The Iliad

'Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued translators of Homer.' Atlantic Monthly The Iliad is the story of a few days' fighting in the tenth year of the legendary war between the Greeks and the Trojans, which broke out when Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, abducted the fabulously beautiful Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. After a quarrel between the Greek commander, Agamemnon, and the greatest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, the gods become more closely involved in the action. Their intervention leads to the tragic death of Hector, the Trojan leader, and to the final defeat of the Trojans. But the Iliad is much more than a series of battle scenes. It is a work of extraordinary pathos and profundity that concerns itself with issues as fundamental as the meaning of life and death. Even the heroic ethic itself - with its emphasis on pride, honour, prowess in battle, and submission to the inexorable will of the gods - is not left unquestioned.

ISBN 0199536791   Pages 496 ISBN13 9780199536795 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 358 Publisher Oxford University Press   Published in Oxford Imprint Oxford University Press   Series title Oxford World's Classics Format Paperback   Previous ISBN 9780192834058 Publication date 10 Jul 2008   Height (mm) 196 Translator Robert Fitzgerald   Width (mm) 128 DEWEY 883.01   Spine width (mm) 31 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General

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