Literature and history

come.

Hello and welcome to literature and history.

Episode 11, who was Homer?

In this show we'll cover the last eight books of Homer's Iliad, the ancient Greek epic about the Trojan War.

Then, by way of finishing up the Iliad, we'll talk about Homer himself, when and whether he existed, when and where the Iliad was created, and how it

came about.

If you want to hear the story of the Iliad from the beginning, it all started two episodes back

in episode nine.

In episode nine, I introduced all the main characters and covered books one through eight.

Then in episode ten, we went over books nine through sixteen. Today we're finally going to wrap up the first of

Homer's two great epics. Where we last left off the war was yet again at a

bloody draw.

Just as the Greeks were on the verge of total annihilation and the Trojans were burning their ships,

the Greek champion Achilles' closest friend Petroclus went to him.

Petroclus asked the great warrior Achilles if he could wear Achilles's armor into battle and

lead their elite army, the Mermedons, against the Trojans?

Akeles gave his consent.

And so wearing the Champion's armor,

Petroclus led a savage offense against the Trojans,

pushing them back to the city of Troy.

In a climactic moment, Apollo, who favored the Trojans, stunned Petroclus.

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