Felicia Ooi; The Iliad Books I and XXII

I read the Iliad - Books I and XXII in prose and I found it a very interesting read, even more so than Metamorphoses was. The story involves both gods and mortals and it shows us how the lives of the mortals are so easily altered on the whims and fancies of any and every one of the gods. Even gods have favorites among the mortals and Achilles is portrayed as one of those favored semi-mortals, the son of a mortal (Peleus) and a nymph (Thetis).

The epic started in midias res, as is typical of epics. Book I is mainly about the rage of Achilles, as mentioned at the start of the text, and how this rage of his affected the relatoinship between Achilles and Agememnon and how it ultimately affected the Trojan War. In this first book, Achilles is shown to be the perfect Greek hero who takes great pride in his strength and self-worth. Book XXII also is about Achilles, but this time it focuses on the "battle" between Achilles and Hector. Achilles ends up killing Hector, once again with the help of Athena, and Achilles shows absolutely no sign of mercy towards Hector, despite pleadings from Priam and Hecuba (rulers of Troy and Hector's parents).

I liked the way the story flowed smoothly, even though there were so many different characters. Homer makes this epic a very grand one, with a very interesting storyline.