As if I have something worth saying about the ancient Greek epics of Homer. I like to get some antiquity into my reading, and this was this year's (heavy) dose. Formerly thought to date from the 12th century BC, but scholars now apparently agree on the 9th or 8th century BC. At any rate, a heckuva long time ago. The editions I read were Penguin Classics paperbacks from the early 70s (picked up at a flea market), with the prose translation by E.V. Rieu. Again, I have zero basis to rate what sort of job he did. So what can I say? The Iliad is a long and sprawling war story recounting a short period from the ten year long Greek seige of the city of Troy. It is sometimes tedious, with endless roll calls of troops and their commanders and their geneologies and hometowns. It is sometimes very odd, as the gods meddle at their often illogical whims. It is not a dead and distanced work -- the modern reader can still relate to the characters as individualized human beings, unlike in some early literature. It also practically rubs your nose in the tedium, horror and absurdity of war. Contrary to your expectations, it does not cover the end of the war, with the Trojan Horse and the sacking of Troy. Nor is that covered in The Odyssey, which opens a decade or so after that event. The Odyssey is a more enjoyable yarn, with a smaller cast of characters, who are fleshed out even more. The story of Odysseus' ill-fated journey home from Troy is told in a rather modern out-of-sequence form, beginning with the present dire circumstances at his masterless home, and shifting from character to character, with some characters filling in the gaps with long first-person flashback accounts. Eventually, the threads are all caught up, and Odysseus returns to Ithaca to take back his home. It ain't pretty. These are major milestones in world literature, and everyone should experience them for themselves at some point, ideally without a teacher hanging over you. There are many translations out there -- some in prose, some in verse. It should be possible to find a version that you can relate to (and no, movie versions don't count). Being way, way in the public domain, you can find older translations for free online. Though you would find more to choose from in print. And inevitably... there's an RSS feed of The Iliad.