The following page, which has been prepared by Ian Johnston of Vancouver Island University

(once known as Malaspina University-College), Nanaimo, Canada, is a work in progress

(periodically updated), a list of publications of complete English translations of Homers Iliad and
Odyssey. The list, for the most part, includes only the first edition of any particular translation and
does not include reprints of earlier translations, partial translations, parodies, burlesques,
adaptations, or re-workings of the poem (although I have made some exceptions).
Where possible, I have provided links to samples of particular translations and, in some cases, to
the complete text. And in many cases I have added a few review comments of my own. These
comments are, for the most part, quick summary evaluations based on an immediate first
impression of the translation, except in the case of the more recent versions, where I have usually
made a more judicious (although still quite brief) attempt to deal with the English text. The short
samples do not include any footnotes present in the original.
The purpose of this list is to permit readers to browse through a selection of English translations of
the Iliad and the Odyssey in order to compare the different ways in which translators have
rendered Homers Greek into an idiom they considered suitable for their contemporary readers.
The list is, I fear, not altogether reliable or complete, mainly because it is very difficult to determine
from library records and bibliographies whether a particular book is, in fact, an English translation
of the complete poem, rather than a summary, commentary, partial translation, or satire. Given
that such titles are very common, I may well have included titles which do not belong here. I am in
the process of tracking down copies of the books so that I can verify the contents. Also, the precise
date of the first publication has often been difficult to ascertain, particularly for translations which
came out over a period of years.
I welcome comments and suggestions, especially concerning corrections and additions. Please
contact Ian Johnston.
The information here comes from a number of sources, most notably Philip H. Youngs The Printed
Homer: A 3000 Year Publishing and Translation History of the Iliad and the Odyssey (Jefferson,
North Carolina, 2003), George Steiner, Homer in English (Penguin 1996), Finley Melville Kendall
Foster, English Translations from the Greek: A Bibliographical Survey (New York: Columbia
University, 1918), and library catalogues for the Bodleian and British Libraries and the Library of
Congress.