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About The Iliad Homer's The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem written in dactylic hexameter. Thought to have been written in the 8th century BC, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, along with its successor The Odyssey, also by Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Homer's poem vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. This edition features the Alexander Pope translation into English from the original Greek.