THE ILIAD INTRODUCTION

In A Nutshell
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You know what blows? When you're fighting a dude in a battle and he gets swept away
by a vengeful god so you don't get to murder him personally.
Ohthat's never happened to you? Seriously? Okay: how about this: when you're
killing so many people in a river that the river itself gets angry with you and starts
chasing you?
You can't relate to that either? Well, what about when the goddess of love is trying to
trick you by disguising herself as an old woman but is too vain to disguise her perfect,
youthful bosom and you think "What kind of idiot do you think I am, Aphrodite?"
These are all occurrences in the Iliad, which has a completely undeserved reputation as
being stuffy. It's not. It's old, yes, but the content of the Iliad is 50% carnage and 50%
Greek gods being so bored of their fancy-shmancy existence on Mt. Olympus that they
just start making trouble.
It's hallucinatory. It's bizarre. It's uber-gory. And yes, yesit's also one of the most
famous epic poems ever written, by one of the most epic poets who ever lived.
So what's going on in this poem? Mayhem. Paris steals another man's wife, and the
Greeks and Trojans go to war. We meet up with everyone when the war has been
raging for ten whole years, and everyone is more than a little punch-drunk and acting
badly.
And we mean everyonefamous heroes like Achilles are insane with bloodlust. Agamemnon is throwing his weight around. Hector is ignoring omens (a big no-no
in mythology). And the gods are drugging each other, seducing each other, moping
about lackluster offerings from the mortals, and basically presiding over this bloody
battle as if it were a game of foosball.
First making its appearance in scroll-format around the 8th century B.C.E., the Iliad is
the earliest known work of European literature. How did this happen? The fact is that,
even though the Iliad stands at the beginning of one tradition the written traditionit
also comes at the end of an entirely different tradition. One way of thinking about
Homer's Iliad is as a survivor of a form of purely oral poetry passed down from
generation to generation without ever being written down.
Except, of course, nobody knows anything about who Homer wasthough, of course,
there are plenty of theories. But no matter what your theory about the author is, one fact
that everyone agrees on is the true genius and artistry of the Homeric poems.

And everyone agrees that the whacked-out madness that is the Iliad is eloquent,
disturbing, transcendent and completely bonkers.

THE ILIAD SUMMARY

How It All Goes Down
In the tenth year of the Trojan War, tensions are running high among the Achaians (a
super-ancient name for the Ancient Greeks). First, the priest Chryses comes to ask their
leader, King Agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom Agamemnon was holding
captive. When Agamemnon refuses, the priest prays to the god Apollo to send a plague
against the Achaians.
After nine days of plague, the Achaians assemble again and demand that Agamemnon
give the girl back. Agamemnon eventually agrees, but only if he gets to take Briseis, the
girlfriend of Achilleus, the greatest warrior of the Achaians. Even though Achilleus gives
her up, he becomes so enraged that he refuses to fight any more. That and he prays to
his mother, Thetis, who happens to be a goddess, to pull some strings with the other
gods so that the Achaians will start getting defeated in battle and realize how much they
depend on him.
Achilleus's mom definitely spoils him. She gets Zeus, the king of the gods, to agree to
Achilleus's request. Sure enough, the next day the Trojans make a successful
counterattack, led by Hektor, their greatest warrior. Several days of violent fighting
follow, at the end of which the Trojans have the Achaians pinned against the beach, and
are threatening to burn their ships.
At this point, Achilleus's best friend Patroklos asks for permission to go into battle in
Achilleus's place. Achilleus grants Patroklos's request, and even lets him wear his
armor. Patroklos's gambit is successful when the Trojans see him, they think he must
be Achilleus and become absolutely terrified. The plan goes off the rails, however, when
Hektor kills Patrokloswith the help of the god Apollo and a minor Trojan warrior named
Euphorbos. Hektor then takes the armor off Patroklos's body.
When Achilleus learns of the death of his friend, he experiences terrible grief and
swears revenge. He sends his mother, Thetis, to get a new suit of armor made
especially for him by the fire-god, Hephaistos. The next day, Achilleus rejoins the battle
and kills many Trojans, including Hektor in a one-on-one battle.
But Achilleus isn't satisfied. For the next few days, he continually abuses Hektor's body
in gruesome ways, even after Patroklos has received a proper funeral. The gods don't
like this, and send a message down to Achilleus telling him to give up the body. When
the Trojan King PriamHektor's fathercomes unarmed, by night, to ask for his son's
body, Achilleus agrees. The two men eat together and experience a moment of shared

humanity. Achilleus grants the Trojans a grace period to perform their funeral rituals.
The poem ends with the funeral of Hektorthough we know that soon Achilleus will die
and Troy will be captured.

