The Oddyssey and The Illiad

[Bloodman]

The Oddyssey

Brief discription: The main character, Odysseus, king of Ithica, gets lost on the way back from the Trojan War. He encounters many mythologicle beings who stop him from reaching his home.

The Illiad

A giant war has taken place in Troy that lasts 10-12 years. It is a war/love story.

both by Homer


Anyone read these? I have in school but it was the extremely short version they cram into textbooks. Im interested in reading them. Has anyone here read them? Any tips to get me started (i understand both are very long)?

[Oddyssey]

yeah i read both. But it is kinda hard to explan. If I were you, try and find the movies since they made them and they fallow the books pretty well.

[Bloodman]

Im looking for books, when movies try to explain it they leave out alot.

[disrupter006]

We just read the odyssey in class. Cyclops is the cause of all his troubles. He sleeps with circe. He loses all of his crew, and arrives home disguised as a begger, then slaughters all the suiters trying to wed his wife. The end of the book seems as though homer didnt write it though (the last book (chapter)) because they seem to completely skip the code of hospitality all together.

[Greg]

Yeah i read The Oddyssey and I enjoyed it actually. I reccomend reading it if what you read in class interested you.

[Jon]

Yup, I read both. Both superb books.

[Cofey]

These are both fantastic books. Most people prefer The Oddyssey but I enjoyed The Illiad more. But if they interest you at all definitely pick them up. It's amazing how after hundreds of years or more, the oldest literature is still the best (IMO).
I have The Aenead also, but I haven't gotten around to that yet...I'm currently working my way through LOTR for the 7th time, but that one's next.
Oh yeah, and read The Illiad first (in case you didn't know, it's sort of a prequel to the Oddyssey).

[disrupter006]

If you saw troy, you know whats going on in the Illiad.

[Cofey]

I didn't see Troy, but I've heard it strayed from the story a whole lot.

[goku2057]

The Oddyssey

Brief discription: The main character, Odysseus, king of Ithica, gets lost on the way back from the Trojan War. He encounters many mythologicle beings who stop him from reaching his home.

The Illiad

A giant war has taken place in Troy that lasts 10-12 years. It is a war/love story.

both by Homer


Anyone read these? I have in school but it was the extremely short version they cram into textbooks. Im interested in reading them. Has anyone here read them? Any tips to get me started (i understand both are very long)?


Yes and no. The Oddessey is all about his journey home, and the tribulations on the way there, you are right on that part.

The Illiad isn't about the trojan war, the Illiad is all about Achilles anger, and it's consequences.

[Jon]

If you saw troy, you know whats going on in the Illiad.

Uhmmm... no, just no.

[WolfmanNCSU]

These were some of the books I actually read in HS. The rest I just Cliffe Noted or faked. I actually enjoyed them. The movies were pretty damn close and I think the Cliffe Notes were written pretty well if you want to use them.

[GeekyGmrChic]

Troy is nothing like the Iliad at all. Reading the book is always better than the movie version. Both are great books, but definitely read the Iliad first then the Odyssey.

If you don't understand anything the Cliff Notes are quite good. I've read them both several times, both in high school and college. I love both of them though the Odyssey is a bit better.

[peasantlover]

Read teh book! It is good!
I got a book on tape (CDs actually) of the Odyssey.. it is quite excellent. It is abridged, but still good. Then again, I read both books in college and studied them quite extensively...

[Nate]

Has anyone here read them?

Almost every school makes students read The Odyssey. So I think its safe to say....yes.

[goku2057]

If you saw troy, you know whats going on in the Illiad.


You need a quick shot to the pills for that one.

For starters, Achilles died WAY before the whole Trojan horse thing.

- Rep to you.

[plebben]

the original books are written on verse(if that the right word for it in english?) so its not much like the language of todays writers.
Anyways most likely people will read interpretations of the original books because they are very difficult to read if youre not used to read stuff written on rhymes.

And also Homer(us) lived 2800 years ago...
His books are actually the oldest stories in the world that were written down at once at one point and not over many hunderds of years.

[peasantlover]

the original books are written on verse(if that the right word for it in english?) so its not much like the language of todays writers.
Anyways most likely people will read interpretations of the original books because they are very difficult to read if youre not used to read stuff written on rhymes.

And also Homer(us) lived 2800 years ago...
His books are actually the oldest stories in the world that were written down at once at one point and not over many hunderds of years.

they arent hard to read because they are written in verse (yes, the right word) they are hard to read because they are written in ancient Greek!

heh.. btw they arent the oldest books written down (why dont you say besides the bible, since thats what you mean by "over hundreds of years").. Actually they probably werent actually written down 'till 200-300 years B.C., since they were passed down orally before then. Anyway, Gilgamesh, the Symarian mythology, is older :P

[Cofey]

You need a quick shot to the pills for that one.

For starters, Achilles died WAY before the whole Trojan horse thing.

