The Iliad : The Epic Tale Of Love And War Essay

Transcending almost 3000 years of time with its emotional resonance, integrity, and relevance to both the Ancient and Modern world, the Iliad is arguably one of the most outstanding poetic feats in the history of Western literature, praised explicitly throughout the ages by esteemed historians and scholars alike. Between its undeniable influence on Alexander the Great and it’s correlation to Rome, the Iliad certainly has a lot to say about the ancient world that so quickly embraced it’s epic tale of love and war.

Whilst the Iliad has had a varying impact on a large degree of historical figures throughout ancient history, perhaps one of the most significant is that of Alexander the Great, an ancient king of Macedon, largely regarded as one of the ancient world’s most successful military leaders. Early in Alexander’s life, he expressed a passionate interest in Homer’s work, and his tutor Aristotle subsequently prepared a personally annotated copy of the Iliad for him to keep in his later travels, which Alexander he would rely heavily on during his conquest. An ancient source cites that Alexander “esteemed the Iliad a perfect portable treasure of all military virtue and knowledge” 1, and some legends even speculate that Alexander slept with Aristotle’s copy beneath his pillow at night.2 Alexander was utterly fascinated with the Iliad, essentially modeling his life after one of it’s central characters, Achilles, whom he later believed himself to be a descendant of through his…