Set towards the end of theTrojan War, a ten-year siege of the city ofTroy by a coalition ofMycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the war's final weeks. In particular, it traces the anger (μῆνις) ofAchilles, a celebrated warrior, from a fierce quarrel between him and KingAgamemnon, to the death of the Trojan princeHector.[3][4] The narrative moves between wide battleground scenes and more personal interactions.
TheIliad and theOdyssey were likely composed inHomeric Greek, a literary mixture ofIonic Greek and other dialects, around the late 8th or early 7th century BCE. Homer's authorship was infrequently questioned inantiquity,[5] although the poem's composition has beenextensively debated in contemporaryscholarship, involving debates such as whether theIliad and theOdyssey were composed independently, and whether they survived via an oral or also written tradition.[6] The poem was performed by professional reciters of Homer known asrhapsodes at Greek festivals such as thePanathenaia.[7][8]
Critical themes in the poem includekleos (glory), pride, fate, and wrath.[9] Despite being predominantly known for its tragic and serious themes, the poem also contains instances of comedy and laughter.[10] The poem is frequently described as a 'heroic' epic, centred around issues such as war, violence, and theheroic code. It contains detailed descriptions ofancient warfare, including battle tactics and equipment. However, it also explores the social and domestic side of ancient culture in scenes behind the walls of Troy and in the Greek camp. Additionally, theOlympian gods play a major role in the poem, aiding their favoured warriors on the battlefield and intervening in personal disputes.[11] Their anthropomorphic characterisation in the poem humanised them for Ancient Greek audiences, giving a concrete sense of theircultural and religious tradition. In terms of formal style, the poem's formulae, use of similes, andepithets are often explored by scholars.[12]
The story begins with an invocation to theMuse. The events beginin medias res towards the end of the Trojan War, fought between the Trojans and the besiegingAchaeans. The Achaean forces consist of armies from many different Greek kingdoms, led by their respective kings or princes.Agamemnon, king ofMycenae, acts as commander for these united armies.
Chryses, a priest ofApollo, offers Agamemnon and the Achaeans wealth for the return of his daughterChryseis, held captive by Agamemnon. Although most of the Achaeans are in favour of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chrysesprays for Apollo's help, and Apollo sends a plague to afflict the Achaean army. After nine days of plague,Achilles, the leader of theMyrmidon forces andaristos achaion ("best of the Greeks"), calls an assembly to deal with the problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father but decides to take Achilles's slave,Briseis, as compensation. Viewing Agamemnon's decision as a huge dishonour in front of the assembled Achaean forces, Achilles furiously declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon.Odysseus returns Chryseis to her father, causing Apollo to end the plague.
In the meantime, Agamemnon's messengers take Briseis away. Achilles becomes very upset and prays to his mother,Thetis, a minor goddess and sea nymph.[13] Achilles asks his mother tosupplicateZeus, wanting the Achaeans to be beaten back by the Trojans until their ships are at risk of being burnt. Only then will Agamemnon realise how much the Achaeans need Achilles and restore his honour. Thetis does so, and Zeus agrees. Zeus then sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon heeds the dream but first decides to test the Achaean army's morale by telling them to go home. However nine years into the war, the soldiers' morale has worn thin. The plan backfires, and only the intervention of Odysseus, inspired byAthena, stops arout. Odysseus confronts and beatsThersites, a common soldier who voices discontent about fighting Agamemnon's war.
The Achaeans deploy in companies upon the Trojan plain. When news of the Achaean deployment reaches KingPriam, the Trojans respond in asortie upon the plain. The armies approach each other, but before they meet,Paris offers to end the war by fighting a duel withMenelaus, urged byHector, his brother and hero ofTroy. Here, the initial cause of the entire war is explained:Helen, wife of Menelaus, and the most beautiful woman in the world, was taken by Paris from Menelaus's home inSparta. Menelaus and Paris agree to duel; Helen will marry the victor. However, when Paris is defeated,Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus can kill him.
The gods deliberate over whether the war should end here, butHera convinces Zeus to wait for the utter destruction of Troy. Athena prompts the Trojan archerPandarus to shoot Menelaus. Menelaus is wounded, and the truce is broken. Fighting breaks out, and many Achaeans and Trojans are killed.
In the fighting,Diomedes kills many Trojans, including Pandarus, and defeatsAeneas. Aphrodite rescues him before he can be killed, but Diomedes attacks her and wounds the goddess's wrist. Apollo faces Diomedes and warns him against warring with gods, which Diomedes ignores. Apollo sendsAres to defeat Diomedes. Many heroes and commanders join in, including Hector, and the gods supporting each side try to influence the battle. Emboldened by Athena, Diomedes wounds Ares and puts him out of action.
Hector rallies the Trojans and prevents a rout. Diomedes and the TrojanGlaucus find common ground after a duel and exchange unequal gifts, sparked by Glaucus' story ofBellerophon. Hector enters the city, urging his motherHecuba to perform prayers and sacrifices, inciting Paris to battle, and bidding his wifeAndromache and sonAstyanax farewell on the city walls. He then rejoins the battle. Hector duels withAjax, but nightfall interrupts the fight, and both sides retire. The Trojans quarrel about returning Helen to the Achaeans. Paris offers to return the treasure he took and give further wealth as compensation, but not Helen, and the offer is refused. Both sides agree to a day's truce to bury the dead. The Achaeans also build a wall and trench to protect their camp and ships.
The next morning, Zeus prohibits the gods from interfering, and fighting begins anew. The Trojans prevail and force the Achaeans back to their wall. Hera and Athena are forbidden to help. Night falls before the Trojans can assail the Achaean wall. They camp in the field to attack at first light, and their watchfires light the plain like stars.
Iliad, Book VIII, lines 245–253,Greek manuscript, late 5th, early 6th centuries AD
Meanwhile, the Achaeans are desperate. Agamemnon admits his error and sends an embassy composed of Odysseus, Ajax, andPhoenix to offer Briseis and extensive gifts to Achilles, if he will return to the fighting. Achilles and his companionPatroclus receive the embassy, yet Achilles angrily refuses the offer, considering the slight to his honour too great. He declares that he will only return to battle if the Trojans reach his ships and threaten them with fire. The embassy returns, unsuccessful.
