Homer

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world's greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns, the heroism and treachery of its combatants unmatched in song and story. Driven by fierce passions and loyalties, men and gods battle to a devastating conclusion. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife, Penelope. Though the stormy god of the ocean has sworn vengeance against him, and witches and sirens try to lure him off course, Odysseus is clever and has the brilliant goddess Athena on his side.

An accessible Iliad for twenty-first-century readersA classic of Western literature for three millennia, Homer's Iliad captivates modern readers - as it did ancient listeners - with its tale of gods and warriors at the siege of Troy. Now Herbert Jordan's line-for-line translation brilliantly renders the original Greek into English blank verse - the poetic form most closely resembling our spoken language. Raising the bar set by Richmond Lattimore in 1951, Jordan employs a pleasing five-beat meter and avoids unnecessary filler. Whereas other verse renditions are longer than the original, owing to the translators' indulgence in personal poetics, Jordan avoids ""line inflation."" The result, an economical translation, captures the force and vigor of the original poem. E. Christian Kopff's introduction to this volume sets the stage and credits Jordan with conveying the action and movement of the Iliad in ""contemporary language and a supple verse."" This new Iliad offers twenty-first-century readers the thrill of a timeless epic and affords instructors a much-needed alternative for literature surveys.