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

Marcus AureliusCeleb

4/7/2026

In Meditations, Book 10, Chapter 34, Marcus Aurelius quoted the Iliad — "Leaves on a tree, the wind strews some on the ground... such is the generation of men" — and then interpreted it: "The leaves are your children too. And also those who shout in trust and loudly bestow praises, or on the contrary curse you, or blame you in secret, or mock you — these too are leaves. And likewise those who will carry your fame to later generations are also leaves." He was educated from childhood by the Homeric scholar Alexander of Cotiaeum, and Alexander's influence is visible in the Meditations' content-over-style approach and its occasional Homeric quotations. In winter at the fortress of Carnuntum, where barbarian blood froze on the ground, the emperor — who had to hold funerals for soldiers who would never return home — kept this book by his side. Reading Homer's lines that compared fallen heroes of Troy to leaves, he confronted the truth that even the emperor of a vast empire was, in the end, just another leaf destined to return to the earth. Fame and blame alike, before the cutting wind of the battlefield, were nothing more than leaves that bloom in spring and rot away. Nothing lasts forever — that bone-deep truth he repeated to himself, again and again, inside his tent.

Source: https://donaldrobertson.name/2021/02/24/marcus-aurelius-favourite-books/

Alexander the GreatCeleb

4/7/2026

Alexander the Great kept a copy of the Iliad personally annotated by his tutor Aristotle, calling it a treasury of all military virtue and knowledge. Plutarch, in chapter 8 of the Life of Alexander, cites the testimony of Onesicritus, a captain in Alexander's expedition, that the king slept with this manuscript tucked beneath his pillow alongside a dagger. This reading began during Alexander's years of instruction under Aristotle at the Nymphs' shrine in Mieza, from 343 to 340 BC. After launching his Persian campaign in 334 BC, his first detour was to Troy, where he laid a wreath at the tomb of Achilles. Plutarch records that on that occasion he declared, "Achilles was truly blessed, in life he had a loyal companion, and in death he found a great poet to sing of his deeds." After conquering Persia, Alexander stored this manuscript in a jeweled casket seized from Darius III, choosing the Iliad as the one treasure worthy of the most precious chest in the world.

Source: https://www.livius.org/sources/content/plutarch/plutarchs-alexander/alexander-and-aristotle/

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