Iliad
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Iliad is, along with the Odyssey, one of the two major Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, written in Greece about 900 BC.
The poem is about the Trojan War between the Greeks and Trojans. It tells the story from the siege of Troy to the death and funeral of Hector.
The poem starts with the god Apollo having sent a plague to the Greeks, because they captured the daughter of one of his priests. Agamemnon is forced to give her back, but instead takes away Briseis from her owner Achilles. Achilles is angry and refuses to fight. But when his friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, he starts to fight again and kills Hector in a duel. Later Hector's father Priam comes in secret to Achilles to take back his favourite son's body to give it a proper funeral, which Achilles allows him to do. The poem ends with the funeral of Hector.
Some important characters in the Iliad are Achilles, Odysseus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Priam, Hector, Paris, and Helen.
The Iliad was followed by the Odyssey, also written by Homer.