Homer's Iliad, the oldest and greatest epic poem in our culture, was composed in the eighth century BC. It became the single most important literary resource in ancient Greek culture, and has exercised a decisive influence on Western culture an influence which continues to this day. The poem tells the story of a quarrel between Achilles, the greatest of the Achaean warriors in the Greek expedition against Troy, and Agamemnon, the commander of the expedition an argument which causes Achilles to withdraw from the fighting. The battles continue without him, and the ironic unfolding of events eventually leads him to rejoin the war and to seek out the great Trojan warrior Hector for a climactic single combat. The Iliad is our most important war poem. It constantly forces us to confront what goes on in battle, how men sustain themselves amid the horrors of the killing zone, and how the activity is simultaneous intensely and brutally destructive and also, by one of the strangest of all of life's ironies, intensely creative. Ian Johnston's abridged version of Homer's great poem is based upon his acclaimed translation of the complete epic (also published by Richer Resources Publications). The abridged text is approximately one third of the original and presents a coherent narrative poem in which every line is taken from Homer's text, with occasional short summaries to keep the story coherent. This shortened version is an ideal entry into Homer's vision of the world for those who are not yet ready or do not have the time to tackle the full poem. The text is accompanied by a few explanatory footnotes, a glossary of names, and a map indicating the origin of many of the major characters. Your translation of The Iliad is definitely student friendly. I'm using Fagles' translation with my Grade XII Classical Studies classes and your translation would be even better. . . . Thanks for your work. My students will benefit. Peter A. Two summers ago, I happened upon your translation of the Iliad. The Iliad provided a retreat, to which I eventually brought Sophocles, Aeschylus and Ted Hughes. The simple elegance and truth of your translation still delights me. For what the above is all worth, I have a grade 7 English and did not attend university. Merci encore Lupita K I'm currently a sophomore in high school, and I studied the Iliad and Odyssey last year as a freshman. Now, I'm a third year Latin student, and while researching an essay on similarities between the Aeneid and Homer I came upon your translations of the Iliad and Odyssey. Especially for the Aeneid, the only English copies of ancient texts are translations almost as ancient, which are hardly a help when doing research. Your translations of the Homer, however, are easily understandable and have an excellent poetic flow as well. I ended up liking your translations so much that I used them instead of the other modern translations I had read last year. Ian B. I am a visiting assistant professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, MO, ... I am teaching Homer this semester, and I often turn to it to understand better the ancient text. It is a wonderfully written piece of work, and I wanted to give you the satisfaction that your labors have benefited a colleague as well as a new generation of young classicists. Warm regards, Eleni M. I send this note simply to say thank-you for making available your translation of the Iliad. You translation style too keeps close enough to the Greek to allow room for comments about the oral-derived nature of the present text. I was captivated by your new translation of the Iliad. I am currently reading Samuel Butlers translation, having recently discovered Greek Mythology thanks to Dan Simmons' Sci-Fi Novels Ilium and Olympus, and even though it is extremely engaging and fantastic to read, I instantly found that your translation flows better and was more accessible. . . . I cannot tell you of the pleasure I have had reading your translation... It is clear, it is eloquent, and — most importantly — it's exciting. The Iliad thrilled me as a schoolboy and I have eagerly absorbed each of the many versions that have appeared down the years. Our classics teacher was a very wise man — he knew we'd never read it at home as part of an assignment — so he assigned us all roles in the story and we read the whole thing aloud in class over the course of an entire school year. The class was as polarized and confrontational being Greeks and Trojans as were the Jets and the Sharks when Jerome Robbins rehearsed West Side Story. Of course, everyone wanted to be Achilles and nobody wanted to be Hera, but . . I wish to congratulate you on a fine translation of Homers epic poem. For poetic content, I always favored Lattimer's translation. (Who else rendered English into the Greek favored Spondaic Hexameter?) But for flow and understanding, you translation is, in my humble opinion, vastly superior. Again I offer thanks and congratulations for your fin