What is the basic story of the Iliad?

The Iliad is an epic poem that tells the final year of the 10-year Trojan War where Greek city-states besiege Troy in order to regain Helen, the wife of Menelaus (King of Sparta), who had been abducted by the Trojan prince Paris.

Who wrote the Iliad and when?

The Iliad was written by the Greek poet Homer sometime in the 8th century BCE.

What is the moral of the Iliad?

The Iliad contains many themes and these include the inevitability of death and humanity's inability to escape the will of the Gods and their particular destiny. The story has its heroes but Homer is keen to show the tragedy of warfare and the suffering it brings to all people.

Iliad

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Definition

Homer's Iliad describes the final year of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict between an alliance of Greek cities and the city of Troy in Anatolia. It was probably written in the 8th century BCE after a long oral tradition. The Greeks themselves imagined the war to have occurred sometime in the 13th century BCE during the Bronze Age.

More about: Iliad

Timeline

1750 BCE - 1300 BCE
Troy VI - probable Troy of Homer's Iliad. City at its zenith.
c. 800 BCE - c. 700 BCE
Homer of Greece writes his Iliad and Odyssey.