The Iliad

Attributed to: Homer

Written: unknown

Translator: Robert Fagles

Publisher: Penguin Books (1998 Edition)

Bought from: Book Depository

Introduction

The Iliad (or Song of Troy) is an epic poem set during the Trojan War. The poem is likely to have had an oral tradition. Scholars believe the poem was first written down in the 8th century BC. The Iliad, along with The Odyssey, are two of western literature’s oldest extant work. Both poems are traditionally attributed to Homer. While Homer is regarded as ancient Greece’s greatest poet, no one knows for sure when he lived.

The oldest surviving manuscript of the Iliad is called the Venutus A. It is the primary source of all modern editions of the poem. It dates back to the 10th century AD. It is kept in the ancient public library of St Mark in Venice.

There is much debate about whether the Trojan War actually happened. Those who believe the war to be a historical event believe it took place in the 13th or 12th century BC. Regardless of whether or not it did happen, the Trojan War is generally considered the dividing line between the mythical and historical ages of Greece.


What is it about?

The poem covers a very short period near the end of the 10-year Trojan War. The poem makes references the Judgement of Paris and the abduction of Helen by Paris and events that take place since then.

The Iliad proper begins with a dispute between the two leaders of the Greek forces surrounding Troy, Agamemnon and Achilles, over a slave girl. Achilles turns his back on the Greeks in anger. However, after Hector kills his close friend Patroclus, Achilles returns to action. He kills Hector and then desecrates his body. The poem ends with the burial of Hector. The sack of Troy (no Wooden Horse though!) and Achille’s own death are foreshadowed.

The main characters are Achilles, swift runner and commander of the Myrmidons, and Hector, prince of Troy and breaker of horses. Agamemnon, Menalaus, Odysseus, Ajax and Diomedes are the other major characters on the Greeks’ side. As for the Trojans, old King Priam sees his sons and countrymen die before his eyes. He has to supplicate himself before Achilles and beg for Hector’s body. To do so, he has to endure something no one on earth has ever done before - he put to his lips the hands of the man who killed his son. Interestingly, Paris and Helen - the cause of the war - do not contribute much. Look out also for Aeneas who will, much later, be the protagonist of Virgil’s Aeneid.

The Olympian gods participate directly and take sides in the war. Hera and Athena, losers in the Judgment of Paris, side with the Greeks as do Hades, Hermes, Poseidon and Hephaestus. Aphrodite, Paris’s pick in the Judgment of Paris, is the Trojans’ main divine ally. Artemis, Apollo, Ares and the river god Xanthus also side with the Trojans. The gods fight mortals (eg. Aphrodite and Ares v Diomedes in Book 5). Gods fight gods (eg. Hephaestus v Xanthus in Book 21). The gods take mortal forms and fight beside their heroes. They spirit their heroes away from the jaws of death. Zeus stays neutral most of the time but in the climatic battle, he chooses not to help Hector and even allows Athena to entrap Hector for Achilles.

Stories about, and around, the Trojan War mythology have inspired culture down the centuries, from Classical Greek tragedians to Renaissance painters to Middle Ages poets to Elizabethan playwrights to modern day movie makers and authors.


Themes

The main theme of the poem is rage, specifically the rage of Achilles. Books 1-16 deal with the rage of Achilles against Agamemnon and its implications. When Agamemnon sends an embassy to Achilles, he brushes them off and tells them he was sailing home the next day with his troops:

If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy,
my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies.
If I voyage back to the fatherland I love,
my pride, my glory dies ...
true, but the life that's left me will be long,
the stroke of death will not come on quickly.
(9.500 – 505)

Then, after Hector kills Patroclus in Book 16, Achilles directs his rage against his cousin’s killer:

Enough.
Let bygones be bygones. Done is done.
Despite my anguish I will beat it down,
the fury mounting inside me, down by force.
But now I’ll go and meet the murderer head-on,
that Hector who destroyed the dearest life I know.
For my own death, I’ll meet it freely – whenever Zeus
and the other deathless gods would like to bring it on!
Not even Heracles fled his death, for all his power,
favorite son as he was to father Zeus the King.
Fate crushed him, and Hera’s savage anger.
And I too, if the same fate awaits me ...
I’ll lie in peace, once I’ve gone down to death.
But now, for the moment, let me seize great glory! –
and drive some woman of Troy or deep-breasted Dardan
to claw with both hands at her tender cheeks and wipe away
her burning tears as the sobs come chocking from her throat –
they’ll learn that I refrained from war a good long time!
(18.131 – 148)

Achilles’ rage seems to abate only in the last book of the epic, Book 24, after he hears Priam beg for the return of Hector’s body.


What about the book?

This is a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. It is a deckle edge book and comes in a beautiful wrap-around cover. Even better, the book comes with Homer’s The Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid (both also translated by Robert Fagles) in a gorgeous boxed set.

Robert Fagles’ verse translation is widely acclaimed. It has been said that his translation is not literal and he has taken certain liberties. Be that as it may, his language is easy to follow and the verse flows smoothly and dramatically. Bernard Knox provides the introduction and notes. The introduction is useful and not unduly academic. The footnotes are adequate. It is a little annoying that they are not referenced to the text in the poem itself.

Finally ...

Forget the Brad Pitt movie. This is the real thing and it is much better.