When John Keats first read Chapman's translation of the epics of "deep-brow'd Homer," he was so overwhelmed, so overcome with the joy of discovery, that he compared his experience to finding "a new planet."

When you join Professor Elizabeth Vandiver for these lectures on the Iliad, you come to understand what enthralled Keats and has gripped so many readers of Homer. Indeed, it is probably true to say that only the Bible rivals Homer for sheer depth and scope of cultural and literary influence.

Professor Vandiver makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told, but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.

12 Lectures:

1. Introduction to Homeric Epic
2. The Homeric Question
3. Glory, Honor, and the Wrath of Achilles
4. Within the Walls of Troy
5. The Embassy to Achilles
6. The Paradox of Glory
7. The Role of the Gods
8. The Longest Day
9. The Death of Patroklos
10. Achilles Returns to Battle
11. Achilles and Hektor
12. Enemies' Tears—Achilles and Priam.