Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats — shipwrecks, battles, monsters and the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon — Odysseus must use his wit and native cunning if he is to reach his homeland safely and overcome the obstacles that, even there, await him.

Shewring's superb prose translation comes as close to the spirit of the original Greek as our language will allow.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Alas that mortals Should blame the gods! From us, they say, All evils come. Yet they themselves It is who through defiant deeds Bring sorrow on them-far more sorrow Than fate would have them bear.' Attributed to the blind Greek poet, Homer, The Odyssey is an epic tale about cunning and strength of mind. It takes its starting point ten years after the fall of the city of Troy and follows its Greek warrior hero Odysseus as he tries to journey to his home of Ithaca in northwest Greece after the Greek victory over the Trojans. On his travels, Odysseus comes across surreal islands and foreign lands where he is in turn challenged and supported by those that he meets on his travels as he attempts to find his way back home in order to vanquish those who threaten his estate. In turn, his son Telemachus has to grow up quickly as he attempts to find his father and protect his mother from her suitors. Dealing with the universal themes of temptation and courage, the epic journey that Odysseus undertakes is as meaningful today as it was almost 3,000 years ago when the story was composed.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Clanless, lawless, homeless is he who is in love with civil war, that brutal ferocious thing.' The epic poem The Iliad begins nine years after the beginning of the Trojan War and describes the great warrior Achilles and the battles and events that take place as he quarrels with the King Agamemnon. Attributed to Homer, The Iliad, along with The Odyssey, is still revered today as the oldest and finest example of Western Literature.

Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued translators of Homer. Atlantic Monthly The Iliad is the story of a few days' fighting in the tenth year of the legendary war between the Greeks and the Trojans, which broke out when Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, abducted the fabulously beautiful Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. After a quarrel between the Greek commander, Agamemnon, and the greatest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, the gods become more closely involved in the action. Their intervention leads to the tragic death of Hector, the Trojan leader, and to the final defeat of the Trojans. But the Iliad is much more than a series of battle scenes. It is a work of extraordinary pathos and profundity that concerns itself with issues as fundamental as the meaning of life and death. Even the heroic ethic itself — with its emphasis on pride, honour, prowess in battle, and submission to the inexorable will of the gods — is not left unquestioned.

«Here is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of Homer's stirring heroic account of the Trojan war and its passions. The eloquent and dramatic epic poem captures the terrible anger of Achilles, the best of the Achaeans, over a grave insult to his personal honor and relates its tragic result — a chain of consequences that proves devastating for the Greek forces besieging Troy, for noble Trojans, and for Achilles himself. The poet gives us compelling characterizations of his protagonists as well as a remarkable study of the heroic code in antiquity. The works attributed to Homer include the two oldest and greatest European epic poems, the «Odyssey» and the «Iliad.» These have been published in the Loeb Classical Library for three quarters of a century, the Greek text facing a faithful and literate prose translation by A. T. Murray. William F. Wyatt now brings the Loeb's «Iliad» up to date, with a rendering that retains Murray's admirable style but is written for today's readers.»

«In the «Graphic Classics» version of this great epic by Western civilization's first immortal poet, the Greek hero Odysseus returns home from the Trojan War. His lengthy sea voyage is marked by a series of dangerous, often fantastic adventures, which also make exciting reading. «Graphic Classics» are graphic novel versions of immortal novels and plays, presented in a way to help make great literary works accessible to students, and encourage boys and girls to discover the joy of reading the masterworks in their original form. Titles in this series tell absorbing, fast-paced stories dramatized with high-quality color illustrations. Each «Graphic Classics» title includes a thumbnail biography of the author, a list of his or her important works, a timeline of historic events that helped inspire the story, general notes, and an index. «Graphic Classics» titles are available in both paperback and hardcover editions.»

The great hero Odysseus has been away from his family for twenty years when the goddess Athene decides to help him find his way back to the island of Ithaca. But the journey will not be easy. Odysseus must face storms, monsters and the terrible anger of the sea god Poseidon. And if he succeeds, will he be welcomed home?

The Iliad narrates the events of the siege of Troy, prompted by Greek outrage at the abduction by Paris of Helen from her Greek husband. It describes the anger of Achilles which results in the death of Patroclus, and Achilles' quest for brutal vengeance on Hector. Even though it was composed more than two thousand years ago The Iliad remains both powerful and enthralling.

The Odyssey can claim to be Western literature's first adventure story, and describes the ten-year wanderings of Odysseus in his quest to return home after the Trojan war. He encounters giants, sorceresses and sea-monsters before he can get home and then must remain in disguise while seeking a way to rid his home of the suitors who, believing him dead, have besieged his wife. Both an enchanting fairy tale and a gripping drama, The Odyssey is eminently readable, not least for the rich complexity and magnetism of its hero.

Hector bidding farewell to his wife and baby son, Odysseus bound to the mast listening to the Sirens, Penelope at the loom, Achilles dragging Hector's body round the walls of Troy — scenes from Homer have been reportrayed in every generation. The questions about mortality and identity that Homer's heroes ask, the bonds of love, respect and fellowship that motivate them, have gripped audiences for three millennia. Chapman's Iliad and Odyssey are great English epic poems, but they are also two of the liveliest and readable translations of Homer. Chapman's freshness makes the everyday world of nature and the craftsman as vivid as the battlefield and Mount Olympus. His poetry is driven by the excitement of the Renaissance discovery of classical civilisation as at once vital and distant, and is enriched by the perspectives of humanist thought.

The product of more than a decade's continuous work (1598-1611), Chapman's translation of Homer's great poem of war is a magnificent testimony to the power of the Iliad. In muscular, onward-rolling verse Chapman retells the story of Achilles, the great warrior, and his terrible wrath before the walls of besieged Troy, and the destruction it wreaks on both Greeks and Trojans. Chapman regarded the translation of this epic, and of Homer's Odyssey (also available in Wordsworth Editions) as his life's work, and dedicated himself to capturing the 'soul' of the poem.

Homer's great epic describes the many adventures of Odysseus, Greek warrior, as he strives over many years to return to his home island of Ithaca after the Trojan War. His colourful adventures, his endurance, his love for his wife and son have the same power to move and inspire readers today as they did in Archaic Greece, 2800 years ago. This poem has been translated many times over the years, but Chapman's sinewy, gorgeous rendering (1616) stands in a class of its own. Chapman believed himself inspired by the spirit of Homer himself, and matches the breadth and power of the original with a complex and stunning idiom of his own. John Keats expressed his admiration for the resulting work in the famous sonnet, 'On first looking into Chapman's Homer': 'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold...'

«Homer's epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War has inspired writers from Virgil to James Joyce. Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens' song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope. Favorite of the gods, Odysseus embodies the energy, intellect, and resourcefulness that were of highest value to the ancients and that remain ideals in out time. In this new verse translation, Allen Mandelbaum — celebrated poet and translator of Virgil's «Aeneid» and Dante's «Divine Comedy» — realizes the power and beauty of the original Greek verse and demonstrates why the epic tale of «The Odyssey» has captured the human imagination for nearly three thousand years.»