Later that night, Odysseus and Diomedes venture out to the Trojan lines, kill the TrojanDolon, and wreak havoc in the camp of someThracian allies of Troy. In the morning, the fighting is fierce, and Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus are all wounded. Achilles sends Patroclus from his camp to inquire about the Achaean casualties, and while there, Patroclus is moved to pity by a speech byNestor. Nestor asks Patroclus to beg Achilles to rejoin the fighting, or if he will not, to lead the army himself wearing Achilles's armor.
The Trojans attack the Achaean wall on foot. Hector leads the terrible fighting, despite an omen that their charge will fail. The Achaeans are overwhelmed and routed, the wall's gate is broken, and Hector charges in. The Achaeans fall back to their ships.
Poseidon pities the Achaeans and decides to disobey Zeus and help them. He rallies the Achaeans' spirits, and they begin to push the Trojans back. Poseidon's nephew Amphimachus is killed in the battle; Poseidon imbuesIdomeneus with godly power. Many fall on both sides. The Trojan seerPolydamas urges Hector to fall back because of a bad omen but is ignored.
Hera seduces Zeus and lulls him to sleep, allowingPoseidon to help the Greeks. The Trojans are driven back onto the plain. Ajax wounds Hector, who is then carried back to Troy. Zeus awakes and is enraged by Poseidon's intervention. However, he reassures Hera that Troy is still fated to fall once Hector kills Patroclus. Poseidon is recalled from the battlefield, and Zeus sends Apollo to aid the Trojans. The Trojans once again breach the wall, and the battle reaches the ships.
Patroclus cannot stand to watch any longer and goes to Achilles, weeping. He admonishes him for his stubbornness and then asks him to allow him to fight in his place, wearing Achilles's armor so that he will be mistaken for him. Achilles relents and lends Patroclus his armor but sends him off with a stern warning to come back once the Trojans have been pushed back and not to pursue them to the walls. Achilles says that after all has been made right, he and Patroclus will take Troy together.
Patroclus leads the Myrmidons into battle and arrives as the Trojans set fire to the first ships. The Trojans are routed by the sudden onslaught, and Patroclus begins his assault by killing Zeus's sonSarpedon, a leading ally of the Trojans. Patroclus, ignoring Achilles's command, pursues and reaches the gates of Troy, where Apollo himself stops him. Patroclus kills Hector's charioteerCebriones, is weakened by Apollo andEuphorbos, and is finally killed by Hector.
Hector takes Achilles's armor from the fallen Patroclus. The Achaeans fight to retrieve Patroclus's body from the Trojans, who attempt to carry it back to Troy at Hector's command.Antilochus is sent to tell Achilles the news and asks him to help retrieve the body.
Thetis atHephaestus's forge waiting to receive Achilles's new weapons. Fresco fromPompeii, 1st century
When Achilles hears of Patroclus's death, his grief is so overwhelming that his mother, Thetis, hears him from the bottom of the ocean. Thetis grieves too, knowing that Achilles is fated to die if he kills Hector. Although he knows it will seal his own fate, Achilles vows to kill Hector in order to avenge Patroclus.
Achilles is urged to help retrieve Patroclus's body but has no armor to wear. Bathed in a brilliant radiance by Athena, Achilles stands next to the Achaean wall and roars in rage. The Trojans are terrified by his appearance, and the Achaeans manage to bear Patroclus's body away. Polydamas again urges Hector to withdraw into the city; again, Hector refuses, and the Trojans camp on the plain at nightfall.
Achilles mourns Patroclus, brokenhearted. Meanwhile, at Thetis's request,Hephaestus fashions a new set of armor for Achilles, including amagnificently wrought shield.[14]
In the morning, Thetis brings Achilles his new set of armor, only to find him weeping over Patroclus's body. Achilles arms for battle and rallies the Achaean warriors. Agamemnon gives Achilles all the promised gifts, includingBriseis, but Achilles is indifferent to them. The Achaeans take their meal, but Achilles refuses to eat. His horse,Xanthos, prophesies Achilles's death; Achilles is indifferent. Achilles goes into battle, withAutomedon driving his chariot.
Zeus lifts the ban on the gods' interference, and the gods freely help both sides. Achilles, burning with rage and grief, slays many Trojans. Achilles slaughters half the Trojans' number in the river, clogging the water with bodies. The river god,Scamander, confronts Achilles and commands him to stop killing Trojans, but Achilles refuses. They fight until Scamander is beaten back by Hephaestus's firestorm. The gods fight amongst themselves. The great gates of the city are opened to receive the fleeing Trojans, and Apollo leads Achilles away from the city by pretending to be a Trojan. When Apollo reveals himself to Achilles, the Trojans have retreated into the safety of the city, all except for Hector.
Despite the pleas of his parents, Priam andHecuba, Hector resolves to face Achilles. When Achilles approaches, however, Hector's will fails him. He flees and is chased by Achilles around the city. Finally, Athena tricks him into stopping by taking on the form of his brotherDeiphobus, and he turns to face his opponent. After a brief duel, Achilles stabs Hector through the neck. Before dying, Hector reminds Achilles that he, too, is fated to die. Achilles strips Hector of his own armour, gloating over his death. Achilles then dishonours Hector's body by lashing it to the back of his chariot and dragging it around the city. Hecuba and Priam lament, with the latter attempting to face Achilles himself. Andromache hears the news and comes to the walls, fainting on seeing the scene below. The Trojans grieve.
The ghost of Patroclus comes to Achilles in a dream, urging him to carry out the burial rites so that his spirit can move on to theUnderworld. Patroclus asks Achilles to arrange for their bones to be entombedtogether in a single urn; Achilles agrees, and Patroclus's body is cremated. The Achaeans hold a day of funeral games, and Achilles gives out the prizes.
