The Iliad

THE ILIAD (Homer, Greek, c. 8th century BCE)

Until the 19th century rediscovery of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer (whoever he was) was thought to be the author of the oldest epics in our literature. One, The Iliad, tells the story of "the Wrath of Achilles" when he is slighted during the Trojan War, the Greeks' ten-year siege of Troy (Ilium). The actual story covers only a few weeks during the war's final year. It tells neither the prelude to the war--the full story behind the kidnapping of Agamemnon's sister-in-law Helen by Prince Paris of Troy--nor its end, the famous episode of "The Trojan Horse."

• King Agamemnon has chosen to return a woman taken as spoils of war, and in turn takes away one awarded to Achilles. This is where our story begins: "Sing, O goddess, the wrath of Achilles..."

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