World Classics: Modern Translations of the Iliad and Odyssey (EN, FR, DE, ES)

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Achilles↗

Odysseus↗

Athena↗

Homer↗The poet traditionally credited with the Iliad and the Odyssey.

The Iliad

Achilles withdraws from the fighting after a bitter quarrel. Outside Troy, soldiers and families bear the cost of his anger. A poem of pride, friendship and grief, ending with an old king asking his enemy for his son's body.

ScenesChryses asks for his daughterCalchas names the causeAchilles and Agamemnon quarrelThetis asks Zeus to honor AchillesThe Muses count the shipsParis agrees to face MenelausHelen names the Achaean leadersNestor tries to calm the kingsPandarus breaks the truceDiomedes wounds Aeneas and AphroditeDiomedes wounds AresHector meets Andromache at the wallAjax and Hector fight to a drawThe embassy offers Achilles giftsPoseidon rallies the AchaeansHera and Zeus meet on IdaPatroclus and Sarpedon meet in battleHephaestus makes Achilles’ shieldPriam asks Achilles for Hector’s bodyThe women mourn HectorHera strikes Artemis in the gods’ quarrelPreview ↗

The Odyssey

Odysseus is trying to reach Ithaca. His wife Penelope and son Telemachus wait at home, surrounded by men who want his place. Monsters, shipwrecks and disguises stand between the wanderer and the people who might still recognize him.

ScenesPenelope’s weaving delays the suitorsAthena visits Telemachus in disguiseMentor confronts the silent Ithacan assemblyMenelaus welcomes Telemachus; Helen recognizes himCalypso must release OdysseusNausicaa meets the shipwrecked strangerDemodocus sings of the wooden horseThe Cyclops calls for help against NobodyAeolus gives Odysseus the windsCirce turns the crew into swineTiresias foretells the returnOdysseus sees the deadOdysseus listens to the SirensScylla and Charybdis take their tollEurylochus persuades the crew to kill the cattlePenelope tests Odysseus with the bedThe bow test reveals OdysseusPreview ↗

Read in the original and 4 modern languages

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The ancient text, with links to its source lines.

The Odyssey

English

A complete modern English reading edition.

The Odyssey

Spanish

A complete modern Spanish reading edition.

The Odyssey

French

A complete modern French reading edition.

The Odyssey

German

A complete modern German reading edition.

The Odyssey

Compare to public domain translations

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Renaissance verse: expansive, forceful and full of invention.

Polished heroic couplets shaped by the tastes of the eighteenth century.

Lang, Leaf, Myers, Butcher & Butler

1879–1900

Victorian prose and Samuel Butler's direct, conversational English.

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