Achilles is lost in his grief and spends his days mourning Patroclus and dragging Hector's body behind his chariot. Dismayed by Achilles's continued abuse of Hector's body, Zeus decides that it must be returned to Priam. Led byHermes, Priam takes a wagon filled with gifts across the plains and into the Achaean camp unnoticed. He clasps Achilles by the knees and begs for his son's body. Achilles is moved to tears and finally relents, softening his anger. The two lament their losses in the war. Achilles agrees to give Hector's body back and to give the Trojans twelve days to properly mourn and bury him. Achilles apologises to Patroclus, fearing he has dishonored him by returning Hector's body. After a meal, Priam carries Hector's body back into Troy. Hector is buried, and the city mourns.
Ancient Greek religion had no strict organisation, rather arising out of the diverse beliefs of the Greek people.[15] Adkins and Pollard state that "The early Greeks personalized every aspect of their world, natural and cultural, and their experiences in it. The earth, the sea, the mountains, the rivers, custom-law (themis), and one's share in society and its goods were all seen in personal as well as naturalistic terms."[16] They perceived the world and its changes a result of divine intervention or presence. Often, they found these events to be mysterious and inexplicable.[17]
In theIliad, theOlympian gods, goddesses, and minor deities fight among themselves as well as participating in human warfare, often by interfering with mortals to oppose other gods.[11] Homer's portrayal of gods suits his narrative purpose, although the gods in 4th century Athenian thought were not spoken of in terms familiar to the works of Homer.[17] The historianHerodotus says that Homer andHesiod, his contemporary, were the first writers to name and describe the gods' appearance and character.[18]
Some scholars discuss the intervention of the gods in the mortal world, spurred by quarrels they had with each other. Homer interprets the Iliadic world by using the passion and emotion of the gods to be determining factors of what happens on the human level.[19] Book 24 offers a retrospective discussion of the cause of the war, attributing it to the anger of Hera and Athena:
And though this was pleasing to all the rest, it was not to Hera or Poseidon or the flashing-eyed maiden, but they persisted just as when sacred Ilios at first became hateful in their eyes and Priam and his people, because of the folly of Alexander, who had insulted those goddesses when they came to his farmstead and praised her who furthered his grievous lustfulness.
Athena and Hera opposeParis because of a beauty contest on Mount Olympus in which he chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess over them. Wolfgang Kullmann further goes on to say, "Hera's and Athena's disappointment over the victory of Aphrodite in theJudgement of Paris determines the whole conduct of both goddesses inThe Iliad and is the cause of their hatred for Paris, the Judge, and his town Troy."[19]
Hera and Athena continue to support the Achaean forces throughout the poem as a result of this, while Aphrodite aids Paris and the Trojans.The emotions between the goddesses often translate to actions they take in the mortal world. For example, in Book 3 of theIliad, Paris is about to be defeated by Menelaus, who had challenged him to single combat: "Now he'd have hauled him off and won undying glory but Aphrodite, Zeus's daughter, was quick to the mark, snapped the rawhide strap."[20] However, Aphrodite intervenes to save Paris from the wrath of Menelaus. This connection of emotions to actions is just one example out of many that occur throughout the poem: there is constant intervention by all of the gods, especially to give motivational speeches to their respective protégés, often appearing in the shape of a human being they are familiar with.[19]
Mary Lefkowitz discusses the relevance of divine action in theIliad, attempting to answer the question of whether divine intervention is a discrete occurrence (for its own sake) or if such godly behaviors are mere human character metaphors.[21] The intellectual interest of 5th- and 4th-century BCE authors, such asThucydides andPlato, was limited to their utility as "a way of talking about human life rather than a description or a truth", because, if the gods remain religious figures, rather than human metaphors, their 'existence' – without the foundation of either dogma or a bible of faiths – then allowed Greek culture the intellectual breadth and freedom to conjure gods fitting any religious function they required as a people.[21][22]
PsychologistJulian Jaynes[23] uses theIliad as a major piece of evidence for his theory of theBicameral Mind, which posits that until about the time described in theIliad, humans had a far different mentality from present-day humans. He says that humans during that time were lacking what is today called consciousness. He suggests that humans heard and obeyed commands from what they identified as gods until the change in human mentality that incorporated the motivating force into the conscious self. He points out that almost every action in theIliad is directed, caused, or influenced by a god and that earlier translations show an astonishing lack of words suggesting thought, planning, or introspection. Those that do appear, he argues, are misinterpretations made by translators imposing a modern mentality on the characters,[23] a form of reverse logic by which a conclusion determines the validity of evidence.
Fate (κήρ,kēr, 'fated death') propels most of the events of theIliad. Gods and men abide by it, unable to contest or change it. It is highlighted and referenced throughout the narrative in multiple methods, for example, Zeus sending omens to seers such asCalchas, or Thetis' prophecies of Achilles' imminent death. Men and their gods continually speak of heroic acceptance and cowardly avoidance of one's fate.[24] Fate does not determine every action, incident, and occurrence, but it does determine the outcome of life. For example, Patroclus prophesises Hector's death:[25]
No, deadly destiny, with the son of Leto, has killed me, and of men it was Euphorbos; you are only my third slayer. And put away in your heart this other thing that I tell you. You yourself are not one who shall live long, but now already death and powerful destiny are standing beside you, to go down under the hands of Aiakos' great son, Achilleus.
Here, Patroclus alludes to his fated death by Hector's hand and to Hector's fated death by Achilles's hand. Each accepts the outcome of his life, yet persist regardless. However, fate is not always accepted outright. The first instance of this doubt occurs in Book 16. Seeing Patroclus about to kill Sarpedon, his mortal son, Zeus says:
Ah me, that it is destined that the dearest of men, Sarpedon, must go down under the hands of Menoitios' son Patroclus.
Majesty, son of Kronos, what sort of thing have you spoken? Do you wish to bring back a man who is mortal, one long since doomed by his destiny, from ill-sounding death and release him? Do it, then; but not all the rest of us gods shall approve you.
In deciding between losing a son or abiding fate, Zeus, King of the Gods, must conform to the latter. This motif recurs when he considers sparing Hector, whom he loves and respects. This time, it is Athena who challenges him:
Father of the shining bolt, dark misted, what is this you said? Do you wish to bring back a man who is mortal, one long since doomed by his destiny, from ill-sounding death and release him? Do it, then; but not all the rest of us gods shall approve you.
