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The Iliad Similes and Metaphors Quotes

Hector –
whipping the fight and fire in each man like a huntsman
crying on his hounds, their white fangs flashing,
harrying savage game, some wild boar or lion –
so at Achaea’s ranks he drove his fearless Trojans.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 338-342. Hector rallies the Trojan soldiers in a drive against the Achaean ranks. An epic simile compares him to a huntsman urging on the hounds in pursuit of savage game. He goes on to kill nearly a dozen Greek captains and the Achaean line begins to flee.

Then both went thrashing into the lines to make a slaughter
as two wild boars bristling, ramping back for the kill,
fling themselves on the yelping packs that hunt them –
back they whirled on attack and laid the Trojans low
while Achaeans just in flight from Hector’s onset
leapt at the chance to gather second wind.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 375-380. As the Greek army begins to retreat, Odysseus and Diomedes decide to make a stand. They heroically fling themselves at the Trojans like "two wild boars" going in for the kill, as described in an epic simile. Their action inspires the other Achaeans.

like hounds and lusty hunters closing, ringing
a wild boar till out of his thicket lair he crashes,
whetting his white tusks sharp in his bent, wrenching jaws
and they rush in to attack and under the barks and shouts
you can hear the gnash of tusks but the men stand firm –
terrible, murderous as he is – so the Trojans ringed
Odysseus dear to Zeus, rushing him straight on.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 490-496. The Trojan soldiers attack Odysseus, who has become isolated from his men. In an extended simile, he is compared to a wild boar surrounded by hounds and hunters. He is also said to be dear to the father of the gods Zeus.

they found Odysseus
dear to Zeus but round him Trojans thronged
like tawny jackals up in the mountains swarming
round a horned stag just wounded – a hunter’s hit him
with one fast shaft from his bow and the stag’s escaped,
sprinting at top speed so long as his blood runs warm
and the spring in his knees still lasts…
But soon as the swift arrow saps his strength
the ravening carrion packs begin their feasting
off on a ridge in twilight woods until some god,
some power drives a lion down against them-claw-mad
and the panicked jackals scatter, the lion rends their prey.
So packed around Odysseus skilled and quick to maneuver
swarmed the brave bulk of Trojans – but still the hero
kept on lunging, spearing, keeping death at bay.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 556-570. Menelaus and Great Ajax find Odysseus surrounding by Trojans, but heroically managing to keep death at bay. In an epic simile comparing him to a wounded stag surrounded by jackals, Odysseus is depicted as a great warrior with steely resistance and determination. The fact that Zeus holds him dear also helps his cause.

Wild as a swollen river hurling down on the flats,
down from the hills in winter spate, bursting its banks
with rain from storming Zeus, and stands of good dry oak,
whole forests of pine it whorls into itself and sweeps along
till it heaves a crashing mass of driftwood out to sea –
so glorious Ajax swept the field, routing Trojans,
shattering teams and spearmen in his onslaught.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 580-586. As Great Ajax attacks and routs the Trojans, Homer in an epic simile conjures up an image of a river swollen by rain storms from Zeus, sweeping through a forest and dragging a mass of driftwood out to sea. The Greek warrior is compared to a force of nature as he heroically sends the enemy running.

Like a tawny lion when hounds and country field hands
drive him out of their steadings filled with cattle –
they’ll never let him tear the rich fat from the oxen,
all night long they stand guard but the lion craves meat,
he lunges in and in but his charges gain him nothing,
thick-and-fast from their hardy arms the javelins
rain down in his face, and waves of blazing torches –
these the big cat fears, balking for all his rage,
and at dawn he slinks away, his spirits dashed.
So Ajax slowly drew back from the Trojans,
spirits dashed, and much against his will.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 644-654. Hector and his men force Great Ajax to slowly retreat. The giant Greek warrior is depicted as a dispirited lion driven back by hounds and field hands in one of Homer’s powerful epic similes.

