The Iliad and The Odyssey
Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey
War, Wanderings, Gods and the Making of a Literary World
“ Achilles seeks glory. Odysseus seeks home. Between them lies a world of gods, heroes, betrayal, grief and stories that have never ceased to speak. ”
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Mujeeb Burdi
Author · Founder of Nevalor Publishers
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The Poet Who Gave the Ancient World its Voice
Few names in the history of literature have travelled so far across time as Homer. Nearly three thousand years after the poems associated with his name first took shape, The Iliad and The Odyssey remain among the world’s most enduring works of literature. Their heroes, gods, conflicts, journeys and moral questions have continued to inspire poets, dramatists, novelists, painters, composers and filmmakers across generations.
Yet Homer himself remains elusive.
We know remarkably little about the person behind the name. Even his existence, dates and authorship have been subjects of scholarly debate. What survives with certainty is the extraordinary power of the poetry traditionally attributed to him.
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| A classical marble portrait of Homer, the legendary poet traditionally associated with The Iliad and The Odyssey. |
The Mystery of Homer
Homer is traditionally placed in the eighth century BCE, during a period when Greek culture was undergoing profound changes. The Greek alphabet had emerged, city-states were developing, trade and colonisation were expanding, and an older heroic past was being transformed into poetry and art.
But Homer is not a historical figure about whom we possess a reliable biography. Ancient traditions associated him with several places, particularly cities and islands in the eastern Aegean, while later writers supplied stories about his life. The familiar image of Homer as an elderly blind poet is itself part of a long tradition rather than established historical fact.
The uncertainty has given rise to what is often called the Homeric Question: Who composed these poems, when were they composed, and how did they acquire the form in which we know them?
There is no universally accepted answer.
Some scholars regard the poems as the monumental achievements of individual poets working within an established tradition. Others emphasise the collective nature of the oral tradition from which the poems emerged. Modern scholarship generally recognises that the Homeric epics cannot be understood simply as modern written compositions. They belong to a sophisticated culture of oral poetry and performance.
A Poetry Born from Oral Tradition
Before Homer became a name attached to manuscripts, the stories existed in a world of singers and listeners. Greek epic poetry developed through generations of oral performance. Poets worked with inherited stories, traditional characters, recurring scenes and established poetic expressions. This did not mean that every performance was an improvised retelling. Rather, oral poets possessed a highly developed artistic system through which traditional material could be shaped into long and complex narratives.
The language of Homeric poetry itself preserves evidence of this tradition. The poems contain formulaic expressions and a mixture of dialectal forms that reflect a long history of oral composition and transmission.
The process by which these poems eventually became written texts is equally fascinating. Scholars continue to debate precisely how and when this happened. One modern scholarly approach considers the possibility that oral performances were eventually dictated to scribes, while recognising that the surviving texts emerged through a complicated interaction between performers, collectors and scribes. The result is extraordinary: poetry created for the ear became literature preserved for the eye.
The Iliad: War, Rage and the Human Cost of Glory
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| A dramatic neoclassical interpretation of Achilles mourning the fallen Patroclus, capturing one of the most poignant moments in The Iliad, where friendship, grief, and the cost of war converge before Achilles returns to battle. Original artist: Jean-Joseph Taillasson (1745–1809), French Neoclassical painter. |
Of the two great Homeric epics, The Iliad is the more concentrated and tragic.
It tells part of the story of the Trojan War, the legendary conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans. But it does not narrate the entire ten-year war. Instead, the poem focuses on a relatively brief period towards its end and centres on the anger of Achilles, the greatest warrior among the Greeks.
The poem begins with a quarrel.
Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces, takes Briseis, a captive woman awarded to Achilles. Humiliated and furious, Achilles withdraws from battle. His absence allows the Trojans, led by the formidable Hector, to gain the upper hand.
What follows is far more than a sequence of battles. Homer uses the conflict to explore honour, pride, friendship, mortality and the terrible consequences of anger.
Achilles possesses extraordinary martial ability, yet his greatness is inseparable from his vulnerability. He knows that his choice carries a terrible price: a short life accompanied by lasting glory, or a longer and less celebrated existence.
