Quote: “Whoever is submissive to the immortals, the immortals listen to him” (translated by N. I. Gnedich).
Original language: Greek.
Main translations: N. I. Gnedich, V. V. Veresaeva.
Issues: the tragic consequences of the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon.
The meaning of the name: “The Iliad” is a poem about Ilion (another name for Troy).
Literary genre: epic poem.
Genre features: “The Iliad” is written in hexameter. Homer’s artistic time is specific: the author never talks about events as happening simultaneously (using the formula “And at this time...” or any other similar) - Homer strings one event onto another, which sometimes makes it difficult for the reader to figure out what happened in what order .
Time and place of action: The Trojan War, which took place at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries, is described. BC e.
About the product
The poem "Iliad" by Homer is one of the greatest works of Ancient Greece, which had a great influence on world literature. This is a classic example of an epic poem that describes the events of the Trojan War - the confrontation between the Trojans and the Achaeans.
On our website you can read online a summary of the Iliad chapter by chapter (song), and then test your knowledge using a test. A retelling of the book will be useful for the reading diary and preparation for a literature lesson in 5th grade.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Ilyina Galina Sergeevna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 36 years.
Other characters
- Odysseus, Ajax, Menelaus, Diomedes are brave Achaean warriors, comrades of Achilles.
- Patroclus is Achilles' best friend.
- Priam is the ruler of Troy.
- Aeneas, Paris, Dolon are brave representatives of the Trojan army.
- Helen is the wife of Menelaus, kidnapped by Paris and causing the Trojan War.
- Andromache is the wife of Hector.
- Zeus is the great god of Olympus, who promised to take revenge on the Trojans for Achilles.
- Thetis is a nymph, the mother of Achilles.
- Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Hephaestus are the gods who supported the Achaeans.
- Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares are the gods-companions of the Trojans.
BOOK 5
The exploits of Diomedes, assisted by Athena, are retold. He is wounded by Pandarus, but Athena heals the wound. Aeneas helps Pandarus fight Diomedes. Pandarus is killed, and Aeneas is saved by his mother, Aphrodite, who is wounded in the arm by Diomedes. Apollo comes to Aeneas' aid and carries him off to the Temple of Pergamum in Troy, where his wounds are treated. Ares comes to the aid of the Trojans. Aeneas returns to the battlefield. Hector and Aeneas kill many Achaeans. Hera and Athena come to the aid of the Achaeans. With the help of Athena, Diomedes wounds Ares, who then flies off to heaven lamenting.
BOOK 6
Meeting of the Achaeans. Hector is called to Troy to lead a religious procession to the temple of Athena, where Hecuba and other matrons ask the goddess to lead Diomedes from the battlefield. During the battle, Diomedes meets the Trojan Glaucus. Having learned that their ancestors were bound by the sacred bonds of hospitality, they exchange weapons as a sign of friendship. Hector convinces Paris to return to battle. Hector himself says goodbye to his wife Andromache and son Astyanax and returns to the field.
BOOK 7
Athena helps the Achaeans. Apollo begs her to postpone the battle and tell Hector to challenge one of the Achaeans to fight. Of the nine Achaean leaders, the lot falls to Ajax to fight Hector. The night is coming. The Trojans meet for council. Antenor offers to return Helen to the Achaeans, but Helen refuses and in turn offers to give all her wealth to the Achaeans. Priam sends a messenger to announce this decision to the Achaeans, and also to ask for a temporary truce for the funeral of the fallen. Agamamnon agrees to the second, but refuses Helen's wealth. After burning the dead, the Achaeans, on the advice of Nestor, build fortifications to protect the ships and camp. Poseidon, the patron saint of the Trojans, protests against this, but Zeus calms him down. Both armies spend the night feasting. Zeus scares the Trojans with lightning, thunder and other signs of displeasure.
BOOK 8
At the council, Zeus threatens to punish the gods if they continue to interfere in the war; but Athena persuades him to allow her to give one piece of advice to the Achaeans. The battle begins. On Mount Ida, Zeus weighs the fate of the Achaeans and Trojans. Then he strikes terror into the Achaeans with thunder and lightning. Nestor alone continues to fight and exposes himself to great danger. Diomedes comes to his aid. The exploits of Diomedes and Hector are retold. Hera tries to convince Poseidon to go over to the side of the Achaeans, but in vain. In the battle with Hector, Teucer is wounded. Hera and Athena want to help the Achaeans, but Zeus forbids them to do so. The Achaeans are driven out of their fortifications and the Trojans spend the night on the plain.
BOOK 9
Agamemnon invites the Achaeans to return home, but Diomedes and Nestor protest. Nestor convinces Agamamnon to send him to Achilles with promises of gifts and the return of Briseis to him. Odysseus and Ajax go to Achilles, accompanied by Felix, an old friend of Achilles. Achilles accepts Phoenix, but drives Odysseus and Ajax away.
