Essential Words and Ideas for Reading The Iliad
Homer’s Iliad takes place in a world very different from our own. Warriors fight not only to survive, but for honor and lasting fame. Gods intervene in human affairs. Oaths, gifts, burial rites, and hospitality carry enormous weight.
Students do not need to know Greek to understand the Iliad, but knowing a few important terms and ideas can make the poem much easier to follow.
The Heroic World
Kleos (KLEE-os)
Glory or fame, especially the reputation that survives after a person’s death. For the warriors of the Iliad, great deeds in battle can bring kleos that lasts for generations.
Timē (tee-MAY)
Honor, status, or the respect a person is owed. Timē is often shown through prizes and public recognition. Achilles’ quarrel with Agamemnon begins when Agamemnon takes Briseis from him, an act Achilles sees as an attack on his honor.
GerAS (GEH-ras)
A prize given as a visible sign of honor, often a share of the spoils of war. Briseis is Achilles’ geras. When Agamemnon takes her, the dispute is about more than possession: Achilles believes his standing among the Greeks has been publicly diminished.
Aretē (ah-reh-TAY)
Excellence—the qualities that allow someone to perform exceptionally well. In the Iliad, aretē is especially associated with courage and skill in battle.
Moira (MOY-rah)
A person’s allotted fate or portion in life. Even the gods cannot simply erase every limit imposed by fate.
Xenia (ZEN-ee-ah)
The bond of hospitality between host and guest. It involves mutual duties, gifts, protection, and respect. In the Iliad, the encounter between Diomedes and Glaucus shows how a bond of hospitality can survive across generations—even when the descendants meet as enemies in battle.
Supplication
A formal appeal for mercy or help, often made by approaching someone in a position of power. Priam’s appeal to Achilles for the return of Hector’s body is the poem’s most powerful example.
Ransom
Payment offered for the return of a captive or a dead body. Ransom plays an important role at both the beginning and the end of the Iliad.
Oath
A solemn promise, often made before the gods. Breaking an oath is not merely dishonest; it can bring divine punishment.
War and Warriors
Achaeans
One of Homer’s common names for the Greek forces fighting at Troy.
Argives
Another name Homer uses for the Greeks.
Danaans
Another name for the Greek forces. Achaeans, Argives, and Danaans generally refer to the same side in the war.
Trojans
The people of Troy and their allies, led in battle chiefly by Hector.
Champion
A warrior who represents or stands out among his people because of his strength, courage, or fighting ability.
Chariot
A light, two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses. Homeric warriors often ride chariots to and from the fighting and then battle on foot.
Spoils
Weapons, armor, valuables, captives, or other goods taken from a defeated enemy. The distribution of spoils is closely connected with honor and rank.
Aristeia (ah-ris-TAY-ah)
A period in which a warrior dominates the battlefield and performs a remarkable series of heroic deeds. Several major warriors have an aristeia during the poem.
Battle Line
The organized formation of warriors facing the enemy. Maintaining or breaking the battle line can determine the course of a fight.
Herald
An official messenger who makes announcements, carries messages, or performs ceremonial duties. Heralds are generally treated with special respect.
Gods and Religion
Olympians
The major Greek gods associated with Mount Olympus. In the Iliad, they frequently interfere in human affairs and take opposing sides in the Trojan War.
Sacrifice
An offering made to a god, often involving an animal, as part of worship or an appeal for divine favor.
Libation
A ritual offering of liquid—usually wine—poured out in honor of a god.
Prayer
A formal appeal to a god. Prayers in the Iliad often recall a person’s previous devotion or offerings before asking the god for help.
Omen
A sign believed to reveal the will of the gods or indicate what may happen in the future. Birds and other natural events can be interpreted as omens.
Seer
A person believed capable of interpreting signs and understanding messages from the gods. Calchas, the Greek seer, reveals the cause of Apollo’s plague at the beginning of the poem.
Divine Intervention
Direct involvement by a god in human events. Gods in the Iliad protect warriors, deceive them, inspire them, rescue them, and sometimes fight alongside them.
Fate
The destined course or end of a person’s life. The Iliad repeatedly explores the tension between human choice, divine action, and events that are fated to occur.
Funeral Rites
The ceremonies performed for the dead. Proper burial matters deeply in the world of the Iliad, which helps explain the importance of the struggle over Patroclus’ and Hector’s bodies.
Epic Poetry
Epic
A long narrative poem about heroic actions and events important to a people or culture. The Iliad is one of the foundational epics of ancient Greek literature.
Epic Hero
A central heroic figure whose actions involve extraordinary courage, strength, reputation, and conflict. Achilles is the central hero of the Iliad, although the poem continually questions what true heroism means.
Muse
A goddess associated with artistic inspiration. The Iliad begins with the poet asking a goddess—the Muse—to sing of the anger of Achilles.
Invocation
An appeal for help or inspiration. The opening lines of the Iliad contain an invocation to the Muse.
In Medias Res (in MAY-dee-as rays)
Latin for “into the middle of things.” The Iliad does not begin with the start of the Trojan War. It begins during the tenth year of the war, with the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon.
Epithet
A repeated descriptive word or phrase attached to a person, god, or thing. Homeric poetry frequently uses epithets to identify characters and emphasize familiar qualities.
Epic Simile
A long, detailed comparison, often comparing events in battle with animals, weather, farming, family life, or other familiar scenes. Homer’s similes often pause the action and allow readers to see warfare from a different perspective.
Oral Tradition
The practice of preserving and transmitting stories through spoken performance rather than written texts. The Iliad grew out of a long Greek tradition of oral poetry.
Ideas to Watch While Reading
Honor and Shame
A warrior’s standing depends heavily on how other people see and treat him. Public humiliation can therefore have enormous consequences. Achilles’ anger cannot be understood without recognizing the importance of honor and shame.
Glory and Mortality
The heroes know that human life is short. The desire to achieve lasting glory is partly a response to that fact. Achilles faces this choice especially clearly: a long, quiet life or a short life accompanied by lasting fame.
Wrath
Extreme anger. The Iliad announces its central subject in its opening line: the anger of Achilles and the suffering that follows from it.
Heroic Code
The expectations governing the behavior of warriors: courage, loyalty, honor, reputation, generosity, and achievement in battle. The poem presents these values seriously while also showing their terrible costs.
Guest-Friendship
A lasting relationship created through hospitality, sometimes extending from one generation to another. This is the practical meaning of xenia and helps explain why Diomedes and Glaucus refuse to fight one another.
Mortality
The condition of being human and therefore destined to die. The difference between mortal humans and immortal gods lies near the heart of the Iliad. The gods can enter the battle, but they do not face death in the way the human warriors do.
A Note for Students
You do not need to memorize every term before beginning the Iliad. Use this guide as a reference while you read.
Pay particular attention to kleos, timē, xenia, fate, supplication, epic simile, and divine intervention. Once you understand these ideas, many of the choices the characters make—and many of the conflicts that might otherwise seem strange to a modern reader—become much easier to understand.
