What is the best translation of the Odyssey? The main ones seem

>>9653997
Lattimore for the Iliad and Fitzgerald for the Odyssey. There are no alternative answers

lattimore will turn your dick soft

>>9654067
Thanks for the suggestion. Can I get it at Walmart?

>>9653997
Fagles is so fiery. Would recommend to anyone.

>>9653997
>best
Alexander Pope
>for a first time reader
Lattimore or Fagles. Fagles because he has a nice introduction, Lattimore because he was a captain in world war ii and that's pretty cool

>>9654071
idk I don't own it cuz i like a hard dick when i read my homer

>>9654091
I thought you meant it helped bumpy dicks. :( thanks anyway

>this thread again
Seriously though, how many anons have actually read more than two translations of the Iliad? Feels weird how many people feel able to answer this question every time it recurs.

>>9654077
checked, seconding Faggles

>>9654184
Old textbooks in my public school used a different translation. Then I bought a B&N edition, then I got a good one.

Pope's translation is certainly the best version of both if you want a piece of pure English literature.
If you want a close adherence to the Greek, read Lattimore or Fagles (Fagles is perhaps a bit more fun).
I've read pretty much every translation of both when studying Early Greek Hexameter at Oxford and ended up using Fagles (along with the Greek text, of course) when studying for my finals.

I've only read Fagles and I thought it was great.

top-notch introduction too

I only read Fitzgerald and I thought it was great.

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>>9654502
Because everyone interested in the Odyssey is looking to read some English poetry...
Gag.

But have you read Merrill's

On a side note, I picked up The Histories by Herodotus, will it help when I read the Illiad and the Odyssey? will read it anyways but would like to know.

>>9655322
Nah Herodotus wrote about the Greco-persian war and tried to be more objective than homer (but less than Thucydides).

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>>9655322
Herodotus is more of a travel guide and amateur sociologist, but it's all set in the Athenian ("Periclean") age.
I just read Finley's World of Odysseus and thoroughly enjoyed it's insights. Maybe best to read afterwards.

>>9654079
Pope's Iliad is the best, his Odyssey isn't as good though

>>9655368
>>9655355
Thanks famalam, I will be on the lookout for texts related to the Trojan War and World of Odysseus.

Fagles. It's probably not the best, but it reads the quickest.

>>9655192
That's why I specifically said 'if you want a piece of English literature" and then recommended Fagles if he wanted the closest to the Greek.
As I said, I've read the entire extant corpus of Greek hexameter and I can tell you, Pope's is objectively a more fun read than a lot of translations, but if you want to appreciate the Odyssey in its purest form without learning Greek, Fagles/Lattimore are good.
Merrill's was an interesting attempt but I don't feel like hexameter works in English, my tutor actually really liked it though, so I guess it's a matter of taste.

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>>9655709
Appreciate it.

>>9654079
>>9654502
>Pope
>A clubfooted manlet's take on war and homecoming.
More like "Nope"

I bought some copy from costco that's very pretty and has both the illiad and the odyssey. It's a prose version, I think by Samuel Butler? Is this one any good? I don't have my copy with me at the moment to check.

>>9656658

Seconding this question, I have the Barnes and Noble copy of Odyssey lying around and it's by Butler, so I'm wondering if it's good enough or if I really need to go get a copy of Fagles/Lattimore/whatever.

(I also have the E.V. Rieu version of The Iliad if anyone has an opinion on it.)

What's the best translation of the Aeneid?

Fitzgerald for the uninitiated reader, but Fitzgerald's prose can make the less fantastic elements of the Iliad drone on, so if you have a good foundation of knowledge on the epic cycles (i.e. if you read the Odyssey first like a goddamn scrub) then Lattimore for the Iliad.

>>9656658
Why do prose translations even exist?

>>9654077
This.