The Iliad covers not the entire Trojan War, but begins in the midst of events in the final year of battle, after nine years of siege, and only spans 52 days. By the time The Iliad was written down in the eighth century BCE by the epic poet Homer, whom we know not a lot about other than the fact that he lived around the time of 750 BCE, and it would have already been a familiar tale to the Greeks since the tale was part of a long and rich oral history, meaning it was spoken aloud and accompanied by music. Its history in oral tradition is clear through the use and repetition of epithets like swift-footed Achilles and clever Odysseus, introductory phrases and fighting descriptions common to oral histories.
It seems that Homer wasn’t concerned with the catalyst for the Trojan War, nor the final days and the victory of the Achaeans which the audience would have already been familiar with, but the universal truths of human mortality, war, honour and betrayal, pain and pathos, love and hatred and how the lives of the characters in the story are buffeted by the winds of fate. The Iliad and the Odyssey may have once been a part of what is known as the Epic Cycle, which was a bunch of different stories that covered the period from the creation of the universe, or cosmogony, to the Trojan War and Odysseus’ long voyage home.
The Trojan War was a ten-year-long conflict fought between a coalition of Greeks known as the Achaeans, which is how Homer called the Mycenaean Greeks, against the Trojans who lived in the city of Troy and it was sparked by Paris (a Trojan prince), abducting Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. The Iliad begins by invoking the muse to tell the story of the rage of Achilles, and that is pretty much what the entire Iliad is about.
— CHAPTERS — 0:00 Introduction 1:00 What is the Iliad? 4:26 Lead up to the Trojan War 8:10 Summary of The Iliad 14:43 After the End of the Iliad 16:06 Did the Trojan War Actually Happen? 18:36 Outro
Did you know that the Iliad doesn't include the death of Achilles being shot in the heel,
or the infamous Trojan horse? Stick around to learn all about the Iliad and the Trojan War.
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video will answer
all of your burning questions about the Trojan War and the Greek epic poem the Iliad. Don't
forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel
and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History
Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you
can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos
twice a week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen
or via the Patreon link down below. Let's start off by looking at the Iliad. The Iliad was written
down sometime in the 8th century BCE by the epic poet Homer, whom we know not a lot about other
than the fact that he lived around the time of 750 BCE and has been credited with writing the
poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. There is also the suggestion that Homer wasn't one person but a
number of people who composed the epic poems but we will probably never truly know. The Iliad is
an epic poem written in 15,693 lines of verse and is divided up into 24 books or what we would think
of as chapters. The Iliad covers not the entire Trojan War but begins in the midst of events in
the final year of battle after nine years of siege and only spans 52 days. By the time the Iliad was
written down in the 8th century BCE it would have already been a familiar tale to the Greeks since
the tale was part of a long and rich oral history, meaning it was spoken aloud and accompanied by
music. Its history in oral tradition is clear through the use and repetition of epithets like
swift-footed Achilles and clever Odysseus and introductory phrases and fighting descriptions
common to oral histories. It seems that Homer wasn't concerned with the catalyst for the Trojan
War nor the final days and the victory of the Achaeans which the audience would have already
been familiar with but the universal truths of human mortality, war, honor and betrayal, pain and
pathos, love and hatred and how the lives of the characters in the story are buffeted by the winds
of fate. And if you're thinking why is it called the Iliad well the city of Troy is also known as
and so the title translates literally to Troy story. The Iliad and the Odyssey may have once
been a part of what is known as the epic cycle which were a bunch of different stories that
cover the period from the creation of the universe or cosmogony to the Trojan War and Odysseus's long
voyage home. One suggestion is that these other stories were all written down by different people
although there is no consensus for many of them and although they all survive in fragments only
they all seem to be a part of the long history of oral tradition and complemented each other.
The other is that the Iliad and the Odyssey are the only surviving works of a much longer tale
by Homer which covered the entirety of the Trojan War in detail and these surviving pieces are said
There seems to have been minimal to no overlap on events and at one point the Iliad would have
been preceded by the Cypria which would have included not only the events leading up to the
Trojan War but the nine years prior to the beginning of the Iliad. Although we only have
fragments of the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Sack of Troy, Returns and Telegony we know a bit
about what they would have included that didn't survive in fragments because of other ancient
writings on these texts and also a lot of the surviving Athenian tragedies that focus on events
related to the Trojan War. We also have many different artistic depictions of scenes from the
Trojan War most of which are found on pottery. Now that we know all about the Iliad let's look at the
Trojan War, what it is, who won and if it actually ever happened. What was the Trojan War? Well it
was a 10 year long conflict fought between a coalition of Greeks known as the Achaeans which
is what Homer called the Mycenaean Greeks against the Trojans who lived in the city of Troy and it
was sparked by Paris a Trojan prince abducting Helen the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta. Now
let's backtrack a bit because why would Paris take another man's wife? Helen was the daughter of Zeus
the king of the gods and the mortal woman Leda who was the queen of Sparta. One day Leda's husband
Tyndareus offended Aphrodite the goddess of love and so she made a promise that all of his daughters
would be infamous for their adultery. Another example is Helen's sister Clytemnestra who
eventually marries Agamemnon the king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus. As part of the marriage
deal between Helen and Menelaus Tyndareus made all of the Greek leaders swear to recognize
Helen as Menelaus's rightful wife and to protect her from harm. Helen was considered the most
beautiful of all mortal women and she is commonly referred to by Homer as Helen of the lovely hair
fair-haired Helen and Helen queen among women. What does this have to do with Paris and Troy?
Well the parents of Achilles the mortal Peleus and the minor goddess Thetis got married but they
didn't invite Eris the goddess of strife and discord. She turned up anyway and offered a golden
apple to the fairest. The goddesses Athena, Aphrodite and Hera all thought they were the
fairest. The gods were unwilling to risk any of these goddesses wrath in choosing and so Paris
the prince of Troy was asked by Zeus to make the decision. Athena offered Paris strength, beauty and
invincibility in battle. Hera offered him regions in Asia and incredible wealth and Aphrodite offered
him the most beautiful of all mortal women. Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest and of course the
most beautiful woman was Helen. Some versions of the tale say that Paris went to Sparta while
Menelaus was away and took her. Some say that Aphrodite whisked Helen away. Some say she never
even went to Troy but went to Egypt instead and some say she went willingly but either way Menelaus
lost his wife to the prince of Troy. So Helen of Sparta became Helen of Troy and the brothers Menelaus
and Agamemnon appealed to all the Greek leaders who swore they would protect Helen from harm
and so they sailed to Troy in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. The Achaeans were led by Agamemnon of Mycenae
and other cities or regions involved in the 10-year siege against Troy include Veotia, Evia, Athens,
Argos, Corinth, Arcadia, Sparta, Cephalonia, Crete, Rhodes, Magnesia and Cyclades and Homer states
that tens of thousands of men sailed to Troy. The most important men in the story are Achilles,
Odysseus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Diomedes, Ajax the greater, Ajax the lesser, Nestor and Patroclus
among others. Looking at the Trojans this is a shorter list of Hector, Paris, Priam and Helen
being the most important characters to the overall story. Priam is the king of Troy and Hector and
Paris are two of his sons. Most of the Trojan war was a siege, it was like nine years of the Achaeans
trying to get into the city and Troy being far too well fortified for that to happen. There are a
bunch of battles outside of the city but nothing really exciting happened until the final year
and that is where the Iliad picks up. Rage, goddess sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the house of death so many
sturdy souls, great fighters souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds and
the will of Zeus was moving towards its end. Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon, lord of men and brilliant Achilles. That is how the Iliad begins, invoking the Muse
to tell the story of the rage of Achilles and that is pretty much what the entire Iliad is about.
Nine years into the Trojan war, the Trojan girl Chryseis, the daughter of Chryseis, a priest of
Apollo, has been taken as captive and given to Agamemnon as a prize of honor. Chryseis comes to
the Greek camp to ask for his daughter back and even though he offers Agamemnon a very reasonable
trade, he's refused. So Chryseis prays to Apollo who sends his wrath down on the Achaeans in the
form of a plague, which forces Agamemnon to realize he's got to give Chryseis back, but of
course he demands another woman in exchange. Since all of the war goods have been divvied out already,
it means that Agamemnon will have to take someone else's woman. And whose woman does he take for
himself? He takes Briseis, who was the war prize of his ally Achilles. And to say that Achilles was
unhappy with this is an understatement. Achilles then proceeds to throw a tantrum and refuses to
continue fighting. Since he is undoubtedly their best warrior and an inspiration to the troops,
this was a blow to the Achaeans. And as if that wasn't enough, he also withdrew all of his elite
soldiers, the Myrmidons, from battle. Agamemnon tries to storm Troy without Achilles and obviously
fails. And then Paris, the prince of Troy, challenges Menelaus to a one-on-one fight
in order to end the war there and then. Menelaus is far stronger and adept at fighting than Paris,
but before Menelaus could defeat him, Paris is whisked to safety by Aphrodite and the war has
to continue. The gods on Olympus have a big meeting to chat about the war and how it's going,
with Athena and Hera both insisting that Troy has got to lose. Zeus takes control by basically saying
he'll destroy the cities he wants to destroy when he feels like destroying them, but Mycenae will
definitely be one of them. Meanwhile, the mortals on Earth continue battling it out.
On the ground, the men fight and Diomedes, a mighty Greek, is killing everyone in his path
and even goes head-to-head with Aphrodite and Ares, both of whom he injures, but finds that
he is no match for Apollo. The men keep fighting, the women of Troy worry about the future,
and then Hector, the son of King Priam and way more battle-savvy than his brother Paris,
challenges any Greek to combat. The Greek hero Ajax and Hector fight until a truce is called
when the sun sets. The next day, Zeus forbids any of the gods to intervene and Hector pushes
the Greeks back to their ships and camps his Trojan army outside the city walls, because he's
pretty confident at this point. Agamemnon realizes things aren't looking good, so he pleads to Achilles
to help and offers him some serious treasure, but Achilles refuses. His pride costs many men their
lives. Both sides send spies to the other camp to find out any weaknesses, and the next day the
Greeks fight as they never have before, and they drive the Trojans back to their city. But amidst
the fighting, many Greeks, including Agamemnon and Odysseus, are wounded. The Trojans smash down the
gate to the Greek camp, but the Greeks get some help from Poseidon, and they manage to drive back
the Trojans. To keep the Greeks' momentum, Hera uses her womanly wiles to distract Zeus, and while
he is being thoroughly distracted, Hector is injured on the battlefield. Zeus is unimpressed
to see the Trojans struggling and forbids Poseidon to help anymore. Apollo joins the fight and helps
the Trojans drive the Greeks back to their ships once again, with Hector going so far as to call
upon his Trojans to set the Greek ships on fire. During all of this, Achilles is still sulking in
his tent, and although his best friend and lover Patroclus begs him to return to the fight, Achilles
refuses. So instead, Patroclus dons Achilles' armor and leads the Myrmidons into battle. Patroclus
kills many Trojans, but Apollo intervenes, strikes the armor from him, and then Patroclus is killed
by Hector. Suffice to say, Achilles does not take this well at all. The two sides fight over the
body of Patroclus, but the Trojans are successful in stripping his body of Achilles' armor, which
Hector wears. The Greeks succeed in taking Patroclus' body back to their camp for a proper burial.
