Books by Homer

High on Olympus, Zeus and the assembled deities look down on the world of men, to the city of Troy where a bitter and bloody war has dragged into its tenth year, and a quarrel rages between a legendary warrior and his commander. Greek ships decay, men languish, exhausted, and behind the walls of Troy a desperate people await the next turn of fate.

Homer's great epic, The Odyssey, is perhaps Western literature's first adventure story, and certainly remains one of its finest. It describes King Odysseus of Ithaca's epic, ten-year quest to return home after the Trojan War. He encounters giants, sorceresses, sea-monsters and sirens, while his wife Penelope is forced to resist the suitors who besiege her on Ithaca. Both an enchanting fairy tale and a gripping drama, The Odyssey is immensely influential, not least for its rich complexity and the magnetism of its hero. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition uses a translation by T. E. Lawrence, now remembered as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and the author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. First published in 1932, his translation took four years to complete and has been continuously in print ever since. It is recognized as the first translation to be both faithful to the original text and written in accessible language. This edition also features an afterword by Ben Shaw.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Set during the siege of Troy, The Iliad is truly the ultimate adventure story. Suitable for ages 7-9, this high interest/low vocabulary retelling of The Iliad introduces young readers to Homer's epic tale. It is rewritten for third and fourth graders who can't quite tackle the original and older children at lower reading levels.

Poet and Homeric scholar Barry B. Powell offers a major new translation of this timeless epic poem

A translation of Homer's ""Iliad"" that offers a form of English poetry particularly relevant to the epic, producing a strong musical setting that brings many elements of the narrative truly to life. Most notable are the many battle scenes, in which Homer's strong dactylic hexameters make credible the 'war-lust' in the deeds of the combatants.

Also included is a pronunciation glossary and character index.

The second part of the Odyssey takes epic in new directions, giving significant roles to people of 'lower status' and their way of life: epic notions of the primacy of the aristocrat and the achievements of the Trojan War are submitted to scrutiny. Books XIII and XIV contain some of the subtlest human exchanges in the poem, as Athena and Odysseus spar with each other and Odysseus tests the quiet patience of his swineherd Eumaeus. The principal themes and narrative structures, especially of disguise and recognition, which the second part uses with remarkable economy, are established here. The Introduction also includes a detailed historical account of the Homeric dialect, as well as sections on metre and the text itself. The Commentary on the Greek text pays particular attention to the exposition of unfamiliar linguistic forms and constructions. The literary parts of the Introduction and the Commentary are accessible to all.

This version of the Iliad is ideal for readings and performances.

A stunning new translation of the classic tale of Greeks, Trojans and the fall of Troy; An ILIAD for the 21st century.

Book XXII recounts the climax of the Iliad: the fatal encounter between the main defender of Troy and the greatest warrior of the Greeks, which results in the death of Hector and Achilles' revenge for the death of his friend Patroclus. At the same time it adumbrates Achilles' own death and the fall of Troy. This edition will help students and scholars better appreciate this key part of the epic poem. The introduction summarises central debates in Homeric scholarship, such as the circumstances of composition and the literary interpretation of an oral poem, and offers synoptic discussions of the structure of the Iliad, the role of the narrator, similes and epithets. There is a separate section on language, which provides a compact list of the most frequent Homeric characteristics. The commentary offers up-to-date linguistic guidance, and elucidates narrative techniques, typical elements and central themes.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.'Clanless, lawless, homeless is he who is in love with civil war, that brutal ferocious thing.'The epic poem The Iliad begins nine years after the beginning of the Trojan War and describes the great warrior Achilles and the battles and events that take place as he quarrels with the King Agamemnon. Attributed to Homer, The Iliad, along with The Odyssey, is still revered today as the oldest and finest example of Western Literature.

This long-awaited new edition is designed to bring the book into the 21st century--while leaving the poem as firmly rooted in ancient Greece as ever. Lattimore's elegant, fluent verses--with their memorably phrased heroic epithets and remarkable fidelity to the Greek--remain unchanged, but classicist Martin has added a wealth of supplementary materials designed to aid new generations of readers.

After ten long years of war and the fall of Troy, the Greek hero Odysseus sets sail for his homeland. His voyage, however, is destined to take much longer than he expects.

It is the ninth year of the siege of Troy by the Greeks. Will the fighting go on for ever?

Suitable for children aged 7 to 9 years old, this title tells Homer's epic tale of the warrior Odysseus' decades-long struggle to return home after the Trojan War. It lets young readers thrill at Odysseus' adventures with the man-eating Cyclops; the enchantress Circe, who turns his crew into pigs and the angry sea god Poseidon.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.'Alas that mortalsShould blame the gods! From us, they say,All evils come. Yet they themselvesIt is who through defiant deedsBring sorrow on them-far more sorrowThan fate would have them bear.'Attributed to the blind Greek poet, Homer, The Odyssey is an epic tale about cunning and strength of mind. It takes its starting point ten years after the fall of the city of Troy and follows its Greek warrior hero Odysseus as he tries to journey to his home of Ithaca in northwest Greece after the Greek victory over the Trojans.On his travels, Odysseus comes across surreal islands and foreign lands where he is in turn challenged and supported by those that he meets on his travels as he attempts to find his way back home in order to vanquish those who threaten his estate. In turn, his son Telemachus has to grow up quickly as he attempts to find his father and protect his mother from her suitors.Dealing with the universal themes of temptation and courage, the epic journey that Odysseus undertakes is as meaningful today as it was almost 3,000 years ago when the story was composed.

Originally published as part of the Pitt Press Series in 1921, this book not only provides the full text of the 21st book of the Iliad, but also includes an introductory guide for the new Greek scholar that addresses issues of vocabulary, translation possibilities and metrical issues.

One of the oldest extant works of Western literature, the Iliad is a timeless epic poem of great warriors trapped between their own heroic pride and the arbitrary, often vicious decisions of fate and the gods. Renowned scholar and acclaimed translator Peter Green captures the Iliad in all its surging thunder for a new generation of readers. Featuring an enticingly personal introduction, a detailed synopsis of each book, a wide-ranging glossary, and explanatory notes for the few puzzling in-text items, the book also includes a select bibliography for those who want to learn more about Homer and the Greek epic. This landmark translation-specifically designed, like the oral original, to be read aloud-will soon be required reading for every student of Greek antiquity, and the great traditions of history and literature to which it gave birth.

Books XVII and XVIII of the Odyssey feature, among other episodes, the disguised Odysseus' penetration of his home after an absence of twenty years and his first encounter with his wife. The commentary provides linguistic and syntactical guidance suitable for upper-level students along with detailed consideration of Homer's compositional and narrative techniques, his literary artistry and the poem's central themes. An extensive introduction considers questions of formulaic composition, the nature of the poem's audience and the context of its performance, and isolates the concerns most prominent in the poem's second half and in Books XVII and XVIII in particular. Here too are considered the roles of Penelope and Telemachus, questions of disguise and recognition, and the institution of hospitality flaunted by the suitors in Odysseus' halls. Brief sections also discuss Homeric metre and the transmission of the text.

The classic tale of Odysseus's return home in a stunning new translation.

Much more than a series of battle scenes, the Iliad is a work of extraordinary pathos and profundity that concerns itself with issues as fundamental as the meaning of life and death.

Shewring's superb prose translation comes as close to the spirit of the original Greek as our language will allow.

Penelope has been waiting for her husband Odysseus to return from Troy for many years. Will he overcome the hideous monsters, beautiful witches and treacherous seas that confront him? This rich and beautiful adventure story is one of the most influential works of literature in the world.