Listen free for 30 days
-
The Iliad
- A New Translation by Caroline Alexander
- Narrated by: Dominic Keating
- Series: Iliad & Odyssey, Book 1
- Length: 19 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Poetry
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Membership
$14.95 a month
Buy Now for $50.03
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Odyssey
- Written by: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
- Narrated by: Claire Danes
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
Acclaimed actress Claire Danes burnishes an epic story of heroes, gods, and monsters in a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey, the first great adventure story in the Western literary tradition. When the wily warrior-king Odysseus sets off for home after the Trojan War, he doesn’t realize this simple undertaking will become a perilous journey of 10 years. Beset at every turn, he encounters obstacles, detours, and temptations—both supernatural and human—while his wife Penelope fends off would-be suitors desperate to take the throne.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An epic will always be an epic!
- By JohnS on 2019-06-02
Written by: Homer, and others
-
The Odyssey
- Written by: Homer, Robert Fagles - translator
- Narrated by: Ian McKellen
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
What can you say about "The Odyssey"...
- By Troy Dimock on 2018-09-18
Written by: Homer, and others
-
Troy
- The Greek Myths Reimagined
- Written by: Stephen Fry
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 148
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 147
Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor, and vivid emotion. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Helen, their lovers, and their mortal enemies all burn bright in Fry's compelling prose. This volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thank you with all of my heart Stephen!
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-11-24
Written by: Stephen Fry
-
The Aeneid
- Written by: Virgil
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 12
The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.
Written by: Virgil
-
The Virginia Woolf Collection
- Written by: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Jessie Buckley, Kristin Scott Thomas, and others
- Length: 30 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Four books...one groundbreaking author. This collection includes Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), A Room of One’s Own (1929), and The Waves (1931).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible collection with immaculate narration
- By Fraser Simons on 2021-07-02
Written by: Virginia Woolf
-
The Divine Comedy
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, Dante Alighieri
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick, Kristin Atherton
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, his ascent of Mount Purgatory and his encounter with his dead love Beatrice, and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation is published here for the first time in a single volume.
Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, and others
-
The Odyssey
- Written by: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
- Narrated by: Claire Danes
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
Acclaimed actress Claire Danes burnishes an epic story of heroes, gods, and monsters in a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey, the first great adventure story in the Western literary tradition. When the wily warrior-king Odysseus sets off for home after the Trojan War, he doesn’t realize this simple undertaking will become a perilous journey of 10 years. Beset at every turn, he encounters obstacles, detours, and temptations—both supernatural and human—while his wife Penelope fends off would-be suitors desperate to take the throne.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An epic will always be an epic!
- By JohnS on 2019-06-02
Written by: Homer, and others
-
The Odyssey
- Written by: Homer, Robert Fagles - translator
- Narrated by: Ian McKellen
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
What can you say about "The Odyssey"...
- By Troy Dimock on 2018-09-18
Written by: Homer, and others
-
Troy
- The Greek Myths Reimagined
- Written by: Stephen Fry
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 148
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 147
Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor, and vivid emotion. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Helen, their lovers, and their mortal enemies all burn bright in Fry's compelling prose. This volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thank you with all of my heart Stephen!
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-11-24
Written by: Stephen Fry
-
The Aeneid
- Written by: Virgil
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 12
The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.
Written by: Virgil
-
The Virginia Woolf Collection
- Written by: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Jessie Buckley, Kristin Scott Thomas, and others
- Length: 30 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Four books...one groundbreaking author. This collection includes Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), A Room of One’s Own (1929), and The Waves (1931).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible collection with immaculate narration
- By Fraser Simons on 2021-07-02
Written by: Virginia Woolf
-
The Divine Comedy
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, Dante Alighieri
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick, Kristin Atherton
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, his ascent of Mount Purgatory and his encounter with his dead love Beatrice, and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation is published here for the first time in a single volume.
Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, and others
Publisher's Summary
With her virtuoso translation, classicist and best-selling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer's timeless epic of the Trojan War.
Composed around 730 BC, Homer's Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted 10-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of Ilion. From the explosive confrontation between Achilles, the greatest warrior at Troy, and Agamemnon, the inept leader of the Greeks, through to its tragic conclusion, The Iliad explores the abiding, blighting facts of war.
Soldier and civilian, victor and vanquished, hero and coward, men, women, young, old - The Iliad evokes in poignant, searing detail the fate of every life ravaged by the Trojan War. And, as told by Homer, this ancient tale of a particular Bronze Age conflict becomes a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war throughout the ages.
Carved close to the original Greek, acclaimed classicist Caroline Alexander's new translation is swift and lean, with the driving cadence of its source - a translation epic in scale yet devastating in its precision and power.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Iliad
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nate
- 2020-11-13
beautiful story, beautifully orated
Excellent speaker, a man like a god. Standing above all other men in counsel. So the epic of shining Hector, breaker of horses and the son of Peleus, swift footed Achilles, was told.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- John MacLachlan
- 2020-05-26
excellent and accessible.
Dominic Keating does an excellent job performing this work. his voice carries a weight and presence that is very appropriate for this work.
