One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer’s Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan war. The story of the Iliad center on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan war, which lead to Achilles's killing of hektor and determine the fate of Troy. But Homer’s Theme is not simply war or heroism. With compassion and humanity, he presents a universal and tragic view of the world, of human life lived under the shadow of suffering and death, set against a vast and largely unpitying divine background. The Iliad is the first of the great tragedies.