The Iliad

The Iliad is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, for which Barry Powell, one of the twenty-first century’s leading Homeric scholars, has given us a magnificent new translation. Graceful, lucid, and energetic, Powell’s translation renders the Homeric Greek with a simplicity and dignity reminiscent of the original.

The text immediately engrosses students with its tight and balanced rhythms, while the incantatory repetitions evoke a continuous "stream of sound" that offers as good an impression of Homer’s Greek as one could hope to attain without learning the language. Accessible, poetic, and accurate, Powell’s translation is an excellent fit for today’s students.

With swift, transparent language that rings both ancient and modern, it exposes them to all of the rage, pleasure, pathos, and humour that are Homer's Iliad. Both the translation and the introduction are informed by the best recent scholarship.

Features:

• Uses well-modulated verse and accurate English that is contemporary but never without dignity.
• Powell’s introduction sets the poem in its philological, mythological, and historical contexts.
• Features unique on-page notes, facilitating students’ engagement with the poem.
• Embedded illustrations accompanied by extensive captions provide Greek and Roman visual sources for key passages in each of the poem’s twenty-four books.
• Eight maps (the most of any available translation) provide geographic context for the poem’s many place names.
• Audio recordings (read by Powell) of fifteen important passages are available at www.oup.com/us/powell and indicated in the text margin by an icon.