The Iliad
The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic traditionally attributed to Homer (epic poet)Homer (epic poet)Homer (epic poet) is the traditional poet associated with the ancient Greek epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Reliable contemporary biographical evidence is lacking, and the relationship between the poems and a long oral tradition remains central to Homeric scholarship.Open the full entry. Centered on the anger of Achilles during the Trojan WarTrojan WarThe Trojan War is the legendary conflict between Greek forces and Troy that forms the background to The Iliad and The Odyssey. Archaeology and ancient documents illuminate its possible historical setting without verifying every character and event in the tradition.Open the full entry, it covers a limited portion of the conflict and ends with Hector’s funeral rather than the fall of Troy.
Contents9 sections
Key facts
A Focused War Narrative
The Iliad and The OdysseyThe OdysseyThe Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic traditionally attributed to Homer (epic poet). Across 24 books it follows Odysseus’s return to Ithaca after the Trojan War and reunion with Penelope (Greek mythology) and Telemachus, interweaving sea adventures, recognition, household order and human choices.Open the full entry are the two major epics traditionally attributed to Homer (epic poet). The Iliad begins directly with the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, presuming knowledge of the wider war. Its central problem is heroic anger and its consequences for individuals and the army.[1]
Plague, Captives and Honor
In Book 1, Apollo (Greek god)Apollo (Greek god)Apollo is a god of music and prophecy in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He intervenes repeatedly in The Iliad, sending a plague after his priest is dishonored and later arguing for respect for Hector’s body.Open the full entry sends a plague after a priest is dishonored. Agamemnon returns the captive Chryseis but demands Briseis, Achilles’s captive, in compensation. Athena (Greek goddess)Athena (Greek goddess)Athena (Greek goddess) is a goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare and crafts in ancient Greek religion and mythology. In The Odyssey she supports Odysseus and Telemachus and helps bring about homecoming, recognition and a final settlement.Open the full entry restrains Achilles when the quarrel threatens to become lethal. The dispute then determines his withdrawal from the fighting.[1]
Patroclus Fights in His Friend’s Armor
The Shield of Achilles
In Book 18, Hephaestus makes new armor for Achilles. The shield receives an extended description including earth and sky, celestial bodies, cities with weddings and disputes, war, plowing and harvest. The war poem thus places combat within a wider picture of human life.[3]
The Death of Hector
Book 22 centers on the final confrontation between Achilles and Hector, Hector’s death and his family’s grief. Treatment of the body leads toward Priam’s appeal in Book 24, connecting heroic victory with the dignity owed to the dead.[4]
Priam Recovers Hector’s Body
In Book 24, Priam, king of Troy, asks Achilles to return the body of his son Hector. By invoking Achilles’s own father, he opens a moment of shared grief. Hermes (Greek god)Hermes (Greek god)Hermes is a divine messenger associated with commerce and guiding souls in ancient Greek religion and mythology. In The Odyssey he carries Zeus (Greek god)’s orders, assists Odysseus against Circe and leads the suitors’ souls to the underworld.Open the full entry guides and protects Priam on his journey. The poem ends with the return of the body, mourning and funeral rites.[5]
Where the Poem Ends
Troy has not fallen when The Iliad ends. The wooden horse appears as the subject of a bard’s performance in Book 8 of The Odyssey: OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus is the legendary hero of Ithaca, protagonist of The Odyssey and a Greek leader in The Iliad. His long return from the Trojan War to Penelope (Greek mythology) and Telemachus centers on cunning, disguise, endurance and recognition.Open the full entry requests the song and weeps as he hears the war recalled. The horse belongs to the wider Trojan tradition but is not the closing event of The Iliad.[6][5]
An Oral and Written Textual History
The authorship of The Iliad, like that of The Odyssey, forms part of the Homeric question. Papyrus copies, manuscripts and printed editions preserve evidence of a long transmission. The Greek Homer (epic poet) edition printed in Florence in 1488 marks an important stage in the poems’ dissemination in print.[7]