The Iliad by Homer

In follow up to my last post, wow, I can't believe how much I am enjoying The Iliad.  I know that I read it for the first time some 20 years ago.  And I know that I somehow retained the general plot of the story over all of the intervening years.

But I'm appreciating it so much more with this second reading.  

Perhaps it's my broader knowledge of both Greek history and the overall history of the world at this point.  Perhaps it's also due to the terrific book I just completed by Eva Brann.  Perhaps it's also that I've learned the importance of reading Cliff's Notes in parallel with classic literature.

Maybe it's simply that I'm older now and reading with a different perspective.  Regardless, I'm seriously enjoying The Iliad this time around.

I'm only to Book 20 (out of 24), but my memory of the first reading is mostly of scenes of one-on-one combat, whereas so far the book has been almost exclusively fully army vs. army.  

Another, larger difference with this reading, is that I'm sure I completely missed the main theme with the first reading: That this is the story of Achilles and his hubris.  One hero's arrogance leads to the slaughter of countless Greeks and Trojans, and ultimately that of Achilles himself.  Although he barely appears in the first 3/4 of the story, this story is about Achilles.

And lastly, as I read The Odyssey shortly after reading The Iliad the first time around, I remember thinking how odd it was that I didn't recall Odysseus at all from The Iliad.  I now realize that this was because Odysseus is referred (in many translations of The Iliad) to by his Romanized name of Ulysses.

Anyhow, maybe the third time that I read The Iliad and The Odyssey I can actually translate it from the original ancient Greek text?  

Maybe.  Let's file that under #goals.