About the author (Life and works):
Homer is best known to us for his two famous epics, "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Though, very
little is known about the author, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential
authors of all time. It is believed that he lived late in the ninth century. It is believed that he
was a blind bard of Ionia in western Asia Minor. Homer was said to be blind, like the bard
Demodocus in the Odyssey, and to have earned a meager living by performing at one court
after another.
It is Homer who established the epic as a genre in Western literature and set the standards
by which later works would be judged. Apart from these two glorious epics, "Iliad" and
"Odyssey" the works that is attributed to Homer is "The Mergites", "The Battle of Frogs and
Mice" and "The Capture of Oechalia".
Major characters:
1. Achilles-Son of Zeus and Thetis, the greatest warrior of the Achaian army later goes
against the Achaians, Agamemnon.
2. Agamemnon- King of Mycenae.
3. Zeus- The King of Gods, Father of Achilles, husband of Hera.
4. Thetis- The sea Goddess and mother of Achilles.
5. Chryseis- War prize of Agamemnon, Daughter of Apollo's priest, Chryses.
6. Chryses- Apollo's priest and father of Chryses.
7. Apollo- The sun God who brings plague to
the Achaian camp.
8. Briseis- War prize of Achilles.
9. Odysseus- Commander of Achaians.
Setting: The Achaian Camp on the shore of the Troad.
THE ILIAD
Summary
Book 1: Plague and Wrath
As in the case with most ancient epic writes, Homer starts his Iliad with an invocation to the
Muse - a call for divine inspiration to direct him in the telling of his story. The first word of
the opening line in the Greek originals is mennin, often translated in English as "wrath". It is
this subject, the wrath of Achilles, which will pervade and give solidarity to the entire epic.
As was the tradition of epic poetry, The Iliad begins in medias res, meaning in the middle of
things; the story of the Iliad begins in the tenth year of the Trojan War.
During the raid on Lyrnessus (a city located near Troy), the Achaian army captured two
beautiful enemy maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. The Achaians divided every spoils of the raid
equally as well the maidens. Chryseis was the commanderin-chief of the army,
Agamemnon's prize, and Briseis was the prize of Achilles, the Achaians' greatest warrior.
When the father of Chryseis and the priest of Apollo, Chryses appears to seek the return of
her daughter by offering them vast amounts of riches as ransom, all of the Achaians agreed
to Chryses's plea except Agamemnon. Not only Agamemnon refused to give up his war prize
(Chryseis) but also he harshly humiliated Chryses.
During the raid on Lyrnessus (a city located near Troy), the Achaian army captured two
beautiful enemy maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. The Achaians divided every spoils of the raid
equally as well the maidens. Chryseis was the commanderin-chief of the army,
Agamemnon's prize, and Briseis was the prize of Achilles, the Achaians' greatest warrior.
When the father of Chryseis and the priest of Apollo, Chryses appears to seek the return of
her daughter by offering them vast amounts of riches as ransom, all of the Achaians agreed
to Chryses's plea except Agamemnon. Not only Agamemnon refused to give up his war prize
(Chryseis) but also he harshly humiliated Chryses.
As the result of the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles over Breseis, Achilles
withdraws all of his troops from active participation in the Greek cause (Battle). After all,
Achilles had no personal stake in the fight with Troy. He was there only to help Menelaus
retrieve his wife, Helen, who had run off with Paris. Achilles announces that he and his army
will return to their own land as soon as possible. Nevertheless, Agamemnon determines to
appease Appollo; he will return his war prize Cryseis. Firstly he sends her safely abroad a
ship heading home and then sends his men to retrieve Briseis from Achilles's tent. Realizing
he has little choice, Achilles lets her go.
Meanwhile, Achilles entreats his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, to intercede for him with
Zeus. His plan is to have Zeus aid the Trojans in their fight against the Achaian army, thereby
destroying many of them in the fighting. Achilles hopes this will make them realize how
valuable a warrior Achilles was to them and so repay the wrong that the King did to Achilles.
Thetis is moved by her son's anger. She knows that his fate is to die at a young age. That is
why, she intends to do her best in making his son's brief life time bearable.
Then, after describing the sail of Odysseus to Thebe to return Chryseis to her father, the
great feast, held to celebrate Chryseis's return and consequent appeasement of the anger of
Chryses and Apollo, the poet takes us with Thetis to the realm of Gods on Mt. Olympus,
where Thetis successfully pleads her case in behalf of Achilles. Zeus reluctantly agrees to
help the Trojans. But, Hera, Zeus's wife contends her husband about her pledge. She
chastises him for agreeing to bring honor to Achilles at the expense of many Achaian lives.
she is jealous of Thetis and hates the Trojans and hence cannot bear to see them win the
war. Then, Zeus makes it very clear to her, besides her husband he is the king of the gods,
and as such he is not obligated to answer to her for every choice that he makes. Finally,
Hera's son Hephaestus succeeds in mediating the dispute. The book ends with the great
feast of the gods on a note of harmony.
Book 2: A dream, A Testing and The Catalogue of Ships
Book 2 begins with Zeus's plan to help Achilles in his revenge. Zeus
has determined to send Agamemnon a false dream in which a figure
in the form of Nestor suggests Agamemnon that Troy is soon to fall.
The next day, Agamemnon, completely convinced that the Achaians
will be victorious against Troy, wakes up from his dream and reveals
the dream to the Greek Elders. Zeus already sends his messenger
Rumor among the armies to urge them on to battle. Agamemnon
then to test the courage and loyalty of the gathered troops, lies and
tells them that he has decided to give up the war and return to
Greece. Continued fighting is useless he says. To his great surprise,
the troops, taking him at his word, rush pell-mell to their ships.
When Hera sees the reaction of the troops, she alerts Athena to urge
the men back to the fight as they (Hera and Athena) are favorable to
the Greek cause and there can be no return home until Helen is
restored to Menelaus. Therefore, Athena reminds Odysseus of the
many men already dead and how pointless their deaths will be if the
cause is not won. Then Odysseus takes Agamemnon's scepter and
urges the men back to the battle, egging them on with taunts of their
weakness and cowardly nature. Eventually the mad rush of the
troops halt. Nonetheless, one warrior, Thersites, refuses to listen to
Odysseus's reasoning. He abuses and insults Agamemnon and
contends for leaving him in Troy. At the point when Odysseus
reproaches him and beats him with the staff, all of the armies
applaud. Thersites has no defenders. Odysseus reminds them of the
sign they received before taking on the cause. A snake devoured
eight sparrow chicks and then the mother sparrow before turning to
stone. Wise old Nestor adds his voice to that of Odysseus and the
men are convinced to stay.
Offering a sacrifice to Zeus, Agamemnon then calls the men to battle.
Athena circulates among the men raising their strength for the fight.
Then the poet gives us a long list of the army divisions of the
Achaians. Indicated here are the leader of each army, the land they
are from, and how many ships they brought with them to Troy. At
the end of the list, the poet singles out the bravest of the Achaians,
Achilles and Ajax among them.
When Zeus sends the messenger goddess Iris to the Trojans to warn the of the Achaiain awesome attack, the Trojans army and its allies prepare for battle under the command of Priam's son Hector. The chapter closed with the catalogues of the Trojan forces.
