Seventy years apart, and both prized for matching the Greek line for line — but they could hardly sound more different. Choose Richmond Lattimore if you want the closest, gravest mirror of the original; choose Emily Wilson if you want that same discipline in swift, modern English. The oldest standard against the newest voice.
Read Lattimore if you want to stand as near the Greek as English allows, word by word, and don't mind a slower, graver line.
Read Wilson if you want that same line-for-line discipline delivered in fast, clear, contemporary pentameter.
Richmond Lattimore (1906–1984) was a poet and classical scholar whose 1951 Iliad has been the scholar's standard for over seventy years. His principle was fidelity: a long six-beat line, matched closely to the Greek line for line, keeping Homer's formulaic epithets and word order visible in the English. It is the version to reach for when you want the original's architecture held steady beneath the translation.
Emily Wilson is a classics professor at the University of Pennsylvania whose 2017 Odyssey became a phenomenon; her 2023 Iliad (Norton) brings the same discipline to the war epic — iambic pentameter, matched line for line to the Greek, in plain and propulsive modern English. Where Lattimore keeps the poem's antiquity in view, Wilson makes it sound like it was written now. (For the Iliad specifically, the first complete English translation by a woman was Caroline Alexander's, in 2015.)
Both translators discipline themselves to the Greek's length — so the difference is all in the voice.
Lattimore opens: "Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus / and its devastation…" The long line unhurries itself; the hero keeps his Greek name, Achilleus; nothing is modernized away. You are looking through clear glass at the shape of the original.
Wilson opens: "Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath / of great Achilles, son of Peleus…" The same invocation, the same wrath — but compressed into a single, even line of modern pentameter, the diction entirely of our own moment. You are hearing the poem in the English of now.
So this is not a contest of fidelity so much as of era and ear. Lattimore keeps you close to the Greek's body and its antiquity; Wilson keeps you close to its speed in a living, contemporary line. Both are honest to the original's discipline; they simply choose different centuries to speak from.
| Richmond Lattimore | Emily Wilson | |
|---|---|---|
| Form / meter | Long six-beat line, unrhymed | Iambic pentameter (regular five-beat line) |
| Tone | Grave, exact, antique | Plain, swift, modern |
| Line economy | Line-for-line; epithets & order kept | Line-for-line; compressed to pentameter |
| Names | Greek forms (Achilleus, Aias) | Familiar forms (Achilles, Ajax) |
| For a first-timer | Demanding but rewarding | Very high — clear and quick |
| Best for | Study, closeness to the Greek | A fast, modern first read |
| Year | 1951 | 2023 |
First-time readers — Wilson. Her modern clarity and steady pentameter let you follow the story without wrestling the language.
Students & close readers — Lattimore. When the task is to see Homer's word order, epithets, and structure, Lattimore is the one to consult; many readers use a modern verse translation to read and Lattimore to check.
Readers who want antiquity — Lattimore. If you want the poem to feel ancient and grave, his is the voice that keeps that distance.
Readers who want immediacy — Wilson. If you want it to feel written now, nothing among the major Iliads is more contemporary.
If you're new to the poem, start with our recommended translation and read the short companion first — it makes either version easier to follow.
See our recommended Iliad →
Is Lattimore or Wilson more accurate?
Both are unusually disciplined about length — each matches the Greek closely, line for line. Lattimore is more literal word by word, preserving Homer's order and epithets; Wilson is exact within the tighter frame of English pentameter and modern diction.
Which is easier to read?
Wilson, clearly. Her modern diction and regular pentameter move quickly and never feel archaic; Lattimore's long, faithful line is rewarding but graver and slower.
Which should a student use?
For close work against the Greek, Lattimore remains the standard to consult; for a readable modern text with strong introduction and notes, Wilson is excellent. Many readers use both.