The Iliad Book 1 and Book 22

Reading the Illiad surprised me because of all the violence it had. I had always heard it was an epic, and a huge famous story but I suppose it makes sense. I had just read the Aeneid for class so I can see many connections.

One thing that fascinates me is how borrowing, or jumping on an already famous story, was not considered bad. Originality was the problem. Virgil writes The Aeneid long after The Illiad and continues the story after the fall of Troy. The famous story of The Inferno by Dante Alighieri speaks of Virgil as well as his characters in The Aeneid, so it was common practice to do that.

Reading The Aeneid was not my only time I had been exposed to such work. I had watched the movie Troy before and I must say, things are kind of different. The epic itself is big on describing the violence and the gods interfence, but the movie does no such thing. Finally it is interesting to note that although Achilles is supposed to be the hero in The Illiad, in The Aeneid he is portrayed as savage.