Part of: English Works of Thomas Hobbes, 11 vols. The English Works, vol. X (Iliad and Odyssey)

Hobbes’s translation of Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad is about the warriors and heroes who are involved in the Trojan war, what happens to men in combat, and the consequences of pride, ambition, and failure.

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Citation

The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; Now First Collected and Edited by Sir William Molesworth, Bart., (London: Bohn, 1839-45). 11 vols. Vol. 10.

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Thucydides (Author)

Thucydides was an Athenian historian who documented the war between Sparta and Athens. Prior to his work with Homer, Hobbes translated Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War from its original Greek.
Virgil (Author)

Virgil’s Roman epic Aeneid mimics the traditional homeric style of epic poetry and discusses many of the same themes as Homer’s works.

Critical Responses

Article

Thomas Hobbes' Translations of Homer

G. B. Riddehough

Riddehough criticizes Hobbes’ translation, highlighting Hobbes’s various failures to accurately represent the original Greek.

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Article

The Despised Version: Hobbes’s Translation of Homer

Jerry L. Ball

Ball defends Hobbes’s translation of Homer against the various critics of his work.

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Connected Readings

Book

Beowulf (original lang.)

Beowulf

Beowulf is another ancient epic poem, dating back to 10th century Scandinavia. It shares homeric themes of heroes, honor, and fate.

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Book

The Poetical Works of John Milton

John Milton

Milton’s retelling of the Fall of Man nods at the Greco-Roman style of epic poetry.

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Book

The Aeneid (Dryden trans.)

Virgil

Virgil imitates homeric style in his poetic narration of the adventures of Aeneas and the founding of Rome.

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Video

What Makes a Hero?

Matthew Winkler - TED-ed

In this short video, Matthew Winkler discusses the pattern of hero stories and how it relates to everyday life based on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

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