Homer's Iliad

How to use this canvas

This is an interactive study application for learning and reciting the opening lines of Homer's Iliad. Use the arrow buttons (or your keyboard's left/right arrows, or swipe left/right on mobile) to step through the text line-by-line. Click the Play button on the video to hear the correct reconstructed ancient pronunciation and pitch accents.

The metrical scansion below the text breaks the line into six feet (dactylic hexameter). Long syllables (—) are shown in cool grey, while short syllables (⏑) are in warm red. This helps you follow the rhythm of the poem.

You can click any word in the parsing grid to view a deep-dive popup containing its dictionary lemma, grammatical parsing, and Proto-Indo-European etymology.

Note: I am just beginning my journey learning Ancient Greek and rely on a variety of resources to build this canvas. Bug reports and corrections are welcome.

Additional Helpful Resources

Ben Crowell: Greek Pronunciation — Information on reconstructed Attic vs. Erasmian pronunciation, tonal accents, and sound recordings of informed readings of the Iliad.
polýMATHY #KephalosChallenge: Reciting Homer's Iliad from Memory — The full video showing the recitation of the first 100 lines using the restored Classical Greek pronunciation.
David Chamberlain's Hypotactic: Homer's Iliad 1 — A detailed breakdown of the metrical scansion for every line with audio.
Pitch Accents & Pronunciation: How to Sound Out Ancient Greek Words — Luke Ranieri's guide
Dactylic Hexameter: The Iliad – What did Ancient Greek poetry sound like? — A practical demonstration of how to chant and recite dactylic hexameter.
The Open University: Introducing Homer's Iliad — A free, short online course providing context on the Trojan War, the "anger of Achilles", and Homeric themes.

Academic References

W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca: The Pronunciation of Classical Greek (3rd ed., Cambridge, 1987).
Ian Johnston (trans.), Homer, The Iliad (Vancouver Island University, 2006). Released to the public domain by the translator.
Samuel Butler (trans.), The Iliad of Homer (Longmans, Green & Co., 1898). English translation is in the public domain. (Names adapted from Roman to Greek).
D. B. Monro & T. W. Allen (eds.), Homeri Opera, Tomus I: Ilias I–XII (Oxford Classical Texts).
Martin L. West, Greek Metre (Oxford University Press, 1982).

Open Source License

This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The full source code is freely available on GitHub.