Set during the tenth (last) year of the Trojan War, the Iliad describes how Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, abandons the fight after king Agamemnon, the Greek commander in chief, takes an attractive captive Briseis who had been originally awarded to Achilles as a slave. Neither the beginning nor the end of the war is included in the Iliad.

The death of Patroclus, Achilles' dearest friend, at the hands of the Trojan hero Hector, brings Achilles back for revenge, and he slays Hector. Later Hector's father, king Priam, comes to Achilles disguised as a beggar to ransom his son's body back, and Achilles is moved to pity; the funeral of Hector ends the poem.