Iliad

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The Iliad (Greek: Ἰλιάς [iliás] (Ancient), Ιλιάδα [ili'aða] (Modern)) is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. However, the claim of a single author is disputed, as the poems show evidence of a long oral tradition and hence, possible multiple authors.

Many scholars believe the poem to be the oldest extant work of literature in the ancient Greek language, making it one of the first works of ancient Greek literature. For most of the twentieth century, both the Iliad and the Odyssey have been commonly dated to the late 9th or 8th century BC.[1] Most still hold this view, notably Barry B. Powell (who has proposed a link between the writing of the Iliad and the invention of the Greek alphabet), G.S. Kirk, and Richard Janko. However a few others, such as Martin West and Richard Seaford, now prefer a date in the 7th or even the 6th century BC.

The poem concerns events during the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, the siege of the city of Ilion or Troy, by the Greeks. The plot centers on the Greek warrior Achilles and his anger toward the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, which proves disastrous for the Greeks.[2] It provides many of the events that the later poems of the Epic Cycle build on, including the death of the Trojan captain Hector.

Written in dactylic hexameter, the Iliad comprises 15,693 lines of verse. Later ancient Greeks divided it into twenty-four books or scrolls, a convention that has lasted to the present day with little change.

The word Iliad means "pertaining to Ilios" (in Latin, Ilium), the city proper, as opposed to Troy (in Greek, Τροία, Troía; in Latin, Troia, Troiae, f., in Turkish Truva), the state centered around Ilium.

The story of the Iliad

The Iliad begins with these lines:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκεν,
Sing, goddess, the rage of Achilles the son of Peleus,
the destructive rage that sent countless ills on the Achaeans...

The first word of Homer's Iliad is the ancient Greek word μῆνις (mēnis), fury, rage, or wrath. This word announces the major theme of the Iliad: the wrath of Achilles.

As the poem begins, the Greeks have captured Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, and given her as a prize to Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks. When Chryses, a priest of Apollo, attempts to ransom his daughter, Agamemnon threatens him; Apollo sends a plague against the Greeks as punishment. At an assembly called by Achilles, the Greeks compel Agamemnon to restore Chryseis to her father to appease the god and end the sickness. Agamemnon reluctantly agrees, but takes Briseis, whom the Achaeans had given to Achilles as a spoil of war. Stung by the dishonor, Achilles, widely seen as the greatest warrior of the war, withdraws from the fighting, taking with him his powerful Myrmidon warriors.

In counterpoint to Achilles' pride stands the Trojan prince Hector, a husband and father who fights to defend his city and his family. With Achilles on the sidelines, Hector leads successful counterattacks against the Greeks, who have built a fortified camp around their ships pulled up on the Trojan beach. The best of the remaining Greek warriors, including Odysseus and Diomedes, are wounded, and the gods favor the Trojans.

When the Trojans threaten the Greek ships with fire, Achilles allows his close friend Patroclus to impersonate him (by wearing his armor) and lead the Myrmidons back into battle. The death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector brings Achilles back into the war, seeking revenge. He slays Hector in single combat and defiles his body for days, until King Priam, with the aid of Hermes, comes to Achilles alone to ransom his son's body. Achilles is moved to pity. The funeral of Hector ends the poem.

Homer devotes long passages to frank, blow-by-blow descriptions of combat. He gives the names of the fighters, recounts their taunts and battle-cries, and gruesomely details the ways in which they kill and wound one another. Often, the death of a hero only escalates the violence, as the two sides battle for his armor and corpse, or his close companions launch a punitive attack on his killer. The lucky ones are sometimes whisked away by friendly charioteers or the intervention of a god, but Homeric warfare is still some of the most bloody and brutal in literature.

The Iliad has a very strong religious and supernatural element. Both sides in the war are extremely pious, and both have heroes descended from divine beings. They sacrifice to the gods and consult priests and prophets to decide their actions. For their own part, the gods frequently join in battles, both by advising and protecting their favorites and even by participating in combat against humans and other gods.

The Iliad's huge cast of characters connects the Trojan War to many ancient myths, such as Jason and the Argonauts, the Seven Against Thebes, and the Labors of Hercules. Many ancient Greek myths exist in multiple versions, so Homer had some freedom to choose among them to suit his story.

