Sharpen Your Mind: Homer's Iliad

Posted by Jerry Lopper Jan 20, 2007

Homer's epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, are lengthy stories in verse written in the eighth century BC. In ancient Greece these lengthy poems were often committed to memory and passed down verbally over the generations.

Though nearly three thousand years old, these epic stories are frequent references in modern literature and everyday life. Examples are: a Trojan Horse, Cyclops, the Siren's song, and Achilles heel.

There is some question about Homer's identity, his role in creating the poems, and even his actual existence.

The famous phrase describing Helen of Troy as the "face that launched a thousand ships" is often attributed to The Iliad, but actually appeared in Christopher Marlow's play, Dr. Faustus, in 1604.

Source: The Intellectual Devotional, David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim