BRITAIN: Nearly 3,000 years after his death, Homer is the best-selling poet in Britain, thanks largely to Brad Pitt and "the Troy effect", Britain's biggest online seller of books said yesterday.
Amazon.co.uk said it had sold more copies of The Iliad than any other book of poetry this year, particularly since the release of the Hollywood blockbuster Troy. The Odyssey, Homer's sequel, was the second-best seller.
"We've seen a huge revival for classical Greek epic poetry this year, which we've put down to the Troy effect," said Ms Fiona Buckland, the company's senior books editor. "Whether it was the film's thrilling narrative or Brad Pitt in a skirt that promoted the renewed interest, Homer's works have been selling really well." John Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy came in at numbers six and seven respectively, suggesting Britain's online book-buyers have a taste for the classics.
Amazon.co.uk's top 10 poetry chart was as follows: 1. The Iliad (Homer); 2. The Odyssey (Homer); 3. The Works: Every Kind of Poem You Will Ever Need for the Literacy Hour (Paul Cookson); 4. Revolting Rhymes (Roald Dahl); 5. Now We Are Sixty (Christopher Matthew); 6. Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (John Milton); 7. The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri); 8. The World's Wife (Carol Ann Duffy); 9. Great Love Poems (Assorted); 10. World War One British Poets (Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and others).