History Literature / TheIliad

The main plot concerns Achilles, the invaders' strongest soldier. Achilles, according to prophecy, has a choice: either die an untimely death that ensures his legend lives forever, or retire to a [[IJustWantToBeNormal life of normality]] and obscurity. After a falling-out with King Agamemnon, Achilles [[AchillesInHisTent withdraws from the war]], tempted by the second option. In his absence, the fortunes of battle begin to swing the Trojan way. Achilles eventually chooses glory... ''after'' [[ItsPersonal his closest friend Patroclus has been killed by the Trojan prince Hector.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Achilles abandons his duties just because Agamemnon took him his captive Briseis. This is not because he cares about her as he already has other captives and still refuses to return when Agamemnom offer Briseis and many extensive gifts, this is just because Agamemnon hurt his pride (when he's told that Agamemnon hasn't slept with Briseis, [[YouCanKeepHer he replies that he might as well start]]). He goes as far to ask Zeus via his mother to [[DisproportionateRetribution favor the Trojans]].

* AMatchMadeInStockholm: Apparently the norm between the Greek warriors and their captive women. The latter are invariably depicted as resigned, submissive and in some cases affectionate towards their captor. Briseis weeps pitifully at being parted from Achilles and he claims to love her and calls her his wife.

Atreus's son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.

->"Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
->οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾿ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾿ ἔθηκε"
->''Mȇnin àide theà Peleïádeo Achilȇos \\
ouloménin, hè myrí Achioȋs álge éthike''
->(Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, the accursed anger which brought countless pains to the Achaeans.)
-->-- '''Homer''', ''The Iliad'', Bk.I:1-2.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Literally no one likes Paris after he caused the Trojan War by kidnapping Helen, and his DirtyCoward ways especially makes everyone's contempt for him look justified.
** Among the Greeks, Odysseus strikes Thersites, a {{Gonk}} {{Jerkass}} of a Greek, for bad-mouthing Agamemnon. Although Thersites [[JerkassHasAPoint may just have a point with Agamemnon's failings]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: All the heroes are nobles, and the battles are all decided by how well they fight each other.

* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter

* AMatchMadeInStockholm: Apparently the norm between the Greek Warriors and their captive women. The latter are invariably depicted as resigned, submissive and in some cases affectionate towards their captor. Briseis weeps pitifully at being parted from Achilles and he claims to love her and calls her his wife.

** DisproportionateRetribution is only for the JerkassGods. Human beings must not engage in it, because [[TheHecateSisters The Moirae]] gave [[HumansAreSpecial humans a patient heart, capable of enduring all the pain]]. Indeed, Achilles wrath is only explainable because [[HalfHumanHybrid he was the son of a goddess.]]

* AloneInACrowd: Helen very much feels this way in Troy. The women barely tolerate her and only Hector and Priam are actually kind. Paris is no consolation, Helen seems to have come to despise him.
* AmbiguouslyGay: While Achilles and Patroclus are not explicitly[[note]]During the Byzantine times, the Iliad went under at least attempts to make Achilles 'less gay', such as cutting off the scene where Achilles tells Patroclus that he wants them to be the only people alive in the world, or adding "just like nature intended" when they sleep next to their concubines[[/note]] described as gay lovers in the text itself, their love was taken for granted by the time of Plato's ''Literature/{{Symposium}}''.
* AmbiguouslyBi: On the other hand, Achilles is the father of Pyrrhus with Deidamie and both he and Patroclus enjoy sex with Lesbian slaves ([[HaveAGayOldTime as in native from Lesbos]]) in one scene.

* Foreshadowing: The Telamonian Ajax's duel with Hector can be seen as this. The duel is ended before it becomes decisive; but when it is halted, Ajax is clearly at an advantage. Among the Achaeans, many could boast of being the 2nd greatest, but it's routinely acknowledged that Achilles is THE greatest among them. [[ForegoneConclusion If Hector, greatest among the Trojans, struggles with Ajax, how can he hope to beat Achilles?]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: If Achilles is so badass, why is Agamemnon in charge? He has the most ships, by ten. Admittedly, the entire fleet was put together to bring Helen back to her husband, Agamemnon's brother.

* WorldOfBadass: Greece is full with heroes, each worth at least 100 common soldiers. For the humans, there is Achilles, [[Literature/TheAeneid Aeneas]], [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Agamemnon]], [[TheBigGuy Ajax]], [[OneSteveLimit the other Ajax]], [[BadassNormal Diomedes]], Glaucus, Nestor, [[TheRival Hector]], [[TheLancer Patroclus]], [[GeniusBruiser Odysseus]], Sarpedon, Menelaus, [[TokenMinority Memnon]]... [[WorldOfBadass EVERYONE, in fact]]. Except [[DirtyCoward for]] [[TheLoad Paris]]. For the goddesses, there's Hera and Athena.

