The Iliad
Questions
The most common questions about The Iliad, answered from the poem.
- Who Is Achilles in the Iliad?Achilles is the greatest warrior of the Greeks before Troy and the hero of the Iliad: son of Peleus and of the sea goddess Thetis. The poem opens...
- What is the summary of the Iliad?The Iliad covers a few weeks of the tenth year of the Trojan War, in which Greeks and Trojans fight before the city. In Book I, the Greek leader...
- Why does Achilles refuse to fight?Achilles refuses to fight because Agamemnon dishonored him before the whole army. In Book I, the Greek leader is forced to return the captive...
- How Does the Iliad End?The Iliad ends with a funeral, not with the fall of Troy. The last book, XXIV, begins with Achilles dragging Hector's body every day around the tomb...
- Why does Patroclus die in the Iliad?Patroclus dies for wearing Achilles' armor and going too far. When the Trojans reach the ships, the aged Nestor suggests that Patroclus ask Achilles...
- How Does Hector Die?Hector dies before Troy, in Book XXII, by the spear of Achilles. All the other Trojans have already taken refuge in the city, and only he stays...
- Who Is Hector in the Iliad?Hector is the main warrior of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, husband of Andromache, and father of the boy Astyanax. He is the one who...
- Why did the Trojan War begin in the Iliad?The Iliad begins in the tenth year of the war and does not tell how it started, but it makes the reason clear: Helen. Paris, son of King Priam, took...
- What is engraved on Achilles' shield?Achilles' shield is made by the smith god Hephaestus in Book XVIII, at the request of Achilles' mother, Thetis, because Hector took his old armor...
- What is the theme of the Iliad?The theme of the Iliad is in the first word of the poem in Greek, mênis, wrath. The poet does not promise to tell the whole war of Troy, but the...
- What does Hector say to Andromache at parting?The farewell of Hector and Andromache is the scene of Book VI. Hector returns to Troy at the request of his brother Helenus, to have the women pray...
- What role do the gods play in the Iliad?In the Iliad, the gods interfere in the war all the time, and Zeus holds the plan. In Book I, he nods to Thetis that he will honor Achilles, which...
- Does the Trojan Horse appear in the Iliad?No. The wooden horse is not told in the Iliad, because the poem ends before the fall of Troy. The action covers a few weeks of the tenth year of the...
- Does Achilles Die in the Iliad?No. The death of Achilles is not told in the Iliad, but it is foretold several times, and he knows that it is near. In Book I, his mother, Thetis,...
- How many books does the Iliad have, and how long does the story last?The Iliad has twenty-four books, in verses of six feet called hexameters. The story covers only a few weeks of the tenth year of the Trojan War. The...