4. ELEMENTS
OF
LITERATURE

5. Full Title: The Iliad
Author: Homer
Type of Work: Poem
Genre: Epic
Language: Ancient
Greek

6. Time and place written:
Unknown, but probably
mainland Greece, around
750 b.c.
Date of first publication:
Unknown
Publisher: Unknown
Narrator: The poet

7. Point of view: The narrator
speaks in the third
person. An omniscient
narrator, he frequently
gives insight into the
thoughts and feelings of
even minor characters,
gods and mortals alike.

8. Tone: Awe-
inspired, ironic,
lamenting,
pitying
Tense: Past

9. Setting (time): Bronze Age
(around the twelfth or
thirteenth century b.c.);
The Iliad begins nine
years after the start of
the Trojan War
Setting (Place): Troy
Protagonist: Achilleus

10. The Iliad: Cast of Characters
Principal Gods and Goddesses
APHRODITE: goddess of love and daughter of Zeus.
PHOIBOS APOLLO: the archer god, cause of plagues,
god of prophecy and a divine singer; the son of Zeus
and Leto; a partisan of the Trojans.
ARES: god of war, son of Zeus, and lover of Aphrodite.
ARTEMIS: sister of Apollo, goddess of the hunt.
PALLAS ATHENE: Zeus’ daughter, a warrior goddess,
goddess of wisdom, patroness of the women’s craft
of weaving, a powerful ally of the Greeks and
protectress of Odysseus.
HADES: god of the underworld, the realm assigned to
him when the sky, sea and underworld were divided
among the three sons of Kronos.

11. HEPHAISTOS: the divine smith and god of fire,
son of Zeus and Hera.
HERA: jealous wife – and sister – of Zeus.
HERMES: son of Zeus who guides souls to the
Underworld.
KRONOS: father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and
Hera; he was overthrown by Zeus.
POSEIDON: son of Kronos, brother of Zeus and
lord of the sea.
THETIS: a sea goddess, wife of the warrior,
Peleus, and divine mother of Achilleus.
ZEUS: the son of Kronos and most powerful of
the gods; brother of Poseidon, Hades and the
goddess, Hera, his wife; as lord of the sky, the
thunderbolt is his most potent weapon.

12. MORTALS
GREEKS(called Argives, Danaans and Achaians by
Homer)
ACHILLEUS: leader of the Myrmidons and central
character of the Iliad; son of the goddess,
Thetis, and the warrior, Peleus.
AGAMEMNON: son of Atreus, king of Mykenai,
brother of Menelaos and most powerful Greek
king.
AIAS (Telamonian Aias): duels with Hektor(bk. 7),
forms part of the embassy to Achilleus (bk. 9),
defends the ships (bk. 15), and leads the effort
to recover Patroklos’ body (bk. 17).

13. AIAS OILEUS: the lesser of the two men named
Aias, leader of the Lokrians, warriors famed as
archers.
DIOMEDES: son of Tydeus, great warrior whose
exploits form the subject of book five.
HELEN: daughter of Zeus and Leda, step-
daughter of Tyndareus; wife of Menelaos who
eloped with Paris.
KALCHAS: the seer of prophet of the Greeks.
MENELAOS: son of Atreus, brother of
Agamemnon, lord of Lakedaimon (Sparta),
husband of Helen.
NESTOR: aged king of Pylos and a wise counsellor
who often uses from the past to advise and
instruct the Greek warriors.

14. ODYSSEUS: son of Laertes, lord of Ithaka, famed
of wisdom and trickery.
PATROKLOS: son of Menoitios and companion of
Achilleus.
PHOINIX: aged tutor of Achilleus and one of the
members of the embassy to Achilleus in book
nine.
Trojans and their allies
AINEIAS: leader of the Dardanians, a Trojan clan,
and son of Anchises and the goddess,
Aphrodite.
ANDROMACHE: wife of Hektor.
BRISEIS: woman captured by the Greeks in a raid
and given to Achilleus as a slave.

15. CHRYSEIS: daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo.
GLAUKOS: an ally of the Trojans and Sarpedon’s
second-in-command.
HEKABE: queen of Troy, wife of Priam and mother
of Hektor.
HEKTOR: son of Priam and Hekabe and leading
warrior of the Trojans.
PARIS (Alexandros): a son of Priam.
PRIAM: aged king of Troy, married to Hekabe,
father of fifty sons.
SARPEDON: son of Zeus by a moral woman,
Laodameia; lord of the Lykians and the most
important ally of the Trojans.

16. Major Conflict:
Agamemnon’s demand for
Achilles’ war prize, the
maiden Briseis, wounds
Achilles’ pride; Achilles’
consequent refusal to fight
causes the Achaeans to
suffer greatly in their battle
against the Trojans.

17. Rising Action: Hector’s
assault on the
Achaean ships; the
return of Patroclus to
combat; the death of
Patroclus

18. Climax: Achilles’ return to
combat turns the tide
against the Trojans once
and for all and ensures
the fated fall of Troy to
which the poet has
alluded throughout the
poem.

19. Falling Action: The
retreat of the Trojan
army; Achilles’
revenge on Hector; the
Achaeans’ desecration
of Hectors corpse

20. Themes: The glory of
war; military values
over family life; the
impermanence of
human life and its
creations
Motifs: Armor; burial;
fire

21. Symbols: The Achaean
ships; the shield of
Achilles
Foreshadowing:
Foreshadowing is
prominent in The Iliad.

22. REPORTED BY:
STEPHANIE ANN
S. LAGARTO
BSED-III