History Characters / TheIliad

* NoKillLikeOverkill: Spends ''twelve days'' desecrating Hector's corpse after killing him, most likely due to the fact that he was Patroclus' killer.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Once strikes Thersites, a {{Gonk}} {{Jerkass}} of a Greek who is bad-mouthing Agamemnon. Although Thersites [[JerkassHasAPoint may just have a point with Agamemnon's failings]].

* TheArcher: One of the oldest ones in the book, though he doesn't engage in it during the Iliad proper, having left his bow at home.

* TheArcher: Part of the reason he gets no respect as he's not up close and fighting. However, he is probably the most skilled archer in the story and his arrows [[HeroKiller kill even Achilles]].

* OffingTheOffspring: Accounts over those involved with act itself vary, but regardless, Agamemnon sacrificed his eldest daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis for accidentally killing one of her sacred deer while she prevented the winds from allowing his fleet to sail to Troy. His wife (or his wife's lover) would later murder him in {{Revenge}} upon his return from Troy. This may not have happened in the Iliad; he offers Achilles one of his three daughters in marriage, and one of them (Iphianassa) may or may not be an alternate name for Iphigenia.
* {{Pride}}: Almost as much as Achilles. Heck, the argument between them is two prideful people butting heads and playing chicken with the war at stake.

[[folder:Helen of Sparta]]

* HomeSweetHome: Helen would really like to go back home to Sparta and her husband and daughter, but doesn't see any way of making that happen.

* OnlySaneMan: With Hector, Nestor, and Cassandra. Without him and Nestor, the Greek camp would fall into infighting. Ironic considering he didn't seem to want to be there in the first place.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Despite being one of the youngest greek heroes, Diomedes commands more ships (80) than anyone excluding Agamemnon (100) and Nestor (90). He's also among the most feared warriors, considered second only to Achilles in martial prowess.

* OneManArmy: To the point that he occasionally wounds and chases off [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu gods]], Diomedes is possibly the best warrior on the greek side, aside from demi-god achilles

* AchillesInHisTent: The TropeNamer.
* AmbiguouslyBi: His interest in Briseis (and being forced to give her up to Agamemnon angering to him {{Rage Quit}}, as [[AchillesInHisTent the trope goes]]) certainly implies him being attracted to women, while his relationship with Patroclus can be seen as either [[HeterosexualLifePartners a very deep friendship]] or lovers just not made textually explicit. Achilles' sexuality was debated to death even by the ancient Greeks, with some going past that to instead argue who had what role out of LoverAndBeloved when pederasty became prominent.

* OneManArmy: He kills so many Trojans during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge that it angers a river's spirit from all of the pollution. And he's got no "he's invulnerable save for his AchillesHeel" explanation for that here!

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Jumps to accept Paris' suggestion of a CombatByChampion between the two sides and utterly trounces Paris, who is saved only by Aphrodite's intervention.

* TheHeart: At his funeral, every single one of his comarades put a lock of their hair upon his funeral pyre -- given what this symbolizes (grief and the separation of the dead and living), it's a testament to how much the others cared about him.

* DueToTheDead: Manages to give Hector his after begging to Achilles to give his father his corpse, who was [[SubvertedTrope subverting this]] majorly at the time (read:dragging his corpse by chariot around Troy for the last twelve days). Sadly, according to other authors in antiquity (which are not technically the Iliad), Priam would not be granted this, as not really anyone not Greek left was after his city's destruction to bury him.

* RatedMForManly: ''He killed so many Trojans during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge that it angers a river's spirit from all of the pollution!''

* {{Pride}}: Not that much, unlike in the Odyssey.

* RatedMForManly: Another kind of manly than Achilles.

* TheSmartGuy: It's Odysseus.

* BashBrothers: With Odysseus.

* RatedMForManly: Actually no, the point is that he ''isn't'' (unlike everyone else) and therefore is worthy of contempt.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: In-universe. In Ancient Greece, you're not worth much if you are not a Badass.

* MirrorCharacter: Hector and Achilles mirror each other as the most brilliant warriors their respective cultures produced, and after Achilles kills Hector's beloved brother, Hector winds up returning the favor with the death of Patrocles.

* HeroKiller: By far the most dreaded Trojan to the Greeks, he slaughters many of them, including Partoclus.
* MirrorCharacter: Hector and Achilles mirror each other as the most brilliant warriors their respective cultures produced, and after Achilles kills Hector's beloved brother, Hector winds up returning the favor with the death of Patrocles.

* SactrificialLion: His death at the hands of Hector is one of the most important events in the Iliad itself, and the only thing that makes Achilles rejoin the battle against the Trojans.

* {{Pride}}: Pretty much his AchillesHeel (pun intended). His refusal to fight because Agamemnon essentially insulted him indirectly leads to Patroclus' death

* BigGood: Of the Greeks.

* HoldTheLine: Along with Ajax the Greater and several of the Greeks, held onto Patroclus's body so it wouldn't get looted by the Trojans.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Menelaus manages a few impressive feats of skill in the story, but it's suggested he's one of the weaker fighters among the major Greek leaders. It's noted that he would stand no chance whatsoever in a duel with Hector.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Averted -- while king of Sparta, the Iliad predates the time of when the city-state's famous warrior ethos developed.

* TheArcher: Part of the reason he gets no respect as he's not up close and fighting.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After an entire city is razed and most of the Greeks' collective armies are bloodied to do it over her running away from her betrothed, which [[QuestionableConsent may or may not have been her choice]] and suffering guilt and isolation from the rest of Troy agreeing with that assessment for a decade, [[ContinuitySnarl the most common]] account of her ending tends to just be her living out a happy marriage with Menelaus for the rest of their lives as it was supposed to be. Averted in certain story endings such as those found in Euripides's tragedy "The Trojan Women" where Helen is miserably shunned by the women who survived the war and hated by widows of husbands who lost their lives sent to retrieve her, and is to be taken back to Greece to face a death sentence for treason.

* BadassInCharge: He totally is. Especially notable since in a tale where the gods are quite freely affecting the actions of the war's fighters, Agamemnon's almost Achilles-like bodycount was entirely unaided by divine intervention.

* BackFromTheDead: One account has him slain at the hands of Penthesilea, but the request of his mother Thetis has him brought back for him to return the favor.

* WeaponOfChoice: A bow, the coward's weapon.