Iliad, Vol. 1: Greek Text

Perhaps the best-known and most influential of the Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey stand in a class by themselves. The poems are the oldest existing works of Western literature. Their style and content played such an important role in shaping subsequent Greek culture that Homer was often called the teacher of Greece. The style of Greek used in the works has become its own form or dialect, known as Homeric Greek. Like the works of Cicero, the Iliad and the Odyssey are studied for their eloquent use of language. Innumerable works of literature, theater, and poetry have been written based on or responding to the Iliad and the Odyssey. The influence carries right up to our own day. One of the most important literary work of the twentieth century, James Joyce’s Ulysses, is a direct and intentional parallel of the Odyssey (Ulysses is the Latin version of Odysseus, the main character in the Odyssey). This volume contains the Greek text of the first volume of Homer’s Iliad.