The action of the Iliad covers only a few weeks of the tenth and final year of the Trojan War. It does not cover the cause of the war (Paris' abduction of Helen from her husband, King Menelaus), the first nine years of fighting, or its end (the death of Achilles and the fall of Troy). Other epic poems, collectively known as the Epic Cycle or cyclic epics, concern themselves with many of these events; these poems only survive in fragments and later descriptions.

Book summaries

Homer himself did not name the 24 books of the Iliad, but many translators have provided their own book titles. The number of books is identical to that of Homer's other epic, the Odyssey.

• Book 1: Nine years into the war, Agamemnon seizes Briseis, the concubine (prize) of Achilles, since he has had to give away his own; Achilles withdraws from the fighting in anger; in Olympus, the gods argue about the outcome of the war.
• Book 2: Agamemnon pretends to order the Greeks home to test their resolve; Odysseus encourages the Greeks to keep fighting; Catalogue of Ships, Catalogue of Trojans and Allies.
• Book 3: A truce is observed as Paris challenges Menelaus to single combat over Helen, while she watches from the walls of Troy with Priam; Paris is quickly overmatched by Menelaus, but is rescued from death by Aphrodite, and Menelaus is seen as the winner.
• Book 4: The truce is broken and battle begins.
• Book 5: Diomedes has an aristeia (a period of supremacy in battle) and wounds Aphrodite and Ares with the assistance of Athena.
• Book 6: Glaucus and Diomedes greet each other during the fighting; Hector returns to Troy and speaks to his wife Andromache.

• Book 7: Hector battles Ajax.
• Book 8: The gods withdraw from the battle.
• Book 9: The Embassy to Achilles. Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to Achilles to obtain his help; his promises of honour and riches are spurned.
• Book 10: The Doloneia. Diomedes and Odysseus go on a night mission, kill the Trojan Dolon, and ambush a camp of Thracians.
• Book 11: Paris wounds Diomedes; Achilles sends Patroclus on a mission.
• Book 12: The Greeks retreat to their camp and are besieged by the Trojans.
• Book 13: Fighting before the ships; Poseidon encourages the Greeks.
• Book 14: Hera helps Poseidon assist the Greeks; Deception of Zeus.
• Book 15: Zeus stops Poseidon from interfering; Hector brings fire to the ships.
• Book 16: Patroclus borrows Achilles' armour, enters battle, kills Sarpedon and then is killed by Hector.
• Book 17: The armies fight over the body and armour of Patroclus. Books 16 and 17 are collectively called the Patrocleia.
• Book 18: Achilles learns of the death of Patroclus and receives a new suit of armour. The Shield of Achilles is described at length.
• Book 19: Achilles is reconciled in form with Agamemnon and enters battle.
• Book 20: The gods join the battle; Achilles drives all the Trojans before him.
• Book 21: Achilles does battle with the river Scamander, but is led astray by Ares.
• Book 22: Achilles kills Hector outside the walls of Troy and drags his body back to the Greek camp.
• Book 23: Funeral games for Patroclus.
• Book 24: Priam secretly enters the Greek camp. He begs Achilles for Hector's body. Achilles is moved to pity and grants it to him, and it is taken away and given a funeral, at which Helen and Andromache both make comments, and then his body is burned on a pyre.

Famous passages

• Catalogue of Ships (Book 2, lines 494-759)
• Teichoscopia (Book 3, lines 121-244)
• Deception of Zeus (Book 14, lines 153-353)
• Shield of Achilles (Book 18, lines 430-617)

After the Iliad

Although the Iliad scatters foreshadowings of certain events subsequent to the funeral of Hector, and there is a general sense that the Trojans are doomed, Homer does not set out a detailed account of the fall of Troy. For the story as developed in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama, see Trojan War. The other Homeric poem, the Odyssey, is the story of Odysseus' long journey home from Troy; the two poems between them incorporate many references forward and back and overlap very little, so that despite their narrow narrative focus they are a surprisingly complete exploration of the themes of the Troy story.

Major characters

See also: Category:Deities in the Iliad

The Iliad contains a large number of characters. The latter half of the second book (often called the Catalogue of Ships) is devoted entirely to listing the various commanders and their contingents. Many of the battle scenes in the Iliad feature minor characters who are quickly slain.