Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War

In this new volume Jan Haywood and Naoíse Mac Sweeney investigate the position of Homer's <i>Iliad</i> within the wider Trojan War tradition through a series of detailed case studies. From ancient Mesopotamia to twenty-first century America these examples are drawn from a range of historical and cultural contexts; and from Athenian pot paintings to twelfth-century German scholarship they engage with a range of different media and genres.<br/> <br/>Inspired by the dialogues inherent in the process of reception the book adopts a dialogic structure. In each chapter paired essays by Haywood and Mac Sweeney offer contrasting authorial voices addressing a single theme thereby drawing out connections and dissonances between a diverse suite of classical and post-classical Iliadic receptions.<br/> <br/>The resulting book offers new insights both into individual instances of Iliadic reception in particular historical contexts but also into the workings of a complex story tradition. The centrality of the <i>Iliad</i> within the wider Trojan War tradition is shown to be a function of conscious engagement not only with Iliadic content but also with Iliadic status and the iconic idea of the Homeric.