Book

Iliad

Name: Iliad
Author: Όμηρος

Όμηρος

Publisher현대지성

Published2025-04-18

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R e v i e w sf r o mO t h e r s

John MiltonCeleb

3/1/2026

Milton is said to have read Homer's works so deeply that he could recite them from memory. From his Cambridge years he studied Homer in the original Greek, and the epic structure and grand style of Paradise Lost bear Homer's direct influence. In crafting the similes and scene arrangements of Paradise Lost, Milton consciously drew on Homeric technique while striving to surpass it.

Source: https://societyforclassicallearning.org/john-milton-proaeresis-and-education/

Leonidas ICeleb

3/1/2026

Leonidas I studied Homer's epics as a core text in Sparta's agoge educational curriculum. The Iliad sings the valor of Achilles in battle and his heroic death, and was the text that instilled in Spartan warriors the honor of combat and the spirit of sacrifice for their homeland. The final stand that Leonidas made at Thermopylae is the direct enactment of the heroic narrative of the Iliad.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoge

Napoleon BonaparteCeleb

3/1/2026

Napoleon preferred the Iliad over the Odyssey. According to the memoirs of his valet Saint-Denis recorded at Saint Helena, the Emperor frequently read Greek and Roman historians — especially Plutarch — and Homer was second only to them. Napoleon said he read it "from beginning to end with fresh admiration each time." Just as Alexander the Great kept the Iliad under his pillow and modeled himself on Achilles, Napoleon also sought the standard of ancient heroes in this epic. His reading of Homer, which began during his time at the Brienne military academy, was part of a conscious effort to position himself as a historical figure.

Source: https://mrodenberg.com/2016/01/01/napoleon-on-st-helena-reading-books/

Lucius Annaeus SenecaCeleb

3/1/2026

Lucius Annaeus Seneca quoted Homer's Iliad multiple times in his Moral Letters, drawing insights on heroic virtue, anger, and the human condition. He was particularly adept at transforming scenes from Greek epic poetry into arguments for Stoic ethics.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistulae_Morales_ad_Lucilium

XenophonCeleb

3/1/2026

Xenophon absorbed the Iliad through the Athenian educational curriculum and quoted the epic repeatedly throughout his own writings. In the Memorabilia alone he cites Homer more than eleven times, many of them passages from the Iliad. He drew particularly on sections about Agamemnon's leadership and Odysseus's eloquence, placing them in Socrates' mouth as moral lessons. In the Symposium, he notes that Niceratus memorized the entire Iliad at his father's command — a detail that illustrates the central place Homer's epics held in the education of the Athenian upper class.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon

Publius Vergilius MaroCeleb

3/1/2026

Virgil built the second half of the Aeneid (Books 7–12) directly upon the war narrative structure of the Iliad. In describing the wars of Latium following the fall of Troy, he consciously reproduced Homer's battle scenes, heroic duels, and manner of depicting weapons. The final confrontation between Aeneas and Turnus mirrors the duel of Achilles and Hector, declaring the Roman epic the legitimate heir of its Greek predecessor.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil

Elon MuskCeleb

3/1/2026

On Twitter in 2023, Musk rated it "Best story ever." It is Homer's ancient Greek epic, dealing with the Trojan War.

Source: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1703324372239585397

Raphael SanzioCeleb

3/1/2026

Raphael placed the blind poet Homer at the center of the Parnassus fresco. Homer is depicted with his head raised toward the sky, reciting an epic, surrounded by Apollo and the Muses, granted the status of the source of poetry. For Raphael, the Iliad was the archetype of Western epic poetry and an essential reference for translating heroic narrative into painting.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parnassus

Desiderius ErasmusCeleb

3/1/2026

Erasmus stated directly in a letter to a friend that he had borrowed a copy of Homer to teach himself Greek. The Iliad was one of the first Greek texts he encountered in the original, and in his educational treatise De Ratione Studii he recommended it as the foremost Greek poet for students.

Source: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/

Leo TolstoyCeleb

3/1/2026

Leo Tolstoy listed Homer's Iliad twice. When he first read it in his twenties, the impression was "great"; after rereading it in the original Greek past age 35, he elevated it to "very great." He was so deeply drawn to Homer that he taught himself ancient Greek in order to read the original text directly.

Source: https://www.openculture.com/2018/02/leo-tolstoy-makes-a-list-of-the-50-books-that-influenced-him-most-1891.html