Read about the other entries on the list.The Iliad, by Homer
Not only is this the grandaddy of all revenge stories, it features multiple layers of devastatingly petty infighting. Menelaus seeks revenge against Paris for stealing his wife, Helen, and he brings the entire Greek army with him. Then, Achilles hunts Hector down to deliver comeuppance for killing Patroclus. Even the gods are playing the revenge game, taking sides in the fallout of a disastrous beauty pageant. The question with The Iliad is not who is seeking revenge, but who isn’t?
Achilles and Patroclus made Nicole Hill's list of fourteen characters who should have lived.
The Iliad also appears on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five books on the Olympians, Madeline Miller's list of ten favorite classical works, Bettany Hughes's six best books list, James Anderson Winn's five best list of works of war poetry, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best funerals in literature and ten of the best examples of ekphrasis. It is one of Karl Marlantes's top ten war stories.
--Marshal Zeringue
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