I haven't read any other translations of the Iliad, but Caroline Alexander has done a great job breathing life into this work for an audience in the 21st century.
This piece is a must listen.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- T. Bachman
- 2019-04-04
Great
A genuinely stellar performance by the narrator and the translator. I strongly recommend this audiobook.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- S Wallace
- 2018-09-20
Gut-Wrenching! Unforgettable! Life-changing!
#Audible1
A translation that makes the oldest epic on the planet seem urgent. I cannot recommend this enough. I also really enjoy the narrator saying "Iliados" rather than "Iliad"--it's the little things that make a good narration.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tad Davis
- 2016-04-22
Forceful
I had a hard time getting into this translation when it first came out. The language seemed unnecessarily formal, sometimes downright knotty. I kept comparing it to another line-by-line translation that came out recently, the one by Peter Green, and found greater clarity in his.
What a difference a gifted narrator makes! When I listen to Dominic Keating read this translation, it sounds anything but formal and knotty: yes, it's rhythmic and filled with all the repetitive epithets so dear to Homer's heart, but boy does it have an impact. I actually listened to the Catalogue of the Ships this time around without zoning out, and could almost see the great armies massing on the plain, feeling the vibration of their boots on the ground. The words cut like sharpened bronze.
It comes with a short, clear, and helpful introduction by Alexander that condenses a lot of the material she covered in her book "The War that Killed Achilles".
A reliable source - the most reliable of all, Caroline Alexander herself, in an online chat - said she has no plans to do The Odyssey. It's not that doing The Iliad wore her out, it's just that she doesn't feel the same emotional connection to The Odyssey. I'm sorry to hear that. I've love to hear someone do for that poem what she's done for this one.
Many people have done line-for-line translations of Homer, Richmond Lattimore being the one most often recommended. Lattimore's verse has great dignity but (for me) not nearly so much clarity, and nowhere near the visceral punch.
I've read the Iliad in so many different translations that I have no idea whether this one would be good for a first-time listener. But if you have an interest in Homer, you owe it to yourself to give this one a listen at some point.
168 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sandra Sena
- 2016-09-14
Narration and translation matters
After having read Why Homer Matters (by Adam Nicolson), I tasked myself to read the source material, having never read it in my formal education. I managed to get half way through a different adaptation when it became a chore to continue so I abandoned listening. Recently, I was highly recommended this translation and I'm glad I gave it another try. The introduction alone gave a succinct encapsulation of "why Homer matters". The Iliad is the source of all storytelling and this translation was incredibly fluid and the narration was completely engaging! I was swept into the drama (which I felt lacking in my last attempt) and I think I would listen to anything read by this narrator.
76 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Karen
- 2019-11-27
Available to 21st Century Ears
The translation is fraught with grammatical oddments such as the use of nominative forms for objective pronouns, which is shattering to those who tend to be fastidious about such things. The narration is clean and not theatrical yet sensitive to the text. The pronunciation of classical names is unconventional but consistent. I never quite adjusted to Priam being pronounced “PREE-um” instead of “PRIGH” as in “high” — “PRIGH-am” or to Mount Ida as “EE-dah” instead of “EYE-dah.”
48 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Penguin Flying
- 2019-11-14
Beginnings of words chopped off
The narration seems very strong — perhaps it would get a little tiresome after a while — but there is either a consistent audio problem or (less likely) tendency on the part of the narrator that leads to the beginnings of words and paragraphs being chopped off. This is sometimes pronounced, sometimes subtle, but very distracting and it’s hard for me to pay attention to anything else. The most obvious example is the name “Achilles” — very often at the beginning of a line (or a sentence in the introduction) the first vowel sound is cut off so the name comes through as [‘chilles] (kill-ease). Pretty soon I was listening for it, doubting whether I was hearing correctly, noticing it every time it happened, and for that reason was unable to enjoy the poem. Very disappointing. I’ll be trying a different translation (I already bought and abandoned the Fagles done by Derek Jacobi after realizing it was abridged).
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ben
- 2018-11-07
Clear and Precise Narration and Translation
The narrator did a fantastic job, restraining himself from poetic flourishes or "acting," but kept his pace and cadence appropriately throughout, never straining for effect.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- George
- 2016-10-28
timeless
There are reasons this work has stood for 3000 years. We all face the same fundamental human dilemmas illustrated by Achilles, friends and enemies: Life, death, the struggling for meaning...and perhaps the fickle dictates of fate.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anne
- 2018-08-13
Absolutely Thrilling
This translation and the performance together make an absolutely thrilling listen. A narration that sends a listener back to the text to enjoy it again and in another way is rare, indeed, and this production does just that.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jesse Sierke
- 2018-03-18
A bold reading of the basis for Western literature
As was surely the intent of its composers, this poetic telling of the struggle of bodies and hearts and minds for the sacred city of Troy weaves together threads of myth, history, and human drama to form a living tapestry in the imagination of the listener.
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeff
- 2016-06-22
Excellent
This well written and masterfully narrated version has fast become my favorite version of this epic tale.
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nico Vela
- 2019-11-06
A great translation
A great translation that brings forth the original spirit of the Iliad. The narration is wonderful, and the book is great to read.
12 people found this helpful