BOOK 10
Agamemnon, alarmed by Achilles' refusal, spends the night among the leaders discussing the situation. They decide to send a scout to Troy in order to reveal the intentions of the Trojans. Diomedes and Odysseus go to Troy and along the way they meet Dolon, who was sent to the Achaeans for the same purpose. From Dolon, the Achaean leaders learn about the state of the Trojan troops and the arrival of Thracian reinforcements under the leadership of Rez in Troy.
BOOK 11
Zeus, Athena and Hera approve of the continuation of the war. Zeus sends Iris to warn Hector not to interfere in the battle until Agamemnon is wounded and withdraws from the field. Then Hector comes out. Diomedes and Odysseus fight him. Paris wounds Diomedes, and Odysseus is rescued by Ajax and Menelaus. Machaon, shot by Paris with a bow, is carried out of the field on Nester's chariot. Achilles sends Patroclus to find out about the progress of the battle. Nestor tells Patroclus all the news, hoping that he can convince Achilles to join the battle. On the way back, Patroclus meets the wounded Eurypylus and helps him.
BOOK 12
The Trojans fight off the Achaeans behind the fortifications, but cannot jump over the ditch and pursue the Achaeans. Then they decide to abandon their chariots and fight on foot, but suddenly an eagle appears in the sky carrying a snake. The Trojan leader Polydalus takes this as a bad omen and orders him to resign. But Hector continues the battle. Sarpedon breaks through the wall, and Hector breaks through the gates of the Achaean camp. The Trojans break into the camp.
BOOK 13
Poseidon unexpectedly helps the Achaeans: he takes the form of the soothsayer Calchas and convinces the Achaeans to continue fighting against Hector. Two Ajax block Hector. The Cretan Idomeneo distinguishes himself in battle, killing three Trojan leaders, but is held back by Aeneas and Deiphobus. Menelaus also excels in battle. Hector fights against the Ajaxes and tries to inspire the Trojans.
BOOK 14
Nestor, alarmed by the furious onslaught of the Trojans, looks for Agamemnon and finds him next to Diomedes and Odysseus. Agamemnon wants to resign at night, but Diomedes and Odysseus are against it. Hera, seeing that Zeus is beginning to sympathize with the Trojans, decides to divert his attention. She borrows a magic belt from Aphrodite, calls on the god of sleep Hypnos and goes to Zeus on Mount Ida, where she puts him to sleep. While Zeus sleeps, Poseidon helps the Achaeans. Ajax throws a rock at Hector and he is carried away from the battlefield. The Trojans retreat.
BOOK 15
Waking up, Zeus sees that the Trojans have been repulsed and becomes angry at Hera’s cunning, but she quickly calms him down. Hera goes to the council of the gods and turns everyone against Zeus. Zeus orders Poseidon to withdraw from the battle; he reluctantly obeys. Apollo fills Hector with strength again. The Trojans break through to the Achaean ships and want to set them on fire, but Ajax repels them.
BOOK 16
Patroclus asks Achilles to give him his weapons and troops. Achilles agrees, but on the condition that Patroclus will help Telko weaken the attack on the ships. The Trojans are horrified when they see "Achilles" and retreat. Sarpedon is killed. Patroclus forgets Achilles' instructions and pursues the Trojans to the gates of Troy. There Apollo disarms him, Euphorbus wounds him, and Hector kills him.
BOOK 17
The battle for the body of Patroclus at the walls of Troy. Hctor and Aeneas try to capture Achilles' chariot, which is driven by Automedon, but are unsuccessful. The chariot is drawn by horses that speak human language. They mourn Patroclus. Zeus covers Patroclus' body in darkness as Ajax begs for help.
BOOK 18
The news of Patroclus' death reaches Achilles. He is heartbroken and his mother Thetis and the sea nymphs console him. Zeus orders Achilles to appear on the walls. Seeing him, the Trojans are horrified and retreat. Thetis goes to Hephaestus and asks him to forge new weapons and armor for her son. Famous description of the shield.
BOOK 19
Thetis brings Achilles new armor. She preserves Patroclus' body from decay and orders Achilles to announce the end of his quarrel with Agamemnon. The two leaders make peace in front of the entire army. Achilles is eager to fight, but Odysseus holds him back, saying that the soldiers need to rest. Briseis mourns Patroclus, who was always kind to her. Athena strengthens Achilles with nectar and ambrosia. Achilles blames the talking horses for the death of Patroclus. The horse Xanthus warns Achilles of his imminent death.
BOOK 20
Zeus allows the gods to participate in the war. The battle begins. Aeneas meets Achilles. Poseidon blurs the eyes of Achilles to save the Trojans. Achilles then almost kills Hector, but Apollo saves the latter.
