Summary
Summary Book summaries and quotations - ALL BOOKS
Book summaries for all the books of the Iliad, and all key quotations from all the set books for the exam (1,3,4,6,9,10,16,17,18,19,20,22,24).
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ILIAD BOOK SUMMARIES + QUOTESBOOK 1:
Summary
The poem begins with an invocation to the Muse to tell the story of the wrath of Achilles and its disastrous
consequences.
The Greeks are besieging the city of Troy in order to reclaim Helen, the wife of Menelaus, who has been taken
by Paris, a prince of Troy.
Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army, has taken Chryseis, the daughter of a priest of Apollo, as a war
prize. The priest comes to the Greek camp to plead for her return, but Agamemnon refuses.
The priest curses the Greeks and prays to Apollo for revenge, and the god responds by sending a plague upon
the Greek camp. Many Greeks die as a result of the plague.
Agamemnon eventually agrees to return Chryseis, but demands compensation in the form of Achilles' war
prize, a woman named Briseis.
Achilles, a great warrior and the most important Greek hero, is angry and insulted by Agamemnon's demand.
He argues with Agamemnon and withdraws from the fighting
Achilles considers killing Agamemnon but is stopped by the goddess Athena.
Agamemnon sends emissaries to take Briseis from Achilles' tent, which only angers Achilles further.
Achilles prays to his mother, the sea-goddess Thetis, to persuade Zeus to help the Trojans defeat the Greeks.
Zeus agrees to Thetis' request and withdraws his protection from the Greeks, allowing the Trojans to gain the
upper hand in battle.
The chapter ends with Achilles' decision to seek revenge against Agamemnon for his dishonourable behaviour.
Quotes:
Invocation of the muse - "Anger – sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus"
When Chryses supplicates the Greeks and asks for them to return Chryseis, "all the other Greeks shouted in
agreement"
Agamemnon "cruelly and bluntly dismissed the priest" and calls him "old man" - disrespect
"she will grow old in Argos, in my household, a long way from her country, working the loom, sharing my bed"
Description of Apollo - "his descent was like nightfall", "terrifying twang", "day and night, packed funeral pyres
burned"
Achilles - "come, let us consult some prophet or priest or some interpreter of dreams" - pious, diplomatic
Agamemnon to Calchas - "his heart seethed with fury, and his eyes were like flames of fire", "prophet of evil",
"not once have you delivered a positive prophecy – not once!"
Agamemnon's selfish nature - "I am willing to give her up if that appears the better course for me", "give me
another prize at once"
Achilles' insults to Agamemnon - "unequalled in your greed", "dog-face", "you shameless, self-centred…",
"shameless swine"
Achilles' diplomacy - "we will compensate you three, four times over"
"while I am robbed?" - Ag
"It was no quarrel with Trojan warriors that brought me here to fight. They have never done me any harm"
"the heat and burden of fighting fall on me, but when it comes to dealing out the spoils, it is you that takes the
lion's share"
"I will come in person to your hut and take away fair-cheeked Briseis"
"goddess, a man must respect what you and Hera say"
"you never have the courage", "a leader who grows fat on his own people"
"venerable sir, that is all very true"
"I have done with taking your orders"
Agamemnon makes the sacrifices: 'launched a swift ship" for Chryseis, "offered perfect sacrifices of bulls"
When the people who have come to take away Briseis arrive: "come in. my quarrel is not with you but with
Agamemnon"
"the girl went unwillingly with them"
"persuade him, if you can, to help the Trojans and to fling the Greeks back on their ships, pen them hard to the
sea and massacre them"
,BOOK 3:
Summary:
The Trojan army meets the Achaeans on the battlefield and Paris challenges any of the Achaeans to a duel.
After Menelaus steps forward, Paris retreats back into the Trojan ranks and is scolded by his brother Hector for
his cowardice
Paris finally agrees to fight Menelaus and they agree that the victor will take Helen home, restoring peace
between the two sides.
As the combatants prepare, Iris visits Helen in the Trojan palace disguised as her sister-in-law Laodice and
urges her to watch the duel from the Scaean Gate.
Here Priam asks her to identify 3 Achaean heroes before he goes to swear a truce with Agamemnon on the
battlefield, leaving again before the duel starts.
Neither Paris nor Menelaus can fell the other with their spears and after Menelaus’ sword breaks over Paris’
helmet, he begins dragging Paris around by the chin strap, choking him.
Aphrodite snaps the chin-strap, Paris’ helmet falls off, and just as Menelaus goes to drive his spear into Paris,
Aphrodite covers him in mist and whisks him back to his bedroom
Aphrodite then orders Helen there and forces her to sleep with Paris.
On the battlefield, Paris is nowhere to be found and after insisting that Menelaus is the victor, Agamemnon
demands Helen’s return and compensation
Events:
Hector scolds Paris – highlights the huge difference between the two brothers . Whereas Paris is effeminate ,
cowardly and irresponsible, Hector is dutiful, heroic and has to bear the responsibility of sorting out the mess
caused by his brother.
The two sides consecrate a future truce – creates false hope among the two sides and indeed in the reader.
Also sets up a huge Homeric delay until the actual end of hostilities (which does not take place within the Iliad
itself).
