The Iliad and The Odyssey

The Iliad Introduction

• The Iliad and The Odyssey are two epic poems, traditionally credited to the ancient Greek poet, Homer.
• The Iliad is set during the tenth year of the Trojan War, which lasted for ten years.
• The Odyssey is focused on Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home following the Trojan War.
• The Iliad consists of 24 books or chapters, taking the Trojan War as its subject, with a primary focus on the Greek warrior Achilles.

Who Wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey

• Most early Greeks believed Homer was a real person and the author to The Iliad, The Odyssey, and the "Homeric Hymns," poems celebrating the ancient Greek gods.
• Some critics argue the subjects and themes are too diverse, plus differences exist in the styles and language in The Iliad and The Odyssey.
• Certain scholars propose that Homer, if real, was simply an editor or organizer of poems created by others across generations.
• Tradition holds that Homer was blind.
• Some scholars suggest these works were created by a group.
• Debate about authorship continues.

The Iliad and History

• The word Iliad refers to the archaic name for the ancient city of Troy: Ilion or Ilios.
• The word Iliad means "Song/Poem of Ilion."
• Since ancient times, Troy was believed to be in the 'Troad,' in the northwest corner of modern-day Turkey.
• In 1870, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann traveled to Anatolia to uncover the city and prove The Iliad was fact-based.
• Experts agree Schliemann excavated the famous city of Troy.
• Ithaca and Mycenae, the kingdoms of Odysseus and Agamemnon, were states in historical Greece.
• Some historians argue that there was a war, but it was different from Homer's depiction in The Iliad or the recollections of the characters in the Odyssey.
• Greek authors date the war to the 12th or 13th century BCE.
• What is seen or heard in Homer is not a depiction of history; it is a world created out of legends, folk tales, creative imagination, and a little bit of history.

The Two Most Important Aspects of The Iliad

• The Iliad as an epic.
• The Archetypal Analysis of the Iliad.

The Iliad as an Epic

• The Iliad is a "long narrative poem,” originally in Greek, translated into various languages like English.
• The original Greek version is approximately 15,700 lines and is divided into twenty-four books or chapters.
• Each book describes the battles and events of the final weeks of the last year of the Trojan War.
• The Iliad glorifies the heroism of Greek heroes and celebrates cultural values.
• The Iliad begins with Invocation of the Muse.
• The Poet seeks the help of a muse/goddess to successfully narrate this story.
• The first line of The Iliad shows this intention of oral nature.
• Epics were composed to be performed from memory, sometimes sung with music, so they include poetic devices to make them easy to memorize.
• Epics may grow out of a specific culture but achieve greatness due to its universality.
• Epics emphasize heroic action through the depiction of a larger-than-life hero as well as the struggle between the hero's ethos or beliefs and human failings/weaknesses.
• Achilles embodies many qualities of the ancient Greek civilization.
• Achilles has flaws, and the first line of The Iliad is about the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles and how this wrath causes death despite his heroic qualities.
• The epic story has some national or international significance.
• The war between the Trojans and the Greeks (Achaeans) was a matter of existence of glory or fall.
• The Iliad does not end with the fall of Troy but indicates that Troy must fall.
• Having invoked the Muse, the epic poet begins in the middle of the tale, using a Latin term to describe this technique: in medias res.
• Beginning in the middle of the action, the poet then fills in significant previous events through flashbacks or narration.
• The use of elevated language is revealed through figures of speech like similes and metaphors, epithets, and repetitions.
• Epithets associated with characters like "soft-footed Achilles," "ox-eyed Hera," and "Cloud-gathering" Zeus are common.