Deaths in the Iliad - Classics Infographic

Published by Reblogs - Credits in Posts,



Deaths in the Iliad: a Classics Infographic

As requested: buy this as a poster in the UK! Or buy this as a poster in the US! (original version)

NEW: go here to find out exactly how useless Paris is!

2023 EDIT: I’ve added the Anglicised version of the names of the heroes in the roundels below, which i should have done first time round. Why didn’t I? Because I noticed that in Academic papers they didn’t provide Ancient Greek translations, and I wanted to look legit Now we don’t stand for that kind of crap. I’ve also made this one big image, instead of all those little clips, because everyone’s internet is pretty much faster than it used to be and can deal with it now.

EDITED 2014: this got viewed about 250,000 times before anyone noticed that, on the first graph, I’d accidentally put Hektor’s book 22 death (the only one) in the book 21 column. Good spot!

ALSO EDITED 2014: I’ve made reference to the fact that Patroclus kills, in a blink-and-miss-it reference, 27 un-named Trojans just before Hektor kills him. Aside from the 12 Thracians under Rhesus (Book 10), and the 12 Trojan princes slaughtered by Achilles over the pyre of Patroclus, these are the only unnamed kills. It is most likely that the reference is simply there for emphasis of Patroclus’ aristeia (BADASS emphasis!), and could even have been added later. It doubles his stats, but in a throwaway and almost meaningless manner, and these deaths are sometimes left off lists of deaths in the Iliad. Kudos to Max Ehrenfreund for the request.

Here’s a clickable link to Ian Johnston’s work on the Iliad: a lovely translation that’s perfect for first-time readers, a list of the speeches (invaluable to students), and of course the list of deaths which formed the basis of this Infographic along with my own research.

You can buy his Iliad translation, as paperback or Ebook. It’s available on Amazon but I know he’ll get an actually-decent cut of the cost if you buy it direct from Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/homer/the-iliad-translated-by-ian-johnston/paperback/product-2351622.html
(He’s done the Odyssey too!)

My illustrated Odyssey, books 5,6,7,9,10 and 12 (old UK GCSE set books) and some of the new chapters, are available to buy and download instantly: CLICK HERE .

107 thoughts on "Deaths in the Iliad: a Classics Infographic"

Comment navigation

  2. Pingback: Impulse || Home

  4. This is one of the most epic infographics of all times. And it is not just because Iliad is one of my favorite books. This is particularly because I owned a very particular edition that was published in the beginning of the 90s, which contained a lot of images of fights that really helped me to immerse into the story. The book got lost when we moved, but I recently found it in one of the antique stores, and bought it for my kids. I will also show them this article and I’m sure they are gonna love it.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear John,

      that’s so lovely of you to take the time to say, thank you. I’m really glad you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ll be sharing it with your kids! The best thing each year of my teaching life has been being able to read the Iliad anew with each new yeargroup, and seeing how they react to it. It’s always amazing!
      Did you manage to find what edition of the Iliad you were thinking of? It sounds really intriguing.
      Jenks.

      Like

  13. Very nice graphic. But unfortunately, Agamemnon’s name is mispelled. It is Ἀγαμἐμνων, with an omega.

    Like

  28. TTTRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

    Like

Comment navigation

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Join 10.5K other subscribers

Search for comix…

Search

Search by Comic Category

Search by Comic Category

Translate site