What Readers Have Said on Amazon.com About This Translation

"A lovely and quite readable translation"
February 18, 2009, by Remy "Miacomet Remy" (the Bay State, USA):

"I decided to tiptoe into Jordan's translation and was surprised; it too was rather good as he decided to return to the iambic pentameter -- the 5 beat line -- and avoid a lot of fluff to make the story more readable.

Here's a good example of when Achilles mourns his father & best friend Patroclus:

'Let our hearts be quiet despite the grief we feel.
There is nothing to be gained by more lament.
The gods ordain that we miserable mortals
Shall lives in sorrow, while they have no cares.
On Zeus's floor there stands a pair of jars
one each for the good and ill fortune he gives.
The man who receives a mixture from both
encounters sometimes bounty, sometimes pain.
A man to whom Zeus gives only the ill
must stagger hungry over the earth's face,
roaming, honored by neither gods nor men.'

Great stuff."

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"Excellent Translation!"
March 5, 2009, by Richard Bryson "sbcorgi" (USA):

"I have enjoyed reading this translation more so than others I have attempted through my life. It has a proper noun pronunciation guide in the back too that helps, for those of us who are not Greek scholars."

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"The ground is dark with blood"
September 13, 2009, By bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas):

With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad. Each translation can give a different insight and feel to the story. Everyone will have a favorite. I have several.

For example:

"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls. But made their bodies carrion,
feasts for dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles."
-Translated by Robert Fagles

"Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another."
-Translated by Samuel Butler

"Rage:
Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades' dark,
And let their bodies rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.
Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--
The Greek Warlord--and godlike Achilles."
-Translated by Stanley Lombardo

"Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men--carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
Begin it when the two men first contending
broke with one another--
the Lord Marshal Agamémnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus."
-Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son of Achilleus
and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,
hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood the division of conflict
Atrecus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus."
-Translated by Richmond Lattimore

"Sing, goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles' anger,
ruinous, that caused the Greeks untold ordeals,
consigned to Hades countless valiant souls,
heroes, and left their bodies prey for dogs
or feast for vultures. Zeus's will was done
from when those two first quarreled and split apart,
the king, Agamemnon, and matchless Achilles."
-Translated by Herbert Jordan

You will find that some translations are easier to read but others are easier to listen to on recordings, lectures, Kindle, and the like.

Our story takes place in the ninth year of the ongoing war. We get some introduction to the first nine years but they are just a background to this tale of pride, sorrow and revenge. The story will also end abruptly before the end of the war.

We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields.

Although the more focused conflict is the power struggle between two different types of power. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes form position.

We are treated to a blow by blow inside story as to what each is thinking and an unvarnished description of the perils of war and the search for Arête (to be more like Aries, God of War.)"

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The Reader Reviews quoted above appear on Amazon.com at this location.

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