Is The Iliad Still Relevant Today

The Iliad is still a relevant piece of literature because the themes of the Iliad can still be applied to our current lives, therefore readers can learn valuable lessons from the choices or mistakes of the characters. Much of the the Iliad involves Trojans and Greeks fighting a war over a dispute that originated between Paris and Menelaus. For most of the fighters, the dispute was impersonal, however they fought because they had previously sworn an oath to go into battle for their leaders, if war should happen. This is relevant to today’s time because when conflicts between nations occur people are called to fight a war for their country out of loyalty, although the conflicts do not personally involve them. The Iliad exemplifies how deep loyalty

ties can run between people and the value that was and still is placed on gaining honor, often by fighting. The importance of gaining honor is exemplified in the story when Achilles talks about his prophecy to either die younger and honorably from war or live labeled as a coward for not fighting.
The Iliad also explores death. Homer makes the death of many characters feel very personal. When characters die Homer states their name, the place where they’re from and even occasionally mentions how the people from their cities wept for the loss of lives. This is most evident when Hector dies and his parents, wife, and city mourn for him. This makes the severity of the war seem more real than if the story had emphasized the sheer number of people dying, rather than the made them seem like real people with lives. The story exemplifies the amount of despair and destruction that war can bring.
These lessons and more taught in the Iliad were pertinent then and they continue to be today. Because the topics discussed in this piece of literature continue to teach valuable lessons, I do believe the Iliad should be required reading for educated people. Additionally, we say that many things in our culture today are influenced by ancient Greek culture, such as our laws, architecture, and medicine, and the Iliad helped to define what it meant to be Greek, making this story essential to fully understand what it means for something to be labeled as being Greek.