Again, Zeus appears capable of altering fate, but does not, deciding instead to abide by set outcomes. Similarly, Fate spares Aeneas after Apollo convinces the overmatched Trojan to fight Achilles. Poseidon cautiously speaks:
But come, let us ourselves get him away from death, for fear the son of Kronos may be angered if now Achilleus kills this man. It is destined that he shall be the survivor, that the generation of Dardanos shall not die…
Divinely aided, Aeneas escapes the wrath of Achilles and survives the Trojan War. Whether or not the gods can alter fate, they do abide by it, despite its countering their human allegiances. The mysterious origin of Fate remains a power beyond both mortals and immortals.
Kleos (κλέος, "glory, fame") is the concept of glory earned in heroic battle.[26] It is a fluctuating quality, that can be given or taken, increased or decreased. In particular, Achilles is deeply concerned about hiskleos.[27] In Book 9 (9.410–16), Achilles poignantly tells Agamemnon's envoys – Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax – begging his reinstatement to battle about having to choose between two fates (διχθαδίας κήρας, 9.411).[28]
For my motherThetis the goddess of silver feet tells me I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly.[30]
In forgoing hisnostos, he will earn the greater reward ofkleos aphthiton (κλέος ἄφθιτον, "fame imperishable").[28] In the poem,aphthiton (ἄφθιτον, "imperishable") occurs five other times,[31] each occurrence denotes an object: Agamemnon's sceptre, the wheel ofHebe's chariot, the house of Poseidon, the throne of Zeus, and the house ofHephaestus. TranslatorLattimore renderskleos aphthiton as "forever immortal" and as "forever imperishable"—connoting Achilles's mortality by underscoring his greater reward in returning to battle Troy.
Kleos is often given visible representation by the prizes won in battle. When Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles, he takes away a portion of thekleos he had earned.
Achilles's shield, crafted by Hephaestus and given to him by his mother, Thetis, bears an image of stars in the centre. The stars conjure profound images of the place of a single man, no matter how heroic, in the perspective of the entire cosmos.
Nostos (νόστος, "homecoming") occurs seven times in the poem,[32] making it a minor theme in theIliad itself. Yet the concept of homecoming is much explored in other Ancient Greek literature, especially in the postwar homeward fortunes experienced by the Atreidae (Agamemnon and Menelaus) and Odysseus (see theOdyssey).
Pride drives the plot of theIliad. The Achaeans gather on the plain of Troy to wrest Helen from the Trojans. Though the majority of the Trojans would gladly return Helen to the Achaeans, they defer to the pride of their prince, Alexandros, also known as Paris. Within this frame, Homer's work begins. At the start of theIliad, Agamemnon's pride sets forth a chain of events that leads him to take from Achilles, Briseis, the girl he had originally given Achilles in return for his martial prowess. Due to this slight, Achilles refuses to fight and asks his mother, Thetis, to make sure that Zeus causes the Achaeans to suffer on the battlefield until Agamemnon comes to realize the harm he has done to him.[33]
Achilles's pride allows him to beg Thetis for the deaths of his Achaean friends. When in Book 9 his friends urge him to return, offering him loot and his slave, Briseis, he refuses, stuck in his vengeful pride. Achilles remains stuck until the very end, when his anger at himself for Patroclus's death overcomes his pride at Agamemnon's slight and he returns to kill Hector. He overcomes his pride again when he keeps his anger in check and returns Hector to Priam at the epic's close. From epic start to epic finish, pride drives the plot.[a]
The Iliad portrays the theme of heroism in a variety of different ways through different characters, mainly Achilles, Hector, Patroclus, etc. Though the traditional concept of heroism is often tied directly to the protagonist, who is meant to be written in a heroic light, theIliad plays with this idea of heroism and does not make it explicitly clear who the true hero of the story is. The story of theIliad follows the great Greek warrior Achilles, as well as his rage and the destruction it causes. Parallel to this, the story also follows the Trojan warrior Hector and his efforts to fight to protect his family and his people. It is generally assumed that, because he is the protagonist, Achilles is the hero of this story. Examining his actions throughout theIliad and comparing them to those of other characters, however, some may come to the conclusion that Achilles is not really the hero, and perhaps even an antihero. It can also be argued that Hector is the true hero of theIliad due to his inherently heroic qualities, such as his loyalty to his family and strength and determination to defend his people, and the focus at the end of the story on burying Hector with honor. The true hero of theIliad is never shown explicitly and is purposefully left up to interpretation by the author, Homer, who aimed to show the complexity and flaws of both characters, regardless of who is considered the "true" hero.
Akin tokleos istimē (τιμή, "respect, honor"), the concept denoting the respectability an honorable man accrues with accomplishment (cultural, political, martial), per his station in life. In Book I, the Achaean troubles begin with King Agamemnon's dishonorable, unkingly behavior—first, by threatening the priest Chryses (1.11), then, by aggravating them in disrespecting Achilles, by confiscating Briseis from him (1.171). The warrior's consequent rancor against the dishonorable king ruins the Achaean military cause.
Hybris (Ὕβρις) plays a part similar totimē. The epic takes as its thesis the anger of Achilles and the destruction it brings. Anger disturbs the distance between human beings and the gods. Uncontrolled anger destroys orderly social relationships and upsets the balance of correct actions necessary to keep the gods away from human beings. Despite the epic's focus on Achilles's rage,hybris also plays a prominent role, serving as both kindling and fuel for many destructive events.[34]
Agamemnon refuses to ransom Chriseis out ofhybris and harms Achilles's pride when he demands her. Hubris forces Paris to fight against Menelaus. Agamemnon spurs the Achaeans to fight by calling into question Odysseus, Diomedes, and Nestor's pride, asking why they are cowering and waiting for help when they should be the ones leading the charge. While the events of theIliad focus on Achilles's rage and the destruction it brings on,hybris fuels and stokes them both.[34]
The poem's initial word,μῆνιν (mēnin;acc.μῆνις,mēnis, "wrath," "rage," "fury"), establishes theIliad's principal theme: the "Wrath of Achilles".[35] His personal rage and wounded soldier's pride propel the story: the Achaeans' faltering in battle, the slayings of Patroclus and Hector, and the fall of Troy. In Book I, the Wrath of Achilles first emerges in the Achilles-convoked meeting, between the Greek kings and the seerCalchas. King Agamemnon dishonours Chryses, the Trojan priest of Apollo, by refusing with a threat the restitution of his daughter, Chryseis—despite the proffered ransom of "gifts beyond count".[36] The insulted priest prays to Apollo for help, and a nine-day rain of divine plague arrows falls upon the Achaeans. Moreover, in that meeting, Achilles accuses Agamemnon of being "greediest for gain of all men".[37] To that, Agamemnon replies:
But here is my threat to you. Even as Phoibos Apollo is taking away my Chryseis. I shall convey her back in my own ship, with my own followers; but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis, your prize, I myself going to your shelter, that you may learn well how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink back from likening himself to me and contending against me.
