The Illiad - Cyber Classics Author:Homer The Iliad is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. The poem is commonly dated to the late 9th or to the 8th century BC, and many scholars believe it is the oldest extant work of literature in the ancient Greek language, making it one of the first works of ancient Greek literature. The ... more »existence of a single author for the poems is disputed as the poems themselves show evidence of a long oral tradition and hence, possible multiple authors The poem concerns events during the tenth and final year in the siege of the city of Ilion, or Troy, by the Greeks. The word Iliad means "pertaining to Ilios", the city proper, as opposed to Troy, the state centered around Ilium. The main character of the poem is the Greek warrior Achilles, and his anger toward the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, which proves disastrous for the Greeks. The book provides many of the events that the later poems of the Epic Cycle build on, including the death of the Trojan captain Hektor.« less