Parting thoughts on the Iliad.

I think this may be the last time I read The Iliad in my lifetime. I read parts of it in high school for Literature, I translated the last half of the book as a semester long project in college, and I've picked it up and read though it over the years. When I go to it, it makes me want to read more. It makes me want to understand life in Ancient Greece. Then, as I said in the previous post, I realize that understanding that is a job in and of itself. Once I dive into it it sucks up a lot of my time. 

If you ever want to pick up The Iliad and read it, let me make a suggestion: read it out loud. The poem was passed down though oral tradition so seeing it flat on a page doesn't do much. Reading it out loud makes Agamemnon come alive. He'll chase people though your living room wearing bronze armor and cursing Zeus at the same time. He goes from simply a character to a man who may have existed.* Also, do yourself a major favor and ignore the free versions on the e-readers. If you are going to read this, please make sure you use the Robert Fagles translation. You'll thank me for it. 

Homer's epic is one of the building blocks of literature. I've seen it's DNA in every battle scene in every fantasy book I've ever read. I've seen authors blatantly rip off aspects of Zeus and Hera to create their own diabolical creations. I've also run into beautiful women who are just as cunning as Aphrodite (Yes, Lady Macbeth, I'm looking at YOU). It casts a wide foundation. Look at any character in modern literature and you'll find it's aspects in the Greek poems. 

I'm moving onto The Crucible. Arthur Miller's play is not only a classic, but it's worth the revisit. It's been a while since I've visited the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. 

* To be fair to Agamemnon he was most likely a hodgepodge of men that were meshed together though oral tradition. Then again, Homer isn't just one person either, it was the name given to all the Greek storytellers who spun the myths though campfires, dinners, and evenings out. Think of Agamemnon and Homer like you think of urban legends. Aspects of them may be true, but it's a compilation of joy and fear that make the story.

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