The Iliad and The Odyssey are epics written by Greek poet Homer. The Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus the king of Ithaca and his struggle to get home after the Trojan War. The story takes place over a time span of ten years but the poem mainly covers the final six weeks the story. The poem is a tale of cunning over strength with Odysseus using his wits to battle the god's and mythical creatures to return home to his son and wife. The Iliad on the other hand is a battle of strength over wit. It takes place during the final weeks of the Trojan war and shows the story of Achilles and Hector. The epic portrays many themes such as pride, hubris and most importantly heroism. The story explores what a hero is and doesn't outright say who the hero of the story is instead we are left to question was it Achilles the man who's rage and destruction caused death to those around him or Hector who fought to protect his family and people. The epic is not black and white good or bad instead it explores both sides and shows what the war is like. ( )

How do you imply the word epic and still allow more room for well....just being EPIC? This is the Great Grandfather of EPIC stories. These two volumes over the millennia have laid the ground work for what Heroes, villians and far reaching adventure would ever be. There is not much that can be said that literature is not already aware of when it comes to the horizons, characters and scope of the men, women and everything else in these stories. ( )

Hardcover

12/1/22

Homer’s two best known epics — “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” — are two of my favorite history related pieces and two of my favorite (epic) poems.
There is a lot of repetition in these epics due to the fact that they were originally told orally — and over a few days — before being written down.
After reading both, I tend to prefer “The Odyssey,” but I definitely highly recommend both to any reader since these two epic poems have had such a great influence over modern day writing and storytelling. ( )