Troy 13
by CTCWeb Editors
Trojan Stories
Homer’s Iliad is one of the most enduring ancient epics. The poem begins ten years into the Trojan War and chronicles only a brief part of the struggle. Homer (image) does not describe either the beginning or the end of the Trojan War in the Iliad. Instead, he vividly portrays the characters on both sides of the conflict and the momentous suffering brought on by war.
In the Iliad, Homer employed a literary technique called “in medias res,” which means “in the middle of things.” He uses this technique again in the Odyssey. Homer does not immediately explain how Odysseus left Troy. Instead, he takes up the story after several years of wandering by Odysseus and his band of warriors. Virgil uses the same technique when he writes about Aeneas. Virgil does not detail Aeneas’ departure from Troy at the beginning of the Aeneid. Later, in the Aeneid, he tells the story of Aeneas’ escape through Aeneas, who relates the story to Dido.
There is little biographical information about Homer. He is believed to have composed his poetry in the 8th century B.C.E. Legends claim that he was blind. The two existent poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have the Trojan War at their centers. The Iliad treats the war specifically, while the Odyssey chronicles Odysseus’ heroic journey home to Ithaca after the war. The poems seem to have been composed orally. Both include stock phrases (formulae) to fill the requirements of the dactylic hexameter meter and the technique of repetition as an aid to memory. However, the epics were probably written down soon after being composed.
