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PaperclipPerfector  8hr ago (text post)   300 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I have NEVER seen translation abbreviated as TL, and I was very confused until you mentioned Emily Wilson.

Fagles is the one that comes most commonly recommended as accurate and well done. I enjoyed Wilson's Odyssey, but I see where people didn't like it, I think Wilson is an interesting pairing with the War Nerd Iliad.

My favorite translation though, is Pope's

Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.[41]
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,
Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove![42

Seconding Fagles. I found those to be enjoyable and comprehensible without feeling like I was reading Homer for Dummies (which they might be, for all I know, since I haven't read other translations).

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