An introduction for the general reader, as well as for the student of classics, to one of the masterpieces of European literature, the "Iliad" of Homer, in the English translation of Richmond Lattimore. It offers the background which readers need to understand the poem`s detail of story and characters, and it provides a step-by-step guide to the story`s unravelling and to the literary features which have ensured its enduring popularity since its composition in 750 BC. The edition is designed specifically for the reader who has neither Greek nor any previous knowledge of Homer and approaches the poem as a literary text, seeking to identify the poet`s techniques and to assess their effects. It can be used both as a continuous alongside Lattimore`s (or any other) translation and as a reference work for specific points of textual understanding or interpretation.