After that, only Athena stays Achilles's wrath. He vows to never again obey orders from Agamemnon. Furious, Achilles cries to his mother, Thetis, who persuades Zeus's divine intervention—favouring the Trojans—until Achilles's rights are restored. Meanwhile, Hector leads the Trojans to almost pushing the Achaeans back to the sea (Book XII). Later, Agamemnon contemplates defeat and retreat to Greece (Book XIV). Again, the Wrath of Achilles turns the war's tide in seeking vengeance when Hector kills Patroclus. Aggrieved, Achilles tears his hair and dirties his face. Thetis comforts her mourning son, who tells her:
So it was here that the lord of men Agamemnon angered me. Still, we will let all this be a thing of the past, and for all our sorrow beat down by force the anger deeply within us. Now I shall go, to overtake that killer of a dear life, Hektor; then I will accept my own death, at whatever time Zeus wishes to bring it about, and the other immortals.
Accepting the prospect of death as fair price for avenging Patroclus, he returns to battle, dooming Hector and Troy, thrice chasing him around the Trojan walls before slaying him and then dragging the corpse behind his chariot, back to camp.
Much of theIliad focuses on death-dealing. To gain status, heroes must be good at killing. Though not as prevalent, there are instances where the author showcases the peaceful aspects of war. The first instance of this is in book 3 when Menelaus and Paris agree to fight one one-on-one to end the war. This conversation between Menelaus and Paris highlights the overwhelming desire for peace on both sides. Also in book 3, we see peace when the elders talk to Priam saying that though Helen is a beautiful woman, war is still too high a price to pay for one person. These events display the humanity of the war. In book 6, when Hector goes back into the city to visit his family, this event is another powerful show of peace because we get to see that Hector is more than a great warrior. He is a loving father and devoted husband. The love that is shared between him and his family contrasts with the gory battle scenes, noting the importance of peace. The final moments of peace are in books 23 and 24. The first of these is the funeral games that are held for Patroclus. The games show the happiness, grief, and joy that can happen during the war. In book 24, peace is highlighted again when Achilles and Priam share food and grief for their recent losses. In this encounter, the two empathize with one another and agree to a truce of twelve days for the burial of Hector.[38]
The poem dates to thearchaic period ofClassical antiquity. Scholarly consensus mostly places it in the late 8th[39] century BC, although some favour a 7th-century date.[40][41] In any case, theterminus ante quem for the dating of theIliad is 630 BC, as evidenced by reflection in art and literature.[42]
Herodotus, having consulted theOracle atDodona, placed Homer and Hesiod at approximately 400 years before his own time, which would place them atc. 850 BC.[43]
The historical backdrop of the poem is the time of theLate Bronze Age collapse, in the early 12th century BC. Homer is thus separated from his subject matter by about 400 years, the period known as theGreek Dark Ages. Intense scholarly debate has surrounded the question of which portions of the poem preserve genuine traditions from theMycenaean period. TheCatalogue of Ships in particular has the striking feature that its geography does not portray Greece in theIron Age, the time of Homer, but as it was before theDorian invasion.
The titleἸλιάς (Ilias;gen.Ἰλιάδος,Iliados) is anellipsis of "ἡ ποίησις Ἰλιάς,he poíesis Iliás", meaning "the Ilian (Trojan) poem".Ἰλιάς (of Ilion/Troy) is the specifically feminine adjective form fromἼλιον (Ilion/Troy). The masculine adjective form would beἸλιακός orἼλιος.[44] It is used by Herodotus.[45]
Venetus A, copied in the 10th century AD, is the oldest fully extant manuscript of theIliad.[46][unreliable source?] It contains the text of the Iliad as well as annotations, glosses, and commentaries, the "A scholia". Venetus A may be the work of Aristophanes of Byzantium of the Library of Alexandria. This is the oldest existing manuscript of Homer's Iliad. It is regarded as the best text of the Iliad. (Biblioteca Marciana inVenice as Codex Marcianus Graecus 454, now 822).
In antiquity, the Greeks applied theIliad and theOdyssey as the bases ofpedagogy. Literature was central to the educational-cultural function of the itinerantrhapsode, who composed consistent epic poems from memory and improvisation and disseminated them, via song and chant, in his travels and at thePanathenaic Festival of athletics, music, poetics, and sacrifice, celebrating Athena's birthday.[48]
Originally, Classical scholars treated theIliad and theOdyssey as written poetry, and Homer as a writer, yet by the 1920s,Milman Parry (1902–1935) had launched a movement claiming otherwise. His investigation of the oral Homeric style—"stock epithets" and "reiteration" (words, phrases, stanzas)—established that theseformulae were artifacts oforal tradition easily applied to ahexametric line. A two-word stock epithet (e.g., "resourceful Odysseus") reiteration may complement a character name by filling a half-line, thus freeing the poet to compose a half-line of "original" formulaic text to complete his meaning.[49] InYugoslavia, Parry and his assistant,Albert Lord (1912–1991), studied the oral-formulaic composition ofSerbian oral poetry, yielding theParry/Lord thesis that establishedoral tradition studies, later developed byEric Havelock,Marshall McLuhan,Walter Ong, andGregory Nagy.