Like a stubborn ass some boys lead down a road…
stick after stick they’ve cracked across his back
but he’s too much for them now, he rambles into a field
to ravage standing crops. They keep beating his ribs,
splintering sticks – their struggle child’s play
till with one final shove they drive him off
but not before he’s had his fill of feed.
So with Telamon’s son Great Ajax then –
vaunting Trojans and all their far-flung allies
kept on stabbing his shield, full center, no letup.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 656-665. Great Ajax is compelled to retreat in the face of the onslaught by Hector and his men. The image of a stubborn ass being beaten by sticks by a bunch of boys is conjured up to describe this in an epic simile.

He called at once to his friend-in-arms Patroclus,
shouting down from the decks. Hearing Achilles,
forth he came from his shelter,
striding up like the deathless god of war
but from that moment on his doom was sealed.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 710-714. Achilles shouts out to his friend Patroclus, to ask him to go to the Achaean camp to find out about the casualties, thinking they must be desperate for his help. When Patroclus strides out of his hut he is compared in a simile to god of war Ares. From that moment his fate and doom are sealed, Homer says, forshadowing the death of Achilles’s friend.

think of the hounds and huntsmen circling round
some lion or boar when the quarry wheels at bay,
rippling in strength as the men mass like a bastion
standing up to his charge and hurl their pelting spears
and the boar’s brave spirit never flinches, never bolts
and his own raw courage kills him – time and again
he wheels around, testing the huntsmen’s ranks
and where he lunges out the ranks of men give way.
So Hector lunged into battle, rallying cohorts now,
spurring them on to cross the gaping trench.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 50-59. A brave and heroic Hector attacks the Achaean wall. An epic simile likens Hector to a lion or boar, surrounded by hounds and huntsmen hurling spears at their quarry, and the animal repeatedly turns around and lunges at its attackers.

Both warriors planted there before the towering gates
rose like oaks that rear their crests on a mountain ridge,
standing up to the gales and driving rains, day in, day out,
their giant roots branching, gripping deep in the earth:
so these two, trusting all to their arms, their power,
stood up to Asius’ headlong charge and never shrank.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 155-160. The Achaean spearmen Polypoetes and Leonteus heroically defend the Achaean gate in the Greeks’ wall against the charge led by Trojan ally Asius. They are compared in an epic simile to two great oaks standing up to gales and driving rains.

the two burst forth to fight before the gates
like wild boars, a pair of them up on the hilltops
bracing to take some breakneck rout of men and dogs
and the two go slanting in on the charge, shattering timber
round about them, shearing off the trunks at the roots
and a grinding, screeching clatter of tusks goes up
till a hunter spears them, tears their lives out –
so the clatter screeched from the gleaming bronze
that cased their chests as blows piled on blows.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 169-177. Fighting for all they are worth, the Achaeans Polypoetes and Leonteus are likened to two wild boars in an extended Homeric simile, as they heroically make a stand against the Trojan charge at the Achaean gate.

Father Zeus –
so even you are an outright liar after all!
I never dreamed these heroic Argive ranks
could hold back our charge, our invincible arms.
Look, like wasps quick and pinched at the waist
or bees who build their hives on a rocky path,
they never give up their hollow house, they hold on,
keep the honey-hunters at bay, fight for their young.
So these men will never budge from the gates
though they’re only two defenders –
not till they kill us all or we kill them!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 189-199. Asius curses Zeus for his failure to break through the Achaean defensive wall. An epic simile conjures up an image of bees or wasps who will never give up the fight for the defense of their house and young. So the heroic Achaeans will defend against the Trojan charge until they kill all or are killed themselves.

Thick-and-fast as the snows that fall on a winter dawn
when Zeus who rules the world brings on a blizzard,
displaying to all mankind his weaponry of war…
and he puts the winds to sleep, drifting on and on
until he has shrouded over the mountains’ looming peaks
and the headlands jutting sharp, the lowlands deep in grass
and the rich plowed work of farming men, and the drifts fall
on the gray salt surf and the harbors and down along the beaches
and only breakers beating against the drifts can hold them off
but all else on the earth they cover over, snows from the sky
when Zeus comes storming down – now so thick-and-fast
they volleyed rocks from both sides, some at the Trojans,
some from Trojans against the Argives, salvos landing,
the whole long rampart thundering under blows.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 323-336. The battle rages as Achaeans and Trojans continue to hurt spears and rocks at each other. An extended Homeric simile likens it to Zeus sending down a blizzard of snow from the skies, thick and fast, until it covers everything.

That splendid shield he gripped before his chest
and shaking a pair of spears went stalking out
like a mountain lion starved for meat too long
and the lordly heart inside him fires him up
to raid some stormproof fold, to go at the sheep,
and even if he should light on herdsmen at the spot,
guarding their flocks with dogs and bristling spears,
the marauder has no mind to be driven off that steading,
not without an attack. All or nothing – he charges flocks
and hauls off bloody prey or he’s run through himself
at the first assault with a fast spear driven home.
So how the heart of Sarpedon stalwart as a god
impelled him to charge the wall and break it down.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 346-358. The demi-god Sarpedon, son of Zeus and a Trojan ally from Lycia, charges the Achaean wall to attempt to break through it. The image of a mountain lion starved of meat and charging flocks of sheep and hauling off its bloody prey is used in an epic simile to describe Sarpedon, one of the big heroes of the Trojan War.

They held tight as a working widow holds the scales,
painstakingly grips the beam and lifts the weight
and the wool together, balancing both sides even,
struggling to win a grim subsistence for her children.
So powerful armies drew their battle line dead even
till, at last, Zeus gave Hector the son of Priam
the greater glory – the first to storm the wall.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 502-508. As Lycians and Achaeans fight it out on the rampart, neither side of getting the better of the other, until Zeus decides to intervene to give Hector the greater glory – the first to storm the wall. The standoff between the forces is likened in an epic simile to a widow measuring out wool on a scales until the scales balance.

As a shepherd lifts a ram’s fleece with ease,
plucks it up with a hand – no weight at all to him –
so Hector raised the rock, bore it straight for the doors
that blocked the gateway, powerful, thickset, the pair
towering up with two bars on the inside, crossing over
each other, shot home with a bolt to pin them firm.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 12, lines 524-529. Hector picks up a huge rock to smash the Achaean gates. An epic simile compares him to a shepherd lifting up the fleece of a ram with ease with his hand.

What disgrace –
a marvel right before my eyes! A terrible thing…
and I never dreamed the war would come to this:
the Trojans advancing all the way to our ships,
men who up till now had panicked like deer,
food in the woods for jackals, leopards, wolves –
helpless, racing for dear life, all fight gone.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 116-122. Sea god Poseidon encourages the Achaean troops, while at the same time demeaning the Trojans, who in an epic simile he likens to panicked deer and food for jackals and wolves, running for their lives.

Tight formations led by Hector careering breakneck on
like a deadly rolling boulder torn from a rock face –
a river swollen with snow has wrenched it from its socket,
immense floods breaking the bank’s grip, and the reckless boulder
bounding high, flying with timber rumbling under it,
nothing can stop it now, hurtling on undaunted
down, down till it hits the level plain
and then it rolls no more for all its wild rush.
So Hector threatened at first to rampage through
the Argives’ ships and shelters and reach the sea
with a single sudden charge, killing all the way.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 163-173. Hector and his Trojans advance to the Achaean ships in this passage, killing all before them. An extended Homeric simile compares the charge to an unstoppable deadly boulder ripped from a rock face by a swollen river and hurtling down to the plain.

As soon as Idomeneus reached his well-built shelter
he strapped his burnished armor round his body,
grasped two spears and out he ran like a lightning bolt
the Father grips and flings from brilliant Olympus,
a dazzling sign to men – a blinding forked flash.
So the bronze flared on his chest.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 284-289. King of Crete and warrior Idomeneus gets ready to return to battle. An epic simile describes how he runs like a bolt of lightning flung by Zeus from Mount Olympus.

And he went on to war as grim as murderous Ares,
his good son Panic stalking beside him, tough, fearless,
striking terror in even the combat-hardened veteran, yes,
both of them marching out of Thrace, geared to fight the Ephyri
or Phlegians great with heart, but they turn deaf ears
to the prayers of both sides at once, handing glory
to either side they choose. So on they marched,
Meriones and Idomeneus commanders of armies
strode to battle helmed in gleaming bronze.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 350-358. Meriones returns to the battlefield to join Idomeneus. In an epic simile the two Cretans are compared to god of war Ares and his son Panic as they march out to war.
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