The Iliad Epic Similes Quotes

Rank and file streamed behind and rushed like swarms of bees - Homer

Rank and file
streamed behind and rushed like swarms of bees
pouring out of a rocky hollow, burst on endless burst,
bunched in clusters seething over the first spring blooms,
dark hordes swirling into the air, this way, that way –
so the many armed platoons from the ships and tents
came marching on, close-file, along the deep wide beach
to crowd the meeting grounds.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 102-109. This epic simile describes the Achaean troops moving out to meet their leaders in The Great Gathering of Armies, Book 2. They are likened to swarms of bees pouring out of a rocky hollow.
in the tenth we'll take her broad streets - Odysseus

Calchas swiftly revealed the will of Zeus:
"Why struck dumb now, my long-hatred Achaeans?
Zeus who rules the world has shown us an awesome sign,
an event long in the future, late to come to birth
but the fame of that great work will never die.
As the snake devoured the sparrow with her brood,
eight and the mother made the ninth, she’d borne them all,
so we will fight in Troy that many years and then,
then in the tenth we’ll take her broad streets."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 381-389. Odysseus shows his credentials as a leader and hero by trying to rally the troops to fight, after they indicate their desire to return home. In this passage he quotes the prophesy by Calchas that the Achaean troops would fight in Troy for nine years and in the tenth they would be victorious by taking her streets. Before they reached Troy, the army witnessed a snake crawl up a tree to swallow eight baby sparrows and their mother in a nest, then turn to stone. Calchas interpreted this as a sign that Troy is fated to fall after the ninth year of battle. Odysseus’s speech succeeds in ralling the armies and Calchas’s interpretation turns out to be correct. The snake and the sparrows is one of the many epic similes used by Homer in the Iliad.

As ravening fire rips through big stands of timber
high on a mountain ridge and the blaze flares miles away,
so from the marching troops the blaze of bronze armor,
splendid and superhuman, flared across the earth,
flashing into the air to hit the skies.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 539-543. The Achaean troops marching out for war present a very formidable sight, as described in this epic simile. They are compared to a devouring fire ripping through timber on a mountain that can be seen miles away.

Armies gathering now
as the huge flocks on flocks of winging birds, geese or cranes
or swans with their long lancing necks – circling Asian marshes
round the Cayster outflow, wheeling in all directions,
glorying in their wings – keep on landing, advancing,
wave on shrieking wave and the tidal flats resound.
So tribe on tribe, pouring out of the ships and shelters,
marched across the Scamander plain and the earth shook,
tremendous thunder from under trampling men and horses
drawing into position down the Scamander meadow flats
breaking into flower – men by the thousands, numberless
as the leaves and spears that flower forth in spring.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 543-554. As the Achaean soldiers mass for war, Homer’s extended simile likens them to huge flocks of great flying birds, wheeling in all directions and glorying in their wings.

The armies massing…crowding thick-and-fast
as the swarms of flies seething over the shepherds’ stalls
in the first spring days when the buckets flood with milk –
so many long-haired Achaeans swarmed across the plain
to confront the Trojans, fired to smash their lines.
The armies grouping now – as seasoned goatherds
split their wide-ranging flocks into packs with ease
when herds have mixed together down the pasture:
so the captains formed their tight platoons,
detaching right and left, moving up for action.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 555-564. The terrifying sight of thousands of Achaean troops gathering to prepare for war is described here in an epic simile, likening them to clouds of angry flies swarming over the plain to confront and smash the Trojan enemy. What the Duke of Wellington said about his own troops comes to mind: "I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me."

there in the midst strode powerful Agamemnon,
eyes and head like Zeus who loves the lightning,
great in the girth like Ares, god of battles,
broad through the chest like sea lord Poseidon.
Like a bull rising head and shoulders over the herds,
a royal bull rearing over his flocks of driven cattle –
so imposing was Atreus’ son, so Zeus made him that day,
towering over fighters, looming over armies.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 565-572. Godlike Agamemnon’s powerful presence among the Achaean warriors is dramatized in an epic simile, which attributes to him the eyes and head of Zeus, great girth of Ares, broad chest of Poseidon and power of a royal bull rearing over his cattle.

