About
Greek culture lies at the foundation of our civilisation, which makes it so important to understand the lives of those who came before us: what stories did they tell, what did they believe, and how did they explain their own actions and those of the people they considered heroes? One of the foundational works of Greek culture is Homer’s Iliad. As you begin reading, it is easy to lose track of who is who, who is fighting whom and why, and how everyone is related. I want this visual atlas to help readers find their way into a work as monumental as the Iliad.
Explore the characters’ stories
- Canvas
- Pan across the canvas and zoom to explore characters and their connections. Hover over a character to highlight their connections, or select them to open a dossier. Search and filters help you find a name and focus on a particular book or relationship type.
- Dossier
- Each character has a dossier with a short introduction, family and other connections, quotations from the poem and depictions in art. Follow a connection to another character, open a standalone character page, or check the sources behind the information.
- Catalogue
- If you already know whom you are looking for, open the catalogue. Find a character by name, open their dossier, then return to exploring their connections on the canvas.
Sources
The atlas is grounded in Homer’s Iliad: its characters, events and the lines that reveal their relationships. Quotations in the Russian edition use V. V. Veresaev’s translation; the English edition uses A. T. Murray’s.
To clarify names, family relationships and mythological context, we also consulted ancient texts, classical mythology reference works and other online sources, including:
- Perseus Digital Library — texts of the Iliad and other ancient works, alongside classical reference works such as William Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
- Theoi Project — Greek mythology reference material and collections of quotations from ancient authors.
- Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons — reference articles, alternative names and images of artworks.
Sources for individual descriptions, connections and images are linked in the character dossiers. Information from reference works and other texts is distinguished from what the poem itself says.
Contact
If you spot an error, want to share your impressions or have an idea for improving the atlas, please write to me. I welcome your feedback and suggestions.
mikeandpicture@gmail.com