Eonwe: it’s obvious you were a classics minor. I LOLed at your spoiler, but you got it backwards:Greeks r in ur horze!!!
I am tempted to write book headings for the entire work now. They would go something like:
OMG Diomedes stfu n00b
Can I haz ur arm00r?
W00t! Tr0j4ns got pwned!
I think that for the Discussion thread, the assumption should be that you have in fact read the entire work under discussion and no spoiler boxes should be neccessary.
For the reading and support thread, I think it’s murkier, especially given that most of us are vaguely aware of those portions which have snuck into popular culture–and I’m not the only one who read at least a shortened/simplified Iliad back in high school, I think. We may wish to think about spoilers on a work by work basis, rather than a general rule.
On the other hand, in general, I read for the experience rather than the destination, and so don’t worry too much about spoilers, but other people may feel differently.
Dang. I was so excited to post something funny I screwed it up. 
I think a good subtitle for the Odyssey could be POSEIDON, SRSLY, WTF!?!?.
Third classicist (well, I masquerade as a classicist, anyway) checking in. I’m not sure I can commit to the whole thing, given the fact that my comprehensive exams are coming up, but I’m definitely interested to see how people react to the Iliad. Which, by the way, is one of my favourite pieces of literature ever.
I may or may not participate actively in this undertaking, but I would like to say that Margo’s thread title caused an unsettling flashback of sorts. It was my very first day at the university, in my very first class (Survey of Western Civ). The professor had spent the entire lecture talking about a possessed washing machine he once owned.
As we were putting our notes away, he added, “Read the Iliad for tomorrow. We’ll be discussing it in our seminar sessions.”
(He was serious, too, although he didn’t deliver any serious smackdowns to those who didn’t finish it.)
Well, there’s a LOLcats Bible, why not a LOLcats epic?
You know, that TOTALLY sounds like my Epic and Romance prof. (I remember having a long and loony discussion about epic similes in that class that somehow morphed into a conversation about whether they make cheese from sheep’s milk in Spain.) Must be something about teaching the Iliad.
To be fair, the washing machine story was well-told and entertaining, and acted as a springboard for our discussion of animism. Prof. Hardy was crazy like a fox, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. His lecture on ideal forms was equally memorable.
Hello, I’m HazelNutCoffee, and I’m an English literature major with an MA in humanities for good measure. As you can tell from my background, I obviously know nothing about the Iliad.
Okay, so I have read it, but never for a class. I guess I’ll take a look at the Fagles translation - I can’t remember what translation I read before, but it wasn’t in verse form. I suppose I’ll ask my classicist friends for some recommendations.
This should be an interesting switch from the erotic vampire novels I’ve been indulging in as of late.
Uh oh. I’m not THAT crazy, I swear.
Oh, ditto for Epic and Romance prof. He was a fabulous teacher and mentor when he wasn’t digressing about sheep, and we’re still in touch. In a lot of ways, it was his doing that I went into the business
I’m Dirx, a paleo student who read The Iliad 5 years ago in a Classical Mythology course in undergrad. I thoroughly loved it, and this is the perfect opportunity for me to read it again. I’ve got the Lattimore translation, which I like a lot better than the translating I read in Fitzgerald’s Odyssey. I can’t guarantee I’ll have enough time to keep up on it, but I’ll do my best.
Ok, I’ve started a bit, and while I know most of the names and a handful of episodes from art history, I’m new to the narrative. I think I can read a Book of it each night or two before bed. That being said. . .
Is Agamemnon a total dick or what? Sheesh!
Dangermom here. I was a comparative literature major at Berkeley–15 years ago–and they make you take some Classics courses, so I read the Iliad then–the Lattimore translation. Then I went to grad school and got my MLIS, so I’m a librarian but mostly a homeschooling SAHM these days. I work at the local public library a few days a month.
What with the homeschooling and all, we did ancient history last year, so I read the *Iliad *again. Good thing too, 'cause I don’t think I understood any of it the first time. I certainly didn’t remember any. I was better at the Odyssey, I think.
So maybe this time I’ll do better. I’m still with the Lattimore. I just read Cahill’s book on the Greeks and he likes Fagles, but the above-quoted excerpt does grate on me, so I’ll stick with what I’ve got. (Margo, you might like to look at his book, since it has some interesting stuff on Greek art–but of course it’s all pretty cursory. I enjoyed it though.)
If anyone cares, you might like to take a look at the rather nice children’s version by Rosemary Sutcliff, Black ships before Troy. It has lavish illustrations by Alan Lee, so it’s fun, and great to read to your 6+yo kid. Available at your friendly neighborhood public library. 
I’ll thank you to to keep my name out of your SMS-speke, thank you very much.
And let me add that Fitzgerald is just as easy to read as Fagles, and as accurate and poetic as the Lattimore. If he just had translated rather than transliterated the names, there’d be no need for any other.
fessie here - this is such a neat idea! I’m hoping to be able to keep up and join in (or lurk along anyway). At one point I really wanted to go to St. John’s.
It’s never too late! I was 25 when I started as a freshman, and I wasn’t the oldest person in my class (of 100). There were at least three people older, including a married woman with a young child. You can do it.
Yes; he’s petty about Chryseis, he constantly baits Achilles through their argument over Brieseis, then doesn’t even have the cojones to take her from him himself, sending messengers instead.
Yet the epic isn’t about Agamemnon getting his just desserts, it’s about Achilles, who–unlike Agamemnon–is respectful of the gods and their claims. He has clearly been wronged here, yet words like “rage”, “furious”, “scowl”, “anger”, and “fury” swirl around him (not Agamemnon) throughout the first book. Agamemnon is just a prick, but there is something deeper in Achilles…
If it’s not too late I’d like to join, too.
Anyone have any suggestions on which translation is the best? I have both a W.H.D. Rouse “The Iliad in Plain English” version and a Fagles translation here on my shelf. I would hate to have to go out and get another copy (ok, ok I’m lying. Any excuse to get me in the book store). I love having various translations of the same story - my sister thinks I’m nuts. So, if anyone has any suggestions of a better translation I’m open. But, I see that there’s already been a bit of a difference of opinion about that already so I think I withdraw the question 
I will probably start with the Rouse even though I usually hate those “plain english” jobs, except as a reference, only because it’s a nice, small paperback that I can toss in my bag whereas my Fagles is rather large and still all nice and perfect and always kept in it’s slipcover with The Odyssey and I take great pains to never bend the pages or crease the spine (yes, I do need therapy)
Perhaps I’d better shut up before you all decide you don’t want a crazy person who rambles endlessly in the group.
That’s bad enough, but what’s with telling all the Greeks they can go home, then making the captains badger everybody into staying?
I’ve just finished book 5, and I’m having trouble keeping track of which gods are on which side. Because of things like Athena prodding Pandarus into shooting at Menelaus, but then deflecting the arrow so it’s not a fatal blow.
Is this right:
Zeus loves Troy, but he’s being persuaded by Hera to act against Troy.
Hera and Athena are fighting for the Greeks.
Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo are fighting for Troy. Or is Aphrodite only getting involved in order to protect her favorites, like Paris?