and the ground thundered under them, deep as it does
for Zeus who loves the lightning, Zeus in all his rage
when he lashes the ground around Typhoeus in Arima,
there where they say the monster makes his bed of pain –
so the earth thundered under their feet, armies trampling,
sweeping through the plain at blazing speed.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 889-894. The formidable noise of the Achaean army thundering through the plain is compared in one of Homer’s epic similes to Zeus in a rage and lashing the land with thunder and lightning.

Now with the squadrons marshaled, captains leading each,
the Trojans came with cries and the din of war like wildfowl
when the long hoarse cries of cranes sweep on against the sky
and the great formations flee from winter’s grim ungodly storms,
flying in force, shrieking south to the Ocean gulfs, speeding
blood and death to the Pygmy warriors, launching at daybreak
savage battle down upon their heads. But Achaea’s armies
came on strong in silence, breathing combat-fury,
hearts ablaze to defend each other to the death.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 1-9. Using animal imagery, Homer is suggesting here that the Trojan forces are disadvantaged in comparison to the Achaean armies. Words like "din," "cries," "hoarse," and shreiking" paint a picture of chaos and disorganization. The Achaean armies on the other hand are silent, disciplined and ready to defend each other to the death. Homer uses a beautiful epic simile to liken the Trojan soldiers to a flock of shrieking cranes, and a fire metaphor to describe the blazing hearts of the Achaean armies.

When the South Wind showers mist on the mountaintops,
no friend to shepherds, better than night to thieves –
you can see no farther than you can fling a stone –
so dust came clouding, swirling up from the feet of armies
marching at top speed, trampling through the plain.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 10-14. The poet uses a very effective epic simile here to describe the armies marching out against each other. The dust clouds they generate is like the South Wind showering mist on the mountaintops.
Menelaus sees Paris facing him in battle - The Iiad

Soon as the warrior Menelaus marked him,
Paris parading there with his big loping strides,
flaunting before the troops, Atrides thrilled
like a lion lighting on some handsome carcass,
lucky to find an antlered stag or wild goat
just as hunger strikes – he rips it, bolts it down,
even with running dogs and lusty hunters rushing him.
So Menelaus thrilled at heart – princely Paris there,
right before his eyes.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 23-31. Menelaus reacts to the sight of Paris in the opposing Trojan army. Using an epic simile, Homer says the Greek warrior and king of Mycenae is like a lion attacking and ripping a stag or wild goat.

But soon as magnificent Paris marked Atrides
shining among the champions, Paris’ spirit shook.
Backing into his friendly ranks, he cringed from death
as one who trips on a snake in a hilltop hollow
recoils, suddenly, trembling grips his knees
and pallor takes his cheeks and back he shrinks.
So he dissolved again in the proud Trojan lines,
dreading Atrides – magnificent, brave Paris.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 34-41. When Paris sees Menelaus facing him in battle, he is described as being wary and nervous. An epic simile tells us how Paris reacts like he has tripped on a snake, he recoils, goes weak at the knees and shrinks back into the relative safety of the Trojan ranks. Homer is being sarcastic and ironic when he calls Paris magnificent and brave here, since he trembles at the prospect of facing Menelaus.

Down the goddess swept from Olympus’ craggy peaks
and dove like a star the son of Cronus flings.
Cronus with all his turning, twisting ways –
a sign to men at sea or a massive army marching,
blazing on with a stream of sparks showering in its wake.
Like a shooting star Athena flashed across the earth,
plunging down in the midst of both camped forces.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 86-92. In this wonderful epic simile the goddess of wisdom Athena is said to sweep down from Olympus to the armies like a shooting star. Zeus has ordered her down to the battlefield in order to provoke the Trojans into breaking the truce.