The death of his beloved companion Patroclus finally brings Achilles back into the war. His grief transforms his anger into something even more destructive. He returns to battle, kills Hector, and dishonours his enemy’s body before eventually recognising the humanity of the old Trojan king Priam, who comes to ask for his son’s remains.
The Iliad ends not with the destruction of Troy, nor with Achilles’ death, but with Hector’s funeral. That ending is significant. Homer turns away from victory and towards mourning. The poem’s ultimate subject is therefore not simply war. It is human mortality.
Even the greatest warriors cannot escape death. Achilles, Hector, Patroclus and countless unnamed soldiers belong to a world where glory may preserve a person’s name, but it cannot preserve the person themselves.
Achilles and Hector: Two Kinds of Hero
One of Homer’s greatest achievements is his refusal to make the Trojan enemy merely monstrous. Achilles and Hector stand on opposite sides of the war, yet both are presented as fully human. Achilles is magnificent, furious and almost superhuman in battle. He is also vulnerable to pride, grief and loneliness.
Hector is a warrior, prince and defender of Troy. Yet he is also a husband to Andromache and father to their young son Astyanax. One of the most moving episodes in the Iliad occurs when Hector meets Andromache and their child before returning to battle.
The scene reminds us that behind every heroic confrontation lies a human life. Hector fights because Troy depends upon him. Achilles fights for honour and reputation. Both understand that death awaits them. Their courage therefore exists alongside fear rather than in the absence of it. This complexity is one reason the Iliad continues to speak to readers thousands of years later.
The Gods Among Mortals
The gods of Homer are not distant abstractions. Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Poseidon and the other Olympians intervene directly in the affairs of mortals. They favour particular heroes, quarrel among themselves, deceive, encourage and punish. Yet the gods do not simply control everything that happens. Human beings still make choices, suffer consequences and confront the limits of their lives.
The relationship between gods and humans is therefore central to the Homeric imagination. The Iliad and Odyssey profoundly influenced Greek ideas about the gods, although ancient Greek religion did not possess a single sacred book comparable to the scriptures of later religions. Homer’s gods are also strikingly human in temperament. They possess rivalries, desires, jealousies and loyalties. Their immortality makes them powerful, but it also throws human mortality into sharper relief.
The Odyssey: The Long Road Home
If the Iliad is a poem of war, the Odyssey is a poem of return. Its central figure is Odysseus, king of Ithaca and one of the most resourceful Greek heroes of the Trojan War. After Troy falls, he attempts to return home to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
The journey, however, becomes an extraordinary succession of trials. Odysseus encounters the Cicones, the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops Polyphemus, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, Circe, the Underworld, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and finally Calypso. But The Odyssey is not simply a catalogue of monsters and adventures. Its deeper subject is homecoming.
Odysseus wants to return to Ithaca, but the journey continually tests what home, identity and belonging actually mean.
Odysseus: A Different Kind of Hero
.png "Ulysses and the Sirens — The Odyssey")
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| Odysseus and his crew confront the enchanting Sirens as their ship crosses treacherous seas. Bound while his sailors struggle to resist the irresistible song, Odysseus embodies endurance, wisdom, and the relentless pursuit of home that defines The Odyssey. Original artist: Herbert James Draper (1863–1920), Ulysses and the Sirens (1909). |
Achilles represents physical excellence and martial glory.
Odysseus represents intelligence, adaptability and cunning. His most celebrated quality is mÄ“tis—a form of practical intelligence, cleverness and strategic thought. This makes him a very different hero from Achilles.
Odysseus survives not because he is always the strongest person in the room, but because he knows how to think, disguise himself, persuade others and recognise opportunities. His encounter with the Cyclops demonstrates this perfectly. Trapped inside Polyphemus’ cave, Odysseus uses deception to escape. He tells the Cyclops that his name is “Nobody”, enabling his companions to attack the monster without immediately revealing who has injured him.
Yet Odysseus’ cleverness also has consequences. His decision to reveal his true identity after escaping Polyphemus brings the anger of Poseidon upon him and contributes to the hardships that follow. In Homer’s world, intelligence can save a person—but pride can undo what intelligence has accomplished.
The Sirens and the Power of Temptation
Among the most famous episodes in The Odyssey is Odysseus’ encounter with the Sirens.
