The Iliad, Homer

It has begun: the reading of epic poem The Iliad. All 24 books. Today! The inspiration? Getting to two thirds the way through 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction winning novel The Song of Achilles, by Madeleine Miller. I am hooked on all things ancient Greek, Homeric, invocations of the gods of Mount Olympus, archery, honour, chariots and sacrifices…

Temple of Poseidon, Sounion, Attika, Greece

Temple of Poseidon, Sounion, Attika, Greece

Enjoy my cribs-notes style reading and lay-person’s summary of Homer’s The Iliad, set in the tenth year of the Trojan War, where tensions are running high among the Greeks, who are lead into battle by King Agamemnon. Agamemnon is currently holding captive the Apollo’s priest Chryses’ daughter. When Agamemnon refuses to release her, Chryses prays to the god Apollo to send a plague against the Greeks…

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