Product Description

Willcock provides a line-by-line commentary that explains allusions and Homeric conventions that a student or general reader could not be expected to bring to an initial encounter with the Iliad.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #423011 in Books
• Published on: 1976-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 302 pages

Customer Reviews

Thorough commentary
Though not for the impatient, this companion to Lattimore's translation of the Iliad is quite accessible to the non-specialist. Difficult passages are explained by making reference to archaelogical and linguistic evidence, other ancient texts (including the scholia and the Odyssey), and recent research on the transmission of oral literature.

The reader is thus better able to place this seminal literary work in its proper context. Willcox helps us understand the cultural, political and human forces that shaped the Iliad during the centuries it was an oral poem, and the slight variations it probably underwent once committed to the written word.

Overall, an outstanding work of scholarship.

Unreserved Praise for Wilcock's Helpful Guide
I have used this handy guide for over twenty years. I just had to get another one because I gave my first copy to the teacher who replaced me when I retired. It is keyed to the Lattimore translation of the Iliad, and addresses many scholarly and linguistic issues that can be problems when teaching the epic. The first-time reader of Homer can profit from the book as well, but its primary value seems to be for the teacher or the advanced student.