Similes in Iliad - books 1-16

BOOK 3: “…………. so godlike Paris disappeared back into the mass of proud Trojans 

Like a man who catches sight of a snake in a wooded ravine and sharply recoils, knees trembling, and retreats, pale-faced 

BOOK 3: …so delighted was Menelaus when his eyes fell on godlike Paris 

He was as delighted as a lion that comes across a great carcass and finds it is an antlered stag or wild goat; he is starving and greedily devours it in spite of all the efforts of the quick dogs and strong young hunters to drive him off. 

BOOK 3: Menelaus was prowling through the ranks..

like a wild beast

BOOK 4: “As a woman from Xaria or Maeonia stains ivory with purple dye to make a cheek-piece for a horse; it is put in store, and every charioteer prays to see it on a horse of his; but it is in store to delight a ruler, as an adornment for his horse and badge of honour for his charioteer….

so Menelaus, blood stained your handsome thighs and shins and ran down to your fine ankles. 

BOOK 3: …That was how Pallas Athene looked as she sped to earth and leapt in among the troops. 

Like a meteor that Zeus, son of sickle-wielding Cronus, discharges as a warning to sailors or to some great enemy on the land: blazing, it shoots out a mass of sparks. 

BOOK 4: ……….That’s what you look [the greeks] like, standing there, bewildered, instead of fighting. 

Why do you stand there, bewildered, like fawns that dash across the plain and exhaust themselves and stop, because they have no more will to resist? 

BOOK 6: “…So with the family of man; one generation grows, the other fades. 

..like the leaves of the trees. The wind scatters them on the ground, but the trees burst into budand grow fresh leaves when the spring comes round. 

BOOk 6: …… so Paris, Priam’s son, resplendent as the shining sun in his armour, came down from the citadel of Pergamus in Ilium, laughing as he ran. 

As a stabled horse breaks his halter at the manger where he feeds and, hooves thudding, gallops off across the fields to his usual bathing place in the sweet- flowing river, exultant; he tosses his head; his mane streams in the wind along his shoulders; he knows how beautiful he is, and his feet carry him skimming over the ground to the horses’ haunts and pastures- 

BOOK 9: Agamemnon rose, weeping tears...

like a dark spring trickling black streaks of water down a steep rock-face. (strong leadership skills - declaring war a failure ready to go home - then Nestor + Diomedes suggest another attempt to get Achilles to come back

BOOK 9: …..so I have spent many a bloody day, battling with men for the sake of women. 

As a bird brings every morsel she finds to her unfledged chicks, however hard it goes with her

BOOK 10: …….so Diomedes son of Tydeus dealt with the Thracians. 

Like a lion that has found some untended sheep or goats and leaps on them with murder in its heart, 

BOOK 10: …….so Diomedes and Odysseus sacker of cities relentlessly chased down their man 

As a couple of experienced sharp-toothed hunting dogs relentlessly pursue a fawn or hare flying before them through wooded country and screaming as it goes,  

BOOK 10: …. so sweet sleep was banished from the eyes of the sentries as they kept watch throughout that unfriendly night. 

As dogs keep uneasy watch over their flocks in a farmyard, having heard some savage animal coming down from the mountains into a wood and the hue and cry of men and hounds behind it, and all thoughts of sleep are banished,  

BOOK 10: ….so Agamemnon uttered groan after groan from the depths of his being, and his heart trembled with fear. 

As Zeus, husband of lovely-haired Hera, flashes lightening to herald a hailstorm, deluge or blizzard and mantle the fields with snow, or to open the gaping jaws of bitter war, 

BOOK 10: They (Diomedes and Odysseus) set out through the black night…

like a pair of lions, picking their way through the slaughter, the bodies, the armour and the black blood.

BOOK 16: “Patroclus, why are you in tears ……

like a little girl running along beside her mother and begging to be carried, tugging at her skirt to make her stop, although she is in a hurry, and looking tearfully up at her till at last she picks her up? 

BOOK 16: The two fought for Cebriones..

like a pair of lions on the mountain heights, each as hungry and fearless as the other, disputing the dead body of a stag

BOOK 16: …..This was how you, charioteer Patroclus, flew at the Lycians and Trojans

Like a swift falcon when it scatters the jackdaws and the starlings. 

BOOK 16: ……With such determination, Patroclus, did you hurl yourself at Cebriones. 

Springing like a lion that has been wounded in the chest while assaulting the folds, and his courage is the death of him 

BOOK 16: …so the two men (Sarpedon and Patroclus), uttering defiant cries, made for each other. 

As two vultures with their crooked claws and curved beaks fight on a rocky height and scream as they fight,  

BOOK 16: …so far did the Trojans withdraw and the Greeks press forward. 

As far as a man throws a long, light spear when he is doing his best in the games or in battle against an enemy thirsting for his blood, 

BOOK 16: ….so after killing many men himself, Menoetius’ strong son [Patroclus] fell to a close-range thrust from hector. 

As a lion’s will to fight overpowers an indomitable wild boar when the fearless pair battle it out in the mountains over a little stream; both wish to drink there, but the lion’s strength prevails and his panting enemy is overcome - 

BOOK 16: Men swarmed around his (Patroclus’) body as..

as flies in a sheepfold buzz round the brimming in springtime when the vessels overflow with milk 

BOOK 16: …so the Trojans started yelling and panicking

As Zeus unleashes a tempest after clear weather, driving storm-clouds into the skies from Olympus, 

BOOK 16: … […].. such was the din that went up from the Trojan chariots as they fled. 

As in autumn the whole countryside grows dark and heavy with rain under a stormy sky when Zeus sends torrential downpours; he is angry, and rages at men who deliver crooked rulings in public assembly and drive justice out, regardless of the eye of the gods.

BOOK 16: …With their courage and spirit the Myrmidons swarmed out in a mass from the ships, and the tumult of battle filled the air.

They came swarming on like roadside wasps that boys always like to tease, stirring them up in their nest by the road, the young fools: they turn them into a public menace, and if a traveller comes by and unintentionally disturbs them, these brave hearts fly out one and all and protect their little ones –  

BOOK 16 (before they are compared to wasps): …….so the captains and commanders of the Myrmidons surged forward to fall in under the command of  Patroclus, Achilles’ brave attendant. 

They were like flesh-eating wolves, hearts filled with boundless courage, who have brought down a great-antlered stag in the mountains and tear at it, and their jowls run red with blood; then they go off in a pack to lap the black water from the surface of a dark spring with their slender tongues, belching out the gore; their hearts are fearless, and their bellies growl - 

BOOK 16: …so the Greeks saved their ships from going up in flames (hint-divine simile)

Like lightening-gatherer Zeus shifting a dense cloud from the high summit of a great mountain, when every look-out place and headland and mountain ravine stands out, and infinite upper air floods down from the skies -  

BOOK 16: …so from the broad earth there rose the thud of bronze, leather and well-made shields as men stabbed at each other with swords and curved spears. 

Like the crashing that rises from woodcutters at work in a mountain glade, and the noise is heard a long way off,