Start with the greeks?

>>9136845
You don't have to read them, just understand the basic plot elements and the themes and you will get most of the references thrown at you.

>>9136858

thank you

>>9136858
This guy is right. On the other hand, if you can't cope with Homer how do you hope to deal with Plato& the gang? Or maybe it's the poetry you have a problem with and not the complexity of the ideas within? Anyway, give it try but you're really missing out if you skip Homer because it's beautiful.

>>9136845
>Do you think I should read the illiad and the odyssey before reading ancient greek philosophy?
Everybody in the philosophers' days had heard Homer and Hesiod's works, because they were the most successful of poets and the foundation of education.

Plato and Aristotle criticize the poets, so knowing the worldview within a poet's work that a dialogue on education, or a literary theory treatise, are talking about helps.

>When I try to read the illiad, I find it very difficult to concentrate on it
If you struggle with Homer I don't see you coming out of Plato and Aristotle alive.

>>9137045
Plato is ez.
Aristotle is hard because his "books" are scrapped together lecture notes or some shit.

>>9136845
You could look for editions with editor/annotations explaining the references to literature and history. There are such versions of Aristotle's body of work/Plato's.

>>9136845
Plato is going to tell you that Homer is the educator of all Greece (by which he means all meaningful civilisation).

Even the Greeks think you need to start with the Greeks.

But seriously, Homer is about more than a story, its a foundation for attitudes and values, the Greek sense of what being Greek was and consequently their philosophy.

Its just so important to read. If you are a westerner, literature, patterns of thought, the culture and even some things you think and feel have a Homeric influence.

Don't read it so you can understand Plato, read it so you can understand yourself.

>>9136845
How is pic related book? I'm currently going through Hamilton's Mythology and Pomeroy's A Brief History of Ancient Greece before starting the Iliad. Should I add this Strauss book for further supplementation?

>>9139200
It's very good. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It shows you how historians come to conclusions. Hamilton is really boring to me though.

Post that infographic flowchart about starting with the greeks, please.

>>9139087
This guy speaks the truth. Know thyself. I had similar trouble with Iliad too. I think it's cos verse doesn't translate well. I just pushed through. Odysseus was better. And I even re-read that it was so good. Gotta be in the mood too. Good work starting with the greeks

I've been reading the illiad over the course of 10 years. it's so painfully slow and detailed but it's worth it for the parts with Zeus. nigger is hilarious. "listen to me my beautiful children, you know I love you with all my heart but seriously if you don't so what I say I WILL FUCKING DESTROY YOU. I WILL PHYSICALLY REMOVE YOU FROM MOUNT OLYMPUS FOREVER AND THROW YOU DOWN TO THE DEEPEST DARKEST PIT OF HAIDES' REALM. but seriously I love you kids :3"

Which Homer translations are best

>>9136845

Yes you should read Homer. You COULD read a synopsis of it, but do you really want the birth of poetry condensed to a paragraph? Do you want to study the roots of Western philosophy without the very foundations they're sat upon?

If so, you should save yourself the time and have someone else summarize the all of it for you.

>>9140273

Alexander Pope

>>9140295
That's in Wikisource! Fantastic.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Iliad_of_Homer_(Pope)/Book_1

>>9137045
>If you struggle with Homer I don't see you coming out of Plato and Aristotle alive.
OP actually -wants- to read Plato and Aristotle, though. That makes a big difference, surely. I mean, the dictionary is technically an easy read but I wouldn't be able to spend any time reading it.

On the other hand, it's possible OP only wants to read them because of memes.