Find out more

Resources for the history and mythology behind The Song of Achilles.

Character Glossary

A brief introduction to the gods and heroes that appear in the book.

Reader’s Guide

An introduction to the book, background mythology, and discussion questions.

The City of Troy

Learn more about the archaeology of the ancient city. Includes a slideshow and commentary from my recent trip to Troy.

Essays

Stealing Hercules’ Club. My reflections on adapting Homer.

Lesson Plans

Coming soon! Ideas for exploring the Trojan war in the classroom.

More Links and Resources

The following (in no way comprehensive) books and links are wonderful places to start learning more about the ancient world.

The Oxford Classical Dictionary is always a great first step to learning about any classical subject.  The reference section at a large library will surely have one.

Bernard Knox’s introductions to Robert Fagles’ translations of the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid are incomparable in their accessibility and scholarship.

For information on Greek mythology, I enjoy the website Theoi  with its comprehensive quotations from the texts themselves and accompanying photographs of ancient art. For a younger audience, there is the classic D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, which I read to pieces as a child.

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an incredible collection of illustrated essays on all sorts of ancient subjects.

The British Museum also has wonderful ancient resources, particularly a slideshow retelling of the story of the Trojan War.

Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare’s hilarious, bitter and thought-provoking take on the Trojan War, has amazing portraits of all the heroes, from Achilles to Helen to Ajax.  I heartily recommend the Arden Shakespeare Third Series edition, with commentary by David Bevington.

 Project Troia. News and information from the current excavations at Troy.