The Iliad, Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War, is also the story of the wrath of the great warrior and hero Achilles. After the Greeks arrived at Troy, Achilles argued with his ally King Agamemnon and petulantly withdrew from the battle.
Meddling gods saw to it that the fortunes of the Greeks deteriorated, but after his friend Patroclus was killed, Achilles stormed into battle, slaying the Trojan prince Hector and mutilating his body. The Iliad closes with Achilles returning Hector’s body for burial and awaiting his own fate.
The author of this translation of Homer’s epic, Alexander Pope, began work in 1713 and his translation was published in six volumes between 1715 and 1720. This book comes from the third edition, printed in 1731. Pope, like many translators, took liberties with the original text and used the fashionable rhyming ‘heroic couplet’.
