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Homer
The Ancient History Encyclopedia’s entry on Homer offers a condensed but useful overview of everything we know about the Greek poet as well as a discussion about the limits of our knowledge. In addition to information about both The Iliad and The Odyssey, the entry also includes many embedded links to related topics in Ancient Greek history that may be of interest to students of Homer.
Ancient Greece
This site contains a series of sixteen animated historical maps that detail the evolution of the ancient Greek world. Students will find a rich trove of information on the evolution of ancient Greek geography as well as ancient languages, population migrations, and key wars and conflicts.
Did Ancient Troy Really Exist?
This short animated video provides an engaging history of Troy. It begins by briefly retelling the story of the Trojan War, but the bulk of the video focuses on the efforts by archaeologists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to locate the site of historical Troy and unearth its hidden secrets.
Deaths in The Iliad: A Classics Infographic
Created by Greek Myth Comix, this page uses comics-inspired infographics to present detailed data about the number and kinds of deaths that occur throughout The Iliad. Both amusing and informative, the infographics break the death data down by book number as well as by Achaean and Trojan “battle stats by hero.”
Author Says a Whole Culture—Not a Single ‘Homer’—Wrote Iliad, Odyssey
Simon Worrall’s illustrated essay features an interview with Adam Nicolson on his book, Why Homer Matters. The interview discusses various topics related to the mystery of Homer’s identity as well as the uncertain history of his poems’ composition and transmission over the centuries.
Why The Iliad Still Matters Today
Produced for the radio program PBS News Hour, this 12-minute audio clip features Jeffrey Brown interviewing Caroline Alexander on her translation of The Iliad and the ongoing relevance of Homer’s poem. Alexander is the first woman to have published a translation of The Iliad.
Englishing The Iliad: Grading Four Rival Translations
In his review piece for The New Yorker, Daniel Mendelsohn compares four different English translations of The Iliad, including those by Alexander Pope (1720), Richmond Lattimore (1951), Robert Fagles (1990), and Stephen Mitchell (2011). In discussing how each of these translators renders a particular passage, Mendelsohn offers an enlightening glimpse into the difficult art of translating from Ancient Greek.
Translating The Iliad? Who Isn’t.
James Romm’s think piece for The Daily Beast discusses the recent surge in publications of new translations of The Iliad. Rather than focusing on the differences between translations, Romm investigates what has led so many translators to tackle the epic task of rendering Homer’s 15,693-line poem into English.
‘We are all Trojans . . .’: Homer’s Poetic Legacy
This page reproduces the text of a talk delivered by Dr. Antony Makrinos on the literary influence of Homer’s poetry. Makrinos focuses on the important modern Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy, who was an astute student of Homer and who produced a large amount of poetry written in response to his ancient compatriot.
