The Who & The What

The Iliad, as we know it today, consists of 15,693 lines of poetry.

- Liz Johnson

We call it an epic poem because of its length and because it tells a dramatic story about gods and heroes from long ago. Yet, the Iliad is based on an historical event, and archaeologists have even identified an actual site for where it took place—Troy (see pages 42–45). This city flourished during the Mycenaean Age, a time of palaces and wealth in ancient Greece. Around the 12th century B.C.E., Troy was destroyed, along with many other once-prosperous palace centers. Why is unclear, but evidence indicates that Greece was plunged into a Dark Age that lasted 400 years. Even the art of writing was lost.