Iliad

Attributed to Homer, it is one of the inescapable foundations of Western literature. Written around the 8th century BC, this epic recounts an episode of the Trojan War: the wrath of Achilles and its consequences.

Its scope far exceeds the battlefield. It is a reflection on the human condition: pride, honour, death, and the inevitable passage of time. In every verse of the Iliad resonates a profound understanding of destiny and limitation, themes that have shaped literary imagination for millennia.

The narrative structure, the sense of rhythm, the intensity of the imagery, and the emotional depth paved the way for all the literature that followed, from Virgil to Joyce, from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison.

Reading the Iliad is returning to the source, not as one visits an ancient monument, but as one recognises a language that is still alive. The Greek epic continues to challenge us because, beneath the armour of the heroes, lies the same awe and the same fragility that define the human being.

About Homer, little is known and everything is imagined. He is believed to have lived between the 9th and 8th centuries BC and to also be the author of the Odyssey. His figure moves between history and myth, just like the characters he created. But regardless of his biography, Homer remains the starting point of all Western literature — the first to transform the human experience into enduring words. Without Homer, the world would have learned to tell stories in another way — perhaps worse, certainly with less truth.