The Iliad

Hero Myth

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About this myth

The Iliad is a Hero myth originating from the Ancient Greek belief system. The oldest attested artifact in our index that contains this myth was likely created around 100 CE. The main deity depicted in this myth is likely Achilles. Others include Achilles, Apollo, Athena, Thetis, and Zeus.

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Sourcezascianek.plRetrieval date04/02/2020
Sourcezascianek.plRetrieval date04/02/2020
Sourcezascianek.plRetrieval date04/02/2020
Sourcezascianek.plRetrieval date04/02/2020
Source record No.Gniew Pelidę ponosi MediumDrawingMaterialPencil on paperOrientationFrontImage date1896CreatorStanisław WyspiańskiSource notesStanisław Wyspiański, Gniew Pelidę Ponosi , 1896. Pencil drawing, 29.1 x 44.2 cm, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland.
Source record No.Achilles, którego Pallas za włosy wstrzymałaMediumDrawingMaterialPencil on paperOrientationFrontImage date1897CreatorStanisław WyspiańskiSource notesStanisław Wyspiański, Achilles, którego Pallas za włosy wstrzymała, 1897. Pencil drawing, 35 x 46.5 cm, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland.
Source record No.Tetyda and AchillesMediumDrawingMaterialPencil on paperOrientationFrontImage date1897CreatorStanisław WyspiańskiSource notesStanisław Wyspiański, Thetis emerges from the waves towards his son (Tetyda and Achilles), 1897. Pencil drawing, 23 x 29 cm, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland.
Source record No.Agamemnon powstaje na Achillesa i MenelaosaMediumDrawingMaterialPencil on paperOrientationFrontImage date1897CreatorStanisław WyspiańskiSource notesStanisław Wyspiański, Agamemnon powstaje na Achillesa i Menelaosa, 1897. Pencil drawing, 20.7 x 25 cm, National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland.

In a nutshell

Myth summary

Achilles, half man-half deity, fought in the Trojan war for King Agamemnon and quarreled with him over a mistress, among other things. The war featured the Trojans against the Greeks and had lots of action where Achilles was the star. Achilles' close friend Patroclus died at the hands of Hector; consequently, Achilles slaughtered him in order to get his revenge. While not listed in the Iliad, sources say that Achilles suffered his tragic fate at the end of the war by Paris when he was shot with an arrow through the achilles heel. Achilles fulfilled the hero motif of living a short life of glory.

Attested: 100—199 CE
Created: 800—700 BCE
Myth type: Hero
Main deity: Achilles
Belief system: Ancient Greek
Origin: Europe › Eastern Europe › Greece

Belief system

Ancient Greek Religion

Polytheistic

Ancient Greek religion refers to the pagan spiritual beliefs of the ancient Greeks, starting around 1350 BCE in present-day Greece.

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Belief system

Achilles

Main deity

Achilles (Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς) was a Trojan war hero who was half man, half deity. Achilles is best known for his fighting skills during the Trojan war where he slayed Hector.

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Main deity

Other deities mentioned

Achilles
Apollo
Athena
Thetis
Zeus

Artifact

Papyrus 114 / The Bankes Homer

British Library

The artifact named Papyrus 114 has contents related to this mythological story.

Condition: Excellent
Type: Scroll
Material: Papyrus
Date: c. 100 CE
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Translation

"The Iliad": English Translation by Samuel Butler

Book · Samuel Butler · 1898

"The Iliad" is a full transcript of The Iliad hero myth by Samuel Butler in 1898. Butler translated the work into prose from the Homeric Greek for a broad audience. It contains all twenty-four books through 421 pages. Butler's version is readable for a layman audience. This work is attributed to a single man named Homer; however, many scholars do not accept this authorship claim.

Included: Translation, Collation (partial)
Language: Ancient Greek ⟶ English
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Background

The Iliad hero myth is a Greek epic poem, allegedly written by an ancient poet named Homer. The Iliad contains twenty-four books and was written in the Ancient Greek language, likely around 800 BCE (according to commonly accepted scholarship).

Authorship and dating

While Homer is attributed to the authorship of the Iliad, it was likely passed on through oral tradition and written down by different scribes over the course of many hundreds of years.

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Artifacts related to this myth

Papyrus 114 / The Bankes Homer

Papyrus Scroll

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Texts related to this myth

See full texts of this myth via related artifacts. Where available, a translation is included.

All texts

Title
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"The Iliad" Book · Samuel Butler · 1898
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"The Iliad" Book · Homer · 1848
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"The Iliad" Book · Homer · 1928
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"Iliadis XXIIV.120-804" Book · David Binning Monro · 1920
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"Iliadis I-XXIV / Homeri Opera" Book · David Binning Monro · 1912
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How did we get this date?

100—199 CE

The attested date for the myth named 'The Iliad' is derived from the oldest artifact we have: Papyrus 114 / The Bankes Homer. The creation date for this artifact is a range because the exact date is unknown. We derived this from the source(s) listed below:

Notes (see bottom of page for full bibliography)

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    How did we get this date?

    800—700 BCE

    The creation date for the myth named 'The Iliad' is derived from other scholars. The creation date is a range because the exact date is unknown. We derived this from the source(s) listed below:

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    Cite this page

    MLA Modern Language Association (8th ed.)

    OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "The Iliad." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 22 Apr. 2019, omnika.org/stable/94. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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    APA American Psychological Association (6th ed.)

    OMNIKA (2019, April 22). The Iliad. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/94

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    CMS Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)

    OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "The Iliad." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created April 22, 2019. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/94.

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    Bibliography

    Altschuler, Eric L., Andreea S. Calude, Andrew Meade, and Mark Page. "Linguistic evidence supports date for Homeric Epics." Bioessays 35, no. 5 (May 2013): 417–420.
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    Autenrieth, Georg. A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges: Based Upon the German of Dr. Georg Autenrieth. Edited by Isaac G. Flagg. Translated by Robert P. Keep. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1891.
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    British Library. The Bankes Homer (P. Lond. Lit. 28), 100-199 CE. Manuscript. Western Manuscripts Collection, Papyrus 114, British Library, London, United Kingdom. http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Papyrus_114. Accessed July 10, 2020.
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    Butler, Samuel, trans. "The Iliad." In The Iliad of Homer: Rendered Into English Prose for the Use of Those Who Cannot Read the Original, 1-421, authored by Homer. London, England: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1898.
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    Dedović, Boban. "‘Minds’ in ‘Homer’: A quantitative psycholinguistic comparison of the Iliad and Odyssey." Paper presented at the 12th International Conference on the Mental Lexicon, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, October 11–14, 2022. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/uvqdc.
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    Dodds, Eric R. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1951.
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    Fox, William S. The Mythology of All Races / Volume I, Greek and Roman. Vol. 1, The Mythology of All Races: In Thirteen Volumes. Edited by Louis H. Gray and George F. Moore. Boston, MA: Marshall Jones Company, 1916.
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    Havelock, Eric A. The Greek Concept of Justice: From Its Shadow in Homer to Its Substance in Plato. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
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    Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns. And, Homerica. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. London, England: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914.
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    Homer and Monro, David B. Homeri Opera, Tomvs I / Iliadis Libros I-XII Continen: Recognovervnt breviqve adnotatione critica instrvxervnt David B. Monro, collegii orielensis apvd oxonienses praepositvs, et Thomas W. Allen, collegii reginae apvd oxinienses socivs. Vol. 1, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis. 2nd edition [Editio altera]. Edited by Thomas W. Allen. Oxford, England: Oxonii, e Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1912.
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    Homer and Monro, David B. Homeri Opera, Tomvs II / Iliadis Libros XIII-XXIV Continen: Recognovervnt breviqve adnotatione critica instrvxervnt David B. Monro, collegii orielensis apvd oxonienses praepositvs, et Thomas W. Allen, collegii reginae apvd oxinienses socivs. Vol. 2, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis. 3rd edition [Editio tertia]. Edited by Thomas W. Allen. Oxford, England: Oxonii, e Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1920.
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    Homer. The Iliad / Vol. I. With an English translation by A.T. Murray.. Translated by Augustus T. Murray. 2 vols. (vol. 1). London, England: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928. [Books I-XII]
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    Homer. The Iliad / Vol. I. With an English translation by A.T. Murray.. Translated by Augustus T. Murray. 2 vols. (vol. 2). London, England: William Heinemann Ltd., 1954. [Books XIII-XXIV]
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    Homer. The Iliad of Homer, Translated by Alexander Pope. Translated by Alexander Pope. London, England: G. Routledge, 1848.
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    Homer. The Iliad of Homer: Rendered Into English Prose for the Use of Those Who Cannot Read the Original. Translated by Samuel Butler. London, England: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1898.
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    Homer. The Iliad: Translated by Robert Fagles. Introduction and Notes by Bernard Knox. Translated by Robert Fagles. Edited by Bernard M.W. Knox. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1990.
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    Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976.
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    Kuijsten, Marcel, ed. Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind: The Theories of Julian Jaynes. Henderson, NV: Julian Jaynes Society, 2019.
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    Liddell, Henry G., and Robert Scott. An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon: Founded Upon the Seventh Edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1889.
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    Monro, David B. redactor. "Iliadis XXIV.120-804." In Homeri Opera, Tomvs II / Iliadis Libros XIII-XXIV Continen: Recognovervnt breviqve adnotatione critica instrvxervnt David B. Monro, collegii orielensis apvd oxonienses praepositvs, et Thomas W. Allen, collegii reginae apvd oxinienses socivs, 263-286, vol. 2, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis. 3rd edition [Editio tertia], authored by Homer, edited by Thomas W. Allen. Oxford, England: Oxonii, e Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1920.
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    Monro, David B., redactor. "Iliadis I-XXIV/ Homeri Opera." In Homeri Opera, Iliadis Libros I-XXIV: Recognovervnt breviqve adnotatione critica instrvxervnt David B. Monro, collegii orielensis apvd oxonienses praepositvs, et Thomas W. Allen, collegii reginae apvd oxinienses socivs., vols. 1-2, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, authored by Homer. London, England: Oxonii, e Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1912-1920. [Mixed editions: vol. 1 is 'editio altera'; vol. 2 is 'editio tertia']
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    Murray, Augustus T., trans. "The Iliad." In The Iliad. With an English Translation by A.T. Murray. 2 vols. (vols. 1-2), , 2-579 [vol. 1]; 2-623 [vol. 2], authored by Homer. London, England: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 and 1954.
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    Pope, Alexander, trans. "The Iliad." In The Iliad of Homer, Translated by Alexander Pope, 1-611, authored by Homer, translated by Alexander Pope. London, England: G. Routledge, 1848.
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    Snell, Bruno. The Discovery of the Mind: The Greek Origins of European Thought. Translated by Thomas G. Rosenmeyer. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1953.
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    West, Martin L. "The Date of the Iliad." Museum Helveticum 52, no. 4 (1995): 203–219.
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    Fast facts

    Myth
    Ancient Greek Belief system
    Achilles Main deity
    Origin
    location_city Greece Eastern Europe
    event_note c. 100 CE Attested

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