The Iliad | Homer, Robert Fagles (Translation)

The Iliad sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Usually considered to have been written down circa the 8th century BC, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, along with the Odyssey, another epic poem attributed to Homer, which tells of Odysseus's experiences after the events of the Iliad. In the modern vulgate (the standard accepted version), the Iliad contains 15,693 lines, divided into 24 books; it is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek and other dialects. It is usually grouped in the Epic Cycle.

Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states (Achaeans), it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.

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"The Iliad" is a broad, layered story of a war that melds the worlds of the individual with that of his "nation" and the great immortal divine gods, where each layer is fascinating. As a story about war, it is also about the destruction of lives and the increasing desensitisation of readers. For this reason and many others, "The Iliad" is a disturbing story.

Coming across this work is like entering a museum where numerous secondary or tertiary importance products in smaller galleries lead up to a large central atrium containing the Iliad. The poem is the aesthetic centre of the entire collection. This is the great paradox of Greek literature: it does not open with something crude, primitive, and in need of development or refinement. Instead, it is a work of such amazing perfection that it remains the standard by which everything else is measured.

Iliad is a long and arduous epic poem, replete with descriptions of weapons and combat, but it makes up for every complaint with sublime passages and surprising naturalisation of characters.

Brief plot reposition: Iliad focuses on the eternal anger of Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Achaeans, over the theft of his spoils, which included Briseis (Hippodameia). Of course, he will be missed in battle, even though there are other good warriors among the Greeks. Meanwhile, the gods fight on Olympus because some protect the Achaeans (Hera, Athena, Poseidon) and others the Trojans (Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite). Zeus tips the scales of victory because he has a plan that I obviously won't reveal. I could say that the twenty-four songs are thematic, and the mortals and the immortals share the leading role.

Due to its oral composition, some verses are repeated many times because they work as a "review," so I have no reason to remove stars. There are also inconsistencies (minor, but inconsistencies after all) between an action A and an action B, something that would be unforgivable in a written text. However, the flaws don't make it any less perfect. I loved it just the same. There are vibrant stories that are told in the middle of a fight (the opponents talked a lot with each other before killing each other), recoveries of well-known myths, and not so much heroism, cruelty, and despair. The only thing that hinders the reading of the book a bit is the descriptions of the weapons, the ships, the armies, and some hand-to-hand combat that provide material to locate oneself spatially, for example. And it is perfect to dwell on them because they highlight cultural, historical, and social aspects. The problem is that they cause a feeling of standby as if they were never going to end. Fortunately, they do. Once the action restarts, there's little to get upset about and plenty to score. The songs at the end are great; they were a kind of reward for my patience as a reader. Elements from the 19th century appear (and reappear), making everything more dynamic.

The characters are not psychologically developed. There is no gradual evolution of them, but they act radically. Brooding his anger away from combat, Achilles can be as barbaric as he is pious, just as Zeus seems as omnipotent as he is friendly. Perhaps the nuances do not abound, but it was impossible for me not to side with one of the characters to hope that their destiny (from early on, they themselves are going to be in charge of notifying how and when they are going to die) is not fulfilled. For some reason, one already feels that one knows them, and they become natural, flesh and blood. And I learned that Zeus is ruthless even when Hera distracts him. A feminine comment that I do not want to omit and that can be useful: at that time, women were nothing more than objects that, in the "best" of cases, were used as prizes and ensured offspring and, in the worst, were annoying, they needed a pair of shouts and provoked pathetic fights. We can't change history, but it can be considered before deciding to throw the book out the window. And then there is Athena as balance, whose interventions are fascinating and very important. Immortals have a slight edge in this whole thing.

Iliad requires time and attention, two things necessary to not abandon it. Much more is learned in its pages than in the disaggregated search of some myths, and the repetitions of Homer allow us to rest on some points to concentrate on others. History, philosophy, and the way of seeing the world that the Greeks had is material for a rereading, but the first one can be done calmly. The really "bad" thing about this book is that it leads to reading more ancient texts to complete the picture, and my to-read list is suffering. And I'm already in the recovery process to continue with the Odyssey.

Many men die in this story, in which each of them has some legendary ability and promising life, which is interrupted by another one who has another legendary ability and another promising life. Each man has an additional name attached to his, that of his father, who will mourn his loss. Homer portrays with unflinching honesty the terrible cost of war, where lives are destroyed, families are torn apart, and cities are doomed for destruction. The death of each man is dramatic, graphic, melee, and face-to-face, a contest in which all men are equal, and yet none are as good as Achilles. This man's glory is made by his great power, which is only revealed by his great vanity. He refuses to fight for years, so his entire nation's army is almost completely annihilated.

I think it's worth mentioning a lot about the scope of the characters on display in this tale because it's worth noting that none are exceptionally detailed or comprehensive. I would say that these characters are profoundly shallow. I didn't mind this, although the lack of character development was somewhat confusing. That said, it allowed me to build a straightforward understanding of the men and (few) women in this story, so I connected them almost uniquely to specific character traits or ideas.

Phrases that caught my attention

1. "…There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover's whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad."

2. "Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."

3. "Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another."

4. "Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter."

5. "Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans."

6. "Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds, and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away."

Concluding Thoughts

Reading The Iliad was hard work because its many pages are filled with seemingly endless graphic descriptions of battlefield assassination, but every once in a while, there is a passage that is so staggering or ridiculously gory that it makes it worth reading. Ultimately, this is a wonderful story about war, which encapsulates the extremes of the human experience, and the Iliad puts it into words. It is beautiful, terrible, stupid, and noble at the same time. Even though the characters are gods, demigods, and heroes, they all feel fully human. They are petty and irrational and contradict each other on a daily basis, but they also care about love, glory, honour, and family. It shows that the line between good and evil is within each person, not between groups: he loved and hated the Trojans and the Greeks, depending on which page he was on at the time. He definitely earns his place as a timeless classic. #Homer #TheIliad #RobertFagles #PenguinClassics #EpicPoem