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August 22, 2025

2

#Classic The Iliad

by NancyElin

 

Finish date: 21.08.2025 
Genre: Classics 
Rating: A++++
ISBN: 978-1324001805

Translation: Emily Wilson (2023)

 

 

QUICK SCAN:

  1. This is the third time I read The Iliad….and it was the BEST translation.
  2. In the past I read the epic just to check it off my reading list.
  3. This time I took the trouble to read Wilson’s intro and translation notes carefully and before starting the book.
  4. In these times…it is so easy to Google “What happened in Book ? in The Iliad’? before reading a chapter.
  5. It is the “wonder” of AI …and the quick summary made the reading this time SO much more enjoyable.
  6. E. Wilson has also translated The Odyssey.
  7. The Iliad is about men and war but all major conflicts are triggered by women!
  8. As I say in the review I loved the gods’ politics and manipulations in the tragedy…comic relief!
  9. The Odyssey is about a romance and adventure.
  10. I want to read The Odyssey (also translated by Emily Wilson
  11. ….but am taking a small break from the Ancients now.
  12. It is good to get back to the Classics!

 

Background:   How did the Trojan wars start?

  1. Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of
  2. …Peleus and Thetis…the parents of Achilles.
  3. In revenge for being snubbed, she crashed the party and threw
  4. …a golden apple into the crowd  inscribed “For the most Beautiful”.
  5. This sparked a HUGE quarrel among the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
  6. Consequences of the apple:
  7. Trojan prince Paris must judge the goddesses…choose the most beautiful.
  8. Aphrodite promised Paris the hand of the beautiful Helen of Sparta (BRIBE)
  9. …if Aphrodite  was chosen as the fairest.
  10. Paris’s abduction of Helen from her Greek husband  Menelaus
  11. …(with the help of Aphrodite…) sparked the Trojan Wars.

 

BOOK 1 – 19.08.2025

  1. The Quarrel
  2. …Homer zooms in on the 10th year of fighting… the quarrel b/t Achilles/Agamemnon.
  3. Agamemnon and Achilles basically argue about a girl Briseis.
  4. She was Achilles’s “war prize”. 
  5. Agamemnon  has taken her as his own
  6. …and  has insulted Achilles’s  honor.
  7. Achilles refuses to fight, refuses to allow his men to fight, and asks  his mother (Thetis) to speak to Zeus
  8. …so that the Greeks lose  the war without him.
  9. There’s more going on but this is the core message.

 

BOOKS 2-5 – 20.08.25

  1. There are some glimpses of peace
  2. …it is not all violence and death.
  3. Catalogue of ships – Greek’s long who’s who list to show their strength! – (skim this is section!)
  4. Trojans admire Helen’s beauty.
  5. Helen  describes the Greek warriors: Agamemnon/Achilles/Diomedes/Ajax.
  6. Conflict: Paris and Menelaus – meet in a single hand-to-hand combat.
  7. Suddenly the god Aphrodite intervenes and whisks Paris off to Helen’s bedroom!

 

BOOK 6 – 20.08.25

  1. Glaucus and Diomedes agree to not kill each other! 
  2. It appears G/D’s grandfathers were friends!
  3. Very loving and tender scene between Hector, his wife and baby son.
  4. Hector knows (…as does his wife) that once he goes back  to the battlefield
  5. ….he will never return to his family. 
  6. His wife insists that the servant slaves start lamenting….even while Hector is still alive.

 

BOOK 7 – 21.08.2025 – …duel b/t Hector and Ajax

  1. Hector and Paris return  to the battlefield.
  2. Apollo and Athena, then orchestrate a duel between Hector and a Greek champion Ajax
  3. to temporarily halt the bloodshed.
  4. The Trojans offer to return the treasures they stole from
  5. …the Greeks but refuse to return Helen.
  6. The Greeks reject the offer.

 

BOOK 8 – 21.08.2025 – …lots of things happening in this chapter!

