Troy: The epic battle as told in Homer's Iliad (Collins Classics)

Description

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. When Paris falls in love with legendary beauty Helen of Troy, the devastating effects of their affair on their families and fellow citizens are unimaginable. Battle lines are drawn, alliances are forged, and as the Greeks and Trojans march into battle, the resilience and humanity of all will be tested. In his epic story of divine ego, human frailty, and the ravages of war, Homer created an unforgettable cast of characters, whose moral dilemmas and heroic deeds will stay with readers long past the final pages of this book. Samuel Butler's famous prose translation of Homer's original brings the epic to an entirely new generation of readers.

Homer's exact lifetime is unknown, but it is estimated as around 700-800 BC. Homer wrote the epic poems of The Iliad and The Odyssey and has had an enormous influence on the history of literature. He is considered the greatest of the ancient Greek poets. Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was the son of a clergyman. Following a disagreement with his father, he left England to become a sheep farmer in New Zealand, returning to England in 1864. He published Erewhon anonymously in 1872, and went on to publish several works attacking contemporary scientific ideas, in particular Darwin's theory of natural selection.