Atanas G. Iliev

If you have read some of the other pages on this website, you might have noticed that I know some classical Greek and am currently learning it in college. This may lead you to conclude that I might have read the works of Homer in the original given that, at least in Bulgaria, there are some of the most recognizable Ancient Greek texts. This is unfortunately not correct.

There are a few reasons for this. First, I have only been learning Greek for a few months and most of the Greek I have so far encountered has been at least partially adapted. To that end there is actually not much I have had in the original (or when it comes to texts so old, in the critical editions). With a lot of help from peers and our amazing professor Tell, I have read the Epistle of James. With some help from the aforementioned I have read the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew and am currently reading the first book of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. On my own, I have only read a pair of Aesopian fables and the first chapter of the Gospel of John unadapted.

Second, dialects. One thing that the initiated might spot is that with the exception of Aristotle, all the previously mentioned authors (apart from and because of being biblical) wrote in Koine. To those unfamiliar with Greek dialects, I give a brief introduction. The three main dialects you need to know in terms of this post are (from oldest to newest) Homeric, Attic, and Koine. Let us start with the last. In Greek, the word koine (κοινὴ) means common, making ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος– the common dialect. You can think of Koine as something of a lingua mundi (I don’t like saying lingua franca so please excuse me if the Latin is wrong) around 1 AD and a few centuries before and after that. The popularity of Greek outside of Greece is best attributed to the conquests of Alexander.

As with many other languages, Greek too did simplify over the course of its history. Modern Greek is quite simpler than the broad category we have labeled Ancient Greek. In much the same way, Koine is simpler than Attic and Homeric.

I did not formally study Koine Greek. Instead, most Classics students who study the language outside of a seminary are usually instructed in the Attic dialect first, myself included. The reason for this is that many famous authors writing in many genres wrote in Attic and knowing this makes Koine seem easy afterwards. Why not Homeric then? Because there is a limited amount of stuff written in that dialect and it is somewhat harder than Attic. In short, Homer is not a very beginner-friendly thing to read unadapted.

This brings us to the topic of this piece. Translations. The ones you are most likely to encounter (in English) are by Robert Fagles, Richmond Lattimore, and Robert Fitzgerald. The introductory lines from Book 1 of each of these three go like this (respective order kept):

Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus
and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood in division of conflict
Atreus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.

Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men—carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.

All three are from the latter half of the twentieth century though Lattimore’s is a few decades older than the other two. If you are after literal fidelity none of the three popular translations I have chosen is particularly close although Fitzgerald’s doesn’t try to be. the House of Hades (which only Lattimore got) is translated as undergloom. Personally, I don’t care about that particularly. For me, especially when it comes to fiction and even more so with poetry, the literal word by word translation is not too big of a priority.

When it comes to poetry, I don’t like Fagles’s a lot. Perhaps it is just because I have seen it so many times that it just feels a bit overdone at this point. Lattimore is to be congratulated for basically managing to keep something incredibly close to the original hexameter which, as far as I am aware, has not been improved upon since his time. That being said, I simply don’t like the sound of it. English seems unsuited for the hexameter and it feels protracted quite often although I still thing his translation is a big literary achievement.

Fitzgerald sounds the best. I especially love how compact it looks and feels. This is something I usually struggle a ton with in my own writing. The ‘kh’ spellings are understandable though a bit annoying.

However, my favorite translation is neither of these three. I present to you the genius work of none other than Alexander Pope. I know, I am predictable but when it comes to Pope I couldn’t care less. His translation was groundbreaking back in the 1720s and remains so to this day. While it is not the most popular nowadays, it is by no measure obscure. Pope embraced English and wrote in iambic pentameter (heroic couplets). Furthermore, his translation rhymes! (I know, I have basic poetry tastes haha…) Indeed, some critiqued him claiming that while his work is an amazing piece of literature, it is by no means Homer. Believe me when it comes to the Iliad the details people reference are not significant enough to ruin this if you ask me. Here you go:

Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurled to Pluto’s gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,
Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove!

First things first, the Latin variants are a bit annoying, but they were actually standard at the time. In fact, Pope was very much aware of the Greek names given that he translated from Greek, but he choose the more known Latin alternatives so that his readers will have an easier time understanding Homer. This thoughtfulness on his part perseveres to this day. Even though his was not the first English translation (not even the first rhyming one), it is still so so beautiful and amazing. I simply leave it for you to enjoy here.

One last fun fact. Note how the first three translations have birds, all birds, and birds respectively. Of them, Lattimore was the only one who translated the original Greek οἰωνοῖσί [τε] πᾶσι literally. Now check what Pope wrote. Vultures. He was more precise in the logical sense. Not all birds will feast on the bodies. We can’t know whether Fagles and Fitzgerald skipped the all because of that or for poetic purposes. But we can certainly admire good old Alexander for his cleverness.