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Iliad
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What is Iliad?

Homer's Iliad is one of the foundational texts of Western literature, studied in courses ranging from classical literature and world literature surveys to philosophy and humanities seminars. The epic centers on a concentrated episode of the Trojan War, tracing the rage of Achilles and its devastating consequences for Greeks and Trojans alike. What makes it academically compelling is its simultaneous engagement with large themes — mortality, honor, grief, and the relationship between humans and gods — and its intimate psychological portraits of figures such as Achilles, Hector, and Agamemnon. Its influence extends across later works, inviting comparison with Homer's Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's writing, and even Arthurian legend.

Student essays on the Iliad tend to approach the text through close reading, thematic analysis, and comparative study. Some papers focus tightly on specific passages or books, such as the similes in Achilles' pursuit of Hector or the embassy scene in Book 9. Others examine the role of divine figures like Athena in shaping warrior identity and the poem's moral framework. Comparative essays frequently place Homer alongside later epic traditions, tracing how characters and themes are transformed across texts and cultures.

A strong essay on the Iliad establishes a focused, arguable thesis rather than broadly summarizing the plot. Textual evidence drawn from specific scenes, speeches, and imagery carries the most weight, particularly when analyzed for what it reveals about character motivation or thematic tension. The most common pitfall is treating the gods as mere background decoration — their interventions are central to the poem's meaning and deserve sustained, specific analysis.

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Research Paper Doctorate
Slavery Reparations Debate: Arguments For and Against
One issue that has come to the surface in recent discussions of race in America is the issue of Slavery Reparations. This is essentially the idea that modern descendents of American slaves should receive some form of…
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Research Paper Doctorate
Troy (2004): Homer's Iliad as Epic Cinematic Myth
Thousands of years after the blind Greek poet Homer supposedly sang his two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the world remains fascinated with the mythical Greek and Trojan warriors and wanders Homer…
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Research Paper Doctorate
Literacy and Writing Systems in the Aegean Bronze Age
Anthropologists and archaeologists call certain societies "iron age" or "bronze age." In doing this they recognize that the properties of the main metal used by a society's technology greatly affect both its use and…
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Paper Masters
Achilles and Hector: Comparing Warriors in The Iliad
The paper focuses on two primary characters of "The Iliad": Achilles and Hector. The paper examines the similarities and differences between the characters, of which there are great and small. While they have many things in common, the paper concludes that the greatest distinction between them is Achilles' relative lack of self control and lack of emotional stability.
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Research Paper Doctorate
Classic Literature Through Pop Culture: A New Approach
When one watches "Rambo: First Blood Part II" are we actually watching a contemporary version of the Iliad about the ferocity of Achilles on and off the battleground? When we watch Francis Ford Coppola's "Godfather"…
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Research Paper Doctorate
Character Growth in Homer's Odyssey: Odysseus and Telemachus
¶ … Homeric heroes exhibit the fundamental values and qualities that ancient Greek culture esteemed. Doubtlessly, this is true of Achilles in the Iliad, Odysseus in the Odyssey and even Odysseus' son Telemachus.
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Research Paper Doctorate
The Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey: Class, Power, and Monstrosity
Cyclops in Homer's "The Odyssey" is one of the most memorable and striking creatures to be found in this narrative. The Cyclops is remembered as a true monster, and referred to throughout Odysseus' tales as a horrendous…
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Research Paper Doctorate
Aristotle's Eudaimonia and the Ethics of Human Flourishing
In the first line of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes, "Every craft and every inquiry, and likewise every action and every choice, seem to aim at some good; for which reason people have rightly (kalos) concluded…
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Paper Masters
Medea as Tragic Hero: Euripides and Aristotle's Poetics
The pattern of the tragic hero was first defined by Aristotle. Aristotle's work The Poetics discusses the art of Greek tragedy, and defines the rules for a tragic protagonist. If we examine these rules from Aristotle…
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Paper Undergraduate
The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark: A Critical Review
Dennis McDonald's The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark (2000) is a book that was always guaranteed to upset orthodox Christian theologians and biblical literalists and fundamentalists everywhere, since its main thesis held that the author of the first gospel used the Iliad and the Odyssey as literary models. He compares Mark to the apocryphal Acts of Andrew, a Gnostic book, and describes it as a "hypotext" that "relies somehow on a written antecedent" (McDonald, p. 2). Specifically, Mark used Books 22 and 24 of the Iliad as models for the death and burial of Jesus, in which Achilles brutally kills Hector and then releases the body to his father, King Priam of Troy. Hector's soul went to Hades and never returned, but of course Jesus was resurrected on the third day, even if his rather dim disciples in Mark failed to recognize him initially.
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