This anthology makes accessible to the reader sixteen of the most important studies of Homer and the Iliad to appear in the last forty years. The essays, by leading Homeric scholars from Great Britain, the United States, and Europe, deal not only with the aesthetics and artistry of the Iliad as a poetic artefact, but with its historical context, its cultural background, and its ethical and political framework. Other major topics include the relation between the Iliad and other early epics (the Odyssey, the Epic Cycle), the interface between epic and other genres, such as tragedy, and the complex interaction that exists between the Iliad and the wider traditions of oral poetry and mythical narrative in which it belongs.

Two of the contributions have been translated especially for this volume; several have been thoroughly revised and updated, and others are provided with Addenda taking account of recent work in the field. In a detailed and wide-ranging introduction Douglas Cairns sets the contributions in the context of contemporary scholarship and explores significant connections between them. All Greek is translated and a glossary of transliterated Greek terms is provided.