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| Author: Homer
Creator: Richmond Lattimore
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $11.34
You Save: $2.66 (19%)
Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 3170
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0226469409
Dewey Decimal Number: 883
EAN: 9780226469409
Publication Date: June 1, 1961
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Best English Version January 21, 2007
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Aside from Pope's, which sadly is very difficult to locate, Lattimore's Iliad is the best English Iliad ever made for a number of reasons. First, Lattimore translates the poem line by line, so that, if you want to follow the Greek text, you'll be able to do so with much greater facility than, Fagles, for example, who translates in verse "paragraphs" rather than lines. In Lattimore's careful, graceful rendering of Homer's prosody lends the verse authenticity without ever slipping into the pedantic. The line-by-line approach, moreover, most faithfully carries Homer's rhetoric and pace.
Second, Lattimore preserves Homer's formulas. Where a series of lines appears describing some event or passing some message, Homer packages those lines and repeats them virtually verbatim when the subject comes up again. Thus, for example, Agamemnon's speech in which he "tests" the resolve of the Greeks to raze Troy (with unfortunate results), by falsely urging them to drop ship and flee, is repeated almost exactly later in the poem when Agamemmnon really means it (2: 110-141; 9: 17-28). Similarly, each major character has a set of adjectives and adjectival phrases describing the character ("brilliant", "swift-footed" Achilles; Hector "of the shining helm" the "flowing-haired" Achaens, the "deep-benched" ships, etc.) These formulas accompany the characters and objects throughout the poem. Lattimore observes these formulas. (Fagles does too, frequently but not consistently. Fitzgerald generally does not.)
Third, Lattimore's rendering of the dactylic hexameter characteristic of Homer's verse, is amazing, at times bordering on the miraculous. Dactylic meters are generally awkward in English ("higgledy piggledy"). The virtousity, ease and fluidity that Lattimore acheives is something I wouldn't have believed possible before reading it here.
Because Lattimore tries throughout to translate what Homer said, rather than what one wishes he said (see Lattimore's introduction), the English verse is supple and aptly conveys what "makes it great." Moreover, the emotional and dramatic contexts are reliable. The butchering and slaughtering are immediate and terrible; the teeth-chattering fear of the heroes in the face of certain destruction prepares the many remarkable instances when a hero will flee rather than fight; the poignancy of Hector's grim certainty of his fate (as expressed in the famous scene in Book 6 where he "lets go" his heart's dearest treasure because he knows it is his destiny to do so) is dark and heartwrenching. Consider the famous speech of Achilles to Lycaon in Book 21, before Achilles cuts him down with a single stroke of his sword: After acknowledging that in a previous encounter, Achilles agreed to spare Lycaon and sell him into slavery instead, Achilles addresses Lycaon stoically, even calling Lycaon his "friend" before butchering him. Reminding Lycaon that that was then and this is now, Achilles points out that no one can survive his rage over Patroclus' death. "So, friend, you die also. Why all this clamor about it?/ Patroklos also is dead, who was far better than you are./ Do you not see what a man I am, so huge, so splendid/ and born of a great father, and the mother who bore me immortal?/ Yet even I have also my death and my strong destiny,/ and there shall be a dawn or an afternoon or a noontime/when some man in the fighting will take the life of me also,/ either with a spearcast or an arrow flown from the bowstring...." This speech is as moving and strange in English as it is in Greek. Nobody touches Lattimore in lyricism and profundity of diction in passages like this.
These are just a few of the many qualities that put Lattimore at the top of Homer's modern English translators. It is impossible to overstate the virtuosity of Lattimore's line. I hate comparisons of apples and oranges, even where they improbably fall from the same tree. That said, if I could only have one translation, it would be Lattimore's. Fagles' is very fine, and both reveal aspects of Homer's genius with a brilliance unknown before their separate appearances. Lattimore, however, renders the poem's diction, style and thematic exposition more closely than Fagles, and since Homer's poem iw what we want to read when we read it in English, this is the bottom line. (Fitzgerald doesn't compare.) But since we live in times of unprecedented abundance, I don't have to make that choice.
My only quibble: Lattimore tries, inconsistently, to transliterate names more "accurately," than in most versions. Thus, Achilles is "Achilleus;" Ajax is "Aias." Admirable sentiment. Awkward for the verse. I ignore it and "hear" the received versions when I'm reading Lattimore.
