Showing results by author "W.H.D. Rouse" in All Categories

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife.

"The world's greatest war novel" - those are W.H.D. Rouse's own words. He is the man who translated Homer's Iliad into plain English. It is a literal translation, but prose, and therefore so much easier to understand! The terrible and long-drawn out siege of Troy, the quarrel of Achilles and Agamemnon, the interactions between Olympian Gods and humans, remains among one of the classic campaigns and the heroism and treachery of the combatants have been unmatched in song and story. This is certainly the version for those who want to know what Homer is about....

One of the great masterpieces of Western literature, The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars. Though the stormy god of the ocean is determined to keep him off course, Odysseus is clever and has the brilliant goddess Athena on his side.

After the long hardships of the Trojan War, Odysseus is on his way home. But since the Gods in Olympos are still mad at Odysseus, they put lots of obstacles in his way: The nymph Calypso, Circe, Cyclops, the deadly Scylla and Charybdis - only the ever-cunning Odysseus is able to survive all these deadly traps. Finally, he makes it home, all by himself, at last. However, the story doesn't end there. In his house, there is a host of wooers who want to marry his faithful wife Penelope; they eat all his food, they drink his best wine, and they conspire to kill his son Telemachus.