THE ILIAD

of Homer
It‟s the answer to the question: what
comes into your mind when you hear
the word epic?

Andre Maurice Sayson Rey

The Bard: Homer
 Supposed to have lived in the 8th century B.C.
 The birthplace of Homer has been identified as
Ionia, Smyrna or, at any rate, on the coast of Asia
Minor or the island of Chios.
 Greek epic poet to whom ascribed the Iliad and
Odyssey, universally regarded as among the greatest
works of western literature.
 It was said that Homer was blind.
 Historically, there has been much debate about
whether the poems were really written by one author.
What is the Iliad?
 Recounts events in the battles in the city of Troy, which
was also known for the name, Ilion, Ilios, Ilium.
 Basically a story about the Trojan War.
 Dependent on an older oral tradition and may well have
been the collective inheritance of many-singer poets
over a long period of time.
 The Iliad was said to be part of a group of ancient
poems known as the Epic Cycle.
 Consists of twenty-four scrolls, containing 15,693 lines
of dactylic hexameter verse.
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε,

menin aeide thea Peleia deo Akhileos

oulomenen, he muri‟ Achaiois alge‟ etheke

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus‟ son Achilleus,

and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold
upon the Achaians,
Characters
Greeks Gods
 Achilles  Aphrodite
 Agamemnon  Ares
 Patroclus  Athena
 Odysseus  Apollo
 Menelaus  Artemis
 Diomedes  Hera
 Nestor  Hephaestus
 Ajax  Poseidon
 Zeus
Trojans
 Paris Other Characters
 Hector  Thetis
 Helen  Briseis
 Priam  Chriseis
 Andromache  Chryses
The Quarrel of Agamemnon and Achilles

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring

Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!
– Book 1
The Catalog of Ships

Daughters of Jove, assist! inspired by you

The mighty labour dauntless I pursue;
What crowded armies, from what climes they bring,
Their names, their numbers, and their chiefs I sing.
- Book 2
 Combats, Duels,
Battles, Acts of
Certain Warriors, and
More Battles

Thus by their leaders' care each martial band

Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.
With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,
Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war
 Ajax

Hector

Diomedes

Odysseus
The Council of the Gods
Achilles and Patroclus
While thus aloft the hero's corpse they bear,
Behind them rages all the storm of war:
Confusion, tumult, horror, o'er the throng
Of men, steeds, chariots, urged the rout along:
- Book 17
Thus to his soul he said: "Ah! what constrains
The Greeks, late victors, now to quit the plains?
Is this the day, which heaven so long ago
Ordain'd, to sink me with the weight of woe?
The Gods Descending to Battle
The Wrath of Achilles
With cries promiscuous all the banks resound,
And here, and there, in eddies whirling round,
The flouncing steeds and shrieking warriors drown'd.
Proud on his car the insulting victor stood,
And bore aloft his arms, distilling blood.
He smites the steeds; the rapid chariot flies;
The sudden clouds of circling dust arise.
“All hail, Patroclus! let thy vengeful ghost
Hear, and exult, on Pluto's dreary coast.
Behold Achilles' promise fully paid,
Twelve Trojan heroes offer'd to thy shade;
But heavier fates on Hector's corse attend,
Saved from the flames, for hungry dogs to rend.”
Assembled there, from pious toil they rest,
And sadly shared the last sepulchral feast.
Such honours Ilion to her hero paid,
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade.
Epic Conventions
 Invocation/appeal to a muse/deity
for inspiration.
 Divided into three parts: prologue,
body, epilogue
 Begins in a middle of crisis known as
“medias res”
 Heroes are of royal or noble birth.
 Enumeration of the host of
warriors.
 Presence of repetition or extended
dramatic passages
 Presence of elaborate
similes/Homeric similes/epic similes
 Presence of epithets/Homeric
epithets
Presence of supernatural forces
 Presence of heroic boastings and long
dramatic dialogues.
 The war is fought between two levels:
levels of the mortals and levels of the
gods.
 statement of the theme or argument.
(either at the beginning and at the end
of the epic)
 Language is chaste; polished.
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
- Iliad, Book 1, Alexander Pope Translation

Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of

Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the
Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying
down to Hades,
- Iliad, Book 1, Samuel Butler Translation
Daughters of Jove, assist! inspired by you
The mighty labour dauntless I pursue;
What crowded armies, from what climes they bring,
Their names, their numbers, and their chiefs I sing.
- Book 2

The hardy warriors whom Boeotia bred,

Penelius, Leitus, Prothoenor, led:
With these Arcesilaus and Clonius stand,
Equal in arms, and equal in command.
These head the troops that rocky Aulis yields,
And Eteon's hills, and Hyrie's watery fields,
And Schoenos, Scholos, Graea near the main,
And Mycalessia's ample piny plain;
“Health to Achilles! happy are thy guests!
Not those more honour'd whom Atrides feasts:
Though generous plenty crown thy loaded boards,
That, Agamemnon's regal tent affords;
But greater cares sit heavy on our souls,
Nor eased by banquets or by flowing bowls.
What scenes of slaughter in yon fields appear!
The dead we mourn, and for the living fear;
Greece on the brink of fate all doubtful stands,
And owns no help but from thy saving hands:
He spoke, and stalked away against the city, with high thoughts
in mind, and in tearing speed, like a racehorse with his chariot
who runs lightly as he pulls the chariot over the flat land.
Such was the action of Achilleus in feet and quick knees.
- Book 22

The aged Priam was the first of all whose eyes saw him
as he swept across the flat land in full shining, like that star
which comes on in the autumn and whose conspicuous brightness
far outshines the stars that are numbered in the night’s darkening,
the star they give the name of Orion’s Dog, which is brightest
among the stars, and yet is wrought as a sign of evil
and brings on the great fever for unfortunate mortals.
Such was the flare of the bronze that girt his chest in his running.
- Book 22
The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus' son, Achilles,
that destructive wrath which brought countless
woes upon the Achaeans,
- Book 1

When they were assembled and gathered together,

among them arose and spoke swift-footed
Achilles: “Son of Atreus, now I think we shall
return home, beaten back again, should we even
escape death, if war and pestilence alike are to
ravage the Achaeans.
- Book 1

But they that were arrayed together with great-

hearted Patroclus marched forth, until with
high spirits they leapt upon the Trojans.
- Book 16
The Tenets of the Classical Period

 Well-proportioned
 Unified Form
 Emotional Restraint
 Objectivity
 Lack of Eccentricity
 THANK YOU
“It‟s a shame to be called „educated‟ those who do
not study the ancient Greek writers.”
- Francois Rabelais