The Iliad and the Odyssey

The Iliad and the Odyssey are the oldest surviving works of Western literature. They are two epic poems, written in ancient Greek. The Iliad is about the ten–year siege of Troy by a coalition of Greek states; specifically, it tells of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. The Odyssey is a sort of sequel to the Iliad, and tells of the wanderings of Odysseus after the siege ended in the fall of Troy (in 1270 BC).

Both epics are attributed to Homer, who is believed to have lived in the 8th century BC (i.e. about 500 years after the events that his works describe, and 400 years before people like Herodotus and Socrates). The ancient Greeks saw Homer as the first and greatest of the epic poets, and Plato's Republic describes him as "leader of Greek culture". But it's not certain that he ever lived at all; some scholars find it unlikely that both epics were written by one person.

Son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons in Thessaly, and the sea–nymph Thetis; slew Hector at the siege of Troy		Achilles
Father of Theseus – committed suicide when Theseus returned to Athens but forgot to change his sails from black to white		Aegeus
Son of Aphrodite and ancestor of Romulus and Remus, who replaced Hector in command of the Trojans		Aeneas
Mythical King of Mycenae who led the Greeks at the siege of Troy; murdered by his wife Clytemnestra		Agamemnon
Forced to kill his eldest daughter, Iphigenia (or Iphianassa) after accidentally killing one of the sacred stags of the goddess Artemis
Leader of the Salaminian forces at Troy; 'Bulwark of the Achaeans' (Homer)		Ajax
Described in the Iliad as 'those who go to war like men'		Amazons
Food of the gods – often said to confer longevity or immortality on anyone who ate it (see also Nectar)		Ambrosia
Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta – subject of plays by Sophocles and Euripides		Antigone
Odysseus's faithful dog: the only one who recognises him after his return to Ithaca – but dies after Odysseus is unable to greet him (as it would betray his identity)		Argos
Menelaus and Agamenmnon		Brothers
Nymph who imprisoned Odysseus on the island of Ogygia in order to make him her immortal husband		Calypso
Daughter of King Priam, sister of Hector – given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, fated always to tell the truth but never to be believed. Foretold Hector's death and the fall of Troy; murdered by Clytemnestra		Cassandra
Sea monster, supposed by modern scholars to be based on a whirlpool in the Strait of Messina		Charybdis
Iliad: lion before, goat in the middle, serpent behind		Chimera
Daughter of Zeus and Leda, sister of Helen of Troy, Castor and Pollux; wife and murderer of Agamemnon		Clytemnestra
Brother of Oedipus' mother Jocasta – followed Oedipus as King of Thebes		Creon
Phoenician princess, legendary founder and first queen of Carthage; best known from Virgil's Aeneid, in which Aeneas tells her the story of the fall of Troy; she falls in love with him, and commits suicide because he deserted her		Dido
Eldest son of King Priam of Troy – foremost warrior on the Trojan side; married to Andromache (an-DROM-a-kee) – one of the most famous mortal women in Greek mythology		Hector
Wife of King Priam of Troy; gave birth to 19 children, including Paris, Cassandra and Troilus, as well as the above		Hecuba
Daughter of Zeus (and either Leda or Nemesis); hatched from an egg		Helen (of Troy)
Stentor died after losing a shouting contest with		Hermes
Island in the Ionian sea, of which Odysseus was king		Ithaca
Mother of Oedipus		Jocasta
Father of Odysseus		Laërtes
Father of Oedipus		Laius
Trojan priest of Apollo, warned against accepting the Greeks' gift of a wooden horse		Laocöon
Odyssey: people who were transported to a blissful oblivion, and lost the desire to return home, after eating of a certain tree		Lotus eaters
Answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx (What goes on four legs in the morning, at mid–day on two, and in the evening on three; and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?)		Man
King of Sparta: brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen of Troy		Menela(e)us
Advisor to the young Telemachus while his father Odysseus was away on his travels		Mentor
Fierce warrior nation, troops led by Achilles (his father Peleus was their king); name entered English to mean an unquestioningly loyal follower, or hired ruffian; often used in computer, video and role–playing games		Myrmidons
Drink of the gods (before Homer, may have been synonymous with Ambrosia)		Nectar
Hero of the Odyssey: son of Laërtes (some say Sisyphus) and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus; renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility; Latin name Ulysses		Odysseus
Legendary king of Thebes, saved the city by solving the Riddle of the Sphinx; fulfilled the prophecy of the Delphic Oracle by killing his father and marrying his mother; punished himself by putting out his eyes with her brooch pin. Name means 'swollen feet'		Oedipus
One of the 19 children of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy: judged which of Hera, Athena and Aphrodite was most beautiful; Aphrodite promised him Helen of Troy if he chose her		Paris
Prompted the Trojan War by abducting Helen (then known as Helen of Sparta)
Fired the arrow that struck Achilles in the heel and killed him
Achilles's beloved comrade, killed by Hector after driving the Trojans back to the gates of Troy, while wearing Achilles's armour; Achilles fought and killed Hector to avenge his death		Patroclus
Wife of Odysseus – known for her fidelity to Odysseus while he was away		Penelope
Queen of the Amazons, whom Achilles injured and fell in love with		Penthesilia
Cyclops – son of Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoosa – who captured Odysseus – promised to eat him last after he gave him wine; Odysseus escaped by blinding him		Polyphemus
King of Troy, during the Trojan War and the Siege of Troy		Priam
Rock opposite Charybdis in the Straits of Messina – personified as a monster that devoured sailors		Scylla
Greek herald at the siege of Troy, whose voice was said to be as powerful as the voices of fifty other men; died after losing a shouting contest with Hermes; the origin of an adjective in English meaning loud or powerful in sound		Stentor
Son of Odysseus and Penelope, born on the day his father sets out to fight in the Trojan War; sets out with Athena (in the form of Mentor), 20 years later, to find him; kills his mother's suitors on his father's return		Telemachus
King of Salamis, father of Ajax		Telemon
Oedipus, his father Laius and his mother's brother Creon were kings of		Thebes
Mother of Achilles – who dipped him in the Styx		Thetis
Latin name for Odysseus		Ulysses

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22