The Iliad is not merely a distillation of the whole protracted war against Troy but simultaneously an
exploration of the heroic ideal in all its self-contradictoriness—its insane and grasping pride, its magnificent
but animal strength, its ultimate if obtuse humanity. The poem is, in truth, the story of the wrath of Achilles,
the greatest warrior on the Greek side, that is announced in its very first words; yet for thousands of verses
on end Achilles is an unseen presence ...