BOOK 21
Achilles pursues the Trojans to the Scamander River. He takes 12 young men prisoner “for Patroclus.” Achilles kills Lycaon, son of Priam, and Asteropeus, son of Pelagon. The river boils and almost kills Achilles, but Poseidon and Athena save him. The river Simoace joins Scamander's wrath. Hephaestus threatens to dry up the rivers if they do not calm down. The rivers are calming down. The battle between the gods begins. Achilles drives the Trojans back to Troy. Only Agenor remains on the battlefield. Apollo takes his image, and Agenor carries him away.
BOOK 22
Trojans in the city. Hector alone wants to meet Achilles; his parents, Priam and Hecuba, beg him to stay in vain. Achilles pursues Hector, running around Troy three times. The gods discuss the fate of Hector. Finally, Athena helps Achilles kill Hector. Achilles drags Hector's body behind his chariot. Lamentation of Priam, Hecuba and Andromache.
BOOK 23
Achilles and the Myrmidons honor Patroclus. Achilles spends the night on the seashore and Patroclus appears to him in a dream asking him to observe all funeral rituals. The next morning, the Achaeans assemble a huge funeral pyre on the seashore and burn the body of Patroclus on it. The winds fan the fire and it burns all night. The bones of Patroclus are collected in a golden urn and buried.
BOOK 24
The gods decide to return Hector's body to the Trojans. Thetis is sent to Achilles to appease him; Iris convinces Priam to go personally to Achilles and ask him for his son's body. Priam with rich gifts goes to his son's murderer. Hermes, in the form of a shepherd, leads him to Achilles. The Trojan king throws himself at Achilles' feet and kisses his hands, asking him to return Hector's body to him. Achilles lifts Priam up and returns Hector's richly decorated body to him with honors. The Trojans mourn their hero. The Achaeans conclude a 12-day truce so that the Trojans have time to bury Hector. This is where the Iliad ends.
Summary
Song 1. Pestilence. Anger
The brave Achilles is angry, and the reason for his anger was the reluctance of the Achaean leader Agamemnon to return the priest’s stolen daughter for a reward. As a result, Apollo sent a terrible pestilence to the Achaeans.
Achilles demanded that Agamemnon return the girl to her father, and he agreed, but on the condition that Achilles in return give him his beautiful concubine. The offended warrior decided to leave the Achaean leader so as not to “increase wealth and supplies here.” He complained to his mother, the nymph Thetis, about the “evil insult” inflicted on him, and she asked Zeus to punish Agamemnon.
Song 2. Dream. Trial. Boeotia, or list of ships
To keep his promise to Thetis, Zeus sent down a deceptive prophetic dream to Agamemnon, according to which he must lead the army of the Achaeans and take possession of “wide-street Troy.”
Agamemnon, believing the dream, organized a “meeting of elders.” He understood that after a ten-year war the army was weakened and the soldiers wanted to return home. Thanks to Odysseus, he managed to raise the morale of the army, which soon went to sea. The ships of the Achaeans, as well as the peoples and heroes who will oppose each other, are described in detail.
Meanwhile, in Troy, King Priam learned of the upcoming battle and advanced his own army to meet the Achaeans.
Song 3. Oaths. View of the Achaean army from the wall. Combat between Paris and Menelaus
Paris stepped forward from the Trojans and invited the bravest Achaean to “come out against him and face off in a terrible battle.” Menelaus became his opponent, and before the battle both sides agreed that the winner would take Helen and all her wealth, and the war would end.
The battle began between Paris and Menelaus - the present and former spouses of Helen. Paris was defeated, and the goddess Aphrodite saved him from certain death. Agamemnon recalled the conditions of this battle and demanded that Helen be handed over.
Song 4. Breaking oaths. Agamemnon's detour
At a council with Zeus, the gods decided that the war would continue. Zeus sent Athena to help the Trojans break the truce. The goddess managed to persuade one of the warriors to shoot “an arrow at Menelaus, the favorite of Ares.”
Agamemnon, outraged by such a daring violation of the oath, raised his army. A terrible battle began, during which many brave warriors on both sides died.
Song 5. The Labors of Diomedes
In this battle, the Achaean hero Diomedes, who was helped in every possible way by Athena, especially distinguished himself. He killed many Trojans, was wounded in the shoulder by an arrow, but thanks to Athena he was healed and again found himself in the thick of the battle. Pursuing Aeneas, Diomedes wounded the goddess Aphrodite in the hand, and then Ares. The gods went to Zeus to complain about the insolence of a mere mortal.