THE ILIAD THEMES

The Iliad Themes
Fate and Free Will
(Click the themes infographic to download.) From the very beginning of the Iliad, when
the poet asks the Muse to reveal how "the will of Zeus was accomplished," we know
that the events we are wit...

Pride
(Click the themes infographic to download.) In the warrior society of the Iliad, pride is
what makes the world go round. Nearly all of the book's male characters are motivated
in some way by cons...

Mortality
(Click the themes infographic to download.) The Iliad doesn't pull any punches in its
portrayal of mortality. Not only is death in battle depicted as extremely painful and
gruesome, there isn't a...

Competition
(Click the themes infographic to download.) If reputation and pride is what every warrior
is after, then competition is the way to get the goods. People in the Iliad compete in just
about everyth...

Compassion and Forgiveness

(Click the themes infographic to download.) For most of the Iliad, we see less
compassion and forgiveness than their opposites. For example, when Achilleus rejects
the gifts Agamemnon is offering...

Friendship
(Click the themes infographic to download.) Friendship is an important motivation for
many characters in the Iliad; at times, it can make them act in ways that you wouldn't
expect, given their ot...

Love
(Click the themes infographic to download.) Part of what gives the Iliad its deep
humanity is its sensitive portrayal of love in a variety of forms. Some of the most
touching moments in the poem...

Hate
(Click the themes infographic to download.) In the world of the Iliad, hate is viewed as
such a powerful force that it even gets personified as a divinity. The goddess Hate
(worst goddess ever) m...

Warfare
(Click the themes infographic to download.) Over the years, some scholars and critics
have described the Iliad as the first piece of anti-war literature. This is true in some
respects, though ult...

Religion
(Click the themes infographic to download.) In the world of the Iliad, gods and
goddesses are a daily presence in people's lives. In fact, many of the book's characters
are either children of div...

THE ILIAD QUOTES

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Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks

down key quotations from The Iliad.
Fate and Free Will Quotes
and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians, hurled in their
multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the
delicate feasting of do...

Pride Quotes
(Agamemnon:) Still I am willing to give her back, if such is the best way. I myself desire
that my people be safe, not perish. Find me then some prize that shall be my own, lest I
only among the Ar...

Mortality Quotes
Thereafter beginning from the left he poured drinks for the other gods, dipping up from
the mixing bowl the sweet nectar. But among the blessed immortals uncontrollable
laughter went up as they saw...

Competition Quotes
(Agamemnon:) Forever quarreling is dear to your heart, and wars and battles; and if
you are very strong indeed, that is a god's gift. (1.177-178)

Compassion and Forgiveness Quotes

Now as he came back the king spun another entangling treachery; for choosing the
bravest men in wide Lykia he laid a trap, but these men never came home thereafter
since all of them were killed by...

Friendship Quotes
These two terrified and in awe of the king stood waiting quietly, and did not speak a
word at all nor question him. But he knew the whole matter in his own heart, and spoke
first: "Welcome, heralds...

Love Quotes

(Helen:) Strange divinity! Why are you still so stubborn to beguile me? Will you carry me
further yet somewhere among cities fairly settled? [] Go yourself and sit beside him,
abandon the gods'...

Hate Quotes
(Achilleus:) You wine sack, with a dog's eyes, with a deer's heart. Never once have you
taken courage in your heart to arm with your people for battle, or go into ambuscade
with the best of the Ach...

Warfare Quotes
Meriones in turn killed Phereklos, son of Harmonides, the smith, who understood how
to make with his hand all intricate things, since above all others Pallas Athene had
loved him. He it was who had...

Religion Quotes
(Chryses:) Hear me, lord of the silver bow who set your power about Chryse and Killa
the sacrosanct, who are lord in strength over Tenedos, Smintheus, if ever it pleased
your heart that I built you...

THE ILIAD CHARACTERS

Meet the Cast

Achilleus

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(Click the character infographic to download.) What a PedigreeThink of Achilleus like an

Ancient Greek Arya Starkwell-born, secretly sentimental, and totally fueled by rage.To
understand Achille...

Hektor
(Click the character infographic to download.) What the Hektor?Not going to lie: Hektor
struck us as a little yawn-worthy at the beginning of this epic. He was just so good. So
family-oriented. So...

Agamemnon
(Click the character infographic to download.) Raging BullySo we all know that the Iliad
is about the anger of Achilleus, but what we sometimes forget is that it takes two to
tango. Even though Ach...

Patroklos
Best BestiePatroklos and Achilleus have the world's best bromance. They adore each
other. They have each others' backs. And this, of course, makes it suck when Patroklos
is killed.Patroklos has bee...

Thetis
Proud MamaThink of Thetis like a stage mother... except the "stage" is the Trojan War
and the "mother" is actually the freakin' goddess of the sea.Thetis, a goddess of the
sea, is the mother of Ach...

