The Iliad (AmazonClassics Edition) - Softcover

Homer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1542047595 ISBN 13: 9781542047593

Publisher: AmazonClassics, 2017

Synopsis

After nine years fighting the Trojan War, the Greeks sense imminent defeat. The gods have cursed them with a plague; the Trojans have set their ships on fire; and their best warrior, the impenetrable Achilles, has turned his back on them. But when the Trojans go too far and kill Patroclus, his beloved brother-in-arms, Achilles returns to the battlefield with a vengeance so terrible that it shocks even the gods.

Written by Homer more than twenty-five hundred years ago, The Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature―the seminal epic narrative of infantry combat, the scars of battle, and the inevitability of fate.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literature’s most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Iliad, this edition of The Iliad (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

About this title

About the Author

Homer is believed to have been born sometime between the twelfth and eighth centuries BC. While the works of Greek poets have been a significant influence on Western culture and literature, very little is known about the blind bard from Ionia. Some scholars allege that the epics The Iliad and The Odyssey were actually composed by a group of storytellers who worked in the oral tradition.

Regardless, the epics attributed to Homer have become the chief source for world mythology, early human society, and life in ancient Greece.

Edward Smith-Stanley, fourteenth earl of Derby (1799–1869), was the leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party from 1846 to 1868, and served as prime minister three times. A statesman and scholar, he won the chancellor’s Latin verse prize at Oxford. In 1864, he published the translation of The Iliad in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, which we enjoy today.

Edition details

• Publisher: AmazonClassics
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1542047595
• ISBN 13: 9781542047593
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 655