Canto 6. Meeting of Hector with Andromache
When “the fierce battle between the Trojans and the Achaeans was abandoned by the gods,” the preponderance of forces was on the side of the Achaeans. The soothsayer convinced Hector to command all his people to pray to the goddess Pallas Athena for help. Having accomplished this, Hector went to Paris and with reproaches forced him to return to the battlefield. He also met with his wife Andromache, who begged him to refuse to participate in the war. Hector reassured his wife and reminded that “war is the concern of every man who was born in Ilion.”
Song 7. Single combat between Hector and Ajax. Burial of the dead
Hector and Paris joined their warriors, wanting to “begin to fight and fight as soon as possible.” On the advice of the soothsayer, Hector challenged the bravest Achaean to battle. This was Ajax, who during the battle wounded Hector and then knocked him down with stones. The warriors were ready to fight to the bitter end, but the onset of night prevented this. Agamemnon threw a feast in honor of the brave Ajax.
Meanwhile, the Trojans organized a meeting where they proposed to return Helen and her wealth to the Achaeans. Paris expressed his will - to leave Helen, but return all her treasures. Priam conveyed this decision to the Achaeans, as well as a request for a temporary truce for the burial of the killed soldiers.
Song 8. Interrupted Battle
Zeus called the “immortal gods to a meeting” and forbade, under threat of terrible punishment, helping both warring parties. From the heights of Olympus he looked at the battle, and then threw lightning - a sign of the imminent defeat of the Achaeans. The Trojans, inspired by the support of Zeus, put their enemies to flight. Hera and Pallas were outraged by the injustice of the Almighty and wanted to help the Achaeans, but Zeus stopped them in time. As night fell, the battle between the Achaeans and Trojans was interrupted.
Song 9. Embassy to Achilles. Requests
After the defeat in the battle, the Achaeans “were seized with great anxiety.” In desperation, Agamemnon decided to flee. But his comrades dissuaded him from this and advised him to turn to Achilles for help. Agamemnon agreed and sent envoys to Achilles, but none of them managed to persuade him to lead the Achaean army.
Song 10. Dolonia
After a sleepless night, Agamemnon and Menelaus called all the leaders and at a general council decided to send scouts to the enemy’s camp. Diomedes and Odysseus agreed to complete the difficult task. Meanwhile, Hector also decided to send a spy to the Achaeans, and he turned out to be Dolon. Diomedes and Odysseus caught him, found out all the details of the location of the Trojan army, and then killed him. They went to Rez's camp, killed him and all his companions, and also took away "the greatest horses, the most beautiful in appearance." Odysseus and Diomedes returned to the Achaeans as real heroes.
Song 11. The exploits of Agamemnon
At sunrise, Zeus sent Enmity to the battlefield, and another battle between the Achaeans and Trojans began. The enemy forces were equal, but by noon the Achaeans managed to break the enemy ranks. Agamemnon distinguished himself with particular courage, killing many Trojan soldiers.
Song 12. Battle at the Wall
The Achaeans firmly entrenched themselves behind the wall, while the Trojans decided to split into five detachments and attack it from different sides. Once again showing himself to be a fearless warrior, Hector broke through the gate with a stone, causing the Achaeans to flee.
Song 13. Battle at the ships
In this battle, Zeus openly favored the Trojans, while Poseidon “mourned over the Achaeans.” He managed to inspire them and help repel Hector’s next attack. The advantage in the battle was now on one side or the other, and many brave warriors died.
Song 14. Deceived Zeus
Hera, who wanted to help the Achaeans, decided to “deceive the aegis-powerful Zeus.” Having seduced him with her charms, the goddess sent down a “deep and sweet sleep” to Zeus. Poseidon took advantage of this and provided significant support to the Achaeans. As a result, Hector was defeated by a stone, and he was saved from certain death by his comrades, who carried him out of the battlefield in time. The inspired Achaeans successfully repelled all the attacks of the Trojans and freed their ships.
Song 15. Back pressure from ships
Awakening from sleep, Zeus was surprised to discover the flight of the Trojans and the defeated Hector. He demanded an explanation from Hera, and then predicted the fate of the Trojan Battle if the insult from Achilles was not washed away, as he had previously promised Thetis. Zeus recalled Poseidon from the battlefield and sent Apollo as an assistant to Hector. The brave warrior again managed to push the Achaeans back to their ships.
Canto 16. Patroclia
Patroclus went to Achilles, on whose chest “hot tears flowed” about the fate of the Achaean army. Achilles took pity on him and agreed to help repel the attacks of the Trojans. Meanwhile, Ajax's forces were already running out, and the Trojans managed to approach his ship and set it on fire. At that moment, Achilles appeared with his soldiers, who put the Trojans to flight and extinguished the ship. Patroclus pursued the fleeing warriors, whom he mercilessly killed. Hector almost became his victim, but with the help of Apollo, Hector killed his opponent.
