Iliad overview. About the Iliad 2022-12-24

Iliad overview Rating: 5,9/10 1993 reviews

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to the poet Homer. It tells the story of the Trojan War, a conflict between the city of Troy and the Greek city-states that lasted for ten years. At the center of the story is the hero Achilles, a mighty warrior who fights on the side of the Greeks.

The Iliad begins with the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army. Agamemnon has taken a girl named Chryseis as a war prize, and her father, a priest of Apollo, demands her return. When Agamemnon refuses, Apollo sends a plague upon the Greek army. To appease the god, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis, but in turn demands that Achilles give up his own war prize, a girl named Briseis. This act of injustice sparks a fierce anger in Achilles, who withdraws from battle and refuses to fight.

Without Achilles, the Trojans begin to gain the upper hand in the war. Their leader, Hector, is a skilled warrior and inspires his men to fight on. The Trojans win several battles, and the Greek army is pushed back to the gates of their own city, Athens.

As the war rages on, the gods become involved, taking sides and influencing the outcome of battles. The goddess Athena, for example, helps the Greeks, while the goddess Aphrodite aids the Trojans.

Eventually, Achilles decides to rejoin the fight after his close friend Patroclus is killed by Hector. In a fit of rage, Achilles seeks revenge and confronts Hector in single combat. He defeats Hector and drags his body around the walls of Troy as a trophy. The Trojans, devastated by the loss of their leader, offer a ransom for Hector's body, but Achilles refuses and continues to abuse the corpse.

The Iliad ends with Hector's burial and the funeral games held in his honor. Although the Trojans are defeated, the war continues for several more years, until the Greeks finally triumph and destroy the city of Troy.

Overall, the Iliad is a story of pride, honor, and the cost of war. It explores themes of heroism, loyalty, and the consequences of anger and revenge. It remains a classic of ancient literature and continues to be studied and revered to this day.

Iliad

iliad overview

Instead, it scrutinizes the origins and the end of this wrath, thus narrowing the scope of the poem from a larger conflict between warring peoples to a smaller one between warring individuals. The Iliad, book 19 Achilles summons his army and promises to put aside his rage to Agamemnon. He helps mediate between Agamemnon and Achilles during their quarrel and often prevents them from making rash decisions. After ten days of suffering, Achilles calls an assembly of the Achaean army and asks for a soothsayer to reveal the cause of the plague. Furious, Achilles cries to his mother, Thetis, who persuades Zeus's divine intervention—favouring the Trojans—until Achilles's rights are restored. He treats Helen kindly, though he laments the war that her beauty has sparked.

Next

The Iliad Summary and Analysis

iliad overview

It takes place during the last year of a ten-year war between the city of Troy and several combined cities of Greece in the 13th century. His mother tore her hair, and flung her veil from her with a loud cry as she looked upon her son. According to some accounts, the various Greek rulers had all courted Helen and felt an obligation to Menelaos. Dinner follows the meeting. While an army surgeon tries to heal Menelaos, the Trojans start to advance. She convinces him to fight Achilles.


Next

The Iliad Book 1 Summary & Analysis

iliad overview

Athena and Apollo decide to end the battle day by a duel. After Achilles withdraws from combat, Athena inspires Diomedes with such courage that he actually wounds two gods, Aphrodite and Ares. The ancient Greek audience, however, would have been familiar with all the events leading up to this tenth year, and during the course of the Iliad, Homer makes many references to various past events. Indeed, it is often the gods, not the mortals, who seem casual, petty and small-minded. Learn more Come hither, child, and see the strange doings of the Trojans and Achaeans… Alexandrus and Menelaus are going to fight about yourself, and you are to be the wife of him who is the victor. If, however, you are fond of him and pity him, let him indeed fall by the hand of Patroclus, but as soon as the life is gone out of him, send Death and sweet Sleep to bear him off the field and take him to the broad lands of Lycia, where his brothers and his kinsmen will bury him with mound and pillar, in due honour to the dead.

Next

Iliad Overview Quiz

iliad overview

Soon they see that their chariots will not cross the trench, so they continue their assault on foot. Hector tells his army to meet the Achaeans on the plain site near Troy. Love and Friendship The most prominent example of the theme of love and friendship in Homer's poem is the strong bond between Achilles and Patroclus. Machaon is wounded by Paris in Book 11. Apollo reveals he has deceived Achilles.

Next

The Iliad by Homer Plot Summary

iliad overview

Like Achilles, he lacks consideration and forethought. I do not care what may happen to me afterwards. They all offer bribes to Paris. The triumphant Achaeans have a celebration and funeral for Patroclus. For the ancient Greeks, the ultimate sacrifice of one's own life in battle is the only assurance of immortality. In the Anglo-Saxon culture, any achievement in a battle had to be rewarded. Athena empowers Achilles, and he makes loud war cries that terrify the Trojans.

Next

About the Iliad

iliad overview

He vows to never again obey orders from Agamemnon. Chryses prays to Apollo to punish the Achaeans, and Apollo rains down a plague on the Achaean army. Ares, the god of war, helps Hector and his Trojan army to advance. Why Does Beowulf Sail to Denmark? An eagle with a snake in its claw flies over the Trojan army. Aeneas A Trojan nobleman, the son of Aphrodite, and a mighty warrior. The horse was left to placate the angry goddess, and the Greeks hoped the Trojans would desecrate it, earning Athena's hatred.

Next

Themes in the Iliad by Homer

iliad overview

Either he dies in the Trojan war and wins eternal glory, or he sails back home and lives happily but unremarkably to his old age. Uncontrolled anger destroys orderly social relationships and upsets the balance of correct actions necessary to keep the gods away from human beings. 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 the Iliad and Odyssey by heart. Zeus suggests washing it away as soon as the Greeks leave. They do as Zeus commanded, and Hector returns to battle. At that moment, Poseidon intervenes and sends Aeneas to the different side of the field to save him.

Next

The Iliad: Character List

iliad overview

Achaeans build the wall and the trench around their ships. Gods object to the construction. Which Features of the Anglo-Saxon Culture Are Present in Beowulf? He mirrors Achilles in some of his flaws, but his bloodlust is not so great as that of Achilles. Father Jove, is there none of the gods who will take pity upon me, and save me from the river? Actions were performed with the expectation of a reciprocal action. Ἰλιάς, is the specifically feminine adjective form from Ἴλιον. The men argue, and Achilles threatens to withdraw from battle and take his people, the Myrmidons, back home to Phthia.

Next