The Sirens possess an irresistible song that promises knowledge and enchantment to those who hear it. Odysseus wants to hear their song but understands that doing so could destroy him. He therefore orders his crew to bind him to the mast while they stop their own ears with wax.
He instructs them not to release him, no matter how desperately he begs.
The episode captures something essential about Odysseus. He does not pretend that temptation does not exist. Instead, he recognises his own vulnerability and prepares for it in advance. It is an unusually modern idea within an ancient story: wisdom sometimes means recognising the limits of one’s own self-control.
Circe, Calypso and the Women of The Odyssey
.png "Circe Offering the Cup — The Odyssey")
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| The enchantress Circe, seated upon her throne, raises her magic wand and a cup of enchanted wine, welcoming unsuspecting visitors to her palace. In The Odyssey, she transforms Odysseus’ companions into swine before aiding the hero on his journey back to Ithaca. Original artist: John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Circe Offering the Cup (1891). |
The women of The Odyssey are among its most memorable characters. Circe is a powerful enchantress who transforms Odysseus’ companions into animals before eventually becoming his ally. Calypso keeps Odysseus on her island for years, offering him an existence that might seem desirable but cannot replace his longing for Ithaca.
Then there is Penelope. While Odysseus travels across the seas, Penelope remains in Ithaca, surrounded by suitors who consume her household’s resources and demand that she choose a new husband.
She responds with intelligence and patience. Her famous weaving trick allows her to postpone remarriage: she promises to choose a husband once she has finished weaving a burial shroud for Laertes, only to unravel the work secretly each night. Penelope therefore becomes more than the faithful wife waiting for her husband. She is herself a strategist. Her intelligence mirrors Odysseus’ own.
Telemachus and the Search for Identity
One of the less obvious achievements of The Odyssey is that it is also the story of Telemachus. When the poem begins, Odysseus has been absent for years. Telemachus is still young, while the suitors occupying his home behave as though they have already inherited his father’s household.
Athena encourages Telemachus to search for news of his father. His journey becomes a passage into adulthood. The poem therefore operates on several levels at once: Odysseus struggles to return home, Penelope struggles to preserve her household, and Telemachus struggles to become the man capable of defending it.
The Underworld
One of the darkest and most memorable episodes of The Odyssey occurs when Odysseus travels to the Underworld. There he encounters the dead, including former companions and heroes of the Trojan War.
Among them is Achilles. The encounter is particularly striking because Achilles’ earthly glory has not made death desirable. In the Underworld, he tells Odysseus that he would rather live as a poor servant than rule over the dead.
The episode offers a profound counterpoint to the values of heroic warfare celebrated in the Iliad. Glory can make a person immortal in memory. But memory is not life.
Homecoming and Recognition
Eventually Odysseus reaches Ithaca, but even then his journey is not over. He returns disguised as a beggar and must discover whom he can trust. His own household has changed, and many people no longer know him.
The climax comes through recognition. Odysseus and Penelope are finally reunited, but their reunion is not sentimental or immediate. Penelope remains cautious. She tests him, seeking proof that the stranger before her really is the husband who disappeared so many years earlier.
Her test concerns their marriage bed, which Odysseus knows cannot be moved because he constructed it around a living olive tree. Only then does Penelope know that he has truly returned. The marriage bed becomes a symbol of something deeper than romance: a shared history that cannot simply be imitated by an impostor.
The Two Epics Compared
| The Iliad | The Odyssey |
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| Centred on the Trojan War | Centred on Odysseus’ return home |
| Achilles is its central hero | Odysseus is its central hero |
| Explores rage, honour and war | Explores intelligence, identity and homecoming |
| Dominated by battlefield conflict | Filled with voyages, encounters and adventures |
| Hector and Achilles embody heroic ideals | Odysseus embodies adaptability and cunning |
| Death and mortality dominate its emotional world | Restoration and reunion dominate its conclusion |
The contrast between the two poems is part of their genius. The Iliad asks what it means to achieve glory when death is inevitable. The Odyssey asks what it means to return home after becoming someone different through experience.
One looks deeply into war. The other travels through the world beyond war. Together they form an extraordinary portrait of the human condition.