Song 17. The exploits of Menelaus
Hector wanted to take the body of Patroclus for general desecration, but Menelaus began to zealously defend him. A terrible battle broke out. Hector managed to remove Patroclus's armor, which belonged to Achilles, before the Achaeans recaptured his body. Menelaus sent a messenger to Achilles to report the death of Patroclus.
Song 18. Making weapons
Upon learning of the death of Patroclus, “a black cloud of sorrow covered” Achilles. His mother decided to console him and promised to get him a weapon made by Hephaestus himself. She went to Olympus, where she persuaded Hephaestus to forge armor and weapons for his beloved son. Meanwhile, Achilles and the other Achaeans received the body of Patroclus with all honors. The Trojans, having learned about the appearance of Achilles, decided to retreat, but Hector flatly refused to do so.
Song 19. Renunciation of anger
At dawn, Thetis brought her son “the glorious armor of Hephaestus.” Seeing him, Achilles decided to immediately rush into battle to avenge the death of Patroclus. He called the Achaeans to a meeting and publicly announced that he had forgotten his anger for the sake of righteous vengeance. Agamemnon wanted to justify himself to him and present rich gifts in honor of reconciliation, but Achilles wanted only one thing - to be in the heat of battle. When he mounted the chariot, he heard Hera’s prediction, according to which he should “perish from a powerful god and a mortal man.”
Song 20. Battle of the Gods
When the Trojans and Achaeans clashed in a terrible battle, Zeus called on the gods to take part in it and help one side or another at their own discretion. The approach of the gods to the battlefield was marked by thunder, lightning and shaking of the earth. Due to the obvious participation of the gods in the battle, the long-awaited duel between Achilles and Hector never took place, since they were protected in every possible way by their heavenly patrons - Athena and Apollo.
Song 21. Battle of the River
Achilles managed to put the Trojans to flight. He “chose twelve living young men” as a sacrifice to the murdered Patroclus. At the Xanth River, he, overwhelmed by a thirst for revenge, killed many Trojan soldiers. Priam, seeing the flight of the Trojans from a high tower, ordered the gates to be immediately opened to save them.
Song 22. Murder of Hector
All the Trojans, with the exception of Hector, managed to hide behind the saving wall. Hector's parents begged their son to come to his senses and save himself, but he intended to fight Achilles. Zeus decided to cast lots - which of the heroes would survive. Achilles was lucky, who mortally wounded Hector with a spear in battle. Wanting to humiliate the enemy as much as possible even after death, he “tied his body to a chariot and left his head to drag along.”
Song 23. Games in honor of Patroclus
Returning to the camp, Achilles paid all possible honors to Patroclus, after which he held a funeral feast. In a dream, the soul of the deceased Patroclus appeared to him, which demanded a speedy burial, since it was not accepted into the kingdom of Hades. At sunrise, Achilles completed the burial rites and organized various military and sports competitions in honor of his friend.
Song 24. Hector's ransom
Thanks to the patronage of the gods, Priam managed to persuade Achilles to return the body of Hector, whom he had killed. He brought him home, where the Trojans gave the hero the honors he deserved, his relatives mourned him, and then burned and buried his body. Then “a brilliant feast was celebrated in the great house of Priam, the ruler suckled by Zeus.”
Homer's Iliad - summary
“Sing, O goddess, about the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus,” is the first line of the Iliad, Homer’s great epic poem describing the tragic events of the Trojan War. It was apparently based on folklore tales about the exploits of ancient heroes. It is the oldest surviving monument of ancient Greek literature. The Eliad was written in hexameter (about 15,700 verses), and was divided into 24 cantos by Alexandrian philologists. The name “Iliad” is given by the name of the capital of the Trojan kingdom of Ilion (another name for Troy). According to the TSB, the Iliad was created in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. in the Greek Ionian cities of Asia Minor based on the legends of the Cretan-Mycenaean era and refers to the last months of the ten-year siege of Troy by the Achaeans.
Iliad - summary
The war between the Achaeans and the Trojans lasted for more than nine years. In the tenth year, an episode took place that served as the plot for the Iliad. The priest of Apollo, Chryses, came to the Greek military camp. The old man turned to the Greek leader, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, with a request to release his beloved daughter Astynome, who had been taken prisoner. Agamemnon does not want to part with his concubine and rudely drives the priest away. The grief-stricken father appeals to Apollo, asking him to send punishment to the Achaeans who took away any of his children.
