Reading the Iliad

[Anonymous No.23453153]

>"Did you bless the son of Thetis, didn't you?"
>"Why are you always suspicious of me, woman? Do you want to stray away from my heart?"
>...
>"And what if I did? I do what I want. If I want to beat the crap out of you not even the entire Olympus can stop me"

Lol this is gold

[Anonymous No.23453163]

>>23453153
Homer’s humor and heroic quips are incredibly underrated desu

[Anonymous No.23453362]

The Iliad, translated by Samuel Butler

[Anonymous No.23453380]

Always wanted to get off my ass and read the Iliad, but still can't decide on a translation

[Anonymous No.23453386]

>>23453380
you could have learned Ancient Greek by now

[Jon Kolner No.23453398]

>>23453380
Robert Fagles

There. You have a translation. Now read it.

[Anonymous No.23453399]

>>23453380
LATTIMORE. Always fucking Lattimore, it's so damn simple.

[Anonymous No.23453403]

>>23453398
>>23453399
You see what I'm frickin saying?

[Anonymous No.23453437]

>>23453380
You can read multiple translations. You don’t have to be frozen with indecision.

[Anonymous No.23453459]

So Afrodite likes cute boys

[Anonymous No.23453503]

>>23453153
The Iliad kind of sucks.
There are some gems, but then you have entire books that are just "then came Ilintharus, son of Regialus, son of Gortexus, who hailed from Theriopolis, the grand city of the historical Corlithirus region, which lay south of river scamander, but north of the town of zanith. With him he brought 50 ships, 200 men, and 40 mares".
Then it fucking does it again when Achilles goes on his murder rampage "then he sunk his spear into herenius, son of the great warrior-king Ferronix, who hailed over the great region of Goherra, known as the location where the Titan Yorgek lost his eyeball in his battle with the hero Tartinix, then he wedge his blade into the heart of Vexxerin..."

Fuking terrible to read. The Odyssey is better simply because the story and narrative are infinitely more interesting. Plus Achilles is a twat, where Odysseus is based.

[Anonymous No.23453529]

>>23453503
OP here. Yeah I agree this is a huge downside, especially when the narrative shuffles in the middle of a narrative to start another and then it returns to the first one. It was hard in the beginning, but I'm getting used to it.

I read a bit of Aeneid too, and it looks easier to follow, but I will read it after.

[Anonymous No.23453540]

>>23453503
That kind of namedropping is fairly common in mythological works. The Bible with all its begats is the obvious eample. The Popol Vuh has some of that as well. Those lineages were/are important and a matter of national/filial pride to those peoples, but it matters very little to anyone else reading those works, certain scholars aside.

[Anonymous No.23453542]

>>23453153
The funniest part is when Zeus tries to be romantic with his wife and says something like

>My beloved wife, never have I felt such desire to unite my self in love with you
>Not even with Europa have I felt it
>And not with the wife of Ixion
>And not even with Danae
>Not even with Europa had I felt such desire
>Not with Simele
>And not with Alkmene
>Not with Demeter
>Not even with Letho
and he goes on and on and on

[Anonymous No.23453568]

>>23453403
Just read a page or two of each and decide which you like more
I read Lattimore but they're all the same and it literally doesn't matter.
You can read a meme jive translation or ancient greek same exact story

[Anonymous No.23454402]

>>23453380
Rodney Merrill is the /lit/ choice

[Anonymous No.23454425]

>>23453380
Pope is the only one worth reading. It was good enough for Joyce so it's good enough for you. Pope is the only translator (apart from Chapman) who was actually himself a writer of any note. The rest are just academics. Yes, it's not a direct translation. But the dactylic hexameter of ancient Greek is incompatible with English. The reading experience will always be awkward and halting as untranslatable artifacts are shoehorned gracelessly into English. Pope's metre is artificial and poetic license is taken with the phrasing. It is essentially just an Iliad written by someone who can actually write.

[Anonymous No.23454432]

>>23454425
>But the dactylic hexameter of ancient Greek is incompatible with English
>>23454402

[Anonymous No.23454447]

>>23454432
>The reading experience will always be awkward and halting as untranslatable artifacts are shoehorned gracelessly into English
An "inauthentic" metre is preferable to an ugly one.

[Anonymous No.23454448]

the fuck, why is there a tripfag with an actual name here? Is this where soulless subhuman ratmen come now to get their (you)s?