Odysseus
(Click the character infographic to download.) Twiddling His Thumbs and Waiting for the
SequelThink of Odysseus as the Dr. Ian Malcolm of The Iliad. Ian Malcolm spends the
entirety of Jurassic Par...

Nestor
Nestor is the wise old man of the Achaian army. Well, at least part of that statement is
true. Nestor never passes up an opportunity to tell a long, rambling story about how
awesome he was back in...

Diomedes

Diomedes is a very important member of the Achaian army who just can't seem to get
any credit. Poor dude.This is reflected not only in his peripheral status in scholarly
treatments of the Iliad (wi...

Menelaos
On the one hand, Menelaos is an important character in setting up the backstory of the
Iliad. After all, it was his wife, Helen, who ran off with Paris and thus kicked off the
Trojan War. On the ot...

Paris
(Click the character infographic to download.) Nothing sums up Paris's status in the
Iliad like the end of Book 3. When Menelaos is looking for Pariswhom Aphrodite has
carried off to safetywe...

Helen
(Click the character infographic to download.) Even though she has only a small role,
Helen is one of the Iliad's most interesting characters. For one thing, she is supposed to
be the most beautifu...

Priam
(Click the character infographic to download.) Priam's greatest fault is being a pushover
for his son Paris. Even though everyone thinks Paris should just give Helen back to the
Achaians, Priam let...

Aias
By Aias we are here referring to "big" Aias (a.k.a. "Telamonian Aias," the son of
Telamon). "Little" Aias is, well, a much smaller character, and doesn't get his own
profile. Basically, Aias is a r...

The Gods
(Click the character infographic to download.) The God SquadUsually when you think of
"gods" you think of divine order, justice, and harmony. Maybe you think of fluffy clouds
and harp music and whi...

THE ILIAD ANALYSIS

Literary Devices in The Iliad
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
When and how characters eat is extremely important to the symbolic texture of the Iliad.
As you may have noticed, eating is a major social occasion for the Achaian warriors
(this is maybe not so su...

Setting
Beautiful Troy. The salty Aegean air. The sweet smell of the olive trees. The pools of
blood and human remains scattered everywhere. (Hmm. Maybe they should leave that
last bit out of the tourism w...

Narrator Point of View

Our narrator isn't an eyewitness to the events of the storyhe's just some shlubby guy
who likes to write poetry. Instead, he asks the Muse (the goddess of poetry) to inspire
him with knowledge o...

Genre
This ain't just any old epic: it's the epic that made epics epic.The Homeric poems (the
Iliad and the Odyssey) are epic, because our concept of epic comes from Homeric
poems. If that sounds too cir...

Tone
In keeping with its focus on matters of life, death, fate, and the relationship between
mortals and gods, the Iliad maintains an elevated or lofty tone. How lofty? So lofty:
(Achilleus:) [] after...

Writing Style
Both these descriptions ("clear and poetic") of the Iliad's style might seem kind of a
contradiction. For many readers, the language of the Iliad seems weird or formalor, at
any rate, far from c...

What's Up With the Title?

The title comes from the word "Ilion," which is an alternate name for Troy and not an
alternate name for a lion. (Technically, "Troy" is the surrounding state; Ilion is more like
the state capital....

What's Up With the Ending?

To first-time readers, the ending of the Iliad is probably one of the most mysterious
aspects of the poem. Not only does it focus on the funeral of Hektor, the hero's enemy,
but it doesn't tell us...

Tough-o-Meter
We're actually being serious, Shmoopers (and we're never serious). This text is actually
not that mind-fryingly difficult. Unless you're reading it in the original Ancient Greek. In
which case: pss...

Plot Analysis
The Achaians are suffering from plague; something has to be done.Not counting the
brief scene of Chryses's embassy, this is the opening situation of the first major scene
in the Iliad, which sets t...

Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis

Achilleus gets in a fight with Agamemnon and refuses to fight alongside the other
Achaians. Even though it might be strange to describe the plot of the Iliad as one of
"Voyage and Return," if yo...

Three Act Plot Analysis

Achilleus and Agamemnon fight over Briseis. Achilleus gets in a huff and refuses to fight
for the Achaians anymore. Instead, he gets Zeus to beat up on the Achaians so they'll
know how much they mi...

Trivia
Some scholars believe that Book 10 of the Iliadthe night raid of Odysseus and
Diomedeswas not part of the original poem, but was written by somebody else and
slipped in at a later date. Why m...

Steaminess Rating
Whether it's Helen recognizing Aphrodite by her youthful cleavage, Thetis dispensing
some free relationship advice to her son, or the scene of Hera and Zeus making love on
top of Mount Ida, the Ili...