In response to the requests of his priest, Apollo sends a pestilence to the Achaean camp and they die in the thousands. At the assembled council, the great hero, the invulnerable Achilles, speaks. He blames Agamemnon for the misfortune that befell the army: “... you, dressed in shamelessness, are all your thoughts about gain!” and reminds the commander-in-chief Agamemnon that it was he who dragged the Greeks into war. The Trojans did not do anything bad to us, they did not attack our cities, did not trample our arable land, did not kill relatives and friends. In this war, we “protect the honor of Menelaus and yours, you dog!” Achilles demands that Agamemnon return his daughter to Chris. He is forced to agree with the council’s demand, but, enraged, takes away from Achilles the beautiful captive Briseis, received by Achilles during the division of the looted booty.
Enraged by Agamemnon's arbitrariness, Achilles refused to fight the Trojans and through his mother, the goddess Thetis, begged Zeus to give victory to the Trojans in battle until Agamemnon confessed his guilt and returned Briseis. Zeus heeded Thetis's pleas. The mighty Hector, at the head of the Trojans, defeated the Achaeans, broke through to the Achaean ships and began to burn them.
But the goddess Hera, who is favorable to the Achaeans, seduces and puts her husband, the god Zeus, to sleep in order to save her favorites. Achilles' beloved friend Patroclus with difficulty begged Achilles to allow him, Patroclus, to put on the armor of Achilles and, at the head of Achilles' fresh troops, repel Hector. He drove the Trojans away from the ships, but, carried away by the battle, neglected Achilles' stern warning not to pursue the enemies to Troy. Hector killed Patroclus under the walls of Troy.
Achilles cast his anger on Agamemnon, completely defeated the Trojans and killed Hector in single combat. But with the death of Hector, Achilles’ anger does not go away. He ties the body of his sworn enemy to his horse and rushes with him to the camp. During the magnificent funeral service for Patroclus, Achilles rides around the mound of his dead friend every day, dragging Hector’s corpse behind him. He would have long ago turned into a bloody mess if not for Apollo, who invisibly protected the Trojan prince.
The elderly king Priam, Hector's father, comes to Achilles to ask for his dead son. The gods help him pass through the enemy camp unnoticed. Priam begs Achilles to remember the people close to his heart, his elderly father Peleus. The emotional Achilles sobs on Priam’s chest and he gives his son’s body to his parent. Achilles' anger passes, and the Trojans arrange a magnificent funeral for the noble warrior, the Trojan prince Hector. The Iliad ends with a description of Hector’s funeral.
This is the storyline and summary of Homer’s great poem “The Iliad” . It should be noted that Homer describes in great detail the troops of the Trojans and Achaeans, saying that the latter arrived at Troy on 1186 ships, and a description of the ships also follows. The author pays a lot of attention to the description of individual battles of heroes and gods.
The most famous heroes of the Trojans : - noble Hector, prince of the besieged city, son of the old king Priam and chief military leader; - Hector's brother Paris, who kidnapped Helen and started the great war; - the hero Aeneas, doomed, like Odysseus, to long post-war wanderings, which became the basis for independent works (for example, Virgil’s Aeneids); - Antenor is the wisest among the Trojan elders.
The main characters among the Achaeans : - the king of Sparta Menelaus, the husband of the stolen Helen; - Mycenaean king Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, military commander-in-chief, who persuaded the Greek rulers to go to war; - Achilles, hero, demigod, son of the Myrmidonian king Peleus and the divine nymph Thetis, the greatest of the Greek warriors, famous for his invulnerability; - the cunning Odysseus, king of Ithaca, his many years of wanderings formed the basis for the second part of Homer’s dilogy “The Odyssey”.
After the events of the Iliad - Trojan Horse
The war continued. New allies came to the aid of the Trojans. An army of brave Amazons arrived, led by the mighty queen Penthesilea, daughter of the god of war Ares. Achilles mortally wounded her in a duel, took off her helmet and, amazed at the beauty of the Amazon, fell in love with the dying woman. The Ethiopian hero Memnon, the son of the goddess Dawn, brought his army from Africa to the aid of the Trojans. He was also killed by Achilles, but soon he himself was killed by an arrow from Paris directed by Apollo. There was no end in sight for the war.
One morning the Trojans were amazed to see from the walls of the city that the Achaean ships had all been launched and, full of warriors, having spread their sails, were leaving the Trojan shore for the sea. The Trojans rushed to the shore. Among the abandoned camp, they were bewildered to see a huge, mountain-sized horse, skillfully crafted from wood. An Achaean straggler captured in a swamp reported that the Achaeans, despairing of victory, sailed home, and this horse was built in honor of Athena and was deliberately built to such a size that it could not be dragged into the city, since if it ended up in Troy, then Asia would win Europe.
The gods clouded the minds of the Trojans. Ignoring the warnings, the Trojans dismantled the city wall at the gate, brought the horse into the city and placed it on the acropolis.
At night, the secret door in the horse’s belly opened, and from it all the bravest Achaean heroes descended by rope to the ground: Odysseus, Menelaus, the son of Achilles Neoptolemus and others. They opened the gates to the army returning from behind the island of Tenedos.
