Homer's "The Iliad" as an Epic or Primary epic

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Homer’s “The Iliad” is an epic which recounts some of the significant events of the final part of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy.

Like other primary epics, The Iliad also begins with an invocation to Muse - “Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus….”.

As an epic, The Iliad has a historical event – The Trojan War, the use of stock phrases or ephithets or repetitions, long-similes, long description of things and events and lofty styles. It begins in medias res (in the middle of things): Homer picks up in the tenth year of the war with the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles.

In a primary epic, the theme is usually stated at the beginning of the epic. The theme or central interest of The Iliad is the wrath of Achilles, which is stated at the beginning of the poem “the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.”

A primary epic usually has many epithets. These epithets are re-namings of the characters, gods, or things by combination of a descriptive phrase and a noun such as the following: fleet-footed Achilles, rosy-fingered dawn, wine-dark sea, earth-shaking Poseidon, and gray-eyed Athena. 

The setting of an epic is vast. The setting of The Iliad is also vast encompassing both the Greek and Trojan islands.   

Epic simile means an open comparison between two different or dissimilar things or objects of which one is fairly elaborated. Such as – In “The Iliad” Hector has been compared to a boar and a lion. “He was like a wild-boar or a lion when he turns this way.”

Epic Heroes are virtuous and noble figures, proven in battle, who represent their nation, culture, or race. In The Iliad, Achilles and Hector represent the characteristics of Epic hero.

 

The use of the supernatural is a prominent feature of many epics. In The Iliad, the Olympian gods, goddesses, and minor deities fight and play great roles in human warfare. In epic, Gods intervene in the affairs of human beings. In Book I of The Iliad, a goddess “Minerva” or  “Athena” interfere Achilles’ attempt to kill Agamemnon “Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your sword;…..”.