InThe Singer of Tales (1960), Lord presents likenesses between the tragedies of the AchaeanPatroclus in theIliad and theSumerianEnkidu in theEpic of Gilgamesh and claims to refute, with "careful analysis of the repetition of thematic patterns", that the Patroclus storyline upsets Homer's established compositional formulae of "wrath, bride-stealing, and rescue"; thus, stock-phrasereiteration does not restrict his originality in fitting story to rhyme.[50] Likewise, James Armstrong (1958)[51] reports that the poem'sformulae yield richer meaning because the "arming motif"diction—describing Achilles, Agamemnon, Paris, and Patroclus—serves to "heighten the importance of…an impressive moment"; thus, "[reiteration] creates an atmosphere of smoothness" wherein Homer distinguishes Patroclus from Achilles and foreshadows the former's death with positive and negative turns of phrase.[52][51]
Despite Mycenae and Troy being maritime powers, theIliad features no sea battles.[54] The Trojan shipwright (of the ship that transported Helen to Troy),Phereclus, instead fights afoot, as an infantryman.[55] The battle dress and armour of hero and soldier are well-described. They enter battle inchariots, launching javelins into the enemy formations, and then dismount—for hand-to-hand combat with yet more javelin throwing, rock throwing, and if necessary, hand-to-hand sword and shoulder-borneaspis (shield) fighting.[56] Ajax the Greater, son of Telamon, sports a large, rectangular shield (Ancient Greek:σάκος,romanized: sakos) with which he protects himself and Teucer, his brother:
Ninth came Teucer, stretching his curved bow. He stood beneath the shield of Ajax, son of Telamon. As Ajax cautiously pulled his shield aside, Teucer would peer out quickly, shoot off an arrow, hit someone in the crowd, dropping that soldier right where he stood, ending his life—then he'd duck back, crouching down by Ajax, like a child beside its mother. Ajax would then conceal him with his shining shield.
— Homer,Iliad 8.267–272, translated by Ian Johnston.
Ajax's cumbersome shield is more suitable for defence than for offence, while his cousin Achilles sports a large, rounded, octagonal shield that he successfully deploys along with his spear against the Trojans:
Just as a man constructs a wall for some high house, using well-fitted stones to keep out forceful winds, that's how close their helmets and bossed shields lined up, shield pressing against shield, helmet against helmet man against man. On the bright ridges of the helmets, horsehair plumes touched when warriors moved their heads. That's how close they were to one another.
— Homer,Iliad 16.213–217 (translated by Ian Johnston).
In describing infantry combat, Homer names thephalanx formation,[57] but most scholars do not believe the historical Trojan War was so fought.[58] In theBronze Age, the chariot was the main battle transport-weapon (e.g. theBattle of Kadesh). The available evidence, from the Dendra armour and the Pylos Palace paintings, indicate the Mycenaeans used two-man chariots, with a long-spear-armed principal rider, unlike the three-man Hittite chariots with short-spear-armed riders and the arrow-armed Egyptian and Assyrian two-man chariots. Nestor spearheads his troops with chariots; he advises them:
In your eagerness to engage the Trojans, don't any of you charge ahead of others, trusting in your strength and horsemanship. And don't lag behind. That will hurt our charge. Any man whose chariot confronts an enemy's should thrust with his spear at him from there. That's the most effective tactic, the way men wiped out city strongholds long ago — their chests full of that style and spirit.
— Homer,Iliad 4.301–309 (translated by Ian Johnston).
Although Homer's depictions are graphic, it can be seen in the very end that victory in war is a far more somber occasion, where all that is lost becomes apparent. On the other hand, the funeral games are lively, for the dead man's life is celebrated. This overall depiction of war runs contrary to many other[citation needed] ancient Greek depictions, where war is an aspiration for greater glory.
Modern reconstructions of armour, weapons, and styles
Few modern (archeologically, historically, and Homerically accurate) reconstructions of arms, armor, and motifs as described by Homer exist. Some historical reconstructions have been done by Salimbeti et al.[59]
While the Homeric poems (particularly, theIliad) were not necessarily revered scripture of the ancient Greeks, they were most certainly seen as guides that were important to the intellectual understanding of any educated Greek citizen. This is evidenced by the fact that in the late 5th century BC, "it was the sign of a man of standing to be able to recite theIliad andOdyssey by heart."[60]: 36 Moreover, it can be argued that the warfare shown in theIliad, and the way it is depicted, had a profound and very traceable effect on Greek warfare in general. In particular, the effect of epic literature can be broken down into three categories:tactics, ideology, and themindset of commanders. In order to discern these effects, it is necessary to take a look at a few examples from each of these categories.
Much of the detailed fighting in theIliad is done by the heroes in an orderly, one-on-one fashion. Much like theOdyssey, there is even a set ritual that must be observed in each of these conflicts. For example, a major hero may encounter a lesser hero from the opposing side, in which case the minor hero is introduced, threats may be exchanged, and then the minor hero is slain. The victor often strips the body of its armor and military accoutrements.[60]: 22–23 Here is an example of this ritual and this type of one-on-one combat in theIliad:
There Telamonian Ajax struck down the son of Anthemion, Simoeisios in his stripling's beauty, whom once his mother descending from Ida bore beside the banks of Simoeis when she had followed her father and mother to tend the sheepflocks. Therefore they called him Simoeisios; but he could not render again the care of his dear parents; he was short-lived, beaten down beneath the spear of high-hearted Ajax, who struck him as he first came forward beside the nipple of the right breast, and the bronze spearhead drove clean through the shoulder.
The most important question in reconciling the connection between the epic fighting of theIliad and later Greek warfare concerns the phalanx, or hoplite, warfare seen in Greek history well after Homer'sIliad. While there are discussions of soldiers arrayed in semblances of the phalanx throughout theIliad, the focus of the poem on the heroic fighting, as mentioned above, would seem to contradict the tactics of the phalanx. However, the phalanx did have its heroic aspects. The masculine one-on-one fighting of the epic is manifested in phalanx fighting with the emphasis on holding one's position in formation. This replaces the singular heroic competition found in theIliad.[60]: 51
One example of this is theSpartantale of 300 picked men fighting against 300 pickedArgives. In this battle of champions, only two men are left standing for the Argives and one for the Spartans. Othryades, the remaining Spartan, goes back to stand in his formation with mortal wounds while the remaining two Argives go back to Argos to report their victory. Thus, the Spartans claimed this as a victory, as their last man displayed the ultimate feat of bravery by maintaining his position in the phalanx.[61]
In terms of the ideology of commanders in later Greek history, theIliad has an interesting effect. TheIliad expresses a definite disdain for tactical trickery, when Hector says, before he challenges the great Ajax:
I know how to storm my way into the struggle of flying horses; I know how to tread the measures on the grim floor of the war god. Yet great as you are I would not strike you by stealth, watching for my chance, but openly, so, if perhaps I might hit you.