Troy was sacked and burned, men, including the old king Priam, were killed, women, including the widow of Hector Andromache, were captured as slaves. (Andromache, according to later legends, was taken as a concubine by the ferocious son of Achilles Neoptolemus, who killed her young son Astyanax and her elderly father-in-law Priam). Troy was wiped off the face of the earth.
Very few of the Achaean heroes returned home quickly and safely: Nestor, Diomedes, Idomeneo. Ajax "the Great" died shortly after the death of Achilles. As the most outstanding hero of the Trojan War, the Achaeans awarded the weapons of Achilles to Odysseus. Offended, Ajax committed suicide. Another Ajax, the son of Oileus, was shipwrecked at sea. Having climbed onto the rock, he boastfully declared that he had saved himself against the will of the gods. Poseidon hit the rock with his trident, split it and threw the fragment with Ajax into the raging sea.
Agamemnon, immediately upon returning home, was killed at a feast by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife Clytemnestra. Menelaus returned home with Helen only after long wanderings. The greatest trials befell Odysseus. He came home only ten years after sailing from Troy and twenty years after leaving for war from his native island of Ithaca. At home he left his wife Penelope and his young son Telemachus. His house was filled with noble young people from Ithaca and neighboring islands. Deciding that Odysseus had already died, they convinced Penelope to choose a new husband from among them, and while waiting for an answer, they feasted from morning to evening in Odysseus’s house, ate his cattle and emptied his wine cellars.
The chaste and faithful Penelope used all sorts of tricks to delay the answer to the suitors. Odysseus's long wanderings, his return home and his reprisal against insolent suitors form the subject of another of Homer's poems, The Odyssey.
Background to the events of the Iliad - Trojan War
Since Homer's Eliad describes only the last few months of the Trojan War, we will tell the background described in ancient Greek myths, in which historical facts are closely intertwined with myths. It all started, as we know, with an apple...
The gods had a wedding feast: they gave the “silver-legged” goddess Thetis, the daughter of the sea elder Nereus, to the mortal man Peleus, who reigned over the people of the Myrmidons in Phthia, in northern Greece. The case is completely unusual. Gods and goddesses often had fleeting love affairs with mortal women and men. But for a goddess to be married to a mortal man - this did not happen. However, there were good reasons for this. The king of the gods, the thunderer Zeus, and his brother Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, were fond of Thetis. There was a prediction that the son born from Thetis would be much stronger than his father.
The Greek gods were far from omnipotent. Above them stood a dark, impersonal fate, and the gods had no opportunity to cancel its decisions. In order to make the future son of Thetis safe for themselves, they married her to a mortal. All the gods were invited to the wedding feast with the exception of Eris, the goddess of enmity and discord. The reason is clear, but, naturally, Eris was offended. In the middle of the feast, the door suddenly opened, and Eris rolled from the threshold into the banquet hall a golden apple with the inscription: “to the most beautiful.”
A fierce dispute arose over the apple between three goddesses: Queen Hera, the wife of Zeus, Pallas-Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Each one demanded an apple for herself, as the most beautiful. They could not get along and turned to the handsome prince Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to resolve the dispute. At that time he was tending his flocks on Gargar, one of the peaks of Mount Ida near Troy.
Both sides immediately dealt with the matter cleanly. Hera promised Paris power and wealth, Athena - wisdom and glory, Aphrodite - the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris found this method of resolving the dispute quite natural and began to weigh not which of the goddesses was the most beautiful, but which of the promises was the most tempting. And he awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
In the south of Greece, in the later famous Sparta, Menelaus Atrid (that is, the son of Atreus) reigned. He was married to Helen, daughter of Leda. Helen's father was the king of the gods, Zeus himself, who appeared to Leda in the form of a beautiful swan. This Elena, the wife of Menelaus, was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. Paris came as a guest to Menelaus. Aphrodite kindled Helen with passion for Paris, and he took Helen on his ships along with all her treasures to his place in Troy.
Troy (or Ilion) was the capital of the wealthy Trojan country, located on the northwestern tip of the Asia Minor Peninsula, at the confluence of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles Strait) into the Aegean Sea. The abduction of Helen by Paris led, according to Greek legends from which Homer drew, to a long war between the Greek peoples and Troy, which ended in the destruction of Troy.
By the way, it should be noted that at that time the Greeks were not yet called Greeks. Homer calls them Achaeans, Danaans or Argives. Menelaus' brother was Atrid Agamemnon, king of the "multi-gold" Mycenae, the most powerful and rich of all the Achaean kings. He warmly responded to the insult inflicted by Paris on his brother. Other kings also responded. After much preparation, the Achaean army gathered at the port of Aulis in the amount of about one hundred thousand people. The militia of each kingdom was commanded by its king, and Agamemnon was elected commander-in-chief.
