#enjoy!!! nothing better than drinking from the ever-fresh source of western lit

[intermundia]

do you have a favorite translation of the iliad? i want to read it but want an informed opinion on the best translation to read!!

This is actually a very timely question anon, because I got a new translation of the Iliad for Christmas (Emily Wilson's) and have been enjoying the hell out of it haha so it's on my mind.

In general, I think that the best translation depends on what experience you’re looking for! Homer in Greek is both archaic and formal, and also beautifully dynamic and rapid (like the oral delivery had amazing flow). So translations usually have to kind of pick between the two, and you can lean on whichever side feels best.

This is the Greek of the beginning if you want to read it out loud and get a sense of what two lines of the OG dactylic hexameter are like, and what they’re trying to match:

Mēnin aeide thea pēlēiadeō Akhilēos: oulomenēn, he muri’ Akhaiois alge’ ethēke

Lattimore (1951) is probably the most ~acccurate~ line-for-line translation, I would use it in place of a dictionary if I was in a hurry sometimes haha it’s that loyal to the Greek if you want to know that that's like, but it's also a bit of a clunky slog to read, lacking poetry:

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,

Wilson (2023) that I just began today so far has been fresh and engaging, it begins like this:

Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath of great Achilles, son of Peleus, which caused the Greeks immeasurable pain

Fagles (1990) has good flow without sacrificing too much accuracy. It was the first translation I read, and look what happened to me lmao. It starts like this:

Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

Fitzgerald (1974) is another popular choice, he has good poetic feel:

Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous,

Or if you want to feel like Keats, you can go hog wild and hit up some Chapman from the 1600′s:

Achilles’ banefull wrath resound, O Goddesse, that imposd Infinite sorrowes on the Greekes, and many brave soules losd

Basically there's no real right answer, but if you came over to my house and asked to borrow a copy, I would hand you Fagles (1990) (pdf here if you want it).