Iliad by Homer

Details

Category: Literature

Published on Thursday, 01 November 2012 12:41

An epic poem in dactylic hexametres, probably written by Homer. Set in the times of the Trojan War (the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states), the Iliad tells about the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.

Along with the Odyssey, the Iliad is the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the 8th century BC.

As the oldest and very comprehensive document written in Greek, the Iliad is one of the most important sources for the history and the pre – archaic and early Archaic period in the history of ancient Greece. The myths contain reminiscences of historical events, and its detailed descriptions of the life of the Achaeans and Trojans provide the material for the reconstruction of the life in Greece in Homer’s times.

With the creation of the Iliad involve a lot of unresolved questions. One can, however, based on historical sources say, that the song has his roots in the oral transfer, and was then passed on in the same form by itinerant Greek singers (called aoides), who sang it in the Greek courts. Later the aoides were replaced by rhapsodies, being rather reciters than singers.

The Iliad has exactly 15 537 lines. The division into 24 songs / books (marked with large conventional 24  letters of the Greek alphabet) was done later, and originates from the Greek publishers, as well as the titles of the books.
Each book starts with an introduction, which servers as a small discription of the whole following book.

Below you can listen to the introductions of each book separately, or to the whole playlist. Enjoy!

Book 1 - 10

Book 11 - 20

Book 21 - 24