War is raging between the Greeks and the Trojans. Achilles, the great warrior champion of the Greek army, is angrily sulking in his tent and refusing to fight, after a row with his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan king Hector kills Achilles’ beloved friend, he plunges back into the battle to seek his bloody revenge – even though he knows it will bring about his own doom.

Robert Graves’s gripping, vigorous retelling ofThe Iliadportrays quarrelling kings and tarnished heroes, who leave suffering women behind them and are watched over by capricious gods and goddesses. It takes a revered classic back to its roots as popular entertainment.