The Iliad by Homer

The Iliad narrates several weeks of action during

the tenth and final year of the Trojan War,
concentrating on the wrath of Achilles. It begins
with the dispute between Achilles and
Agamemnon, and ends with the funeral rites of
Hector. Neither the background and early years of
the war (Paris' abduction of Helen from King
Menelaus), nor its end (the death of Achilles and
the Trojan Horse), are directly narrated in the
Iliad. The Iliad and the Odyssey are part of a
larger cycle of epic poems of varying lengths and
authors; only fragments survive of the other
poems, however.
Both the gods Zeus and Poseidon desired the seanymph Thetis, but a prophecy made by
Prometheus revealed that Thetis' son would be
greater than his father. For this reason, both gods
resisted Thetis and betrothed her to a mortal king,

The Iliad by Homer

Both the gods Zeus and Poseidon desired the seanymph Thetis, but a prophecy made by
Prometheus revealed that Thetis' son would be
greater than his father. For this reason, both gods
resisted Thetis and betrothed her to a mortal king,
Peleus, so that her offspring would be no more
than human. To Peleus and Thetis a son was born,
named Achilles.
Hoping to protect him, when he was an infant his
mother dipped him in the river Styx, making him
invincible everywhere except the heel (the
legendary Achilles' heel) by which she held him.
Achilles would grow up to be the greatest of all
mortal warriors. All of the gods were invited to
Peleus' and Thetis' wedding, except Eris, or
Discord. Insulted, she attended invisibly and cast
down upon the table a golden apple on which were

The Iliad by Homer

The apple was disputed over by Hera, Athena, and
Aphrodite. None of the gods would venture an
opinion favouring any one contender for fear of
earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually,
Zeus ordered the matter to be settled by Paris,
the youngest prince of Troy, who was being raised
as a shepherd in the plains nearby.
Athena tempted Paris with power in battle and
wisdom, Hera offered him power, and Aphrodite
offered him the most beautiful woman in the
world. Paris eventually awarded the apple to
Aphrodite. The most beautiful woman in the world
was Helen, daughter of Leda by Zeus. Scores of
men sought her hand. Her father was unwilling to
choose any for fear the others would attack him;
finally, at Odysseus' suggestion, he solved the
problem by making all the suitors swear an oath to
protect Helen and her future husband.

The Iliad by Homer

These suitors included Agamemnon, Ajax the
Greater, Ajax the Lesser, Diomedes, Odysseus,
Nestor, Idomeneus, and Philoctetes. Helen married
Menelaus of Sparta; her sister Clytemnestra
married his brother Agamemnon of Mycenae.
On a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris became
enamoured of Helen, and she either eloped with or
was abducted by Paris and went with him to Troy.
In anger, Menelaus called upon Helen's past
suitors to make good their oaths to attack Troy.
Eventually a force of a thousand ships marshalled
by Menelaus' brother Agamemnon was gathered
at Aulis, including all the above-named men and
their own forces. A seer told them that the winds
would not take them to Troy unless Agamemnon

The Iliad by Homer

They landed at Troy, eventually, where there
ensued a siege of nine years, broken only
intermittently by fighting until the tenth year.
Shortly prior to the Iliad, Greek forces had raided
a nearby town allied to Troy. Agamemnon had
taken prisoner a girl, Chryseis, daughter of a local
priest of Apollo. The priest begged the god to
punish the Greeks, and a plague ravaged their
army.

The Iliad by Homer

The Iliad focuses mainly on Achilles and his rage
against king Agamemnon, the Greek commanderin-chief, who has taken an attractive slave and
spoil of war Briseis from Achilles. Achilles, the
greatest warrior of the age, follows the advice of
his mother and withdraws from battle in revenge
and the allied Achaean (Greek) armies nearly lose
the war.In counterpoint to Achilles' pride and
arrogance stands the Trojan prince Hector, son of
King Priam, with a wife and child, who fights to
defend his city and his family.
The death of Patroclus, Achilles' dearest friend or
lover, at the hands of Hector, brings Achilles back
to the war for revenge, and he slays Hector. Later
Hector's father, King Priam, comes to Achilles
disguised as a beggar to ransom his son's body
back, and Achilles is moved to pity; the funeral of

The Iliad by Homer

The poem is a poignant depiction of the tragedy
and agony of friendship and family destroyed by
battle. The first word of the Greek poem is; the
main subject of the poem is the wrath of Achilles;
the second word is "aeide", meaning "sing"; the
poet is asking someone to sing; the third word is
"thea", meaning "goddess"; the goddess here
being the "Mousa" or "muse"; a literal translation
of the first line would read "Wrath, sing goddess,
of Peleus' son Achilles" or more intelligibly "Sing,
goddess, the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles".