In 24 songs, the "Iliad" depicts the final phase of the ten-year struggle for Troy. At the center of the broadly conceived dramatic action is Achilles, who is dishonored by Agamemnon. Although Homer drew from the rich tradition of oral storytelling, he focused all compositional and stylistic means on a central motif, the wrath of Achilles, making the "Iliad" a work of surprising individuality. With the original text, appendix, and indexes.