The Iliad

The Iliad is widely regarded as being the earliest extant example of ancient Greek literature. It was originally written as an epic poem comprising 24 books of approximately 16,000 lines in dactylic hexameter and, although scholarly opinion is divided on its authorship, it is usually ascribed to the great Greek poet, Homer, who is thought to have dictated the poem having first composed it orally. The story is set in the final year of the epic Trojan War and centres on the Greek hero, Achilles, who leaves the field of battle in high dudgeon to sulk famously in his tent, after his Commander-in-Chief, Agamemnon, confiscates his prize of war, the lovely maid, Briseis. Denied Achilles' prowess as a warrior, the fortunes of the Greek army suffer a terrible reverse. Achilles is only persuaded to rejoin the fray following the death of his great friend, Patroclus, who is slain in battle wearing Achilles' armour by the mighty Trojan prince, Hector. The scene is then set for the final battle between the Greek hero Achilles and Hector, the outcome of which contest will decide the victor of the Trojan War and set the seal on the fate of Troy. The compassion shown by Achilles to the aged Priam is one of the most moving parts of the story. The Iliad is a story of war in which heroism and compassion rise above the sinister futility of the destructive power of conflict to the glory of the valiant human spirit of the heroic and often tragic Mycenaean age.

The identity of the Ionian poet, Homer, remains unknown. Seven cities claimed him as their own; tradition has it that he was blind and a modern theory supposes Homer to have been a woman. The modern consensus is that The Iliad and the Odyssey were each the work of single but different poets. Textual analysis shows that both poems, as they have come down to us, date from the 8th century B.C., though the diction and language of The Odyssey indicate that it is a slightly later work. It is likely that both works represent a drawing together of several oral traditions. They are the first truly great works of Westrern literature, and hold a place more central to the Greek tradition even than Shakespeare in the English tradition, since they provided so much basic education and information, however flawed, for the ancient Greek civilization.

 

Further reading:

K.J. Atchity: Homer's Iliad 1978

C.R. Beye: The Iliad, The Odyssey and the Epic Tradition 1966

C.M. Bowra: The Homeric Imagination 1970