This is the fifth volume in the major six-volume Commentary on Homer's Iliad now being prepared under the general- editorship of Professor G. S. Kirk. Volume I was published in 1985, Volume II in 1990; both were edited by Professor Kirk himself. Like its predecessors, the present volume (the first to appear from the hand of one of Professor Kirk's four collaborators) consists of four introductory essays (including discussions of similes and other features of narrative style) followed by the Commentary. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on The Iliad, for nearly one hundred years, and takes special account of language, style and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work. The Commentary is an essential reference work for all students of Greek literature, and archaeologists and historians will also find that it contains matters of relevance to them.

Contents

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The narrator and the audience
2. Composition by theme
3. Similes
4. Style
Commentary
Book 17
Book 18
Book 19
Book 20
Index.