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Iliad IV · The Broken Oath

Also known as: Iliad Book IV · Iliad 4

Iliad · Book IV

Athena, urged by Hera, persuades the archer Pandarus to wound Menelaus and break the truce. The armies join battle, and Agamemnon moves through the ranks to encourage his commanders.

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On Olympus, Hera insists that Troy must fall. Athena descends in disguise and persuades Pandarus to shoot at Menelaus. The arrow only grazes him, but the oath is broken and the war resumes.

Agamemnon goes through the Achaean lines, rebuking the hesitant and praising the eager. The book ends with the first sustained description of mass infantry fighting: shields, spears, dust, and the noise of battle.

Opening lines

Now the gods, seated by the side of Zeus, were holding assembly on the golden floor, and in their midst the queenly Hebe poured them nectar, and they with golden goblets pledged one the other as they looked forth upon the city of the Trojans. — Homer, Iliad IV.1ff., trans. A. T. Murray (Loeb; Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Last updated: 2026-11-13 Entry type: Book