The Iliad

By: Homer, Bernard Knox, Bernard Knox - introduction, Robert Fagles - translator

Narrated by: Vidish Athavale

This translation of The Iliad equals Fitzgerald's earlier Odyssey in power and imagination. It recreates the original action as conceived by Homer, using fresh and flexible blank verse that is both lyrical and dramatic.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing Notes on the Translation and Suggestions for Further Reading from the book.

Critic reviews

“Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued translators of Homer. The narrative runs, the dialogue speaks, the military action is clear, and the repetitive epithets become useful text rather than exotic relics.” –Atlantic Monthly

“Fitzgerald’s swift rhythms, bright images, and superb English make Homer live as never before…This is for every reader in our time and possibly for all time.”–Library Journal

“[Fitzgerald’s Odyssey and Iliad] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer’s art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase.” –The Yale Review

“What an age can read in Homer, what its translators can manage to say in his presence, is one gauge of its morale, one index to its system of exultations and reticences. The supple, the iridescent, the ironic, these modes are among our strengths, and among Mr. Fitzgerald’s.” –National Review

With an Introduction by Gregory Nagy

My favorite Iliad

The Fagles translation is my favorite. I have compared lots of translations, and Fagles is the most active and vigorous, the one that holds my attention the best. The reader of this audiobook, Vidish Athavale, is also very good. He reads lines of dialogue as if they are being spoken, with affect, in character. And this combined with the vigorous translation makes for a captivating listen.

Engaging translation; good performance

This is the most enjoyable translation of the Iliad I’ve read. Not as literal as Lattimore and more showy and flamboyant than Fitzgerald, it is easy to understand and easy to love. The performance is very good, though there are better ones out there.

Great delivery of a classic

The reader was excellent, the translation was enjoyable, and the book itself a classic work of literature.

A great translation ruined by a dreadful narration

A great work and translation ruined by a dreadful narration. This rich, sophisticated, complex and poetic text is performed in the most amateurish way. Lots of yelling, strange voice choices, strident, droning, unpleasant. How could such an inexperienced, amateur and poor performer be given a contract for this major work and translation. Unbelievable.