i started with the greeks

[Anonymous No.19709525]

that's right, your good friend anon finished the first book of the Iliad

[Anonymous No.19709533]

Nice anon, I hope you're enjoying it

[Anonymous No.19709539]

I like how at the end of the chapters Zeus and pals go to bed. My theory so far is that the Gods are the adults and the Greeks are kids at play, e.g. crybaby Achilles asking his mom to interfere when Aga-whatever steals his fave toy.

[Anonymous No.19709544]

chapter singular*

[Anonymous No.19709551]

>>19709525
Congratulations!

[Anonymous No.19709592]

>>19709525
>fell for a lit meme
>make a topic about it
the /lit/erate state of this board

[Anonymous No.19709680]

>>19709592
Hi anon, please share your opinions on Homer's The Iliad.

[Anonymous No.19710841]

>>19709525
based
>>19709592
cringe

[Anonymous No.19711067]

>>19709525
You fell for the meme. Good job.

[Anonymous No.19711108]

i started with Call of the Crocodile

[Anonymous No.19711113]

>>19711108
By f Gardner

[Anonymous No.19711365]

I left it half finished as I always do

[Anonymous No.19711423]

>>19709525
Let's go, bro. The start of a lifelong habit for greatness.

[Anonymous No.19711460]

>>19709525
congratulations, you are 1/100 on your way to becoming a pseud
go and google a picture of any city, think about the people there, think about if they care about what books youve read, or if theyre relevant in any way, if they help you in any way
they dont care, they arent relevant, and they dont help you
books are for enjoyment and for learning, if youre doing it for anything else (everyone who comes to /lit/ and "starts with the greeks" is doing it to fit in, to be someone who reads books, to become an "intellectual" (pseud) then you are wasting your time

[Anonymous No.19711510]

People are really pissed I'm reading this book, how odd. p.s. I finished Book 2 this afternoon.

[Anonymous No.19711543]

>>19711510
Nobody here actually reads. You're scaring them.

[Anonymous No.19711568]

>>19709525
Nice. Did you read Mythology by Hamilton and The Trojan War by Strauss as well? Mythology was a very fun read for me and The Trojan War was interesting with the archeology insights and such.

[Anonymous No.19711571]

>>19709525
So, what do you remember about it?

[Anonymous No.19711632]

>>19711568
I haven't, sorry anon. I rarely read secondary texts. I skip intros too.
>>19711571
Remember? It's less than 24 hours since I started! My initial thoughts, also relevant to the next chapter, were posted here >>19709539
Of Book II, I enjoyed Thersites ad hom, and the imo unfair description of him as le ugly troll.

[Anonymous No.19712400]

>>19709525
BASED!

[Anonymous No.19712416]

>>19709525
βασεδ

[Anonymous No.19712527]

>>19709525
>>19711510
Hey anon, as long as you're doing it because you like it then I don't see anything wrong with "falling for the meme". If you're reading the greeks just because you feel pressured to, then don't. Just read what you want to.

No matter what, I hope you're having a great time with it, I know I sure did.

Also ignore people like >>19711460 their negative impact will get you nowhere good.

Kind regards
Another anon who "fell for the meme"

[Anonymous No.19713171]

>>19709525
Ignore the haters. Hope you enjoy it man.

[Anonymous No.19713578]

>it's another long-winded lion analogy
fucking hell homer

[Anonymous No.19713783]

>>19711543
i second this

[Anonymous No.19713794]

>>19709525
>tell anon to start with the greeks
>the madman actually does it

[Anonymous No.19714075]

>>19709525
you've inspired me anon. I am going to start reading the Iliad too. I've never read it.

[Anonymous No.19714127]

congratz anon

[Anonymous No.19714630]

>>19709525
Which translation?

[Anonymous No.19714693]

>>19709525
Based. After that you should try the Odyseey, the Aeneid and the plays of Sofocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.

[Anonymous No.19715247]

I read Book 3 this morning. It continues to introduce the characters. I guess what interests me most is the relationships between the gods and the mortals. e.g. when Priam tells Helen:

No crime of thine our present sufferings draws,
Not thou, but Heaven’s disposing will, the cause
The gods these armies and this force employ,
The hostile gods conspire the fate of Troy.

Reminding me of Edmund's words in King Lear: "This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeits of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion..."

Everyone's always referred to as "the brother of...", "the son of...", here I was thinking that capitalists invented kinship to divide le workers. Helen is the most human character so far, the bit about her wishing to see her brothers on the battlefield and wondering why they're not present then Homer revealing the reason was very moving:

"The rest I know, and could in order name;
All valiant chiefs, and men of mighty fame.
Yet two are wanting of the numerous train,
Whom long my eyes have sought, but sought in vain:
Castor and Pollux, first in martial force,
One bold on foot, and one renown’d for horse.
My brothers these; the same our native shore,
One house contain'd us, as one mother bore.
Perhaps the chiefs, from warlike toils at ease,
For distant Troy refused to sail the seas;
Perhaps their swords some nobler quarrel draws,
Ashamed to combat in their sister's cause.”

So spoke the fair, nor knew her brothers' doom
Wrapt in the cold embraces of the tomb;
Adorn'd with honours in their native shore,
Silent they slept, and heard of wars no more.

Poor critters are playthings of men as men are to gods

With that the chief the tender victims slew,
And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw;
The vital spirit issued at the wound,
And left the members quivering on the ground

Helen is the only one to see thru an immortal's guise

Struck with her presence, straight the lively red
Forsook her cheek; and trembling, thus she said:
"Then is it still thy pleasure to deceive?
And woman's frailty always to believe!"

Anyway, although there's obvious differences between the gods in Iliad and the singular God of the OT, both are compelling because they possess human qualities: they're jealous, arbitrary, sometimes kind, sometimes cruel. Zeus being a God who goes to bed is way more interesting to me than the popular notion on here via Guenon and Atmanfags of the One, big undifferentiated, unconditioned oneness, how dull. Ee: translations, I'm glad there's a huge variety to read in English. I don't think the timeless appeal of the poem lies in its original meter or how it sounded, rather it lies in the narrative, its human characters and human gods.

[Anonymous No.19715331]

Draw a little diagram of the battlefield on paper and make notes or draw arrows for whenever the Greeks/Trojans push back or get pushed back, since the battle changes phases several times

That's what I did and it made it easier to keep track of where the action was

>>19709592
Faggot