Homer and His Iliad Audiobook By Robin Lane Fox cover art

Homer and His Iliad

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Homer and His Iliad

By: Robin Lane Fox
Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd
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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 listeners turn to the Iliad every year. Drawing on 50 years of listening and research, Lane Fox offers us a breathtaking tour of this magnificent text, revealing why the poem has endured for ages.

©2023 Robin Lane Fox (P)2023 Basic Books Ancient Europe Greece Literary History & Criticism Ancient Greece Ancient History Greek Mythology Mythology

Critic reviews

“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 lucid, scholarly exploration into an immortal work.”—Kirkus
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A comprehensive, beautiful, and sensitive portrayal of the poem, the poet and their times, and how they relate to our own.

Masterful!

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The narrator’s voice draws you in. This is one of the best deconstructions of The Iliad ever.

Outstanding explication of text

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Very well done! Robin Lane Fox is an excellent historian! I Enjoyed this very much!

Great narrator

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While informative the author seems to battle with several threads of arguments. One, was Homer the only author or was it passed down qnd perhaps changed and edited by over 1000 years of retelling. This was tedious. I liked the book more when the author goes through and highlights his favorite passages, and why they are important for us to know

Perhaps too rigid

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It should have been called Homer, his Iliad, Gilgamesh and a lot of other useless filler. Skip this and read Why Homer Matters.

Misleading title

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