Book XXII recounts the climax of the Iliad: the fatal encounter between the main defender of Troy and the greatest warrior of the Greeks, which results in the death of Hector and Achilles' revenge for the death of his friend Patroclus; but at the same time adumbrates Achilles' own death and the fall of Troy. The introduction summarises central debates in Homeric scholarship, such as the circumstances of composition and the literary interpretation of an oral poem, and offers synoptic discussions of the structure of the Iliad, the role of the narrator, similes and epithets. There is a separate section on language, which provides a compact list of the most frequent Homeric characteristics. While the introduction is mainly geared at intermediate and advanced students, the commentary is designed for use by both students and professional classicists: it offers up-to-date linguistic guidance, and elucidates narrative techniques, typical elements and central themes.
Author: Homer Publisher: Cambridge University Press Published: 12/01/2012 Pages: 220 Binding Type: Hardcover Weight: 0.90lbs Size: 8.60h x 5.60w x 0.60d ISBN: 9780521883320
About the Author Jong, Irene J. F. de: - Irene J. F. de Jong holds the chair of Ancient Greek at the University of Amsterdam. She has published extensively on Homer, Herodotus and Euripides and is editing a multi-volume history of ancient Greek narrative. Some of her key publications are: Narrators and Focalizers: The Presentation of the Story in the Iliad (1987, reprinted 2004), A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and, with A. Rijksbaron, Sophocles and the Greek Language: Aspects of Diction, Syntax, and Semantics (2006).