Achilles rages over the death of his closest companion and swears revenge on Hector, although
he needs new armor if he is to rejoin the battle, and so his mother, Thetis, enlists the help of the
god of metallurgy, Hephaestus, in making Achilles new armor and a shield. Agamemnon and Achilles
reconcile, finally, and the gods take sides, with Ares, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Apollo on the Trojan
side, and Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, and Athena supporting the Greeks. Achilles races into battle, intent
on killing Hector, who is swiftly saved by Apollo. Achilles kills so many Trojans that the river
Xanthos is full of corpses, and the river rises and chases Achilles back to the Greek camp. The
gods are fighting each other, which is pretty pointless since they're immortal. All the while,
the Trojans are driven back into the city, except Hector. Achilles and Hector fight, and Achilles
sends Hector to Hades with a single spear strike to the throat. He then ties Hector's body to the
back of his chariot and drags his body around the city walls and back to the Greek camp. The Greeks
then set about honoring Patroclus with funeral games. All the while, the gods aren't too impressed
with Achilles' disrespectful treatment of Hector's body. Priam is helped by Hermes to enter into the
Greek camp and asks Achilles for his son's body back, a request that is ultimately granted. The
Iliad ends with Priam taking Hector's body back to Troy for a proper burial, and they agree to
So what's next after the Iliad ends? Just a reminder, all of this comes not from the Iliad,
but from fragments of the epic cycle and surviving Greek tragedies. I'm sure you're wondering where
the Trojan horse is. Well, that isn't actually a part of the Iliad, but instead is referenced
once in the Odyssey and primarily comes from Virgil's Aeneid. Next, the female Amazon warriors
join the fight and Achilles is killed by an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo into his heel,
his only vulnerable spot. Paris gets shot by Philoctetes and Ajax goes mad and slaughters
a bunch of sheep before committing suicide because he wasn't given Achilles' armor.
Then Odysseus, with the help of Athena, comes up with the sneaky plan to build a giant horse,
hide some warriors inside, and pretend that it's a gift to the Trojans. Then, once it's in the walls,
leap out, open the gates to the other Greeks, and completely destroy the city. And that is exactly
what happens. Helen returns to Sparta with Menelaus. Odysseus sails all around the Mediterranean and
takes 10 years to return home. That's what the Odyssey is all about. And Agamemnon is promptly
murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, upon his return to Mycenae, as she has been happily having an
while he was away. So did the Trojan War actually happen? And do we know where Troy is now?
Both wonderful questions. The site of Troy has been identified as the modern day site in Turkey
known as Hisarlik, which was first excavated by Frank Calvert in 1863. And then the businessman
and amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann continued the work from 1870 until his death in
1890. Schliemann pretty much just attacked this pristinely preserved site since antiquity. And in
his excavations, he found gold, silver, jewelry, and vessels. Much of the finds actually date to
more than a thousand years before the approximate date of the Trojan War. The site has evidence for
thousands of years of occupation and shows no less than 46 levels of human habitation.
With these levels having been named Troy 1 to Troy 9, with Troy 6 to Troy 7a showing destruction
and dating between 1300 and 1180 BCE during the Late Bronze Age, also known as the Mycenaean
period and the age these Homeric heroes come from. There is little evidence for large-scale war but
texts that detail local unrest and the Mycenaeans supporting a rebellion against the Hittite control
in the area of Troy may be a possible motive for regional rivalry and thus inspiration for a battle
between Greece and Troy. There are also references to Troy in Hittite texts. In these texts, the city
of Troy is called Wilusa and a war against the Archeiawa is mentioned, which some scholars
believe may have been the Hittite name for the Achaeans. There is even mention of a ruler there
which is another name given to Paris in the story. None of this is proof but makes for
interesting speculation. Unless something definitive is found, because no, a large wooden horse hasn't
been discovered in the layers of Hisalic, the Trojan War will continue to be a legendary tale
full of heroic figures and a staple myth of classical Greek literature. Why do you think
the Trojan War is still such a fascinating story over 3,000 years after it occurred? Let us know
what you think in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs
up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday.
This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. For more great articles and
interactive content, head to our website via the link below. If you like my shirt, you can find
this design and a bunch more at flowerillustration.com or you can find a link for it
down below. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you soon with another video!
