What Epic Poem Is About The Trojan War?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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What epic poem is about the Trojan War? Iliad, epic poem in 24 books traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. It takes the Trojan War as its subject, though the Greek warrior Achilles is its primary focus. Frontispiece of Homer's

The Iliad

, translated by John Ogilby, 1660; engraving by Wenceslas Hollar.

What poem describes the Trojan War?


The Iliad

, a Greek epic poem was written by the blind poet, Homer. It describes the Trojan War which took place in the twelfth or thirteenth century B.C.E. between the Greeks and Trojans. It presents a host of characters both human and divine.

In what poem is the Trojan War found?



The Iliad

“ (Gr: “Iliás“ ) is an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, which recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy (which was also known as Ilion, Ilios or Ilium in ancient times).

What is the epic poem about the aftermath of the Trojan War?

Tradition says that a great blind poet named Homer wrote

the Iliad and Odyssey

, the epic about the Trojan War and its aftermath.

Which poem is about a Trojan hero?


The Iliad

(/ˈɪliəd/; Ancient Greek: Ἰλιάς, romanized: Iliás, Attic Greek: [iː.li.ás]; sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium) is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer.

Is The Iliad based on the Trojan War?

The Iliad is an epic poem written by the Greek poet Homer.

It tells the story of the last year of the Trojan War fought between the city of Troy and the Greeks

. Achilles – Achilles is the main character and the greatest warrior in the world. He leads the Myrmidons against the Trojans.

What book tells about the Trojan War?


The Iliad

‘ tells the tale of the ten year siege of Troy by the Greeks, the exploits of King Agamemnon and the legendary Achilles, and the infamous wooden horse invented by Odysseus.

Why is it called Iliad?

Homer's Iliad is usually thought of as the first work of European literature, and many would say, the greatest. It tells part of the saga of the city of Troy and the war that took place there. In fact the Iliad takes its name from “Ilios”, an ancient Greek word for “Troy”, situated in what is Turkey today.

Why is the Iliad called a poem?

Title History

Don't worry, because

the title of the poem is actually derived from Greek

! The title of Homer's epic is actually from the phrase Ilias poiesis, meaning ”poem of Ilion. ” Ilion is the ancient name for the city of Troy. So literally, The Iliad means ”poem of Troy.

Is the Iliad and Odyssey the same?


While The Iliad is an epic tale of war and battle, The Odyssey is the story of a journey, a hero's heroic effort to return to his home

.

What are Homer's two epic poems called that deal with the Trojan War and its aftermath?

Although

the Iliad and Odyssey

narrate only relatively small portions of the Trojan War and its aftermath, for centuries these works have overshadowed other, more comprehensive narratives of the conflict, particularly the poems known as the Epic Cycle.

Is the Trojan Horse a real story?

Actually, historians are pretty much unanimous:

the Trojan Horse was just a myth

, but Troy was certainly a real place.

Is Helen of Troy a real story?

Helen of Troy is a mythical figure from Greek mythology and literature, notably Homer's Iliad.

She was not a real person

.

How does Homer describe the Trojan War?

The Iliad is Homer's his account of the Trojan War. It is

a poem about rage and thinking about rage

. Homer talks about a specific kind of rage, the rage of Achilles who, as a Greek, was having war rage against his Trojan foes but more specifically it is Achilles rage at Agamemnon.

Why is The Iliad so important?

Most significantly, the Iliad changed the way people worshipped. According to the 5th-Century historian Herodotus, it was Homer, with the poet Hesiod, who “described the gods for the Greeks”, and who also gave them human characters – the characters that shape the Olympian gods we recognise today.

Why is The Iliad an epic poem?

The Homeric poems (the Iliad and the Odyssey) are epic, because

our concept of epic comes from Homeric poems

. If that sounds too circular, then just bear in mind that the Iliad is an extremely long narrative poem, which deals with the heroic actions of mortals, gods, and demi-gods.

Is The Odyssey about the Trojan War?

Odysseus is probably best known as the eponymous hero of the Odyssey. This epic describes his travails, which lasted for 10 years, as

he tries to return home after the Trojan War

and reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.

What is The Iliad based on?

The Iliad is an epic poem in 24 books that is traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. The epic is about

the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles

. The subject of this poem is the Trojan War.

