# Best translation of Homer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836 "2011-12-30T15:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/1 "2011-12-30T15:27:57Z")
High school was a long time ago and I really want to go back and read _the Illiad_ and _The Odyssey_ with my current brain. What translation is the most highly recommended? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/2 "2011-12-30T16:07:18Z")
My personal favourite is the translation by [E. V. Rieu](http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Homer/dp/0140447946), which is available from Penguin in an edition with revisions by Peter Jones and D. C. H. Rieu. There is also an immensely popular translation from the last 10 years (or so) by [Robert Fagles](http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0140275363/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b), also published by Penguin. This was the required translation for a university course I took about 6 years ago. Of the two, I preferred the Rieu, but both read very well. I don’t have the Greek to comment on the accuracy… ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/3 "2011-12-30T16:26:34Z")
Cool! Thanks for those suggestions. I’ll check them out (hopefully) at the library and pick the one that talks to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/4 "2011-12-30T17:29:14Z")
Clearly this calls for some kind of D’oh-setta Stone… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/5 "2011-12-30T17:43:31Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Clearly this calls for some kind of D’oh-setta Stone… It’s funny 'cause it’s true! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/6 "2011-12-30T17:46:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Best translation of Homer? [le “D’oh!”](http://www.facebook.com/pages/le-Doh-dHomer-Simpson/288337157353) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/7 "2011-12-30T18:25:03Z")
I first encountered the **Fitzgerald** translation of the _Odyssey_. We used it in high school and in college. I particularly liked the way he transliterated the Greek names instead of using the Latin versions – _Kirke_ (with circumflexes over the vowels) instead of _Circe_, _Aias_ instead of _Ajax_. I also liked his blank verse, which was less forced than some other verse translations, and gave a better sense of phythm than the prose translations (like Rieu’s). I wanted to read his translation of the _Iliad_, too, but it hadn’t come out yet. Instead, I read Richmond Lsattimore’s, which I hated. As soon as Fitzgerald’s Iliad came out, I snatched it up. When I got my audiobooks versions, I found that no one was doing Fitzgerald, so I got the Fagles translation noted above. (The Odyssety is unabridged, but for some reason they only sell an incredibly abridged version of his _Iliad_. O n the plus side, Derek Jacobi reads it. Ian McKellan reads the Odyssey). I like it very much. If you’re looking for the weirdest translation, have a look at **Christopher Logue** ’s. The man just died this past year. He spent the past half century translating the Iliad, and still didn’t finish. But his book-by-book translations, published over the years,are off the wall. Here’s a bit from the obituary noticed I placed here on Dec. 4: Here’s Achilles’ prayer to Zeus from Book 16 (The Patrocleia): > [@](#): > > Our Father, who rules in Heaven, > Hallowed be your name. > Because your will is done on Earth > Grant me this prayer, > As you have grannted other prayers of mine, > As you did grant me Agamemnon. > Humble in my stead. > I ask that you stay by me now, > Even as you go with my men, > And my Patroclus. > Give him this day your visctory. > And let him show Prince Hector he can win > Without me at his side. > And grant, above all else, O Lord, > That when the Trojans are defeated, he > Shall come home safe to me. Amen. > > God heard his prayer and granted half of it. > **[Christopher Logue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Logue)** > > Christopher Logue, CBE (23 November 1926 – 2 December 2011) was an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival, and a pacifist. > Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and brought up in the Portsmouth area, Logue was the only child of middle-aged parents, John and Molly Logue, who married late. He attended Roman Catholic schools, including St John's College, Portsmouth, Prior Park College, before going to Portsmouth Grammar School. On call-up, he enlisted in the Black Watch, and was posted... Here’s an obituary: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011...istopher-logue](http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011...istopher-logue) ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/8 "2011-12-30T18:41:44Z")
**CalMeacham** - love it. after I do the serious study I think I will check out the Logue for fun. And thanks for the audio book tips. My husband is thinking of doing this with me so we can discuss it over coffee and has to drive several hours to work every week so those might be great for him. Any opinions on the Great Courses dvd for these books? I own a few of the courses that I really enjoy and thought I might get them after the first reading. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/9 "2011-12-30T19:16:24Z")
I studied the Rieu at school, and have read it several times since. It’s a beautiful translation. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/10 "2011-12-30T19:22:43Z")
I like Fagles for it’s plain, direct quality, but Fitzgerald really has some choice turns of phrase in his _Iliad_ (I think “beg me no beggary” is Achilles to Hector, maybe? I still get a bit confused in some of the great battles). Can’t really remember Fitzgerald’s _Odyssey_ too well, but I haven’t read _The Odyssey_ since middle school – _Iliad_ all the way for me. Agree that it’s kind of nicer to have pretty close transliteration from the Greek, but I think Fagles does that too, IIRC, or at least somewhere in the middle. Which is closer to the Greek? That’s really hard to say, especially going from memory of these translations, but that probably isn’t the way a translation should be judged. The Greek is very direct, though, and unsparing is probably a pretty good word to describe the _Iliad_. Is Logue that guy with the crazy typefaces and stuff? That was a riot, the one book of his I read. Had no idea he was actually going for all of the _Iliad_. Thanks above for the links about Logue. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-translation-of-homer/607836/11 "2011-12-30T19:33:46Z")
Didn’t Stephen Mitchell, rockstar translator of the Tao, Rilke’s poems, etc, just tackle Homer? Eta: yep, he did. It’s on amazon and getting rave reviews.