- Rep to you.
Well if you want to really get technical, the Trojan horse wasn't even in The Illiad, but was alluded to in The Odyssey.
I haven't seen Troy yet, but my sister told me all about it and from the sound of it they really fucked with the story. I hate when movie-makers do that (LOTR most of all).

[GeekyGmrChic]

Yes, this is so true- the Trojan horse isn't in the Illiad. Achilles does die before the end of the Trojan War. Also he laments dying even though he died a glorious death in battle- as he tells Odysseus in hell (if I'm remembering correctly anyways; it's been a few years since i read it). He misses battle and is bored in hell.

As for it being written in verse, that actually makes it more fun to read. It might take a few pages to get used to, but the experience is so worth it. Sort of like reading Shakespeare.

[plebben]

they arent hard to read because they are written in verse (yes, the right word) they are hard to read because they are written in ancient Greek!

heh.. btw they arent the oldest books written down (why dont you say besides the bible, since thats what you mean by "over hundreds of years").. Actually they probably werent actually written down 'till 200-300 years B.C., since they were passed down orally before then. Anyway, Gilgamesh, the Symarian mythology, is older :P

Yes obviously the are written in ancient greek, what i meant with language was the way you express your writing, as in when you say "watch your language" when someone curses.

No I didnt mean the bible, because the ancient Hindu religion also has stories written down from thousands of years ago. And the christian bible wasnt completed in a book until i think 200 or 300 AD anyway. Although the Jews had the old testament written down before Jesus ofcourse. But it was all in many different scrolls and basically it is many different stories that all had a common link, God, but all in all they are separate stories.
The Odyssey is one complete story, as is the Illiad.
Lets put it this way, they were the first Novels written. All other stories written down at that time are basically stories about religion.
The Oddyssey and Illiad does cover greek gods and mythology but they dont have spiritual messeges like the bible, koran, ancient hindu scrolls or gilgamesh has.

I haven't seen Troy yet, but my sister told me all about it and from the sound of it they really fucked with the story. I hate when movie-makers do that (LOTR most of all).
If i remember correctly achilles dies from a poisoned arrow in the original story since his heel is the only part of his body that isnt immortal, but in the movie he gets paralysed with pain when an arrow hits him there and then dies when he cant escape from all the other arrows. It does take away a big deal of the mythology so therefore it suckls but it also makes it more realistic in a way. A more probabel explaination to his death if it all had happened in reality(who knows, the ruins Troy does exist after all ;))

[peasantlover]

You guys are being way too hard on the move. As far as I can tell - it isnt even based on the Iliad. Keep in mine that there are sources that refer to the Trojan war, both historical and mythological - outside of Homer. So just because a move is done about it does not mean it is meant to be based on the Iliad.

Plebben, I dont want to get too picky, but technically the first novels werent written until the 18th and 19th centuries, A. D. ;)

[plebben]

youre probably right but i dont know the english word for what i meant so i said novel because its the closest i could think of:P

[peasantlover]

"epic poetry".. or just "epic"

[Jon]

I thought Beowulf was the oldest fictional story in existance. I don't know I thought I read that somewhere. I'll look later.

[GeekyGmrChic]

Beowulf is the oldest English epic poem/novel. It's not the oldest story ever, just the oldest written in English.

[Jon]

Nice, I knew it was the oldest something. Haha.

[goku2057]

Well if you want to really get technical, the Trojan horse wasn't even in The Illiad, but was alluded to in The Odyssey.
I haven't seen Troy yet, but my sister told me all about it and from the sound of it they really fucked with the story. I hate when movie-makers do that (LOTR most of all).


Actually, I don't even think it was alluded to in the Oddysey, although I could be wrong.

[Magua1956]

The movie Troy was fine, but took wild liberties with the story ( never mind excluding the gods...however, that was as it should be); to wit - Menelaus & Helen return to Troy after the war/Agamemnon is murdered by his wife & lover at home/ Ajax commits suicide/ Paris is killed by Philocetes... Poor Patrolus gets pretty short shrift, when he infact kills almost as many Trojans as Achillles, including Sharpedon. Poor Diomedes is completely left out. Troy was excellant, but it was NOT the Iliad. As to the Trojan Horse, far more is revealed about that in the Aenid than anywhere else. Finding the right translation of these books ( Iliad & Aenid) is the trickiest part. Some are brutally bad & nearly impossible to read.

[Magua1956]

The verse versions have, in my experience, been vastly superior to the attempts to "tell it in modern english". These stories were, after all, orginally preserved by the poet/bards in song form ( indeed, in some historical referrences they call The Iliad & the Oddessey The Songs of Homer). Bad enough to lose so much in translating from the Greek; to then bleed the remaining music from the words is an offense against The Gods. You could say.

[peasantlover]

Actually, I don't even think it was alluded to in the Oddysey, although I could be wrong.

you are wrong. Menelaus and Helen tell the story of the Trojan horse to Odysseus' son Telemachus when he comes to visit them.