Helen identifies Achaean heroes for Priam – brings out both the regret and guilt Helen has for her present
state and a painful nostalgia for the past life which she has left behind
Aphrodite saves Paris from certain death – emphasises the crucial role that the gods play in the Iliad, in
particular how they are able to thwart the plans of mortals and thus alter the future with ease.
Helen is forced to sleep with Paris – confirms Paris’ status as an antihero as while the rest of the Trojan men
fight for the woman he stole, he is making love to her: totally un-heroic behaviour.
Quotes:
Paris - "he was decked out with a leopard's skin on his back"
"he challenged the best of all the Greeks" (Menelaus)
Lion metaphor - when he saw Paris he was "as delighted as a lion that came across a great carcass…he is
starving and greedily devours it in spite of all the quick dogs and string young hunters to drive him off"
"fully armed, he immediately leapt from his chariot to the ground"
Snake and man metaphor - when Paris saw Menelaus, "his heart failed him completely and retreated into his
own contingent of warriors to avoid death", "like a man who catches sight of a snake in a wooded ravine and
sharply recoils, knees trembling, and retreats, pale-faced, so godlike Paris disappeared back into the mass of
proud trojans, terrified of Menelaus"
Hector describes Paris as a "scourge to your father, to the town and to the whole people"
"your lovely locks and pretty face, when you mixed with the dust"
His gifts: "irresistible gifts", "golden Aphrodite", "glorious gifts which the gods themselves choose to lavish on a
man"
"Hector was delighted at his proposal"
"Greeks, enough! Men, stop shooting! Hector of the flashing helmet has something to say"
Menelaus: "I intend the Greeks and Trojans to part in peace this day"
, "may the man who is marked out by death and destiny meet his end"
"she is fearfully like the immortal goddess…let her sail home and not stay here, a scourge to us and our
children after us"
Priam to Helen: "I don't hold you responsible for any of this, but the gods"
"I wish I had chosen to die in misery before I came here with your son"
Helen about Odysseus - "a master of all kinds of manoeuvres and strategies", "when he liberated that great
voice from his chest and poured out words like the snows of winter, there was no man alive who could
compete with him"
"Agamemnon then raised his hands and prayed aloud"
His "body armour…belonged to his brother Lycaon and fitted him too"
"hit Menelaus' round shield…did not break through and the tip was bent back by the stout shield"
Menelaus sends a prayer to Zeus for "revenge", then his spear "pierced the glittering shield, forced its way
through the ornate body-armour and ripped right on through the side of Paris' tunic"
When his sword "shattered on the helmet" he "gave a groan" and began "hurling himself at Paris…began to
drag him back int the Greek lines. Paris was choked by the pressure on his tender throat"
Menelaus "would have hauled him off and won unutterable glory"
"Aphrodite hid Paris in a dense mist and whisked him away – an easy feat for an immortal"
"you would never believe he had just come in from a duel. You would think he was going to a dance or had just
stepped off the floor and sat down to rest"
"obstinate wretch! Don’t get the wrong side of me"
"come, let us go to bed together and enjoy the pleasures of love"
"Menelaus was prowling through the ranks like a wild beast, trying to find godlike Paris"
BOOK 4:
Summary
At an assembly of the gods, Zeus provokes Hera by mentioning Aphrodite's rescue of Paris in contrast to Hera
and Athena's lack of intervention for the Greeks and suggesting a truce. Hera is incensed, and her hatred of the
Trojans is such that she says Zeus can freely destroy her favoured cities in return for inciting Athena to make
the Trojans break the truce.
Athena, disguised as a Trojan, encourages the Trojan archer Pandarus to shoot Menelaus. His arrow hits
Menelaus, but Athena deflects it into the strongest part of his armour. Agamemnon is distraught, thinking that
Menelaus might be mortally wounded, but it is a mere flesh wound. Agamemnon sends for a healer,
Machaeon, and he arrives and tends to Menelaus' wound.
As the Trojans prepare for war, Agamemnon inspects his troops, encouraging those who are eager for battle
and reprimanding those who are more reticent. He passes by Idomeneus, loyal leader of the Cretans, the two
Ajaxes and the aged Nestor of Pylos, discussing tactics with his men, and praises each in turn. However, when
he comes to Odysseus, and then to Diomedes and Sthenelus, he rebukes them, accusing them of cowardice.
Odysseus rails at these accusations and Agamemnon takes his remarks back, while Diomedes makes no reply
out of deference to his leader and rebukes Sthenelus when he speaks out against Agamemnon.
The two armies clash, spurred on by the gods. Fierce fighting rages, with many lesser heroes felled on both
sides, including two of Priam's sons. The Trojans begin to retreat but Apollo urges them on to rejoin the fray,
while Athena does the same for the Achaeans, and the death and destruction continue on into the fifth book.
Events
Zeus orchestrates the breaking of the truce
Here Zeus, the supposed divine upholder of oaths and justice, works to bring about the breaking of an oath -
rather morally questionable. Agamemnon's lament highlights the irony of this situation when he calls on Zeus
to punish the Trojans for breaking the truce - a situation that Zeus himself brought about.
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