The+Iliad

4/8/07 Brier, write a brief introduction for the new book you are starting. Include the title, something about the author and the historical context of the story. Also, explain why you chose this particular book. Please also include another paragraph briefly summarizing what has taken place so far.

The book I am reading is The Iliad, by Homer. Homer was a Greek Poet/Bard. The story is of the siege on Troy. This was in a time when men thought they had direct connection to the gods on Mount Olympus. The Trojans took Menelaus' wife Helen. The Trojan War was to get Helen back from Troy. In the Trojan War the Greeks used the Trojan Horse to deceive the Trojans and get through the gates of Troy and open it from inside. I have chosen this book for a couple reasons. I like mythology and Greek history and that is what this book is about. It is a mental challenge for me. It is in a new genre poetic form.

In the story so far as I have gotten Helen was taken from Greece. Agamemnon musters his army and sails to Troy to take Helen back. After having lain siege to Troy for 3 months Agamemnon tells everyone to head for home. Odysseus takes Agamemnon's staff and yells to the crews that they should not leave before the walls of Troy are fallen, and that they will fall on the 9th year of siege.