The Iliad (Homer) - Book Review

“Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.”

This is a wholly Mere Mortal endorsed quote from 'The Iliad'. Written sometime long ago (thought to be 8th century B.C.) by the poet Homer, it is an epic poem of part of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans outside the walled city of Ilium. The main focus of the numerous battles rests with two heroic fighters, the Trojan prince Hector and the demigod Achilles.

I summarised the book as follows. "The poem is superbly written and easily understandable to this day. It reveals both the sublime and the ignoble of battle. The honour, glory and heroism is offset by the gore, sorrow and cowardice. The unpredictability and downright erratic nature of the gods can be observed throughout and calls to question why the ancients worshipped such capricious beings? The book is surprisingly fun, considering the brutal scenes within. Creative adjectives that go before each character is a unique style I also hadn't encountered before."

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