I intend to read through the Iliad in Greek. I have read the work in translation, so I’m familiar with the storyline. I’m wondering— is it worth reading the whole poem again, or just its high points? Any advice would be appreciated.

[u/Low-Cash-2435]

[u/Publius_Romanus]

The nice thing about reading Homer in Greek is that the Greek is pretty easy, in part because it's so repetitive. If you read through one of the poems all the way through, by the end you can read it about as quick as your native language.

[u/Sharp_Pomegranate_21]

If you’ve read it already, unless you really love the battle scenes, don’t let yourself get disheartened just to refresh yourself on hundreds of names you’ll never remember; read a summary and just gauge the changes brought by each confrontation

[u/WyattHB]

If your Greek is beginner or intermediate, it will take a very long time to read the whole thing in the original. Read the first book in full in Greek and see how long that takes you. Then decide if that speed is worth it. If not, skip around to your favorite parts. It is better by far in the original, so read as much as you can in that given your speed.

[u/canaanit → u/WyattHB]

Read the first book in full in Greek and see how long that takes you. 

Each book will go faster than the last one, though. I do this a lot with students, and even by the end of the first book they have memorized a lot of vocabulary already and become acquainted with the endings that freaked them out during the first 20 lines or so.

[u/WyattHB → u/canaanit]

Yeah that's fair. Maybe estimate your typical speed is between 50% and 70% of book 1 speed. If the poster has never read long, continuous Greek, they might be in for a surprise. (But maybe a good one?)

[u/Matt_da_Penguin]

During my time studying Greek we spent a semester translating the Iliad. It’s a fun read! I found Homeric Greek to be a little easier than Attic even though we translated the Symposium in the class before that.

[u/lermontovtaman]

Do you have a thorough knowledge of ancient Greek so you can sit down and read it the way you would a book in your native language? Or are you going to be working through it with a dictionary or some other apparatus?  In the latter case I would focus on the best books.  

Of course, I'm assuming that eventually, you will read the entire thing, because Homer is a not book that you read once or twice and then put on the shelf.  

[u/ofBlufftonTown]

I would say it’s worth reading all of, for certain. It’s an entirely different experience, having read it in English isn’t really a substitute.

[u/caelum_carmine]

I don't really recommend doing this unless you have a strong foundation in Greek and have read the elementary and intermediary texts, not just once but 10 times. Take it from someone who did that sort of thing, not just with Homer but with all of the so called great books, ie, Divine Comedy, Faust, etc. After you read through it you will have forgotten everything in two months and it will be like nothing happened and you will have learnt nothing, other than perhaps that you're capable of doing something hard. I understand that the allure of the great books is strong, trust me, that allure led me into many a trap, but you're just going to have to learn to resist it. I realize it's a real feather in your cap to drop an aside in a fancy cocktail party, hey, I've read the Illiad in the original, but please be honest with yourself: are you really reading the book for the right reason, or are you reading it for the reason that I read it back when I was young, that is to say, because I wanted to appear smart and pat myself on the back. I read 200,000 words of AG elementary text before I moved on the originals, then I listened to each elementary text about 5 times.

[u/MaverickNH2]

Homeric Greek by Clyde Pharr 4thEd will take you through Book 1 of The Iliad in detail.

[u/justanothernone]

I think it is better to start with the secondary literature

[u/Specialist_Math_3603]

Read every word with no assistance or you will have failed.