August 2025
    M T W T F S S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

    I just did my yearly re-read of Homer (it was epic), and it made me wonder what everyone else’s opinions are. Which do you prefer and why? Have you always liked one more than the other, or did your views change over time? What elements do you think each poem is strong in, and where do they lack? Which translation do you like best? Does the translation have key impacts on the message? Should they be compared to the Aeneid, or kept in their own category? What are your unpopular opinions? I’d love to hear any and all thoughts on Homer! 🙂

    by WhatIsRedditImConfus

    17 Comments

    1. I don’t have time to go into all the details right now, but the Odyssey is the world’s greatest adventure story and the Iliad the greatest war story. I preferred the Odyssey because it had a piece of everything I could want. Also, I enjoyed the Fagles translation.

    2. Virgil openly mirrors Homer, and I would not put them in the same category. Virgil is known primarily for his metric eloquence, which I am ill-equipped to properly appraise. *The Odyssey* has more large, memorable moments and less genealogy, and I openly weep at Book 17, lines 290-327. Alas, Argos! You were best and most faithful of beasts, and fate hath treated you poorly. *The Iliad* is of equal merit, in my opinion. Many get filtered at book 2, and this is a tragedy. The greater panhellenic significance is muddled by time and distance.

      Homer in his verse manifests the soul itself. We are Achilles, and Hector, and Patroclus, and Odysseus – it is said that Homer did not originate his ideas, and with this premise I agree. For his epics were already a part of the consciousness, concealed within the collective soul of man; the divine bard needed only extract this previously inexpressible quintessence of being – the lifeblood of existence – and materialize it in language. I fear to say more in anticipation that my own squalid rhetoric should diminish the majesty – nay, divinity – that I wish to portray.

    3. HairyBaIIs007 on

      The Odyssey, no contest, I enjoyed much more than the Iliad. Not really picky with translations. The Odyssey was a book that made me realise that there can actually be an enjoyable book. Read it in senior year of high school and was never a fan of reading.

    4. The Odyssey is more fun, the Iliad is more heartbreaking.

      I took an intensive ancient Greek course in college and swore to myself that I would someday translate the Iliad. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED. But it still could!

    5. The Iliad is my personal favorite, by far. Plenty of memorable characters, entertaining over-the-top battles, suspenseful tension, hilarious comedy, and moments of quiet beauty. It’s a fun – and funny – book, easily among the best. I love pretty much everything about it except for the ship catalogue, but that’s a minor inconvenience in the grand scope of things.

      The Odyssey is great too, of course. I was surprised by how short the journey to Ithaca was, though – it spends a lot more time in the conflict with the suitors, and while that’s very good in its own way, I guess I felt a bit disappointed. Still had a wonderful time, though. Maybe a re-read with adjusted expectations will be good.

      The Aeneid… It’s good, it has many outstanding bits (the fall of Troy, the old ladies burning ships, the descent into hell, the Fury causing the war, etc), but way too often it reads like fanfic (the entire Polyphemus cameo adds nothing to the story) or, even worse, propaganda. **So many times** the narrative comes to a halt so Virgil can jerk off Augustus for multiple pages, it gets old fast. And Aeneas is a bland protagonist, just as Turnus is a bland antagonist. Loved the cut-to-black ending, though.

    6. The Iliad has robots. How many robots does the Odyssey have?

      So less glibly, the Iliad, despite allegedly just telling of the wrath of Achilles, covers so very, very much ground. It’s vast. The Odyssey is very much the focused story of one man and those whose story wraps around his.

    7. BingBlessAmerica on

      I just finished the Iliad and I can say with clarity that it’s one of the most psychologically complex stories I’ve ever read (and has the best action prose I’ve ever read too). Going to do my first straight Odyssey next

    8. Tough question! I read “The Iliad” first, and got invested in the characters early in life, so part of me wants to say this is my favourite. But, at the same time, the characters I got more invested in were Achilles and Odysseus, so learning there was a whole book about the latter was an amazing discovery for little me.

      I’d say “The Iliad” has the emotional investment & attachment advantage, and is the one I own more copies of. But I practically consider both an inseparable duet, so… don’t make me choose, I beg you! 🙂

    9. The Odyssey is a lot more light-hearted if you could call it that, while The Iliad is a lot more sad. But, The Iliad wins out for me because of the battles, the different characters and some of its different themes including family.

      Virgil mirrored Homer quite a bit in regards to how The Aeneid was structured, and that has varying results. I think The Aeneid is better when Virgil actually builds a narrative of his own (the fall of Troy, meeting Andromache, the ships being burned, etc.) as opposed to just copying elements from The Iliad and The Odyssey. A lot of it reads like Pro-Augustus/Pro-Julio Claudian propaganda which is both jarring and kind of funny at the same time.

    10. DustyFeedbag on

      I’m slightly partial to the Odyssey because I find the plot and main character more interesting. It does seem a little rougher around the edges than the Iliad though, maybe because it was tinkered with more by later editors. Or I don’t know, maybe it’s the opposite situation and it needed more tinkering. It’s interesting trying to hypothesize how the poems evolved over time before solidifying into what we have now.

    11. Desirestolearn on

      I read the Chapman Odyssey and I absolutely adored it, much as I did the Fitzgerald translation of the Iliad. I enjoyed both of these readings so very much but there is a magic to the verse of the Chapman translation of the Odyssey that really stuck with me over the years and for that reason I would probably pick the Odyssey; honestly, it merits the Ode by John Keats and I am eager to read the Chapman Iliad.

    12. icarus-daedelus on

      Vergil has his moments and The Aeneid is worth reading for anyone with an interest in the classics, but he’s no Homer. Have to go with The Odyssey there as I have a preference for a compelling adventure story with a strongly developed central character over the war narrative of The Iliad.

    13. Odyssey is more enjoyable to read but Iliad’s best emotional parts are better than anything in the Odyssey

    14. Leander_Malurt on

      I liked the Odyssey the most. And while I get what other people are saying about it being more adventurous and light-hearted, I feel I have to disagree. The Odyssey is a reckoning with everything the Iliad stood for. It works more like an epilogue than a sequel, and should definitely be read back-to-back.

      Especially important is the themes about the changing of the guard with the focus on Telemachus and Nestor’s son, and the reminder that just because you won the war doesn’t mean you get to live happily ever after. Achilles: suddenly dead. Agamemnon: dead. Cool Ajax: Also dead. And the Odyssey never lets us forget it! Most characters even wish they didn’t have to go to Troy in the first place. The Odyssey asks about what’s left when the wars’ stopped, and continues this path right until the end.

      Also the penultimate book sends shivers down my spine.

    15. Generally speaking, I found the Odyssey more compelling than the Iliad. I read both titles 5 years ago and while I remember the Odyssey’s narrative quite vividly, I cannot say the same with the Iliad’s (as rendered in the poem).

    Leave A Reply