Whose epic poem is the Iliad?
Quick Answer
The Iliad is traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer and was probably composed in the 8th century BCE.
The Full Story
The Iliad is one of the oldest surviving works of Western literature, generally dated to around 750–700 BCE. It is written in dactylic hexameter and runs to about 15,700 lines, divided into 24 books. The poem covers a few weeks near the end of the ten-year Trojan War, focusing on the anger of the Greek hero Achilles and his conflict with King Agamemnon. Scholars still debate whether Homer was a single poet or a name given to a tradition of oral storytellers. Surprisingly, the famous Trojan Horse does not appear in the Iliad; it is mentioned in the Odyssey and described in detail in Virgil's Aeneid.
Key Facts
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Suggested video title for this topic:
"The Trojan War's greatest poem — and why the Trojan Horse isn't in it."