The Odyssey

Praise for Barry B. Powell This translation is the complete package. A lucid and accessible introduction gives a general audience what they need to appreciate the nature of this extraordinary poem, and the translation itself is admirably energetic, readable, and direct. Powell's style is individual and self-assured, and his lines cry out to be read aloud. He can do justice both to the scenes of mayhem in the central war books and to the poignant conversations between Hector and Andromache, or between Achilles and Priam. Just as in the original, the pace never lets up and the events of that long-lost past flash by. It is a remarkable achievement, one that fully deserves to rank with any of the current contenders. --Denis Feeney, Princeton University Barry Powell, the master of classical mythology, has done it again--a powerful translation of the poem that started European literature. His muscular verses are faithful to the original Greek but bring the characters to life. This is a page-turner, bound to become the new standard translation. --Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules--for Now This fine translation of the Iliad uses well-modulated verse and accurate English that is contemporary but never without dignity. It gives the modern reader as good an impression of Homer's sonorous Greek as one could hope to attain without learning the language; its execution is faithful in spirit to the poet, who composed his great epic orally without the use of writing. Both the translation and the introduction are consistently informed by the best recent scholarship. This translation deserves a very warm welcome. --Richard Janko, Gerald F. Else Distinguished University Professor of Classical Studies, University of Michigan Barry Powell's clever translation is simple and energetic: sometimes coarse, sometimes flowing, it is always poetically engaged. This is a harsh, straightforward, and often brutal world of aristocratic warriors whose value