nagy