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The Iliad And The Odyssey

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In Greek mythology, one of the most important wars fought during the Bronze Age was the Trojan War. The Trojan War took place around the 12th or 11th Century BC. One of the largest impacts this war had was the inspiration it provided to many famous writers of antiquity, which include writers such as Homer, Virgil, Herodotus and many others. One of the most important writers during the Greek Dark Ages was Homer, who I believe was the most influential writer of his time, and a writer who had truly made an impact on the evolution of Greek Culture following the Dark Ages. Two of Homer’s most famous poems were the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were Ancient Greek epic poems which covered a couple of weeks during the Trojan War. Although there …show more content…

Both poems followed the events that ensued during the Trojan War which shows how this battle had influenced Homer to contribute to Ancient Greek mythology. The Iliad and the Odyssey are very important sources to this war because they are the only elements still intact from the time period due to its age; however, there are many bits from the battle that are not included since the Iliad and the Odyssey only covered portions of the Trojan War. The Iliad and the Odyssey were originally performed orally and were written down much later than when they were introduced and written by Homer which were written roughly 500 years following the war (Cline 9). There are debates following the accuracy of Homers works have come to question; however, Homer’s poems were written based on accounts of data taken from the Bronze age which makes his epics ultimately believable (Cline 41). The Iliad begins by starting from the 10th year of the Trojan War. Tensions started amongst the Ancient Greeks, whom were known as the Achaeans at this time. It all started when the priest Chryses requested the Achaean king, Agamemnon, to release his daughter who was beind held by the Greeks. The king refused and then began to pray to the god Apollo. The King also requested for the girlfriend of Achilleus. He gives up his girlfriend and also begins to pray to his mother who is a goddess for help against the Trojans. His mother is able to get Zeus involved to aid Achilleus’s pride by

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