The Iliad was more popular than the Odyssey beginning in ancient times, and continued to be all the way up to World War One. Then, something changed. Now the Odyssey leaves the Iliad in the dust in terms of which poem gets assigned more frequently in school, in book sales, and simply in the stated preference of readers. What happened? Ryan and Jonathan read Edward Luttwak's essay, Homer Inc., about the thriving industry of Homer translations, the ancient redactors of Homer, the historicity of the Trojan War, and one of the perennial questions any humanist must answer - and to which Luttwak gives his own idiosyncratic response: Why does Homer matter?
Edward Luttwak's Homer Inc.: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n04/edward-luttwak/homer-inc
NH episode on Melanchthon and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/13181921-return-of-the-old-gods-in-germany-episode-lii
NH episode on Weil and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/10429309-the-iliad-or-the-poem-of-force-episode-xxi
NH episode on Nietzsche and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/13949908-nietzsche-homer-and-cruelty-episode-lvi
Stephen Mitchell's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781439163382
Robert Fagles's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140275360
Emily Wilson's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781324001805
Richmond Lattimore's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226470498
Peter Green's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780520281431
Robert Fitzgerald's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780374529055
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Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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