- Published: 2 January 2015
- ISBN: 9780141394657
- Imprint: Penguin Classics
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 560
- RRP: $48.00
The Iliad











The greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization, now in a gorgeous new clothbound edition
The Iliad is the first and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization - an epic poem without rival in the literature of the world, and the cornerstone of Western culture. The story centres on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan War, which lead to Achilleus' killing of Hektor and determine the fate of Troy. But Homer's theme is not simply war or heroism. With compassion and humanity, he presents a universal and tragic view of the world, of human life lived under the shadow of suffering and death, set against a vast and largely unpitying divine background.
- Published: 2 January 2015
- ISBN: 9780141394657
- Imprint: Penguin Classics
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 560
- RRP: $48.00
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About the author
Homer, name traditionally assigned to the author of the ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known of Homer as an individual, and in fact it is a matter of controversy whether a single person can be said to have written both the ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. Linguistic and historical evidence, however, suggests that the poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime in the 8th century BC.
Homer was a Greek poet, recognized as the author of the great epics, the Iliad, the story of the siege of Troy, and the Odyssey, the tale of Ulysses’s wanderings.