Picture a woman dyeing ivory blood red…
a Carian or Maeonian staining a horse’s cheekpiece,
and it’s stored away in a vault and troops of riders
long to sport the ornament, true, but there it lies
as a king’s splendor, kept and prized twice over –
his team’s adornment, his driver’s pride and glory.
So now, Menelaus, the fresh blood went staining down
your sturdy thighs, your shins and well-turned ankles.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 160-167. Menelaus is wounded by an arrow shot by the renowned archer Pandarus, who is urged on by Athena. In an extended simile, Homer uses the imagery of a woman using blood red dye to stain a horse’s cheekpiece, to paint a picture of the dark blood coming from the wound in Menelaus’s groin.

Think how a goatherd off on a mountain lookout
spots a storm cloud moving down the sea…
bearing down beneath the rush of the West Wind
and miles away he sees it building black as pitch,
blacker, whipping the whitecaps, full hurricane fury –
the herdsman shudders to see it, drives his flocks to a cave –
so dense the battalions grouped behind the two Aeantes,
packed, massed with hardy fighters dear to the gods,
battalions black and bristling shields and spears,
fighters sweeping into the breaking storm of war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 315-324. This is a description of the Achaean troops under their captains Great Ajax and Little Ajax as they ready for battle. In this Homeric simile the dense battalions are liked to storm clouds.

As a heavy surf assaults some roaring coast,
piling breaker on breaker whipped by the West Wind,
and out on the open sea a crest first rears its head
then pounds down on the shore with hoarse, rumbling thunder
and in come more shouldering crests, arching up and breaking
against some rocky spit, exploding salt foam to the skies –
so wave on wave they came, Achaean battalions ceaseless,
surging on to war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 489-496. In an epic simile the Achaean forces advancing to battle are likened to the thunderous ocean surf pounding down on the shore and driven by the West Wind.

But not the Trojans, no…
like flocks of sheep in a wealthy rancher’s steadings,
thousands crowding to have their white milk drained,
bleating nonstop when they hear their crying lambs –
so the shouts rose up from the long Trojan lines
and not one cry, no common voice to bind them
all together, their tongues mixed and clashed,
their men hailed from so many far-flung countries.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 502-509. An epic animal simile is used here to contrast the confusion and disorder in the Trojan army, by comparison to the well organized and orderly Achaeans. The Trojans are likened to flocks of sheep bleating nonstop when they hear their young lambs crying.

At last the armies clashed at one strategic point,
they slammed their shields together, pike scraped pike
with the grappling strength of fighters armed in bronze
and their round shields pounded, boss on welded boss,
and the sound of struggle roared and rocked the earth.
Screams of men and cries of triumph breaking in one breath,
fighters killing, fighters killed, and the ground streamed blood.
Wildly as two winter torrents raging down from the mountains,
swirling into a valley, hurl their great waters together,
flash floods from the wellsprings plunging down in a gorge
and miles away in the hills a shepherd hears the thunder –
so from the grinding armies broke the cries and clash of war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 517-528. Homer offers us a very powerful and vivid description of the clash of armies. He employs beautiful imagery to convey the viciousness of war, with fighters killing and being killed. Using a powerful epic simile, he likens the sound of the clashing armies to two wild rivers converging and crashing together.

Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus’ son Diomedes
strength and daring – so the fighter would shine forth
and tower over the Argives and win himself great glory.
She set the man ablaze, his shield and helmet flaming
with tireless fire like the star that flames at harvest.
bathed in the Ocean, rising up to outshine all other stars.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 1-6. The fierce Greek warrior and leader Diomedes is described in an epic simile as being like fire and blazing like a star, as goddess Athena gives him strength and daring to win great glory for himself.

