“Fate stands now upon the razor’s edge.” - The Iliad, Book 10
Goal 84: I’ve sailed the wine-dark sea, fought in the pitched battles between the Trojans and Greeks (and their Gods), witnessed the death of Hector and the grief of King Priam. This evening, I finished re-reading (I read it once before when I was 15) the first major fictional work of Western society, The Iliad. My goal of reading these three epic poems is now 1/3 completed.
I am looking forward to re-reading the ’sequels’: The Odyssey by Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil.
Limestone relief of Greek and Trojan soldiers come from the tomb of a Lycian prince (c. 380 B.C.), found in southern Turkey. Photograph: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
Julie Whelan Capell said
Phil Gerbyshak turned me on to your blog as part of his “Social Media Saturdays” class. So far I have read the first entry and the list of goals. Very interesting, ambitious project! I do feel inspired to do something similar (on a smaller scale). But as to this post about the Illiad in particular: I wish I had read it before you actually finished the poem. I would have recommended that you listen to it as read by the great actor, Derek Jacoby. I have listened to this as an audio book twice and it is fantastic. I think he may also have read Fagles’ other work, check it out. That way you can multi-task by listening to the book while you go across Lake Michigan on the ferry, or one of your other travel-related goals.