Iliad (Hackett Classics) - Softcover

"It is hard to overstate the attractions of this translation. In a rhythm sinewy and flexible, with language that is precise, lyrical and fresh, Lombardo's Iliad pulses with all the power and luminosity of the Greek. He shows extraordinary sensitivity to the images and aural effects of the ancient poem. There are brilliant touches on every page... The narrator's voice sounds contemporary without losing authority or resonance, while his heroes from an archaic time speak a racy, hard-bitten idiom completely recognisable to our own Iron Age. Altogether this is as good as Homer gets in English." -- Richard P Martin, Professor of Classics, Princeton University. Gripping. . . . Lombardo's achievement is all the more striking when you consider the difficulties of his task. . . . [He] manages to be respectful of Homer's dire spirit while providing on nearly every page some wonderfully fresh refashioning of his Greek. The result is a vivid and disarmingly hardbitten reworking of a great classic. --Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Times Book Review Accessible as Lombardo's translation is, it is rendered even more so by the superb Introduction by Sheila Murnaghan, which provides a rich but lucid discussion of the classical context of the epic. This handsome, superbly done Iliad will be enjoyed by everyone. Highly recommended. --T. F. Merrill, Library Journal ". . . remarkably true to the centrality of performance in Homer, the varied pacing and tone, the clarity, speed, narrative drive, and moments of breathtaking beauty. . . ." --Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University "The most daring, rapid and colloquial translation of Homer's Iliad that I know. [Lombardo's] taut and punchy verse conveys admirably and accurately the excitement and desperation of the battle, the urgency of the commanders, the occasional flashes of humor, the passion of Homer's narrative and the vivid and subtle humanity of his characters." Richard Janko, University College, London "Lombardo's Iliad should be required for every History of Civilization class in America!" David R. Wilson, Brigham Young University "Homer has been well served in recent years by good translators. But this reviewer predicts that the dominant translation for the 21st century will be this masterful version by Stanley Lombardo. . . . In her extremely useful Introduction, Murnaghan lucidly summarizes and makes available for the student and general reader the results of complex scholarship on Homer, and she offers sensitive guidance for reading the Iliad as a work that documents the triumph of the human spirit and not merely as a war poem." Leon Golden, CHOICE

Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas. Sheila Murnaghan is Professor of Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania.