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Homer and His Iliad

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What to expect

A groundbreaking reassessment of the Iliad, uncovering how the poem was written and why it remains enduringly powerful 

The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it composed and why does it endure? 

Robin Lane Fox addresses these questions, drawing on a lifelong love and engagement with the poem. He argues for a place, a date, and a method for its composition—subjects of ongoing controversy—combining the detailed expertise of a historian with a poetic reader’s sensitivity. Lane Fox considers hallmarks of the poem; its values, implicit and explicit; its characters; its women; its gods; and even its horses. 

Thousands of readers turn to the Iliad every year. Drawing on fifty years of reading and research, Lane Fox offers us a breathtaking tour of this magnificent text, revealing why the poem has endured for ages. 

Critics Review

“Lane Fox is an Oxford don, and his book the result of a lifetime’s dedication to the Iliad — personally and professionally. As such it is rigorously academic, but also winningly idiosyncratic…. This is a compelling and impressive work.”—Times (UK)
“This is a compelling and impressive work.”—Sunday Times (UK)
“A bold reassessment of how [the Iliad] came to life.” —The Spectator (UK)
“Excellent … This book is the expression of [Fox’s] lifelong love for the poem.”—Country Life
“An engaging, scholarly commentary.”—The Oldie
“A lucid, scholarly exploration into an immortal work.”—Kirkus
“Homer and His Iliad is rich, imaginative, perceptive and gorgeously written.”—Literary Review
Author Robin Lane Fox
Narrator Steve John Shepherd
Duration 16 hours and 44 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781668632819
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Ancient history, European history, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: poetry and poets
Availability US

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