The Iliad

A New Translation by Peter Green
University of California Press, 2015

OPENING LINES OF BOOK I 

Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus’s son’s
calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians with countless ills—
many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs,
souls of heroes, their selves left as carrion for dogs
and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled—                       5
from the first moment those two men parted in fury,
Atreus’s son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.

Which of the gods was it brought them into contention?
Lētō’s and Zeus’s son: for he, enraged by the king,
spread a foul plague through the army, and men were dying,                10
all because Chrysēs his priest had been dishonored
by Atreus’s son. Chrysēs came to the Achaians’ swift ships
to win his daughter’s release, bringing ransom past counting,
in his hands the laurel wreath of the deadly archer Apollo
on a golden staff, and made his plea to all the Achaians,                        15
but first to the two sons of Atreus, the host’s field marshals:

“Atreus’s sons, and you other well-greaved Achaeans,
may the gods who have their homes on Olympos grant you
to sack Priam’s city, and win a safe homecoming!
But release my dear daughter, accept the ransom I offer,                       20
show respect to Zeus’s son, Apollo, the deadly archer.”

Then all the other Achaians spoke up in agreement—
to respect the priest, to accept his splendid ransom.
Yet Atreus’s son Agamemnōn’s angry heart remained untouched.
Brusquely he turned him away with words of harsh dismissal:               25
“Don’t let me find you still here, old man, by the hollow ships,
either loitering now or making your way back later,
lest your staff and the god’s wreath afford you no protection!
Her I shall not release—no, sooner will old age reach her
in our house, in Argos, far away from her native country,                      30
working to and fro at the loom and sharing my bed. Now go—
and do not provoke me, if you want to depart in safety.”

So he spoke: the old man was scared and obeyed his words.
Silent along the shore of the thunderous sea he went;
but once well away, long and deeply the old man prayed                       35
to Apollo his lord, the child of fair-haired Lētō:
“Hear me, you of the silver bow, protector of Chrysē
and holy Killa, who rule with might over Tenedos—
Smintheus, if ever for you I roofed a pleasing precinct,
if ever I burned for you the fat-rich thighbones                                       40
of bull or goat, now grant me this my desire:
use your arrows to make the Danaäns pay for my tears. 

REVIEW COMMENTS

Peter Green’s translation, one reviewer (James Romm) has remarked, is “best characterized as an update on Lattimore’s.” Green uses a similar poetic form to create a line-by-line version of Homer’s poem, and his diction, although occasionally erratic, produces an English that is easier to navigate than the earlier translation. Green’s English poetry, however, is rarely urgent or concise, a feature which has a deleterious effect, particularly on the speeches.

Green provides considerable scholarly assistance in his footnotes and copious endnotes. These will prove useful for anyone seeking explanatory assistance, but in many cases most of the details are not necessary for an immediate understanding of what is going on in the poem, and they can at times be quite distracting and even irritating (when one senses that the translator is attempting to guide our interpretative response).

A larger selection of the translation (at Amazon) is available here.

Review by James Romm (Eidolon).

Review by Steve Donoghue (Open Letters Monthly).

List of Published English Translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey