The Shelves · Epic and hexameter poetry
Iliad
Ἰλιάς
Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Epic and hexameter poetry
Conjecturedvery likely class8th century BCE. The poet to whom the Greeks gave the Iliad and the Odyssey. Whether one poet composed them, and when, is still argued; the century given is a convention.
Iliad
Ἰλιάς
Opening words
Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles, Peleus' son
Length: 15,693 lines
Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.
II · Does it survive? Where to read it
Survives whole
Was it in Alexandria?
Known · AttestedEdited in Alexandria.
In the cupboard: edited, classified or commented on by the Library's scholars.
Read it today
- Greek with English (Scaife Viewer) · original and translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
- Murray, Iliad I (public-domain Loeb scan, PDF) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
III · In the show
- Unified Knowledge vs Modern Compartmentalization, episode 20, at 28 minutes 9 secondsTranscript“The gods are the only reason anything happens.”Of the Iliad and the Odyssey, which the speaker has just named.Known: attested
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references (2)
- Suda ζ 74 (Zenodotus)
- Scholia to the Iliad (Venetus A)
Modern scholarship (3)
- M. L. West, Studies in the Text and Transmission of the Iliad (Munich: K. G. Saur, 2001)
- F. Schironi, The Best of the Grammarians: Aristarchus of Samothrace on the Iliad (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018).
- R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship from the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968)
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
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