This is a single pivotal day of battle

  1. Zeus’s Intervention
  2. Trojans Surge Forward
  3. Greek hero Nestor (old man…) is stranded on the battlefield, but the valiant Diomedes rescues him.  
  4. Agamemnon’s Plea: tries to inspire his troops.
  5. Sign from Zeus: —an eagle carrying a fawn—which momentarily rallies the the Greek troops!
  6. The Trojan Campfire: Hector and the Trojans encamped in the plain,
  7. threatening to break down the Greek wall and burn their ships at dawn. 

 

BOOK 9 – 21.08.2025 – FIRST plot point
  1. Agamemnon asks Achilles to return to battle…he refuses.
  2. Odysseus has a message for Achilles.  
  3. Agamemnon offers to give back his “war prize, Briseis” – land, money and even Aga’s daughter in marriage!!
  4. Here’s the rub:  Achilles must admit that Agamemnon is the better warrior compared to Achilles!!  
  5. Achilles rejects the offer.
  6. The speech is the longest in the epic!!  
  7. Achilles does not want stuff…he wants an APOLOGY!
  8. Achilles wants recognition of WHO he is and WHAT he has suffered.  

 

BOOK 10 – 21.08.2025 
  1. Odysseus and Diomedes conduct a spy mission into Trojan camp

 

BOOK 11 – 21.08.2025 – SECOND  plot point

  1. Hector leads the Trojans in a surge that pushes the Greeks back from the walls of Troy.
  2. Paris (Trojan) and Diomedes (Greek) are  both wounded.
  3. Greeks are forced back to their ships.
  4. Patroclus sends for news: he wants to know which leaders are wounded. 

 

BOOK 12 – 21.08.2025 – update from the battlefield 
  1. Warning…this is a VERY LONG chapter.
  2. It is filled with killings, rescues….men pleading to be taken alive for ransom.
  3. People are speared, skewered, splayed
  4. …heads  are lopped off and spear points still in eye sockets!
  5. If you like this sort of narrative…read on but you can also “skim” this chapter.

 

BOOK 13 – 21.08.2025 – More fighting….
  1. The sea-god Poseidon intervenes in the battle at the Greek ships after Zeus leaves the field of battle.

 

BOOK 14 – 21.08.2025 –   I love when the Gods get involved….feels like “comic relief” from all the slaughter!

  1. The Girdle of Love:
  2. Hera seeks out Aphrodite to obtain her magical, love-inducing girdle
  3. …which she uses to make herself incredibly beautiful.
  4. (Where can I buy one of these?)
  5. While the goddess Hera seduces Zeus with the help of the god of Sleep
  6. …allowing the sea-god Poseidon to intervene and aid the Greeks in battle.

 

BOOK 15 – 21.08.2025 –   the  fighting continues…you need a scorecard to understand the gods!

 

Here is a breakdown of the gods helping the Trojans:

  1. Apollo (…son of Zeus) – Sent  a plague into the Greek camp and, struck down Patroclus
  2. …making him vulnerable to Hector’s fatal blow.
  3. Aphrodite –   Helped Paris  abduct Helen and protected him from death on the battlefield.
  4. Ares – Instilled courage in the warriors (god of war).
  5. Artemis – Helped the Trojans b/c the Greek Agamemnon killed one of her sacred deer.

 

Here is a breakdown of the gods helping the Greeks:
  1. Hera: Distracted Zeus (…her husband)  to permit the gods to interfere with the battle.
  2. Athena: Provided strategic help and divine intervention to Odysseus and Achilles. 
  3. Poseidon:  Aided the Greeks….just to spite Zeus! (god of the sea) 
  4. Hermes:  (…son of Zeus)…he sided with the Greeks, but with no actual opinion on the war itself.
  5. Hephaestus:  God of fire (blacksmith) provides armor for the Greek heroes, particularly Achilles.

