Little Iliad facts for kids

The Little Iliad (pronounced: Ill-ee-ad) was an ancient epic poem from Greek literature. It is now mostly lost, meaning we only have small parts of it. This poem was part of a larger group called the Epic Cycle. These poems told the entire story of the famous Trojan War.

The Little Iliad describes events that happened after the poem called Aethiopis. It also leads up to the story of the Iliou persis, which means "Sack of Troy". Ancient writers thought different people wrote the Little Iliad. Some believed it was Lesches of Pyrrha, while others even thought it was Homer himself! The poem had four books of verse.

When Was It Written?

The Little Iliad was probably written around the late 600s BC. However, it's hard to be completely sure about the exact date. Ancient writers sometimes placed old authors much earlier than they actually lived.

What Is the Story About?

The Little Iliad is one of the best-known poems from the Epic Cycle. We still have almost 30 lines of the original text. Most of what we know comes from a summary written by someone named Proclus. Many other old writings also give clues about the poem's story.

The poem tells a fast-paced story with many events. It begins with a big decision: who will get the armor of the great hero Achilles? The contest was between Ajax and Odysseus. Odysseus had bravely brought Achilles's body back from battle. With help from the goddess Athena, Odysseus won the armor. This made Ajax so angry that he went insane. He then attacked the Greek army's animals.

The Greek prophet Calchas made an important prediction. He said that the city of Troy would not fall. Not unless the Greeks got the arrows of Heracles. These arrows were with the hero Philoctetes. He had been left behind on the island of Lemnos. This happened because he was bitten by a poisonous snake.

So, Odysseus and Diomedes went to Lemnos. They brought Philoctetes back. The healer Machaon healed his wound. Philoctetes then fought Paris in a one-on-one battle. Philoctetes killed Paris.

After Paris died, Helenus and Deiphobus fought over Helen. Deiphobus won and married her. Helenus was very angry and left Troy. He moved to Mount Ida.

Odysseus, who appears often in the Little Iliad, ambushed Helenus. He captured him. Helenus then shared three new prophecies. These were conditions for the Greeks to conquer Troy. One key condition was that Troy would not fall if it still had the Palladium. The Palladium was a sacred statue.

The other two conditions were also important. The bones of Pelops had to be brought from Pisa. Also, Neoptolemus, Achilles's son, had to join the war.

A ship of Mycenaeans sailed to Pisa to get Pelops' bones. Meanwhile, Odysseus brought Achilles's son Neoptolemus to Troy. He gave Neoptolemus his father's armor. Achilles's ghost even appeared to his son.

In battle, the Trojan ally Eurypylus was very strong. But Neoptolemus killed him.

Odysseus and Diomedes then went into Troy. They were disguised as beggars. Helen recognized them but kept their secret. They safely returned with the Palladium. They also killed some Trojans on their way out.

The goddess Athena helped the Greek warrior Epeius. He built the famous wooden horse. The Greeks put their best warriors inside it. They then burned their camp and sailed to the nearby island of Tenedos. The Trojans believed the Greeks had left for good. They broke down a part of their city wall to bring the horse inside. They celebrated their supposed victory.

The Little Iliad does not describe the heroes coming out of the horse. It also doesn't tell about the Greeks destroying Troy. Those events are told in the Iliou persis. However, a part of the Little Iliad does describe something sad. It tells how Neoptolemus took Hector's wife Andromache captive. He also killed Hector's baby son, Astyanax. He threw him from the city walls.

The Little Iliad might not have had one single, official version. Different old stories about it have details that don't always match up.

Editions

• Online editions (English translation):
  • Fragments of the Little Iliad translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain)
  • Fragments of complete Epic Cycle translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914; Project Gutenberg edition
  • Proclus' summary of the Epic Cycle translated by Gregory Nagy
• Print editions (Greek):
  • A. Bernabé 1987, Poetarum epicorum Graecorum testimonia et fragmenta pt. 1 (Leipzig: Teubner)
  • M. Davies 1988, Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht)
• Print editions (Greek with English translation):
  • M.L. West 2003, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press)