"Iliad", a summary of the epic

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Summary of the "Iliad" is recommended as part of the school curriculum and for general self-development, due to the complexity of the original. This story originates in ancient Greece, at the time of heroes and legends. Written by a blind poet, Homer's Iliad will haunt the minds of historians and philosophers for a long time with its ambiguity and scale.

Intro. Tie

First of all, it is necessary to understand that the work is tied around the city of Troy, or otherwise "Ilios", from where the name "Iliad" takes its name. The summary of the first parts is easy to convey in a nutshell: the prince of Troy, Paris, together with his brother Hector, visit the king of Sparta, Menelaus, on a friendly visit. Paris, struck by the beauty of Menelaus' wife Helen, seduces and takes her to Troy, which cannot go unpunished. From that moment on, a break occurs: dozens of heroes, such as Odysseus, Ajax, Achilles, and others, with the support of many allied states, gathered with armies to lay siege to the impregnable city. In the very first days of the siege, the invulnerable Achilles destroys the temple of the patron god of Troy, which, according to legend, dooms himself to death. The following days there is a fightthe hero of Troy, Hector, with Patroclus dressed in the armor of Achilles, followed by the death of Patroclus and revenge from Achilles himself.

The main part. Siege

The "Iliad", the brief content of which should at least cover the main events of that time, could not ignore the description of the conflict itself: a long, useless siege and the feeling of hopelessness of the soldiers of all Greece in front of the greatness of indestructible walls. What follows is a description of the battle and many casu alties on both sides, as well as the battle of Menelaus and Paris, in which Paris, disgraced, was saved by Hector, which only embittered the soldiers. The Trojans returned to the walls of the city and the siege continued. But the cunning Odysseus, who was not the first to find a way out of difficult situations, came up with a plan to penetrate the city.

Trojan horse. Exodus

Let few people know the name of this poem, but it is thanks to the episode with the Trojan Horse that the name "Iliad", a summary of which is presented here, went down in history as a feat. The besieging troops assembled a huge horse from the wood of the ships, which was left as a gift to the victorious Troy. The catch was that several dozen warriors were hidden inside the horse, ready at night, after celebrating the victory, to open the gates of the main army, hidden behind the rocks on the coast. With the onset of night, Troy fell under the onslaught of the Greeks who broke into the city, and only a few Trojans managed to escape by sea. According to legend, Rome was founded by them. In the same battle, the great Achilles fell, struckarrow of Paris in the only weak spot - the heel.

Summing up

So what does the Iliad teach us and what can it tell us? The summary, of course, cannot convey the whole meaning invested in the poem by the author, but even these fragments of history are enough to understand that strength does not always prevail over lesser strength, and cunning can sometimes bring victory to someone, and to someone great grief. The main idea of the story is that even if this battle happened a very, very long time ago, the memory of the great deeds of the heroes will live for centuries, and they, like the gods of their time, will be alive as long as they are remembered.