The Iliad of Homer

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Summary

Homer's first poem The Iliad (which comes from Ilium, the Greek word for Troy), told the story of the Trojan War. The Trojan War, often considered fictional, has been seen in new light following archeological finds. Archeologists have found ruins of what is supposed to be the actual Troy. It shows signs of being burned and sacked at a date place around the mid-1200's BC. So although many of the events described in The Iliad may be mythical, it is somewhat based upon fact.

Here is the poem in brief. Prince Paris of Troy steals Helen, the world's most beautiful woman (I wonder if they actually tested her against the rest to see if it was true), from Menelaus, a very powerful Greek. Menelaus' brother, Agamemnon, leads the Greeks to war against the Trojans. In the war fights the greatest warrior who ever lived: Achilles, who is a-kill-ed by an arrow which hit him in the heel (Achilles Tendon…), although that doesn't happen in this poem. That is a common mistake. Nowhere in the poem does it talk about Achilles' death or anything about his being invincible. He is just as mortal as everybody else. Also, nowhere in the poem is any mention of the famous Trojan Horse, although there is an allusion to it in The Odyssey. There is a whole multitude of other awesome Greek warriors, too. Warriors such as Ajax, Agamemnon, Diomedes and Odysseus, hero of The Odyssey. And who could forget Hector, the great warrior of Troy and his famous battle with Achilles. That is one of the most exiting scenes of any poem. Anyway, to make a long story short, the Greeks, or Acheans as they're called, finally win.

The main focus of this poem, however, is Achilles' fight with Agamemnon, which happens in the last (tenth) year of the war. What happened was Agamemnon kidnapped the daughter of a priest of Apollo. Apollo is angered by the fact Agamemnon won't give her up for a ransom and sends a plague onto the Acheans. A priest realizes what has happened and tells Agamemnon to give her back; he wants compensation if he gives her up, though. Now, Achilles thinks this is all a bad idea and the two of them fight. Agamemnon takes back a captive woman given to Achilles as a prize for bravery and valor. Achilles, angrier than a man who drops his book in the rain and bends over just in time to get hit by a car and be taken to the hospital which burns down while he's in it, returns to the ships, refusing to fight.

Zeus puts a curse on the Acheans so that they will be ruined as long as Achilles refuses to fight. Hector, the greatest Trojan hero, second greatest only to Achilles, now is able to dominate over the Acheans since Achilles is not there. He drives the Acheans all the way back to the sea. The Acheans plead with Achilles to come back and fight, Agamemnon even sends him incredible riches, but he still refuses. Achilles' best friend, Patroclus, convinces him to let him wear his armor, so the Trojans would think that he had returned. Achilles agrees, stipulating that he could only force the Trojans back from the ships and then to return right away. Patroclus has other ideas, however. He drives them all the way back to the city walls, where he is killed by Hector. Hector takes his armor and wears it himself. The Acheans are barely even able to retrieve Patroclus' body.

Now Achilles is MAD. Mad with TWO d's. Yeah, he's MADD. He vows to kill Hector. The goddess Thetis, mother of Apollo, warns him that if he kills Hector, he too will die soon after. Achilles says, "So what?" (well, not in those exact words) and gets new armor in preparation to draw Trojan blood.

He goes to battle, killing more Trojans than there are CDs in a CD store. Then, he meets Hector. If this were a movie, this is where it would grow dark, slow motion sets in, lightning flashes in their eyes, Trojan soldiers gather 'round in a mob dancing menacingly around Achilles while they attack one at a time, not smart enough to go in groups, the timpani are going wild, the chorus is raging, the…sorry, that got a little out of hand. Anyway, the battle is over in about five seconds. Hector loses. Achilles ties him to the back of his chariot and goes around and around the city dragging the corpse for all of the Trojans to see. Then, he goes back to the base and continues desecrating the body (talk about a bitter guy!), until Zeus tells him that he must ransom the body to Priam, king of Troy and father of Hector. Achilles comes to his senses and gives the Trojans eleven days of no fighting so that they can bury Hector. At the end of the poem, Achilles is still alive, but you know that he will die soon but the Acheans will conquer over Troy.

One thing that Homer showed in this play was a comparison of the beauty and the horror of war. He showed and glorified the great heroes and how they are brought out in times of war and their great deeds and how they bring out their strength, loyalty and courage, but he also showed how downright terrible war is. It is nothing but slaughter and cruelty which was dehumanizing to many of the characters of them poem. This poem, in addition to being an awesome story of action and conflict, shows a great deal of emotional depth. And, if you get a good translation, you will be blown away by the language—it is beautiful and powerful; not many can match let alone surpass it. So, read it!