Questions tagged [the-iliad]
For questions about The Iliad, the epic poem by Homer. Use in conjunction with [homer]. If the question is regarding the original text in Greek, use with the [greek-literature] tag.
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Did Homer base the Iliad and the Odyssey on mythology?
Homer's two epic poems follow the story of the Trojan War through various perspectives. Did Homer make up the stories, or was there some kind of historical/mythological predecessor that he retold (or ...
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Can the Odyssey be consumed independently of the Iliad?
The Odyssey is largely a sequel to the Iliad, both of them being attributed to Homer and describing events which are roughly part of a single overall story (Odysseus first fighting in the Trojan War ...
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In the Iliad, why does Homer list every captain involved in the Trojan war?
In book two of the The Iliad (which you can read online), Homer does something that I find strange: he interrupts the story to list the name of every captain involved in the Trojan war:
And now, O ...
user111
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Why does the Iliad start "in the middle"?
The Iliad starts at kind of an odd spot. It starts by describing the argument between Agamemnon and Achilles (Akhilleus in my translation) over the women they have acquired from raids. It mentions off-...
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Why does this copy of the Iliad mention "the will of God"?
In my copy of the Iliad, which is a Mentor Book published in April 1938, it opens like this:
An angry man—there is my story: The bitter rancour of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which ...
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What is a bootless oath?
In Book X (10) of The Illiad Hector (edition: Britannica Great Books of the Western World (The Illiad and The Odessey together), rendered into English prose by Samuel Butler) swears the following oath
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Why does Aphrodite speak like this while disguised as the old woman?
In Book III of The Iliad, there's an incident where the goddess Aphrodite disguises herself to speak to Helen. The translator wrote her speech like this:
Now she took the shape of an old woman who ...
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Why do Athena and Talthybios speak "plainly" in the Iliad?
In Book IV of the Iliad, there are several instances where the translation refers to someone speaking "plainly":
Athena now took the form of a Trojan, the doughty warrior Laodocos Antenor's ...
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