The First Six Books of Homer’s Iliad

Thus the Books of the Iliad doubtless were not composed in the order in which they stand in our texts. The first part of the First Book must have been the earliest composed, for that is the basis of the whole poem; but Books II-VI (and still more, Books VII-X) may have been composed after Book XI, in order to fill up the details of the story. So in the Odyssey, the First Book is the general introduction to the rest of the poem, although scholars are not agreed in believing that it is now in its original form; but Books II-IV (the Telemachia), which contain an account of the journey of Odysseus’ son Telemachus to the homes of Nestor and Menelaus in the hope of obtaining tidings of his long-absent father, may very likely have been part of an independent poem, or at least may have been composed after Book V. Doubtless, details were sometimes filled in later. The reciter of five or six hundred lines might prefix or affix a few verses which would make his recitation seem more complete in itself, or he might insert what would make this more suitable to the special occasion. The Alexandrian critics believed that the original Homeric close of the Odyssey was with the 296th verse of the Twenty-third Book, and critics have thought the last two Books of the Iliad, like the last part of the Odyssey, to be of later composition.

The beginner need not (and should not) be disturbed by questions as to the diverse authorship of different parts of the Iliad. The subject is exceedingly complicated, and cannot be studied profitably until the student is perfectly familiar with the entire poem, and with similar literature in other languages. The student should strive to enjoy and appreciate the Homeric poems, – not to analyze them.