Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction
People often assume the Iliad tells the whole Trojan War. In fact, the poem attributed to Homer covers only 51 days, deep inside the tenth year of the siege. The war set a Greek coalition against the city of Troy, and it began with the abduction of Helen. But the first subject of the poem is not Troy: it is the wrath of Achilles, the best of the Greek warriors.
The title comes from Ilion, the other name for Troy, a city on the coast of what is now Turkey. Beneath the gods, the duels and the violence, Homer asks a simple question: what is glory worth when everyone dies? The poem does not celebrate war without reservation. It shows the human cost.
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- 2Why Achilles walks away from the fight
- 3Patroclus dies, and the anger changes
- 4Achilles against Hector: glory turns brutal
- 5Priam before Achilles: humanity comes back
Open-book quiz10 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary12 terms explained in a tap.
30 languagesThe same course, from French to Japanese.
