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Lead book review

The bloody prequel: a triumphant new translation of the Iliad

Following her translation of the Odyssey, Emily Wilson has turned her hand to the Iliad – and it is a triumph, writes A.E. Stallings

23 September 2023

9:00 AM

23 September 2023

9:00 AM

The Iliad Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

W.W. Norton & Co, pp.720, 30

There is an ancient comment (on the work of a grammarian with the terrific moniker Dionysius Thrax) that the performers of the Iliad and the Odyssey changed costume according to which poem they were reciting: a dark blue crown for the sea of the Odyssey, red for the blood of the Iliad.

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