The "Iliad"
Structure, Myth, and Meaning

Presents a fresh approach to understanding the themes and story of the poem. This study demonstrates how repeated narrative motifs argue for an expanded understanding of the structure of epic poetry. It identifies the "subgenres" of myth within the poem, and places it against related mythologies of the Near East, for a better interpretation.

Louden concludes with an extended comparison of the Homeric Athena and Anat, a West Semitic goddess worshipped by the Phoenicians and Egyptians. Louden's innovative method yields striking new insights into the formation and early literary contexts of Greek epic poetry.