Did Helen of Troy cause the Trojan War?

According to classical sources,

the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris

. Helen's jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her.

What book covers the Trojan War?

The action of

the Iliad

begins in the final year of the ten year siege of Troy and dramatises the weeks that begin with the feud between Agamemnon and Achilles and end with the death of Hector.” The Iliad is one of our most frequently recommended books on Five Books.

Who wrote about the Trojan War?

The main source for our knowledge of the Trojan War is

Homer's Iliad

(written sometime in the 8th century BCE) where he recounts 52 days during the final year of the ten-year conflict. The Greeks imagined the war to have occurred some time in the 13th century BCE.

What book contains the story of the Trojan Horse?

The story is told at length in

Book II of the Aeneid

and is touched upon in the Odyssey. The term Trojan horse has come to refer to subversion introduced from the outside.

Who killed Helen of Troy?

According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by

the Rhodian queen Polyxo

in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.

Who is the real hero of the Iliad?


Hector

is the true hero of Homer's Iliad. Although Achilles and Hector are both leaders of men, Hector leads with a mature sense that gives his men reason to respect him.

Who Killed Achilles?

Achilles is killed by an arrow, shot by

the Trojan prince Paris

. In most versions of the story, the god Apollo is said to have guided the arrow into his vulnerable spot, his heel.

Is The Iliad hard to read?

Since the Iliad has been translated into modern English, people often find it

surprisingly easy to read

. Look for a translation that includes footnotes, a glossary, and other helpful features that may help to make the reading process even easier for you.

What is the moral lesson of Iliad?

The Iliad, the story of the Trojan War, offers several moral lessons to its readers, including

the importance of leaders treating their soldiers with respect, the importance of accepting apologies, and the need for respecting family bonds

.

Is The Iliad a true story?

As the historical sources – Herodotus and Eratosthenes – show,

it was generally assumed to have been a real event

. According to Homer's Iliad, the conflict between the Greeks – led by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae – and the Trojans – whose king was Priam – took place in the Late Bronze Age, and lasted 10 years.

Should you read The Iliad or Odyssey first?

Juan Francisco Although they're not exactly sequential,

I'd recommend you to read The Iliad first, then The Odyssey

. The Iliad provides you huge context, involving the Trojan War, plenty of characters (including Odysseus), and the cosmovision of Ancient Greece.

Who Won the Trojan War?


The Greeks

finally win the war by an ingenious piece of deception dreamed up by the hero and king of Ithaca, Odysseus – famous for his cunning. They build a huge wooden horse and leave it outside the gates of Troy, as an offering to the gods, while they pretend to give up battle and sail away.

Is the Odyssey easier than The Iliad?

So far,

I think the Odyssey is a much easier read than The Iliad

. This is not to be confused about my opinion of which book is better. I find it easier to keep track of its characters and storylines because this poem seems to move in a more linear fashion.

Why is Iliad and Odyssey important?

The two epics

provided the basis of Greek education and culture in the Classical age

, and they have remained among the most significant poems of the European tradition. The method of their composition has been long debated.

Is Iliad and Odyssey an epic?


The Odyssey, like its companion poem, The Iliad , is an epic poem

, meaning an exalted story of a warrior-like hero's journey and dealings with the gods, told in a formal poetic structure.

How is Troy different from The Iliad?

The most apparent difference Troy has from The Iliad is its

absence of Olympian gods

, the Greek pantheon of deities who reside on Mount Olympus. In The Iliad, Homer emphasizes the role of the gods in the Trojan War. It seems that, at every turn in the story, the outcomes are predetermined by the gods.

Does the city of Troy still exist?

Over the course of several centuries, Troy was repeatedly destroyed, but a new city would rise up on the ruins of the last. People lived there until Roman times.

The ruins can still be seen today, about 220 miles to the southwest of Istanbul.

Does Troy still exist in Greece?

The Origins of the Actual City of Troy


Today, Hisarlik is part of Turkey, not Greece

. However, legend has it that the entire area (northwest of Turkey) once belonged to the Kingdom of Greece.

Emily Lee
Author
Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. She’s an accomplished writer with a deep passion for the arts, and brings a unique perspective to the world of entertainment. Emily has written about art, entertainment, and pop culture.