Free online edition
Read the Iliad Online, Free
The Homer Reader carries the complete Iliad — all twenty-four books — free to read, with no ads, no paywall, and no account required. The Greek text runs alongside a public-domain English translation, so you can read in English, in Greek, or both at once.
What the edition offers
- A. T. Murray’s Loeb translation (1924–25) as the default English text, with Samuel Butler’s 1898 prose and Alexander Pope’s eighteenth-century verse available as alternates.
- T. W. Allen’s 1931 editio maior Greek text, cited by the traditional book-and-line numbering (e.g. Il. 1.1); lines the manuscript tradition marks as suspect render bracketed, never silently dropped or renumbered.
- Click-to-parse on every Greek word: dictionary form, grammatical parse, and full LSJ and Cunliffe dictionary entries, without leaving the page.
- A marginal running summary of each scene, a day-calendar of the war, and genealogies of the houses of Atreus, Aeacus, and Troy.
Reading along in the Greek? Open the scholar view at Book 1, which includes a short one-time tour of the parse-popup and citation tools. Prefer just to read? Start Here has three ways in.
Questions
Is the Iliad really free to read here?
Yes — every book, and every translation on the site, is free to read with no account, no subscription, and no ads. See Texts & Licences for exactly which editions are used and their licences.
Which translation of the Iliad does the site use?
A. T. Murray’s 1924–25 Loeb Classical Library prose translation, by default. Samuel Butler’s (1898) and Alexander Pope’s (1715–20) are both available from the translation picker.
Can I read the Iliad in Greek and English at the same time?
Yes — the parallel view shows the Greek and English side by side, line for line. You can also switch to a Greek-only or English-only single column.
Do I need to create an account?
No. There is no login, no paywall, and nothing to sign up for.