Book 1 of the Iliad, Read in Ancient Greek

On his YouTube channel, Thomas Whichello reads interesting literature aloud, often in the original languages, dialects, or accents, with the goal of making “classic works intelligible and enjoyable to everybody”. One of his most popular videos is his recitation of book 1 of the Iliad in Ancient Greek.

In the translation for this video, I have attempted to follow the emphasis, division of thought, and order of ideas of the original, as well as its turn of phrase, as closely as the English idiom will bear. By means of the line-breaks, which bear a resemblance to free verse, I hope that the parallel text may serve (as it were) as a speaking version of a Loeb Classical Library book. For these line-breaks have been made to correspond roughly with the phraseology of the Greek, as reflected by my impulses of breath and intonation when speaking, so that even a perceptive person who knows no Greek, may be able to infer at times which parts of the original correspond to the respective parts of the translation.

The video is an hour and 45 minutes long so I confess to not having listened to all of it, but even dipping your toe in a little bit is worthwhile, just for the experience. Whichello’s full text translation is available on his website if you’d like to use it to follow along. (via open culture)

• homer
• language
• The Iliad
• Thomas Whichello
• video