Lattimore does justice to Homer April 14, 2001
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
The reviewer from San Diego who said the Lattimore translation was good for classics students, bad for everyone else, is dead wrong. Lattimore captures the feel and spirit of Homer better than any other translation into English. If you're not accustomed to reading literature, whether in a highly inflected language or not, you might have trouble with Lattimore, but that does not diminish the quality of Lattimore's work. Anyone who can read poetic narrative can read and appreciate Lattimore. I have read the Iliad and Odyssey in Lattimore's translations at least 4 times each and each time I find more to appreciate. Most of the lovers of great literature I know prefer Lattimore for the same reason -- his translation is so natural and simple. Hey, San Diego, if you want difficult, try the translations of Homer by Alexander Pope, or George Chapman.
 Best verse translation of Homer's Iliad April 6, 2004
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Of all the verse translations of Homer's Iliad that I have read, Lattimore's is certainly the finest. Though Robert Fitzgerald's translation is probably one of the most popular, I think Fitzgerald has taken too much liberties with the language, sprinkling his own metaphors like salt and pepper indiscriminately over the text and thereby distorting Homer's style in a very inexcusable fashion. Fagles's translation is also good, but a bit too "close". Even Homer's contemporaries know that this poem with a heroic age inretrievably lost in the tide of time. Even though Lattimore's translation may seem heavily formulaic and pedantic at the first glance, a little bit of patience and thought will help you in appreciating the power and beauty of this masterpiece.
This paperback edition is probably the only real edition out there. I still cannot understand why nobody bothers to print the hardcover editions from the 50s and 60s any longer. Those give much more space in the margin for notes and scribbles (and who can read the Iliad without being tempted to scribble a line or two!). However, since the paperback is all there is one must be content...
Those who read the Iliad will not fail to see why Homer is considered the first creative genius in the Western Canon. The Iliad is a flawless masterpiece sustaining the same tone from the beginning to the end, tragic in a sense that the tragedy is too great for tears. Book 22, the climactic book of the Iliad, is THE most powerful crescendo ever constructed. There is no doubt to the outcome: Hector WILL die and Troy WILL fall--these are given in Book I. The Iliad does not rely on suspense to captivate the audience. Rather, the experience of reading the Iliad may be summarized as the twillight region between day and night, during which we the readers know what will happen--wait for it to happen--and meanwhile, when faced to death as all the Homeric heroes, reflect on the meaning of life, of death, of glory, and of our common lot.
Excellent English Iliad January 28, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Richmond Lattimore's translation of The Iliad is the strongest, most resonant version I have yet read. It doesn't have the energy or the high poetry of the Fagles or Fitzgerald translations, but it is nevertheless the most moving and the most rewarding to read.
Lattimore's translation approximates as closely as possible what it would have been like to hear Homer speak for himself, in long, rhythmic lines that leisurely extol the story of Achilles's wrath. One feature that I found helpful was Lattimore's direct transliteration of Greek names into English, rather than using their Latin equivalents. Here, Achilles is Achilleus, Menelaus is Menelaos, Hephaestus is Hephaistos, and so forth. Printing the names so that they can be pronounced as they were in the original Greek helped in separating this reading of Homer from those I had experienced before. And unlike the Fitzgerald translation, these names are not encumbered with accent marks and other distracting apparatus.
Lattimore's introduction is also worthwhile. He spends a few pages examining each of the many major figures--Odysseus, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Paris, Hektor--as well as describing the cultural context of Homer's epic. And index of characters and where in the text they can be found makes this, along with the introduction, an excellent edition for students and beginners.
But the chief attraction is, of course, the story itself. As I said, this is neither the most energetic nor poetic of the English versions, but it is certainly the best and most faithful to the original. Despite having read The Iliad several times before, I found myself moved and excited again and again by the often poignant scenes of war that Homer presents.
If you only read one English version of The Iliad, make this it. Highly recommended.
 Good for a Greek student, bad for everyone else July 10, 2000
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
I had to read this over the summer for my English class. Frankly, I think that a much better translation could have been chosen. Greek is not based on word order, as is English, and thus two words, say "big man" are often separated in a sentence. Lattimore, rather than taking the logical route and putting the words together, often translates them in the order that they appear in the text! So then that sentence becomes: "the man, walking across the field, big, kills another man." As you can see, this often leads to confusion, as it is hard to tell which words modify one another. It also sounds very awkward and unpoetic. Indeed, I feel that Lattimore steals the poetic beauty away from Homer's masterpiece. I wish I could read Greek to experience it in its original form!Despite its monotony and confusion, however, I suppose this translation would be excellent for someone studying the text rather than reading it for the sake of reading, since it is basically word by word.
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