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The Iliad of Homer

by Homer (-750–-650)

  • Free to read
  • 11 hours to read
  • 42 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"The Iliad of Homer" by Homer is an ancient Greek epic poem composed around the late 8th or early 7th century BC. Set during the final weeks of the decade-long Trojan War, it traces the devastating anger of Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, sparked by a fierce quarrel with King Agamemnon. As pride and wrath drive the conflict, the poem moves between sweeping battlefield scenes and intimate human moments, while the Olympian gods themselves intervene in mortal affairs, shaping the fates of heroes and determining the destiny of Troy.

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  • Epic poetry, Greek · Translations into English
  • Achilles (Mythological character)
  • Trojan War

Read the opening

Book I

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

The book opens with an account of a pestilence that prevailed in the Grecian camp, and the cause of it is assigned. A council is called, in which fierce altercation takes place between Agamemnon and Achilles. The latter solemnly renounces the field. Agamemnon, by his heralds, demands Brisëis, and Achilles resigns her. He makes his complaint to Thetis, who undertakes to plead his cause with Jupiter. She pleads it, and prevails. The book concludes with an account of what passed in Heaven on that occasion.

[The reader will please observe, that by Achaians, Argives, Danaï, are signified Grecians. Homer himself having found these various appellatives both graceful and convenient, it seemed unreasonable that a Translator of him should be denied the same advantage.—Tr.]

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Contents

Show all 42 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Preface
  3. Book I
  4. Book I
  5. Book II
  6. Book II
  7. Book III
  8. Book III
  9. Book IV
  10. Book IV
  11. Book V
  12. Book VI
  13. Book VI
  14. Book VII
  15. Book VIII
  16. Book VIII
  17. Book IX
  18. Book IX
  19. Book X
  20. Book XI
  21. Book XI
  22. Book XII
  23. Book XIII
  24. Book XIII
  25. Book XIV
  26. Book XIV
  27. Book XV
  28. Book XV
  29. Book XVI
  30. Book XVI
  31. Book XVII
  32. Book XVII
  33. Book XVIII
  34. Book XIX
  35. Book XX
  36. Book XX
  37. Book XXI
  38. Book XXI
  39. Book XXII
  40. Book XXIII
  41. Book XXIV
  42. Book XXIV

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About this edition

This free edition of The Iliad of Homer by Homer comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #16452, released 2005-08-05. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Mythology, Legends & Folklore, Classics of Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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