* PersonAsVerb: Apollo, while in the guise of one of Hector's friends, tries to rile him up by accusing him of being "in fight a [[TheChick Paris]]".

* {{Gorn}}: Homer gets pretty graphic with the carnage.

* AnAxeToGrind: one of the Trojan uses an axe. It doesn't work.

''The Iliad'' (Greek: ''Ιλιάς'' ''Iliás'') is an epic poem from the Literature/TrojanCycle describing a few months in the ninth year of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, a siege of the great city of Troy by an alliance of Greek city-states. It is considered one of the cornerstones of Western literature and attributed to Creator/{{Homer}}. ''The Iliad'' is one of the [[OlderThanFeudalism oldest works of literature]] to survive intact.

* SadlyMythtaken: ''The Iliad'' is an epic poem, not a myth. It also does not contain many well-known events in UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, such as the Trojan Horse, the death of Achilles, the theft of the Palladium, the fall of Troy, etc. Some of these events are mentioned in the ''[[Literature/TheOdyssey Odyssey]]'', but we've lost the other epics from the Literature/TrojanCycle that actually deal with these episodes. Some colorful additions (like Achilles' AchillesHeel) come from sources ''much'' later.

** Also, depending on the translation, book 14 is called "Hera [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow Outflanks]] Zeus".

* LoverAndBeloved: Achilles and Patroclus aren't explicitly a gay couple ([[AmbiguouslyBi thought they are frequently considered so]]), but [[AnachronismStew due to erastes and eromenos being a social norm in 5th century Greece]], people of that time argued which one was which since they did not fit neatly with the dynamic - Achilles is the younger one of the two and Patroclus trained him before the war, but Achilles is also the more skillful and directing of the two. Plato's ''{{Literature/Symposium}}'' even has a character (Phaedrus) laying out the argument that Achilles was the eromenos.

* YouShouldKnowThisAlready: Not only is the epic thousands of years old, but Zeus himself spoils the story in-universe!

* TwiceToldTale: Many women have written from the perspective of the Greek soldiers' war-brides, since everything they do revolves around QuestionableConsent; Homer claims that the soldiers treated their captives kindly, but he ''was'' a Greek man, after all--in real life, they [[NoWomansLand weren't known for caring what women thought.]] Hector, as Troy's champion, is openly afraid for all the city's women when he goes to his death, so ''he'' certainly doesn't think the Achaeans will treat them kindly.

** Glaucis has gilded armor, which he gives to Diomedes.

->(Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, the accursed anger which brought countless pains to the Achaeans)

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And roughly 70% of them [[KillEmAll get killed off]] -- within two paragraphs of being introduced.

* WimpFight: The duel between Menelaus and Paris looks a fair bit like this. Both of Menelaus's attacks fail to cause any damage and leave him unarmed, and he eventually resorts to just grabbing Paris by his helmet-crest and dragging him around. Paris is too wimpy to fight back at all.

** Many women have written TwiceToldTales about the Greek soldiers' war-brides, since everything they do revolves around QuestionableConsent; Homer was a Greek man, after all, and they [[NoWomansLand weren't known for caring what women thought.]] Hector, as Troy's champion, is openly afraid for all the women in Troy, so ''he'' certainly doesn't think the Achaeans will treat them kindly.

** Many women are [[RapeAsDrama abducted or taken captive]]. To the Greeks that would always have been rape in the sense of "theft of a person" since women were the property of their the father or husband. This almost certainly involved rape in the modern sense of "nonconsensual sex" as well but the narrative is rarely explicit about this. Slaves can also be taken for the purpose of doing work, of course, and Agamemnon even once swears that he didn't have sex with a captive woman he stole from Achilles.

* AchillesHeel: TropeNamer that is surprisingly not here. That is the story of his rage, but it doesn't cover many of the famous parts of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, including his death and the creation of the Trojan Horse (those are narrated in lost epics of the Literature/TrojanCycle). In fact, the Achilles Heel myth is not even referenced in the text, and Achilles is more known for his skill, strength, speed, and ferocity than for being nigh-invulnerable. The one time he ''is'' wounded, it's on his arm.

* AchillesHeel: TropeNamer that is surprisingly not here. That is the story of his rage, but it doesn't cover many of the famous parts of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, including his death and the creation of the Trojan Horse (those are narrated in lost epics of the Literature/TrojanCycle). In fact, the Achilles Heel myth is not even referenced in the text, and Achilles is more known for his skill, strength, speed, and ferocity than for being nigh-invulnerable.