Down the plain he stormed like a stream in spate,
a routing winter torrent sweeping away the dikes:
the tight, piled dikes can’t hold it back any longer,
banks shoring the blooming vineyards cannot curb its course –
a flash flood bursts as the rains from Zeus pour down their power,
acre on acre the well-dug work of farmers crumbling under it –
so under Tydides’ force the Trojan columns panicked now,
no standing their ground, massed, packed as they were.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 96-104. Diomedes continues to rage through the battle attacking the panicked Trojans – just before he is wounded in the shoulder from an arrow shot by Pandarus. An epic simile describes the Greek warrior’s rampage like a river swollen by rains from the god Zeus causing a flash flood and bursting through dikes and farmers’ vineyards.

claw-mad as a lion
some shepherd tending woolly flocks in the field
has just grazed, a lion leaping into the fold,
but he hasn’t killed him, only spurred his strength
and helpless to beat him off the man scurries for shelter,
leaving his flocks panicked, lost as the ramping beast
mauls them thick-and-fast, piling corpse on corpse
and in one furious bound clears the fenced yard –
so raging Diomedes mauled the Trojans.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 151-159. A dramatic epic simile describes Achaean hero Diomedes, having been wounded in the shoulder by the archer Pandarus, as like a raging lion mauling the Trojans.

Next Diomedes killed two sons of Dardan Priam
careering on in a single car, Echemrnon and Chromius,
As a lion charges cattle, calves and heifers
browsing the deep glades and snaps their necks,
so Tydides pitched them both from the chariot,
gave them a mauling – gave them little choice –
quickly stripped their gear and passed their team
to his men to lash back to the ships.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 178-185. The battle rages between the Achaeans and the Trojans and the Greek leader Diomedes is right there in the thick of it, killing many Trojans, despite having been hit by an arrow. In this passage an epic simile compares him to a lion charging cattle and snapping their necks.

Remember the wind that scatters the dry chaff,
sweeping it over the sacred threshing floor,
the men winnowing hard and blond Demeter culling
grain from dry husk in the rough and gusting wind
and under it all the heaps of chaff are piling white…
so white the Achaeans turned beneath the dust storm now,
pelting across their faces, kicked up by horses’ hoofs
to the clear bronze sky – the battle joined again.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 574-581. On the battlefield the Achaean troops are completely covered by a dust storm kicked up by their horses’s hoofs. An epic simile describes it as being like the dry chaff scattered by the wind when the grain is being seperated from the husks after harvest.

The troops themselves had no fear,
no dread of the Trojans’ power and breakneck charges,
no, they stood their ground like heavy thunderheads
stacked up on the towering mountaintops by Cronus’ son,
stock-still in a windless calm when the raging North Wind
and his gusty ripping friends that had screamed down
to rout dark clouds have fallen dead asleep. So staunch
they stood the Trojan onslaught, never shrinking once.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 601-608. This epic simile tells us how the unshrinking Achaeans, spurred on to fight by their leaders, show no fear and hold their ground against the Trojans. They are likened to thunderheads stacked up on the mountaintops by the god of lightning Zeus.

There Diomedes aimed and stabbed, he gouged him down
his glistening flesh and wrenched the spear back out
the brazen god of war let loose a shriek, roaring,
thundering loud as nine, ten thousand combat soldiers
shriek with Ares’ fury when massive armies clash.
A shudder swept all ranks, Trojans and Argives both,
terror-struck by the shriek the god let loose,
Ares whose lust for slaughter never dies.
But now,
wild as a black cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank,
building up from the day’s heat, blasts and towers –
so brazen Ares looked to Tydeus’ son Diomedes.
Soaring up with the clouds to the broad sweeping sky.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 990-1001. God of war Ares retreats to Mount Olympus from the battlefield after being wounded by Diomedes, who drives a spear into his belly. An epic simile describes his shriek as being like that of ten thousand soldiers in war. Another extended simile tells us that he ascended to Olympus like a dark cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank.

Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men.
Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth,
now the living timber bursts with the new buds
and spring comes round again. And so with men:
as one generation comes to life, another dies away.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 171-175. Glaucus, fighting on the side of the Trojans, says this to Greek warrior Diomedes on the bloodied battlefield, after Diomedes asks him: "Who are you, my fine friend? – another born to die?" In an epic simile the lives of humans are compared to the generations of leaves on the trees, which fall and are replaced by new leaves in the spring. In this passage the fallen leaves stand for fallen soldiers.
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