Iliad

The Iliad is the most famous epic of all ancient peoples. Critics and literary historians have unanimously agreed that it, along with its colleague and counterpart in fame, the "Odyssey" epic, was written by the ancient Greek poet Homer. This Arabic formulation of the Iliad has made the Greek epic part of the heritage of modern Arabic literature, and one of the major literary masterpieces included in the contemporary Arabic literary language, thanks to Dereni Khashaba's keenness on the eloquence of Arabic expression and the splendor of its style and sobriety. In some moments, Drini used Khashaba, phrases and expressions, derived from the major sources of the genius of the Arabic language, most importantly, of course, the first source of this genius, which is the Holy Qur'an. In other moments, the Arabizer benefits from the heritage of Arabic poetry, which is full of poems of war, love, pride, or enthusiasm, and eloquent, lively, and moving images. In other moments, the Arabizer benefits from the heritage of Arab popular biographies, especially with regard to the method of narration, and in preparing the decisive positions in the story. Events, or decisive confrontations between heroes, whether they were military, emotional, or human confrontations: Thus, Dereni Khashaba established - through beautiful Arabic literary expression and benefiting from all the heritage of the Arabic language - a close relationship between the Greek epic in its Arabic formulation and Arabic literature itself. This is what made this formulation - which is in our hands now - one of the masterpieces that generations of Arab readers have read with enjoyment since the thirties - when it was first published - until now, and students of classical literature and all literature lovers will benefit from it.