ギリシャ神話・ホメロスのイリアス（Iliad）・オデュセイウス・トロイ戦争
　イリアス(Ilias),ラテン語でトロイの人々という意味。場所としてのトロイはイリウム(ilium)、ギリシャ語ではイリオン（ilion）。ホメロスによるトロイ戦争の叙事詩は、イリアス(ilias)ないしイリアド(iliad,＝iliasの単数形？）と呼ばれている。以下ではイリアドと呼ぶことにする。イリアドは、トロイ戦争をうたったものだが、トロイ戦争の全部ではなく、アキレス（アキレウス）がギリシャ軍の総大将のアガメムノンと仲違いし、引き上げてしまうところから始まる。アキレスのいないギリシャ軍はその後苦戦するが、オデュセウスはアキレスの親友パトロクロスを戦線に呼び、アキレスの鎧を着せてトロイ軍と戦わせる。しかし、パトロクロスは、トロイの王子ヘクトルに殺される。これに怒ったアキレスは再び戦場に戻り、一騎打ちでヘクトルを殺し、その死体を戦車にくくりつけ、自陣に引き上げていく。妻のアンドロマケをはじめ全トロイは悲嘆にくれる。父であるトロイの王プリアモスは、密かにアキレスを訪れ、ヘクトルの死体を返してくれるように頼む。プリアモスを哀れみ、アキレスもヘクトルの死体を返し、プリアモスはヘクトルの葬儀を行う。こうして、イリアドは、アキレスのアガメムノンに対する怒りで始まり、ヘクトルに対する怒りと復讐で終わる。
　トロイ戦争の原因や、ヘクトルの死後のトロイ戦争については、ホメロスのイリアドでは取り上げられていない。いろいろな解釈が専門家の間では議論されているのだと思うが、私には、なぜ、イリアドがヘクトルの死と葬儀で区切りをつけているのかわからない。区切りとしては、アキレスの死（パリスの放つ矢でアキレス腱を打ち抜かれて死ぬ）や、トロイの陥落の方が物語としては区切りがよいように思うが。しかし、イリアドの冒頭を読むと、ホメロスの意図も少しわかるような気がする。ホメロスの叙事詩でうたわれるのはthe rage of Achillesなのだ。それによってギリシャの、そしてトロイの多くの勇者が死ぬことになる。しかし、それも全て神ゼウスの意思なのだ。

イリアドの第１巻の冒頭は、次のように始まる。
（以下の英訳はIan JohnstonのHomer, The Iliad　（http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad_title.htm）による。少しくだけ過ぎている感じがしないでもないが、英語訳としては分かりやすい。）
Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus.--
that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans
to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls
deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies
carrion food for dogs and birds--
all in fulfillment of the will of Zeus.

第２２巻　ヘクトルの死、アキレスと戦って死ぬ場面は、トロイ戦争の圧巻である。
・・・　・・・
Hector balanced his long-shadowed spear,
then threw it.  It struck the shield of Peleus' son,  
right in the centre.  That spear didn't miss its mark.
But it bounced some distance off the shield.  Hector,
angry that the spear had flown from his hand and missed,
stood dismayed, for he had no substitute ash spear.
・・・　・・・
Then Hector in his heart
saw everything so clearly.--he said:
                                            "This is it, then.
　The gods are summoning me to my death.
　I thought warrior Deiphobus was close by.
　But he's inside the walls, and Athena （ギリシャ側についている神）
　has deceived me.  Now evil death is here, 
　right beside me, not somewhere far away.
　There's no escape. ・・・　・・・

Hector finished speaking.  He pulled out his sharp sword,
that strong and massive weapon hanging on his thigh,
gathered himself, then swooped like some high-flying eagle
plummeting to the plains down through the murky clouds 
to seize a tender lamb or cowering rabbit.
that's how Hector charged, brandishing his sharp sword.
Achilles attacked, as well, heart full of savage anger,
covering his chest with that richly decorated shield,
his shining four-ridged helmet nodding on his head,
the golden plumes Hephaestus had set there
shimmering around the crest. Just like that star
which stands out the loveliest among all those
in the heavenly night sky?the star of evening?
that's how the sharp point then glittered on the spear 
Achilles hefted in his right hand, intent on
killing noble Hector. He inspected his fine skin,
to see where it was vulnerable to a blow.
But Hector's entire body was protected
by that beautiful armour he'd stripped off
powerful Patroclus, once he'd killed him,
except for that opening where the collar bones
separate the neck and shoulders, at the gullet,
where a man's life is most effectively destroyed.
As Hector charged, noble Achilles struck him there, 
driving the spear point through his tender neck.
But the heavy bronze on that ash spear did not cut
his windpipe, so he could still address Achilles
and reply to him. 
・・・　・・・
Hector fell down in the dust. 
Lord Achilles then cried out in triumph:
・・・
　　By our ships lies a dead man?unwept,
　　unburied -- Patroclus.  I'll not forget him,
　　as long as I remain among the living,
　　as long as my dear limbs have motion.
　　If down in Hades men forget their dead,
　　even there I will remember my companion.
　　Come, young Achaeans, sing a victory song,
　　as we're returning to our hollow ships.
　　We'll take the body.  We've won great glory,
　　killing noble Hector -- Trojans prayed to him
　　in their own city, as if he were a god."

Achilles finished.  Then on noble Hector's corpse
he carried out a monstrous act.  He cut through
the tendons behind both feet, from heel to ankle,
threaded them with ox-hide thongs, and then tied these
onto his chariot, leaving the head to drag behind.
He climbed up in his chariot, brought on the splendid armour,
then lashed his horses.  They sped off eagerly, 
dragging Hector.  A dust cloud rose above him,
his dark hair spread out round him, and Hector's head,
once so handsome, was covered by the dust, for Zeus
had given him to his enemies to dishonour
in his own native land.  So all his head grew dirty.
・・・　・・・

第24巻のプリアモスとアキレス
・・・　・・・
He (プリアモス）came up to Achilles, then with his fingers
clasped his knees and kissed his hands, those dreadful hands,
man-killers, which had slain so many of his sons.
・・・・
They gazed at one another.
Then Priam made his plea, entreating:
                                                 "Godlike Achilles,
　　remember your own father, who's as old as me,
　　on the painful threshold of old age.
　　It may well be that those who live around him
　　are harassing him, and no one's there                                          
　　to save him from ruin and destruction.
　　But when he hears you're still alive,                                                       
　　his heart feels joy, for every day he hopes
　　he'll see his dear son come back home from Troy.
　　But I'm completely doomed to misery?
　　I fathered the best sons in spacious Troy,
　　yet I say now not one of them remains.
　　・・・　・・・
　　But I had one left, guardian of our city,
　　protector of its people.  You've just killed him,
　　as he was fighting for his native country.                                               
　　I mean Hector. For his sake I've come here,
　　to Achaea's ships, to win him back from you.
　　And I've brought a ransom beyond counting.
　　So Achilles, show deference to the gods
　　and pity for myself, remembering
　　your own father.  ・・・　・・・

Priam finished.  His words roused in Achilles
a desire to weep for his own father.  Taking Priam's hand,
he gently moved him back.  So the two men there
both remembered warriors who'd been slaughtered.
Priam, lying at Achilles' feet, wept aloud                                                        
for man-killing Hector, and Achilles also wept                                     
for his own father and once more for Patroclus.
The sound of their lamenting filled the house.
・・・　・・・