However, despite examples of disdain for this tactical trickery, there is reason to believe that theIliad, as well as later Greek warfare, endorses tactical genius on the part of its commanders. For example, there are multiple passages in theIliad with commanders such as Agamemnon or Nestor discussing the arraying of troops so as to gain an advantage. Indeed, the Trojan War is won by a notorious example of Achaean guile in theTrojan Horse. This is even later referred to by Homer in theOdyssey. The connection, in this case, between the guileful tactics of the Achaeans and the Trojans in theIliad and those of the later Greeks is not a difficult one to find. Spartan commanders, often seen as the pinnacle of Greek military prowess, were known for their tactical trickery, and for them, this was a feat to be desired in a commander. Indeed, this type of leadership was the standard advice of Greek tactical writers.[60]: 240
Ultimately, while Homeric (or epic) fighting is certainly not completely replicated in later Greek warfare, many of its ideals, tactics, and instructions are.[60]
Hans van Wees argues that the descriptions of warfare related in the epic can be pinned down fairly specifically—to the first half of the 7th century BC.[62]
TheIliad was a standard work of great importance already inClassical Greece and remained so throughout theHellenistic andByzantine periods. Subjects from the Trojan War were a favourite among ancient Greek dramatists.Aeschylus' trilogy, theOresteia, comprisingAgamemnon,The Libation Bearers, andThe Eumenides, follows the story of Agamemnon after his return from the war. Homer also came to be of great influence in European culture with the resurgence of interest in Greek antiquity during theRenaissance, and it remains the first and most influential work of theWestern canon. In its full form, the text made its return to Italy and Western Europe beginning in the 15th century, primarily through translations into Latin and the vernacular languages.
Prior to this reintroduction, however, a shortened Latin version of the poem, known as theIlias Latina, was very widely studied and read as a basic school text.Publius Baebius Italicus, a Roman Senator, is credited with a translation of theIliad in the decade 60 AD – 70 AD. The work is known asHomerus Latinus and was formerly attributed toPindarus Thebaeus.[39] The West tended to view Homer as unreliable, as they believed they possessed much more down-to-earth and realistic eyewitness accounts of the Trojan War written byDares andDictys Cretensis, who were supposedly present at the events.[citation needed] Theselate antique forged accounts formed the basis of several eminently popularmedievalchivalric romances, most notably those ofBenoît de Sainte-Maure andGuido delle Colonne.
These in turn spawned many others in various European languages, such as the first printed English book, the 1473Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. Other accounts read in the Middle Ages were antique Latin retellings such as theExcidium Troiae and works in the vernaculars such as theIcelandic Troy Saga. Even without Homer, the Trojan War story had remained central to Western Europeanmedieval literary culture and its sense of identity. Most nations and several royal houses traced their origins to heroes at the Trojan War; Britain was supposedly settled by the TrojanBrutus, for instance.[63]
William Shakespeare used the plot of theIliad as source material for his playTroilus and Cressida but focused on a medieval legend, the love story ofTroilus, son of King Priam of Troy, andCressida, daughter of the Trojan soothsayer Calchas. The play, often considered to be a comedy, reverses traditional views on events of the Trojan War and depicts Achilles as a coward, Ajax as a dull, unthinking mercenary, etc.
Robert Browning's poemDevelopment discusses his childhood introduction to the matter of theIliad and his delight in the epic, as well as contemporary debates about its authorship.[citation needed]
According toSuleyman al-Boustani, a 19th-century poet who made the first Arabic translation of the Iliad to Arabic, the epic may have been widely circulated inSyriac andPahlavi translations during the early Middle Ages. Al-Boustani creditsTheophilus of Edessa with the Syriac translation, which was supposedly (along with the Greek original) widely read or heard by the scholars ofBaghdad in the prime of theAbbasid Caliphate, although those scholars never took the effort to translate it to the official language of the empire: Arabic. TheIliad was also the first full epic poem to be translated into Arabic from a foreign language, upon the publication of Al-Boustani's complete work in 1904.[65]
Simone Weil wrote the essay "The Iliad or the Poem of Force" in 1939, shortly after the commencement ofWorld War II. The essay describes how theIliad demonstrates the way force, exercised to the extreme in war, reduces both victim and aggressor to the level of the slave and the unthinking automaton.[66]
Christopher Logue's poemWar Music, an "account", not a translation, of theIliad, was begun in 1959 as a commission for radio. He continued working on it until his death in 2011. Described byTom Holland as "one of the most remarkable works of post-war literature", it has been an influence onKae Tempest andAlice Oswald, who says that it "unleashes a forgotten kind of theatrical energy into the world".[67]
The operaKing Priam by SirMichael Tippett (which received its premiere in 1962) is based loosely on theIliad.
Christa Wolf's novelCassandra (1983) is a critical engagement with theIliad. Wolf's narrator is Cassandra, whose thoughts are heard at the moment just before her murder by Clytemnestra in Sparta. Wolf's narrator presents a feminist's view of the war, and of war in general. Cassandra's story is accompanied by four essays that Wolf delivered at the 1982Frankfurter Poetik-Vorlesungen [de]. The essays present Wolf's concerns as a writer and rewriter of this canonical story and show the genesis of the novel through Wolf's own readings and a trip she took to Greece.