Of the other leaders, the following were especially outstanding: Diomedes Tidides (son of Tydeus), king of Argos, the most attractive of all the Achaean heroes, generous, chivalrously noble, always rushing into the most dangerous places, not afraid to engage in battle even with the gods; "Great Ajax", son of Telamon, king of Salamis, huge, monstrous strength. His brother Teucer was the best archer in the army. There was another Ajax, the son of Oileus, the leader of the lightly armed Locrians, who fought with bows and slings, and was quick on his feet. Often both Ajax fought side by side, shoulder to shoulder. The wisest and most experienced military adviser was Elder Nestor, king of sandy Pylos. His son Antilochus shone among the youth with his daring. The mighty spear fighter Idomeneo brought 80 ships with fighters from the “hundred-city” Crete. In the Achaean army was the glorious archer Fyaloctetes, a friend of Hercules (Hercules); dying, Hercules gave Philoctetes his bow with deadly poisoned arrows. One of the most prominent among the leaders of the Achaean army was the “many-cunning” Odysseus, son of Laertes, king of the small rocky island of Ithaca, west of the Greek mainland, “steadfast in adversity,” a brave warrior and an intelligent, resourceful leader, capable of the most cunning inventions.
Thus, the army was numerous, its leaders brave and experienced. But the oracle predicted that the Achaeans would not take Troy if Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, did not participate in the campaign - the very same ones at whose wedding the three goddesses quarreled over the golden apple.
Thetis knew that Achilles was destined by fate to choose: either to live until a very old age in complete prosperity and tranquility in his native Phthia, or to die in battle young, but receive great glory. To protect her son from an early death, Thetis hid Achilles on the island of Skyros among the daughters of the local king Lycamedes, dressed in a woman’s dress.
The cunning Odysseus undertook to find Achilles. Disguised as a merchant, he arrived at Skyros, laid out various women's jewelry in front of the daughters of Lycamedes, and among them was a shield and a spear. Suddenly, fighting cries, the clanking of weapons, and groans were heard under the windows. It was Odysseus who instructed his companions to stage an enemy attack under the windows. The girls jumped up and ran away, and Achilles grabbed a shield and spear and rushed into battle. Thus he was recognized; It didn’t take much effort for Odysseus to persuade him to join the campaign.
The Achaeans sailed from Aulis to Troy on 1186 ships. Troy lay about five kilometers from the sea coast, on the site of the present Turkish town of Hisarlik. The Achaeans pulled the ships onto land and camped by the sea. There was no siege of the city. The Trojans left the city and fought with the Achaeans on a wide plain stretching from Troy to the coast. The Achaeans made frequent raids on neighboring cities and nearby islands, plundering and devastating them. They fought with copper weapons. Spears, swords, shields, armor, helmets - everything was made of copper. Iron was already known, but they did not yet know how to melt and forge it, but processed it in a cold way: drilled, polished. Homer calls iron "difficult to make." Ordinary soldiers fought on foot. Leaders and generally noble people are in chariots.
The king of Troy, Priam, the son of Laomedon, was already very old. The Trojan troops were commanded by his eldest son Hector, the most powerful and brave warrior among all the Trojans. Next after him was Aeneas, the son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite, king of Dardania, near Mount Ida. Among the Trojan allies were the Lycian kings Sarpedon, the son of the king of the gods Zeus from a mortal woman, and Glaucus, his cousin. Paris, the kidnapper of Helen, was an excellent archer; he killed many Achaean heroes with arrows, including Achilles himself. His brother Pandarus was also an outstanding archer.
The gods also took an active and passionate part in the war. Some gods stood for the Achaeans, others for the Trojans. On the side of the Achaeans, of course, were Hera, the wife of the king of the gods Zeus, and the goddess of wisdom Pallas-Athena, both of whom were severely offended by the decision of Paris. Poseidon, brother of Zeus, was also for the Achaeans; Hermes, messenger of the gods, god of merchants and thieves; Hephaestus, son of Zeus and Hera, god of fire, a skilled master blacksmith, limping on both legs, with a powerful body and weak legs, the only one of the gods who always works hard; By the way, all the palaces of the gods on Olympus were built by him.
On the side of the Trojans stood the mighty god Phoebus-Apollo, the son of Zeus and the bushy-haired Leto, one of the most revered celestial beings, the god of harmony, order, light, the Long-Range, who without a miss hits his intended target from his silver bow; his sister Artemis, the huntress goddess, also a long-ranger; their mother Leto; Apec, son of Zeus and Hera, stormy and bloodthirsty god of war; Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus and Dione, goddess of love and beauty, patroness of Paris. Zeus himself, the king of the gods, occupied a more or less neutral position.
Ancient Greece
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