9 h 35 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 35 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A quarrel empties a battlefield of its greatest warrior; far away, a household waits for a king who cannot come home.
In William Lucas Collins's guide to the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer's heroes come into focus through plain prose. At Troy, Achilles withdraws after Agamemnon takes his prize. Their quarrel costs lives, while Hector defends a city he fears may fall. Gods press their own wishes upon the fighting.
The Odyssey turns from rage to the longing for home. Odysseus faces monsters, magic and loss on his dangerous journey to Ithaca. There, Penelope holds off suitors while Telemachus searches for news of his father. Collins follows both stories and explains the customs that make a gift, a guest or a name matter so deeply.
What you’ll discover
- Pride with a terrible cost Follow Achilles's anger and see how a quarrel among leaders puts an army at risk.
- A defender and a family Meet Hector as both Troy's champion and a devoted husband and son.
- The long pull of home Share Odysseus's longing for Ithaca while Penelope and Telemachus struggle in his absence.
- Gods beside the heroes Explore Apollo's anger and Athena's guidance, and the customs behind the heroes' choices.
- Two sharply different moods Discover how anger, honor and mortality give way to the trials of homecoming.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love heroes, gods, and monsters, and want both Homeric epics in one sitting. It suits anyone curious about Troy, the Cyclops, and the Sirens.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A quarrel over a captive begins the wrath
- Helen on the wall shows why Troy fights on
- The gods break the truce and bleed
- Hector says farewell to his wife and son
- Telemachus wakes up and goes looking for his father
- Ulysses survives wrecks and tells his tale at court
- Ulysses reaches Ithaca as a beggar
- Honor and fate rule the heroes of both poems
- Hospitality, cunning, and home hold the Odyssey together
- Homer tells his stories by scene, simile, and song
Who’s who
- AchillesThe strongest Greek fighter, son of a sea goddess, who withdraws from battle after Agamemnon takes his prize and wants his honor restored.
- AgamemnonKing of Mycenae and leader of the Greek host, proud and quick to take what he wants, who must hold his army together.
- HectorPriam's eldest fighting son, the defender of Troy, who loves his wife and child and will not shrink from the battle.
- HelenThe beautiful wife of Menelaus, living in Troy, who blames herself for the war and longs to be forgiven.
- UlyssesKing of Ithaca, called the man of many devices, who relies on wit and endurance to reach his home after the war.
- PenelopeWife of Ulysses, who stays loyal for twenty years and uses cunning to hold off the suitors crowding her house.
- TelemachusSon of Ulysses, a gentle youth who grows into a man and sails to learn what happened to his father.
- AndromacheHector's wife, a warm and faithful mother, who begs him to stay safe and fears for their son.
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Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey
Achilles sulks by his ships while Greeks die, and Ulysses spends ten years finding the road to Ithaca.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Why would the best fighter in an army sit beside his ships and hope his own side loses? That puzzle opens the Iliad, and it drives the whole poem.
Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 50 min3 h 50 min fast, 5 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 69,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A quarrel over a captive begins the wrath
The Iliad opens in the tenth year of the siege. Homer starts with a plague sent by Apollo, whose arrows strike mules and dogs first and then men. Funeral fires burn through the camp night after night.
The seer Calchas names the cause. Agamemnon has refused to return the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. The army demands that the girl go home, and Agamemnon agrees. Then he claims Briseis, the captive given to Achilles as his prize of war.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Collins, William Lucas. Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/homer-the-iliad-the-odyssey.
Collins, W. L. (2026). Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/homer-the-iliad-the-odyssey
Collins, William Lucas. Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/homer-the-iliad-the-odyssey.
@book{collins2026homer,
author = {Collins, William Lucas},
title = {Homer: The Iliad \& The Odyssey},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/homer-the-iliad-the-odyssey}
}
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What is the Iliad about?
The Iliad covers a few weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan War. Its subject is the anger of Achilles after Agamemnon takes his prize, and what that anger costs both the Greeks and the Trojans.
What is the Odyssey about?
The Odyssey tells how Ulysses, king of Ithaca, struggles home after the fall of Troy. It follows his sea adventures, his son's search for him, and the suitors crowding his wife Penelope in his palace.
Did Homer really exist?
Scholars disagree. Tradition pictures Homer as a blind bard who sang across the Greek lands. Collins treats the poems as the work of one poet while noting that the question is still open.
The author
William Lucas Collins
1815–1887 · English clergyman and essayist
William Lucas Collins (1815–1887) was an English Anglican priest and essayist who lived in England. He wrote introductions to ancient Greek and Roman authors, including Homer. He edited the series Ancient Classics for English Readers, which began publication in 1870 and included his accounts of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
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