The Iliad - The Catalog of Ships

The Iliad begins with a catalog of ships. Over three hundred lines devoted to explaining the separate Greek armies, their captains and what everyone looked like. Homer takes us straight away to perhaps the most important Trojan character in the epic. The eldest son of the king of Troy and the champion of the Trojans was Hector. He wasn't involved in the war because he wanted to gain lands, or loot, or distinguish himself in battle. But unlike the aggressors Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Achilles, the Trojan champion Hector didn't want fame for massacring his foes.