The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic attributed to Homer, probably composed in the eighth century BCE. In twenty-four books and more than fifteen thousand lines, it tells of a few weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan War, dominated by the wrath of Achilles. It is the oldest surviving masterpiece of European literature.
The wrath of Achilles
Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, takes the captive Briseis from Achilles. Insulted, Achilles withdraws from the fighting, and the Greeks suffer heavy losses.
When his friend Patroclus is killed by the Trojan prince Hector, Achilles returns to battle, kills Hector and drags his body around the walls of Troy.
The end of the poem
In the final book, the old king Priam comes alone to Achilles' tent to beg for his son's body. Achilles, moved, agrees.
The poem ends with Hector's funeral, not with the fall of Troy, which is told in other works.
Samuel Butler's translation
The novelist Samuel Butler published a prose translation of the Iliad in 1898, in plain modern English.
He wanted to make Homer as readable as a novel, avoiding the archaic language of many earlier versions.
Anecdotes
The Homeric question
Since antiquity, scholars have debated whether Homer existed and whether one poet composed both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Many now see the poems as the product of a long oral tradition.
Schliemann at Troy
In the 1870s, Heinrich Schliemann excavated the mound of Hisarlik in Turkey, convinced he had found Homer's Troy.
Frequently asked questions
How many books does the Iliad have?
Twenty-four.
Who is Hector?
The greatest Trojan warrior, son of King Priam.
Who translated it into prose in 1898?
Samuel Butler.