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Homer and His Iliad Hardcover – October 24, 2023

by Robin Lane Fox (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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A “compelling and impressive” (Sunday Times) 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. 
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    October 24, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1541600444
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1541600447
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Valuable… [an] earnest appreciation.”―Wall Street Journal

“Fiercely argued.”―Financial Times

“The best book on the Iliad in years and an exemplary work of historical and literary criticism.”―The Washington Examiner

"A masterly survey of the Iliad, its majesty, its pathos and its unparalleled progression from wrath to pity.”―History Today

“In his magisterial new book Homer and His Iliad, the eminent British classicist Robin Lane Fox reaches exegetical heights.”―Bloomberg Opinion

“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)

“The product of a lifetime’s contemplation of study… a stirring introduction to the sometimes alien Homeric world.” ―The Spectator (UK)

"State-of-the-art discussion of the date and origin of the Homeric Iliad, melded with a fine personal account of the impact of the poem as a profound meditation on our human condition in what remains a dangerous world."―Bryn Mawr Classical Review

“Excellent … This book is the expression of [Fox’s] lifelong love for the poem.”―Country Life

“An engaging, scholarly commentary.”―The Oldie

“An enlightening account…. Combining a historian’s meticulous methodology with a lifelong appreciation of the Iliad, Lane Fox presents a thorough reassessment of the poem and a moving interrogation of its themes of pathos, pity, and irony. It’s a rewarding investigation.”―Publishers Weekly

“A lucid, scholarly exploration into an immortal work.”―Kirkus

“A spirited, erudite argument.”―Booklist

“Homer and His Iliad is rich, imaginative, perceptive and gorgeously written.”―Literary Review

“Fox’s book is as fiercely intelligent and scholarly… a marvelous grappling with a poem and his masterpiece.”―Open Letters Review

“Treasured, entertaining, and knowledgeable.”―Shelf Awareness

“Lane Fox weighs in elegantly on both streams of Homeric commentary, the academic and the aesthetic, drawing on his decades of scholarly familiarity and classroom experience with the poem.”―Washington Independent Review of Books

About the Author

Robin Lane Fox is an emeritus fellow at New College, Oxford. His books include The Invention of Medicine, Augustine (winner of the major Wolfson History Prize), and The Classical World. He lives near Oxford, England. 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (October 24, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1541600444
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1541600447
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

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Robin Lane Fox

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sidd Vicious
5.0 out of 5 stars Homer or Homers?
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
Verified Purchase
Robin Lane Fox presents the fruits of his career-long engagement with the earliest and greatest of ancient Greek poets in this engagingly written volume. He reviews in detail the questions of whether a single poet created the Iliad and the Odyssey—spoiler alert, he believes he did—and when and where he lived and worked. Lane Fox supports his points through close reading of the poems (in translation) and examination of the most recent archaeological developments. Although as a lapsed classicist I was easily able to follow the argumentation, I doubt that any reader who has not at least read an English rendering of Homer's works would find this book of interest.
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Dr. Roy Schreiber
5.0 out of 5 stars Homer & Shakespeare
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2023
Verified Purchase
When it comes to comprehensiveness, maps aside, this analysis of the Iliad is as comprehensive as it is possible to get. From the nature of the mentioned plants and trees, to the treatment of horses, to the use of simile and irony, the author covers it all.

In the process it becomes clear that Homer may or may not have ended his life blind, but the observations of the physical world in the Iliad could only have been made by a sighted person.

In covering all this territory, although there are some British/English usages that may slow down a U.S. educated reader (the word "attests" often substitutes for "demonstrates") this long book reads smoothly.

There is, however, one area that is not particularly convincing: what might be called educated speculation about how an oral epic poem became a written one. Using the study of 19th and 20th century illiterate folk poets as a model, the author speculates that an illiterate Homer dictated the Iliad to a literate transcriber. He further speculates that the scribe was a literate son. In the author's view, the written version would have enabled his family, after Homer's death, to make a living by continuing recite the poem for profit.

Two points undermine this view. It underrates the ability of Homer's near contemporaries to memorize by hearing the spoken word. Perhaps more importantly a literate son is pure imagination.

With all this speculation, Shakespeare should have come into the picture. A large number of Shakespeare's plays appeared in the first folio and nowhere else in print. The actors in his company had them printed after their author died, most likely without his earlier cooperation.

Something like that could account for the Iliad taking on written form. We have no way of knowing how many people beyond Homer recited the Iliad. However, no one disputes the existence of other orators. One or more of them, rather than an imagined son, could have written down the poem. This, too, is speculation. Unlike Shakespeare, the odds are we'll never know how Homer's epic poem found its way into written form.

That said, for those interested in the Iliad, this is the book for them.
4 people found this helpful
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Jehoshephat
3.0 out of 5 stars Major lapse!
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
Why, in a book with so much detail about Troy and its environs, is there NOT A SINGLE MAP of the area, either as it is now, or was in antiquity? Major, MAJOR element of needed clarity!
19 people found this helpful
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Peter Parisi
5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive introduction and analysis to a great poem by a great historian
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024
I am listening to the audio version, which is very well done. I understand the book does not have maps and I realize that this may be a lapse but Fox's survey is so penetrating and far-reaching that I can't be upset about it. Google "Homeric map" or "Map of Homer's Troy." Something should come up.

Among the book's many excellences are the frequent discussions of how the poetic line works and how important the Greek is to an understanding of the poem. I also learned a lot from his overview of the "Homeric Question" and the analysts: it is even-handed, even though he does not agree with their conclusions.

Another aspect of the book that I am really enjoying: Fox's patent love of the poem after so many decades of contact with it glimmers through every page. It really is a great guide to a great poem.
One person found this helpful
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