The World Behind the Poems
The world described by Homer is not a simple historical record of Bronze Age Greece. The Trojan War tradition reaches back to a much earlier age, associated with the Mycenaean civilisation of the Late Bronze Age. Yet the poems themselves emerged centuries later and contain elements belonging to different periods.
This mixture is one reason historians treat Homer carefully. The poems preserve memories of an older heroic age, but they also reflect the society, language and imagination of the period in which the poems were composed and transmitted. Objects, weapons, social customs and religious practices sometimes preserve echoes of earlier traditions, while other details belong much more clearly to the later Greek world. Homer therefore stands at an extraordinary meeting point between memory and invention.
Homer and the Greek Imagination
The influence of Homer upon ancient Greece was enormous. His poems became more than entertainment. They provided a shared store of stories, characters, ideals and cultural references for Greek communities separated by geography and political rivalry.
Greek artists repeatedly represented scenes from the Homeric epics on pottery, sculpture and other objects. Scenes from their stories became enduring subjects for visual art.
The poems also became essential objects of scholarly study. Centuries after their composition, scholars at the Library of Alexandria collected, compared and edited copies of Homer. Ancient papyri preserve evidence that textual variations existed during antiquity, demonstrating that the transmission of the poems was itself a long and complex process.
The effort to preserve Homer was itself a remarkable literary achievement. Without generations of copying, studying and comparing manuscripts, the poems might not have survived in anything resembling their present form.
Homer and the Birth of Western Literature
It is difficult to overstate Homer’s influence. Greek tragedy repeatedly returned to stories surrounding the Trojan War. Virgil’s Aeneid grew from the same mythological world. Medieval and Renaissance writers rediscovered Homer, while later poets and novelists transformed his themes for new audiences.
His influence extends far beyond literature. Painters have imagined Achilles, Helen, Hector, Odysseus, Circe and the Sirens. Sculptors have recreated Homeric heroes. Composers have turned his stories into opera. Modern novelists have retold the epics from the perspectives of characters who received less attention in the original poems.
Even the word odyssey has entered everyday English as a description of a long and eventful journey. That is an extraordinary legacy for a poet whose biography remains almost completely uncertain.
Why Homer Still Matters
Why should a modern reader, living thousands of years after Homer, care about Achilles, Hector or Odysseus? Because the world of the poems is ancient, but the questions are not.
What does honour mean? How much should pride cost us? What happens when anger controls our choices? Can intelligence overcome strength? What makes someone a hero? What do we owe our family? What does it mean to return home? Can a person truly return to the life they left behind?
And perhaps the most enduring question of all: What remains of us after we are gone?
Homer’s answer is, in part, storytelling itself. Achilles dies, but his name survives. Hector dies, but his humanity survives in the poem. Odysseus grows old, yet his journey continues to be retold. Penelope’s patience, Circe’s power, Priam’s grief and Andromache’s sorrow remain alive because someone remembered them.
The Eternal Poet
Homer may have lived in the eighth century BCE—or the historical figure behind the name may have been more complicated than tradition suggests. We may never know exactly who composed the poems, how much of them was inherited from earlier singers, or precisely when their written forms were established.
But perhaps that uncertainty is fitting. Homer belongs not only to a single historical moment but to a tradition of storytelling that existed before the poems were written and continued long after. The Iliad gave literature one of its greatest meditations on war, honour, rage and mortality. The Odyssey gave it one of its greatest journeys—a story of exile, temptation, identity, endurance and homecoming.
Together, they established a literary inheritance that has crossed languages, religions, empires and centuries. The man called Homer remains partly hidden from history.
His poetry does not. And that may be the greatest achievement of all: the poet himself became a mystery, while his stories became immortal.
Editorial Note
References and further study
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Caroline Alexander. New York: Ecco, 2015.
———. The Odyssey. Translated by Emily Wilson. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.
Hardie, Philip. “Epic.” Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Saïd, Suzanne. “Homer.” Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2015.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Across Wine-Dark Seas: Art and Identity beyond Ancient Greece.” New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
———. “The Iliad.” Collection entry.
———. “The Odyssey.” Collection entry.
———. “Papyrus Fragment with Lines from Homer’s Odyssey.” Collection entry.
———. “Ostrakon with Lines from Homer’s Iliad.” Collection entry.
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