Reviews with content warning for Genocide - The Iliad

Amazing, show-stopping, never the same. The story of the Trojan war is so good that even though this was tedious to get through at times, I am interested in reading Caroline Alexander's translation and Alessandro Baricco's adaptation.

I got this copy for $3 at books a million a while ago. I wish at the time I'd know about different translations. Pope's translation isn't as beautiful as some other's I've seen through quotes floating around the internet (mostly Alexander's). I'm not a huge fan for using the Roman names instead of the greek. Also he repeatedly translates Athena as "the blue eyed goddess" when everyone knows the correct is "grey-eyed".

What makes the Iliad hard to read is many of the characters have multiple names, their given name and the one that is a version of son of ___. And there's no introduction to most characters so you know who they are talking about beforehand. Same goes for the use of epithets, you have to play close attention to any details (like eye color) or where they come from (king of ___) to know who is talking sometimes.

I don't know if it was Homer or Pope who chose to use similes to about lions and bears to describe some fighting, but they get really tiresome after a while because they are all the same. I get it the men were as vicious as lions or boar, no need to keep expanding on that.

Another difficulty is the wide cast of characters. It feels like almost every infantryman is listed by name. However, as tiresome as listing the names of all who fell in battle can be, it does make you realize that the men who are dying are ppl, they mention who their parents are, so you get the feeling they are waiting for them back home and won't ever see their son again. You really get the tragedy of it all. And Pope does not skip the chance to describe the violence of the slaughter, his descriptions are gorier than I would have imagined, lots of blood and organs coming out and corpses dishonored by chariots or scavengers. Just gross and heartbreaking.

Finally, I wasn't aware that the Iliad doesn't cover the whole Trojan war, only a small part. I think the protagonists are Achilles and Hector, as Achilles's rage and quitting the fight allows Hector to rise in fame by winning more battles. And the Iliad concludes not with the fall of Troy but with Achilles returning Hector's body to his father, which redeems them both. I'm now interested in reading the Aeneid, which I know slanders my boy Achilles, but I want to read the final fall of Troy.

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