Il·i·ad

(ĭl′ē-əd, -ăd′)

The older of the two surviving ancient Greek epic poems, traditionally ascribed to Homer but containing material composed orally over several centuries. It begins with the wrathful withdrawal of the Greek hero Achilles from the fighting in the Trojan War and ends after his return to slay the Trojan hero Hector.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Iliad

(ˈɪlɪəd)

(Poetry) a Greek epic poem describing the siege of Troy, attributed to Homer and probably composed before 700 bc

Iliadic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Il•i•ad

(ˈɪl i əd)

n.

1. (italics) a Greek epic poem describing the siege of Troy, ascribed to Homer.

2. (often l.c.) a long series of woes and travails.

[< Latin Iliad-, s. of Ilias < Greek, =Ili(on) Troy + -as -ad¹]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Iliad - a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the siege of Troy

Translations

Iliad

[ˈɪlɪæd] N → Ilíada f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Iliad

n → Ilias f, → Iliade f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature

{9} Middle Argos means the Peleponnese which, however, is never so called in the "Iliad".

In the "Iliad" it is "war," not "speech," that is a man's matter.

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The second period, which produced the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", needs no description here: but it is very important to observe the effect of these poems on the course of post-Homeric epic.

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He was so fond of these stories that while still a little boy he made a play from the Iliad which was acted by the boys of one of his schools.

Pope translated and published a version of the Iliad, and at the same time a friend of Addison did so too.

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For the next dozen years he occupied himself chiefly with the formidable task (suggested, no doubt, by Dryden's 'Virgil,' but expressive also of the age) of translating 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey.' 'The Iliad' he completed unaided, but then, tiring of the drudgery, he turned over half of 'The Odyssey' to two minor writers.

Pope's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' afforded the first notably successful instance of another method, that of publication by subscription--individual purchasers at a generous price being secured beforehand by solicitation and in acknowledgment having their names printed in a conspicuous list in the front of the book.

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His Margites bears the same relation to Comedy that the Iliad and Odyssey do to Tragedy.

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There is neither Iliad nor Odyssey to be found in the libraries of the Chinese; indeed, a favourite feature of their verse is the "stop short", a poem containing only four lines, concerning which another critic has explained that only the words stop, while the sense goes on.

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To be intoxicated by a single glass of wine; I have experienced this pleasure when I have drunk the liquor of the esoteric doctrines." I kept Homer's Iliad on my table through the summer, though I looked at his page only now and then.

No wonder that Alexander carried the Iliad with him on his expeditions in a precious casket.

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He related his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry of expression; his recital took the form of an epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad of the regions of the North.

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