Q 01/05

The Iliad is traditionally attributed to which poet?

A) Homer

B) Hesiod

C) Virgil

D) Sophocles

Answer · why

A) Homer

Herodotus reckoned he lived about 400 years before his own day, roughly 850 BC.

Q 02/05

Into how many books is the Iliad divided?

A) 24

B) 12

C) 10

D) 36

Answer · why

A) 24

The Odyssey has the same number, and both are in the same six-foot metre.

Q 03/05

What is the poem's opening word, which sets its main theme?

A) Menis (wrath)

B) Kleos (glory)

C) Andra (man)

D) Polemos (war)

Answer · why

A) Menis (wrath)

The whole epic follows the anger of Achilles from his quarrel with Agamemnon to the death of Hector.

Q 04/05

Contrary to popular belief, which of these does the Iliad NOT include?

A) The Trojan Horse

B) The death of Patroclus

C) The Catalogue of Ships

D) The funeral games

Answer · why

A) The Trojan Horse

The poem ends with Hector's burial; the horse and the sack of Troy come from later sources.

Q 05/05

Which god sends a plague on the Greek camp at the start of the poem?

A) Apollo

B) Zeus

C) Ares

D) Poseidon

Answer · why

A) Apollo

Agamemnon had insulted the god's priest Chryses by refusing to ransom his daughter, and the plague arrows fell for nine days.