Product Description

"Each new generation is bound to produce new translations. [Lattimore] has done better with nobility, as well as with accuracy, than any other modern verse translator. [In] our age we do not often find a fine scholar who is also a genuine poet and who takes the greatest pains over the work of translation."--Hugh Lloyd-Jones, New York Review of Books

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4880 in Books
• Published on: 1961-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Customer Reviews

An Outstanding Translation
I am happy to see that this translation of The Iliad of Homer has remained in print. My copy is over 25 years old and I still regard it as my favorite. Mr. Lattimore has sought to preserve the meaning of the Greek words and the didactic hexameter rhythm, including the additional phrases (such as the warlike, breaker of horses etc.) that make the Iliad poetry to be recited, not read. I like the flow of the words and their cadence, and sometimes read aloud.

Also of importance is the introduction to the Iliad by Mr. Lattimore where he provides an analysis of the poem, the Iliad in the context of the story of Troy, the unity of the poem and the figures that populate this heroic tale. This book is not only an outstanding translation but is also a resource for understanding the Iliad. Many scholars have regarded Lattimore's as the finest translation of the Iliad and I think that time has proved this to be an accurate prediction.

A Noble Translation of a Magnificent Work
The ILIAD of Homer is one of the bedrock tales of Western civilization, and Richmond Lattimore's 1951 translation achieves its stated purpose of remembering the four qualities of Homer that Matthew Arnold once set out as key for his translators to keep in mind:

"[Homer] is rapid, plain and direct in thought and expression, plain and direct in substance, and noble."

Taking place in the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, the ILIAD opens with the anger of Achilles at the great king Agamemnon for taking away his favorite concubine (a spoil of war). Each man's pride is too much: Agamemnon refuses to give back the girl and Achilles refuses to continue fighting. Since Achilles is the Greeks' greatest warrior, the fortunes of the Trojans markedly improve while he famously sulks in his tent. But the Greeks fight on, and such heroes as Diomedes, Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus continue the fight to sack Troy as return the queen Helen to her husband Menelaos, King of Argos. Over the lengthy yet colorful descriptions of battle, they are driven back to their ships by the Trojans, led by their prince and greatest warrior, Hektor (brother of Paris, who has stolen Helen with the help of Aphrodite).

The ILIAD is really the story of Achilles, and is his tragedy. Once the danger of defeat seems imminent, Agamemnon offers to give the girl back and make amends (as long as Achilles realizes who's still boss) but Achilles remains caught up in his prideful wrath. He eventually returns to the fight and drives the Trojans back inside their own walls, but the price he pays is dear.

The ILIAD is also notable for its depiction of the gods. Far from being above it all, Athena, Ares and their immortal siblings get right down on the beach and take sides in the war. You might think that a battlefield is no place for the goddess of love, but don't worry, Aphrodite soon learns the same. The Greeks will suffer, but the greater powers of Mt. Olympos are behind them, effectively making their victory inevitable.

Since Lattimore was trying to get as close to the Greek as he could, his English translation is less poetic than those of Robert Fitzgerald or, I imagine, Robert Fagles (who is next on my list). But it does have its own stately rhythm that should hardly be inaccessible to the modern college student or adult. For high schoolers, though, I would recommend reading one of the other translators first, as the first time one reads Homer, it should be for the story. And what a story!

Solid translation, but not my first choice
Some general thoughts....

First, there are several reasons for translating the Iliad. Obviously, it is one of the greatest pieces of literature that has as much to offer modern readers as it did those of antiquity. On the surface, it offers raw emotions, visceral action sequences and colorful characters you admire and hate, often at the same time. But it is much, much deeper than that. The scene where Hector bids his young wife good-bye and holds up his infant son to the gods, praying that the boy will one day be a better man than ever he himself was, has never been equaled as a statement of what it means to be a man, husband or father. The debates about honor and duty are still the same we face every day. The humanity, insight and profound philosophy are remarkable-especially for a work now 3,000 years old.

There are other considerations beyond aesthetics. Recent scholarship has revealed that Homer has much to tell us about real places, people, ideas, actions and politics. Gone is the great Classical scholar Finley's view that the Homeric poems are mostly fictitious and cannot tell much about the heroic Bronze Age. Therefore, there is a need for an accurate, line-to-line translation that can convey the feel of the original meter and still use the full range of words, places and objects that can often be "streamlined" in an adaptation.

This is where Lattimore's translation comes in. This still is probably the most "accurate" translation, preserving the structure of the poem, the full meaning of the Greek words and the original "tone" of the Greek. If you're wading thru the original Greek and want to have something to check against, this translation wins hands down. Also, if your interest in Troy is historical/archaeological, Lattimore is a must. And to be perfectly honest, many, many people have loved the language itself, hailing this as THE classic translation that all others must be judged against.

That said, to just sit down and read the Iliad for sheer enjoyment's sake, Lattimore isn't even my third choice. For all its accuracy, I've always felt I was reading a textbook, written by a classics scholar rather than an honest-to-goodness writer. I suspect casual readers might be put off by the (entirely appropriate) academic feel of the work, and miss the probing intelligence of the translation, the brilliant attempt to convey the peculiarities of the original language and meter into modern form.

This is a notable achievement, but for those who might be looking for a less "formal" translation might be steered toward Fagles' translation, or for a heart-pounding, visceral read, to Stanley Lombardo's vivid translation.