[Anonymous No.23454449]

>>23454447
>an ugly one

Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus,
ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions;
many the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades,
those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made of their bodies,
plunder for all of the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished—
sing from the time when first stood hostile, starting the conflict,
Atreus’ scion, the lord of the people, and noble Achilles.

[Anonymous No.23454451]

>>23453380
Well anon, you should've tried learning some greek when making this post.

[Anonymous No.23454459]

>>23453542
Wtf I love Zeus now

[Jon Kolner No.23454981]

>>23454448
You are new if you do not recognize me.

[Anonymous No.23454995]

what was up with that thing were everyone translated "woman" as "wench" or something like until a few years ago that and it was sexist before

i'm not even sure if it was this book or not

[Anonymous No.23455020]

>>23454425
Pope knew practically no Greek. He turned it into an English 18th century poem full of 18th century ideas of decency and proper behaviour and cutting out some of the more unpleasant things.
>Pope is the only translator (apart from Chapman) who was actually himself a writer of any note
untrue

[Anonymous No.23455737]

>>23453153
>not even the entire Olympus can stop me
>implying Zeus' flabbers wouldn't be absolutely gasted by the dude that made his thunderbolts and managed to trap Hera, Ares, AND Aphrodite in order to humiliate them all in front of the other gods
>implying the forge god wouldn't thunderclap Zeus' cheeks so badly that his next invention would be a wheelchair for the old man because he'll never walk again

[Anonymous No.23455768]

>>23453398
Second for Fagles. Only edition I read, and I was terrified I would get filtered. A good balance of the poetic and prose, really helped me understand the characters and their thinking.

[Anonymous No.23455776]

>>23455737
>implying the forge god wouldn't
Zeus flung him off Mount Olympus (he fell for a full day)

[Anonymous No.23455791]

>>23455776
AS AN INFANT. And then he walked his crippled ass back up the mountain and got his revenge AND reclaimed his spot on the pantheon AND went on to craft the most legendary artifacts known to man or god.

Cronus defeated Uranus
Zeus defeated Cronus
Hephaestus would massacre Zeus

Hell, maybe he did. Look at how technology rules the world today.

[Anonymous No.23455801]

>>23455737
Vulcan doesn't want to fuck up the good thing he has going. He's the only God that's in the "service industry", and he likes what he does, and he gets to be a God when not at work. And fuck his golden robot waifus.

Also Zeus would reduce his crippled incel son to atoms.

[Anonymous No.23455819]

>>23453380
Fitzgerald

[Anonymous No.23455868]

>>23455791
He was pardoned and allowed back. It was Hera who volleyed him off at birth, Zeus threw him for coming between them when Zeus hung Hera by the wrists from heaven (relevant to the original post; 'not even the entire Olympus can stop me')

[Anonymous No.23456166]

>>23455791
>Erebus defeated Chaos
>Aether defeated Erebus
>Uranus defeated Aether
>Cronus defeated Uranus
>Zeus defeated Cronus
>Hephaestus would massacre Zeus
Light and dark took control from chaos.
A more complex light took control from the duality.
Complex heavens took control from the upper light.
Time took control from the heavens.
Embodied physicality took control from time.
Constructed intelligence would take control from physicality.

[Anonymous No.23456213]

>>23453503
filtered

[Anonymous No.23456228]

>>23455868
This man is correct

[Anonymous No.23456312]

>>23455737
>>23455791
>Technology rules the world
>The world is cucked beyond belief

I think he indeed won

[Anonymous No.23456584]

OP here. Diomedes is a fucking chad holy shit. I hope the gods dont fuck him up later on. Btw when will Achileus show up?

[Anonymous No.23456710]

>Not even jogged off stride, or off the trail,
>the Lord Odysseus walked along, debating inwardly whether to whirl and beat
>the life out of this fellow with his stick,
>or toss him, brain him on the stone ground

[Khata !QbbPtVuCKo No.23457140]

>>23454448
>>23454981
>"""tripfag"""
>Doesn't even use TRIPCODES
You're both retarded.

[Anonymous No.23457219]

>>23457140
Fuck you. Bitch. asld

[Anonymous No.23457311]

>>23453380
I'm currently reading the Ennis Rees one, which I
've compared against the Fagles. I prefer Rees. Pic related; Rees left, Fagles right