 

BOOK 16 – 21.08.2025
NOTE: This is the major TURNING POINT in the epic
  1. Patroclus asks Achilles to return to the battle b/c
  2. …the Greeks are experiencing  heavy losses.
  3. Achilles is tempted and almost yields but refuses to soften.
  4. Achilles agrees to send Patroclus in his  own armor into battle.
  5. Achilles is concerned for  his BF’s safety
  6. ….but deep down he is afraid P will win for HIMSELF the glory that Achilles deserves!!
  7. The Trojans are terrified thinking Achilles (P in Achilles’s armor)
  8. … has returned and Patroclus has great success.
  9. Patroclus goes too far…and  GODS INTERVENE!!
  10. Apollo knocks off Patroclus‘s helmet…and Hector kills him.
  11. Patroclus’s death causes a fundamental shift in Achilles.
  12. His GRIEF is overwhelming.
  13. Achilles is now possessed by a single desire –> REVENGE…kill Hector.

 

Books 17-18-19-20-21

  1. Between books 17 – 21  Achilles is a “killing machine”.
  2. His victims are so many they are not even named.
  3. This is not heroic…it is butchery.
  4. Achilles killing is so prodigious that the number of corpses blocks the flow of a river!  
  5. The river god, Scamander,  attacks Achilles, attempts to drown him.

 

BOOK 22 – 21.08.2025 – CLIMAX!

  1. Hector and Achilles finally meet.
  2. Hector asks Achilles to join in a pact
  3. ….that who ever wins will NOT mutilate
  4. …the body of the other but  return it is the parents and family.
  5. Achilles rejects the pact.  Hector is NO match for Achilles. 
  6. Achilles stabs Hector in the neck, but misses the vocal cords
  7. …so Hector once again can ask if Achilles will spare his body. 
  8. Achilles says he will leave his body to the dogs and birds.
  9. Achilles even threatens to hack him in pieces and eat him raw (jick)…so is his rage.
  10. Hector is dead, Troy will certainly fall and Achilles will soon die.

 

BOOK 23  – 21.08.2025

  1. Achilles oversees the funeral games in honor of Patroclus.

 

BOOK 24 – 21.08.2025 – RESOLUTION

  1. The old king Priam goes to Achilles’s tent.
  2. He asks for his son’s  body.
  3. Achilles has mutilated Hector’s body
  4. ….and Priam asks Achilles to think what YOUR FATHER MAY feel
  5. …what he has lost.
  6. Please show some sympathy.
  7. Achilles breaks down in tears.
  8. Priam cries for his son Hector and
  9. …Achilles cries for his own father and his BF Patroclus.
  10. Achilles brings Hector’s body to his grieving father Priam.

 

CONCLUSION:

  1. The epic begins with  honor, glory, battle exploits….
  2. …ends on pity, tears the courage of an old man and the burial of Hector.
  3. Some see in this ending a sign that Achilles has returned to the norm of humanity.
  4. Homer has shown  Achilles…struggling with his values.
  5. He is aware of his coming  death  and is trying to make
  6. …the most of the time he has been given.
  7. Achilles suffers from the curse of awareness
  8. ...the awareness of one’s own mortality.

 

 

 

 

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2 Comments Post a comment
  1. This Reading Life
    Aug 22 2025

    What did you think of Wilson’s translation and interpretation of the story? I have this on my TBR for one day…

    Reply
    • NancyElin
      Aug 22 2025

      This is the third time I read The Iliad….and it was the BEST translation. In the past I read the epic just to check it off my reading list.

      This time I took the trouble to read Wilson’s intro and translation notes carefully and before starting the book. In these times…it is so easy to Google “What happened in Book ? in The Iliad’? before reading a chapter. It is the “wonder” of AI …and the quick summary made the reading this time SO much more enjoyable. E. Wilson has also translated The Odyssey.

      The Iliad is about men and war but all major conflicts are triggered by women! As I said in the review I loved the gods’ politics and manipulations in the tragedy…comic relief! While the Odyssey is about a romance and adventure.

      I want to read The Odyssey (also translated by Emily Wilson….but am taking a small break from the Ancients now.

      It is good to get back to the Classics!

      Reply

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