Dan Simmons's epic science fiction adaptation/tributeIlium was released in 2003, receiving aLocus Award for best science fiction novel of 2003.[69]
Troy (2004), a loose film adaptation of theIliad, received mixed reviews but was a commercial success, particularly in international sales. It grossed $133 million in the United States and $497 million worldwide, making it the 188th top-grossing movie of all time.[70]
The Rage of Achilles (2009), by American author and Yale Writers' Conference founderTerence Hawkins, recounts theIliad as a novel in modern, sometimes graphic language. Informed byJulian Jaynes's theory of thebicameral mind and the historicity of theTrojan War, it depicts its characters as real men to whom the gods appear only as hallucinations or command voices during the sudden and painful transition to truly modern consciousness.[citation needed]
Alice Oswald's sixth collection,Memorial (2011),[71] is based on but departs from thenarrative form of theIliad to focus on, and so commemorate, the individually named characters whose deaths are mentioned in that poem.[72][73][74] In October 2011,Memorial was short-listed for theT. S. Eliot Prize,[75] but in December 2011, Oswald withdrew the book from the shortlist,[76][77] citing concerns about the ethics of the prize's sponsors.[78]
As part of his continuing literary interest in classical myths,Stephen Fry publishedTroy in 2020.[85] The book has become popular as a more accessible way to read the Greek myths.[86]
Pat Barker's publishedThe Silence of the Girls[87] andThe Women of Troy[88] in 2018 and 2021 respectively. Retelling the silenced voices of women in theIliad, both books were critically acclaimed, withThe Silence of the Girls being named one of 'The Guardian Best Books of the 21st Century'.[89]
PsychiatristJonathan Shay wrote two books,Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994)[90] andOdysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2002),[91] which relate theIliad and theOdyssey toposttraumatic stress disorder andmoral injury as seen in the rehabilitation histories of combat veteran patients.
Sampling of translations and editions ofIliad in English
George Chapman published his translation of theIliad, in installments beginning in 1598, published in 'fourteeners', a long-line ballad metre that "has room for all of Homer's figures of speech and plenty of new ones, as well as explanations in parentheses. At its best, as in Achilles' rejection of the embassy inIliad Nine; it has great rhetorical power."[93]: 351 It quickly established itself as a classic in English poetry. In the preface to his own translation, Pope praises "the daring fiery spirit" of Chapman's rendering, which is "something like what one might imagine Homer, himself, would have writ before he arrived at years of discretion."[94]
John Keats praised Chapman in the sonnetOn First Looking into Chapman's Homer (1816).[95]John Ogilby's mid-17th-century translation is among the earlyannotated editions;Alexander Pope's 1715 translation, in heroic couplet, is "the classic translation that was built on all the preceding versions"[93]: 352 and like Chapman's, is a major poetic work in its own right.William Cowper'sMiltonic, blank verse 1791 edition is highly regarded for its greater fidelity to the Greek than either the Chapman or the Pope versions: "I have omitted nothing; I have invented nothing," Cowper says in prefacing his translation.
In the lecturesOn Translating Homer (1861),Matthew Arnold addresses the matters of translation and interpretation in rendering theIliad to English; commenting upon the versions contemporarily available in 1861, he identifies the four essential poetic qualities of Homer to which the translator must do justice:
[i] that he is eminently rapid; [ii] that he is eminently plain and direct, both in the evolution of his thought and in the expression of it, that is, both in his syntax and in his words; [iii] that he is eminently plain and direct in the substance of his thought, that is, in his matter and ideas; and, finally, [iv] that he is eminently noble.
After a discussion of the metres employed by previous translators, Arnold argues for a poetical dialect hexameter translation of theIliad, like the original. "Laborious as this meter was, there were at least half a dozen attempts to translate the entireIliad orOdyssey in hexameters; the last in 1945. Perhaps the most fluent of them was byJ. Henry Dart [1862] in response to Arnold."[93]: 354 In 1870, the American poetWilliam Cullen Bryant published a blank verse version, thatVan Wyck Brooks describes as "simple, faithful".
An 1898 translation bySamuel Butler was published by Longmans. Butler had readClassics at Cambridge University, graduating in 1859.[96]
Since 1950, there have been several English translations:Richmond Lattimore's version (1951) is "a free six-beat" line-for-line rendering in often unidiomatic, often archaic English.Robert Fitzgerald's version (Oxford World's Classics, 1974) uses shorter, mostlyiambic lines and numerous allusions to earlier English poetry.
^Fantuzzi, et al.The Greek Epic Cycle and Its Ancient Reception : A Companion. 2015.
^abcdHomer.Iliad, Volume I: Books 1–12. Translated by A. T. Murray. Revised by William F. Wyatt. Loeb Classical Library 170. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1924.
^abcdeHomer.Iliad, Volume II: Books 13–24. Translated by A. T. Murray. Revised by William F. Wyatt. Loeb Classical Library 171. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925.
^Bell, Robert H. "Homer's humor: laughter in the Iliad." hand 1 (2007): 596.
^abKearns, E. (2004) ‘The Gods in the Homeric epics’, in R. Fowler (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to Homer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Companions to Literature), pp. 59–73.
^abcKullmann, Wolfgang (1985). "Gods and Men in the Iliad and the Odyssey".Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.89:1–23.doi:10.2307/311265.JSTOR311265.
^Homer (1998).The Iliad. Translated by Fagles, Robert; Knox, Bernard. New York: Penguin Books. p. 589.
^abLefkowitz, Mary (2003).Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn From Myths. New Haven, Connecticut:Yale University Press.
^Dunkle, Roger (1986). "ILIAD", inThe Classical Origins of Western Culture,The Core Studies 1 Study Guide.Brooklyn College. Archived from theoriginal 5 December 2007.
^Dué, C., Lupack, S. and Lamberton, R. (2020) ‘Kleos’, in C.O. Pache (ed.)The Cambridge Guide to Homer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 167–168.
^abFrobish, T. S. (2003). "An Origin of a Theory: A Comparison of Ethos in the Homeric Iliad with That Found in Aristotle's Rhetoric".Rhetoric.22 (1):16–30.doi:10.1207/S15327981RR2201_2.S2CID44483572.
^Bird, Graeme D. (2010).Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad: The Witness of the Ptolemaic Papyr. Washington, D.C.: Center for Hellenic Studies.ISBN978-0-674-05323-6.[page needed]
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