Greeks, Trojans, gods.
The Iliad has a famously dense cast. Three layers: the Greek expeditionary force, the defenders of Troy, and the Olympians who take sides. The poem is unusual in giving named individuals real interiority on both sides — there are no faceless enemies. Hector and Andromache are as fully drawn as Achilles and Patroclus, and the poem grieves for them just as openly.
The cards below cover the main figures. Many minor warriors who get a paragraph of biography just before they die — a Homeric trademark — are not listed here; the reader will encounter them in the chapter pages.
The expeditionary force outside the walls.
The greatest warrior on either side and the central figure of the poem. Half-divine — his mother is the sea-nymph Thetis. He has been told he has two fates: a short life of glory at Troy, or a long quiet life at home. He chooses the first, withdraws from the war in Book 1, returns in Book 19 after Patroclus's death, kills Hector in Book 22, and finally returns Hector's body to Priam in Book 24.
The expedition's overall commander. Brother of Menelaus. The poem's first act of injustice is his — taking Achilles's prize-woman Briseis as compensation for the loss of his own. He is a powerful king and a poor man-manager; the Iliad is unsparing about his vanity, his weakness in council, his moments of panic. He has his own day of glory in Book 11, and he is the one who finally tries to mend things with Achilles in Book 19.
Achilles's oldest friend, raised in the same household. The one person who can talk to Achilles when no one else can. In Book 16, with the Greek camp burning, he asks to wear Achilles's armor and go into battle in his place. Achilles agrees on the condition that Patroclus drives the Trojans back to the wall and no further. Patroclus disobeys, kills several Trojan champions including Sarpedon, and is killed by Hector. His death is what brings Achilles back into the war.
Helen's first husband, whose theft by Paris started the war. Less powerful than his brother Agamemnon and a quieter character in the poem. Has his own moments — fights Paris in single combat in Book 3, defends Patroclus's body in Book 17. Will go on to spend ten years getting home, after the wooden horse, and to receive Telemachus at Sparta in the Odyssey.
The hero of the Odyssey, here a supporting character. Already known for his cleverness — he is one of the three sent on the embassy to Achilles in Book 9, and the chief of the Greeks chosen for the night raid in Book 10. The Iliad's portrait of him is recognizably the same man the Odyssey will follow: practical, calculating, willing to lie.
One of the youngest Greek captains and the bravest. Book 5 is his aristeia — his day of glory — in which he wounds two Olympians, Aphrodite and Ares, with Athena's help. He is the only Iliadic hero to draw blood from a god and live. Steady, blunt, never reckless.
The largest of the Greek warriors — Homer calls him "huge as a wall." Less brilliant than Achilles or Diomedes; more dependable. Holds the Greek line at the ships in Book 15 with a single spear, alone, when everyone else has fallen back. Will go mad later (after the Iliad ends) when Achilles's armor is given to Odysseus rather than him.
The oldest of the Greek captains, the one who tells stories of older wars. He is the voice of long experience in council. The Iliad treats him with affection — when he speaks, the poem slows. He survives the war and returns home cleanly. Telemachus visits him in the Odyssey.
The defenders inside the walls.
The Trojan champion. Son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, husband of Andromache, father of the infant Astyanax. Goes out to fight knowing Troy will fall the day he dies. The most fully drawn man on either side. His goodbye to his wife and child in Book 6 is one of the most famous domestic scenes in literature; his death at Achilles's hands in Book 22 is one of the most painful.
The old king of Troy. Father of fifty sons (Homer counts them) and many daughters. Watches the war from the walls with Helen. Loses son after son to Achilles. In Book 24 goes alone, with Hermes's help, to Achilles's tent to ransom Hector's body. The conversation between him and Achilles is the moral peak of the poem.
Wife of Hector, mother of the infant Astyanax. The most fully drawn woman in the poem. Her father and brothers were killed by Achilles years before; Hector is now her father, brother, and husband all at once. Her plea to Hector in Book 6 is the poem's most direct argument against the war. After Hector's death she will be carried off as a slave.
The Trojan prince whose theft of Helen from Menelaus caused the war. The Iliad treats him as fundamentally lesser than his older brother Hector — handsome, charming, a competent archer, not a great warrior. Fights Menelaus in single combat in Book 3 and is rescued from death only by Aphrodite. Will eventually kill Achilles with an arrow, after the Iliad ends.
The Greek queen carried off by Paris. The Iliad shows her almost always on the wall of Troy, watching the war that her flight has caused. The poem's portrait of her is unexpectedly sympathetic — she is unhappy, regretful, and treated tenderly by King Priam himself, who refuses to blame her. Will return to Sparta after the war and, in the Odyssey, receive Telemachus there.
Cousin of Hector and second only to him on the Trojan side. Son of the goddess Aphrodite. Survives the fall of Troy, in some traditions to found Rome — Virgil's Aeneid will pick up his story. In the Iliad he is a steady, capable warrior, rescued by Aphrodite in Book 5 and by Poseidon in Book 20.
The Olympians who pick favorites.
The supreme Olympian. Bound by promises he made to Achilles's mother Thetis, and bound, in Iliadic theology, by the larger fates set down before any of this began. He is repeatedly tricked, persuaded, and managed by his wife Hera, but his decisions ultimately stand. He weighs Hector's death and Achilles's on golden scales in Book 22.
Wife of Zeus and the most committed Greek partisan on Olympus. Hates the Trojans because of the judgment of Paris (he chose Aphrodite over her). Deceives Zeus in Book 14 by seducing him to sleep so the Greeks can rally. Loving toward the Greeks, savage toward the Trojans.
The chief Greek-favoring deity of the poem. Restrains Achilles from killing Agamemnon in Book 1, helps Diomedes wound the gods in Book 5, deceives Hector in Book 22 by appearing in the form of his brother Deiphobus. Will be the patron of Odysseus throughout the Odyssey.
The chief Trojan-favoring deity of the poem. Sends the plague that opens Book 1 in revenge for the dishonor of his priest. Stuns Patroclus in Book 16 so Hector can kill him. Holds back Achilles from the Trojan walls in Book 22. Cool, distant, uninterested in human grief.
A minor goddess, but central to the poem because of her son. Begs Zeus to honor Achilles by letting the Greeks suffer in his absence. Brings Achilles new armor from the divine smith Hephaestus after Patroclus's death. Knows her son will die soon, and grieves throughout. The Iliad's most fully drawn divine mother.
Brother of Zeus. Holds a grudge against Troy from before the war (the Trojans refused to pay him for building their walls). Quietly aids the Greeks throughout, most directly in Book 13 when he rallies the line in disguise. Will become Odysseus's enemy after the Iliad.