The Iliad

The Iliad

The Iliad, a twenty four book long epic written by Homer, is widely considered to be one of the most influential and well known pieces of literature from Ancient Greece. It follows part of the ten year long Trojan War, where all of Greece lays siege upon the city of Troy after Prince Hector abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta.

From the very first page, the epic explores both the horror and glory of war. The book opens with a great plague brought by Apollo which devastates the Greek soldiers, and the death and killing of soldiers in brutal war are depicted constantly. However, at the same time, there are triumphant moments, where the great heroes of both sides, such as Achilles, Odysseus, and Meneleus on the Greek side, and Hector on the Trojan perform incredible feats, single handedly shifting the tide of battle as they fight their way through hordes of enemies. They sometimes even fight in single combat over the fate of the war, such as the duel between Menelaus and Paris over Helen. Diomedes, with the help of Athena, even manages to wound Aphrodite and Ares, the god of war. However, these same glorious heroes are not without fault. For example, Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel over petty disputes, their stubbornness leading Achilles to abandon the Greeks, nearly costing them the war. Overall, the Iliad portrays its mythical or fantastical elements in a way that is still grounded in a basis of realism to some degree, and does a good job portraying both the great and horrible nature of war and mankind. However, as the story is nearly three thousand years old, there are elements that are very difficult to understand, or strange to modern audiences.

Firstly, many characters and entities are referred to by several different names, which can make it difficult for readers to keep track of them. The Achaeans (Greeks), are also called Argives and Danaans, while the Trojans are also called Dardanians, and the city of Troy is also called Ilium. Paris is sometimes called Alexandros, and oftentimes characters are referred to as the son of someone else, such as Achilles, who is called the son of Peleus. This is especially confusing for Menaleus and Agamemnon, major Greek leaders, who are both called the son of Atreus.

In addition, epithets and adjectives, while cool at first, are used excessively to the point of being unnecessary and tiring. For example, while it may be interesting for Apollo to be followed by “who strikes from afar,” or Athena to be called as the one who “wields the aegis,” it is repeated far too many times. In addition, almost all of the main characters are called godlike, swift footed, horse breaking, or blameless, making those descriptions meaningless as a way to understand the characteristics of individual characters. Additionally, much more detail is given than necessary for many characters, which makes it difficult for the reader to understand whether the character is important or not. Often, whenever someone is killed, even if they serve only as cannon fodder for the heroes in the story, they get at least a short description of their origin, lives, and ancestors, These descriptions can sometimes even be a paragraph long. The worst example of this is possibly in Book 2, where there is a several page long list of all the leaders of each side, how many ships they had, and where they were from. Most of these people do not appear after the chapter.

Finally, some of the customs in the Iliad, which might have been considered normal to an Ancient Greek audience, can come off as strange to a modern one. One of the most notable examples of this is that whenever a man is killed, their opponent takes the time to steal their armor.

In conclusion, the Iliad, despite the flaws and difficulties that arise from reading a book written thousands of years ago, is still a fundamentally important and compelling book that can still resonate and be enjoyed by a modern audience, just as it was by an ancient one long ago.