by Troy Caperton
The Iliad, of course, is the Homerian epic describing the battles between the Achaeans and the people of Troy, a war in which Gods played as much a part in as men. Western scholars have, of course, revered the text, but often translations have shown the bias of Christian scholars or Victorian prudishness. Having never mastered ancient Greek beyond the aorist case, I'm not expert enough to review its scholarly adherence to the original, but...
It is a fact that many people study Greek texts totally without regard for the cultural and religious context within which they were created, and this seems to be an attempt to restore the text to that context. Although a prose translation, the epic elements seem, from the sample I read, to be firmly intact. I'd like to see a complete copy.
Neo-Pagan scholarship has, for many years, been quite abysmal. It used to be that no one would crack open a classic work but just quote something someone else concocted five years before. But there are plenty of Pagans trained in academic research and writing who, I think, will bring a fresh perspective to ancient topics. Even Llewellyn, which used to have a reputation (at least among most of the people I knew) as a crack-pot, we'll-publish-anything-new-agey, seems to be improving, although they still run the gamut. Anyway, it's nice to see a version where they won't gloss over the relationship between Achilles and Patroklos, for example, or treat the Gods as Deities rather than merely meddlesome manipulators.
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