The Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem set during the Trojan War, when a Greek army has spent years besieging the city of Troy. Rather than telling the whole war, it focuses on a few weeks and on a bitter quarrel between the Greek commander Agamemnon and the great warrior Achilles. The quarrel weakens the Greek side and draws gods and mortals into the conflict. Among the main figures are Hector, the Trojan defender, as well as Priam, Patroclus and Odysseus. The poem explores anger, honour, friendship, grief and the cost of war, and it does so with sympathy for both sides. It is one of the founding works of Western literature and still moves readers with its human detail.