The Iliad takes place in the last year of the Trojan War.
Iliad is not a term that is part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). This is the title of an epic that is usually attributed to Homer , a poet from Ancient Greece who lived in the 8th century BC .
An epic is a long poem that revolves around a great event or the deeds achieved by a hero. In the case of the Iliad , it presents 15,693 verses that are divided into 24 rhapsodies or songs.
The story of the Iliad
In the Iliad , Homer tells of events that happened in the last year of the Trojan War (or Ilium , in Greek). According to the poet, this conflict arose from a punitive expedition carried out by the Achaeans against Paris , the prince of Troy , who would have kidnapped or seduced Helen of Sparta .
The action narrates the fury of Achilles (one of the heroes of the Trojan War ), son of the Nereid Thetis and King Peleus .
Ulysses is one of the characters in the Iliad, a work attributed to the poet Homer.
Some characteristics of the work
Other information of interest about this work at hand are the following:
-It was used as one of the bases and supports of the so-called Greek pedagogy.
-It is made up of a total of twenty-four songs, among which are some such as "The oaths of Helen on the wall" , "Violation of the oaths and review of the troops" , "Deception of Zeus" , "Combat of the gods" , "Death of Hector" or "Games in honor of Patroclus" .
-Among the themes addressed in the Iliad we can highlight some such as the concept of glory in battles, fury or the desire for revenge, respect, the so-called wrath of Achilles and also what destiny is.
-There is evidence of the existence of a copy of this work dated to the year 520 BC, which, apparently, would have been used to recite it during the well-known Panathenaic festivals, that is, those held in honor of the goddess Athena .
-Throughout history, many authors have made translations of this emblematic classic work. However, among the best known we can highlight Juan de Lebrija Cano , Francisco Estrada y Campos , Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas , Luis Segalá or Cristóbal de Mesa .
-The story told in the Iliad has been a source of inspiration for different arts. Thus, in cinema we come across films like "Troy" (2004, Wolfgang Petersen ) and in painting we have works like "Achilles and Priam" by Jules Bastien-Lepage .
Homer and the Iliad
It is important to keep in mind that many issues related to the Iliad and its author are often debated by historians. On the one hand, there are those who even doubt the existence of Homer , although most specialists agree that he lived in the 8th century BC in the region of Ionia .
According to the most accepted theory , Homer would be the author of the Iliad , a work that he would have created in the second half of the 8th century BC . Homer would also have developed the Odyssey , considered along with the Iliad as the most relevant literary compositions of Ancient Greece .