Which Portuguese Translation of the Iliad to Read

If you are going to read the Iliad and want to know which translation to buy, the direct answer is this: Frederico Lourenço’s. It is the one Nous recommends to those starting out, because it is a modern translation that especially helps anyone beginning this reading. The citations in the channel’s lectures, however, come from another translation, Carlos Alberto Nunes’s, and it is worth understanding why, so you are not caught off guard when your book and the lecture render the same verse with different words.

The translation to read: Frederico Lourenço

Lourenço translated the Iliad directly from the Greek, in contemporary Portuguese, published in Brazil by Penguin-Companhia (2013). What makes it the natural choice for anyone who has never opened the poem is its clarity: the reader does not need a dictionary on every page or extra patience with syntax before reaching the story. A poem nearly three thousand years old already poses enough difficulty on its own. A translation for a first encounter should add as little friction as possible.

This choice follows the same logic as our recommendation for Homer’s other poem, and that discussion can be found in the article Which Portuguese translation of the Odyssey to read?.

The translation for citations: Carlos Alberto Nunes

In the Nous lectures, the passages read from the Iliad come from the version by Carlos Alberto Nunes, published by Nova Fronteira, which is slightly older. Nunes translated the Homeric poems into hexameters, the long meter of the Greek original, and the result sounds different: more solemn, with less common vocabulary.

The practical consequence is simple. If you watch the lecture with Lourenço’s translation in hand, you will find differences in phrasing in the quoted passages, even when the scene is exactly the same. What changed is the translator, not Homer. Reading both, one after the other, is actually a great exercise: the same scene, the same line, two choices in Portuguese.

The first obstacle: so many names for the same people

Two things tend to trip up first-time readers, and the first is vocabulary. The Greeks appear in the Iliad under several names: Greeks, Achaeans, Danaans, Argives. They are all the same people. None of them indicates a different faction or army. You just need to remember that they are names for the same people.

In practice: whenever "Achaeans," "Danaans," or "Argives" appear on the camp side, read "Greeks" and move forward.

The second obstacle: the catalog of ships

The second thing that usually causes trouble is the catalog of Greek ships, an almost endless list of chieftains, cities, and vessels in Book II. It is the first real hurdle for the beginning reader, and the advice is practical: when you get to that section, do not worry, skip it. Later, at your leisure, go back and read the catalog for what it is, an inventory of the expedition’s scale.

How to read: one book a day, knowing the ending

Two methodological tips complete the path. First: read one book a day. The poem has 24 books, and the pace suits this cadence well, because each book is an episode with its own beginning and end.

Second: read knowing the ending, without fear of spoiling anything. Homer himself tells you what is going to happen. And those who listened to the poem in antiquity already knew the story: what kept everyone captivated was not what was being narrated, but how it unfolded. It is a healthy shift in attitude for the modern reader, who is accustomed to avoiding spoilers.

For those who prefer a map before setting out, the summary of the Iliad follows the poem in order and shows where it leads.

Continue: The Iliad, by Homer: Summary and Analysis · Which Portuguese translation of the Odyssey to read? · The Wrath of Achilles: Why the Iliad Begins with Anger · Vatican and Caravaggio Museums
Source lecture: Ilíada, de Homero