The Iliad. ILLUSTRATED

The Iliad is, together with the Odyssey, one of two
ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. However, the claim
of a single author is disputed, as the poems show evidence of a long oral
tradition and hence, possible multiple authors.

Many scholars believe the poem to be the oldest extant work of literature in
the ancient Greek language. For most of the 20th century, both the Iliad
and the Odyssey have been commonly dated to the late 9th or 8th century
BC. Most still hold this view, notably Barry B. Powell (who has proposed a link
between the writing of the Iliad and the invention of the Greek
alphabet), G.S. Kirk, and Richard Janko. However a few others, such as Martin
West and Richard Seaford, now prefer a date in the 7th or even the 6th century
BC.

The poem concerns events during the tenth and final year of the Trojan War,
the siege of the city of Ilion or Troy, by the Greeks. The plot centers
on the Greek warrior Achilles and his anger toward the king of Mycenae,
Agamemnon, which proves disastrous for the Greeks. It provides many of the
events that the later poems of the Epic Cycle build on, including the death of
the Trojan captain Hector.

Written in dactylic hexameter, the Iliad comprises 15,693 lines of
verse. Later ancient Greeks divided it into twenty-four books or scrolls, a
convention that has lasted to the present day with little change.

The word Iliad means "pertaining to Ilios" (in Latin,
Ilium), the city proper, as opposed to Troy, the
state centered around Ilium.

— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.