On this day...

The city of Troy is sacked and burned in 1184 BC, according to calculations made by Greek poet and mathematician Eratosthenes. The accuracy of this guess is dubious, as is, of course, the existance of the Trojan War itself. Nevertheless, the legendary events have remained immortalised within one of the greatest epic poems ever composed - that of Homer's 'The Iliad'. Although much of the war happens strictly outside the 15, 700 lines of the text, Homer's prodigious skills allows the stories of the war's inception, tales of Helen, Paris, Agamemnon and Achilles to be seamlessly woven throughout the narrative.

The ten year war, therefore, is portrayed through just the final weeks, as Homer's climactic dactylic hexameter encompasses the deaths of Sarpedon, Patrocles and culminates with the funeral of Trojan prince Hector, whose body, dishonoured by Achilles was returned to his grieving father. The poem, in conjunction with partner 'The Odyssey', which charts the King of Ithaca's return from the war, has given rise to many other literary masterpieces. Greek dramatist Aeschylus follows Agamenon in his 'Oresteia', Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida' uses much of the poem as source material, and translations by writers such as George Chapman and Alexander Pope have become famous in their own right. In short, it is a poem which transcends time, and remains as apt and enchanting today as it did almost 3,000 years ago.

On this day...

Homeric hero Odysseus is calculated to have returned home from the Trojan War. King of Ithaca, Odysseus, or 'Ulysses' in Latin, was one of the Greek warriors charged with bringing the abducted Helen back to her husband. Thus follows the legendary 10 year long Trojan War as recorded in 'The Illiad'; a war through which names such as Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector, as well as of course the Trojan horse, have all achieved hero status.

Yet 'The Odyssey', the second of Homer's epic poem, charts Odysseus' return home to his island home and wife Penelope; an adventure that takes a further 10 years and recounts stories of captivity, storms, sirens and the cyclops Polyphemus. Upon his return, Odysseus enters the household as a beggar and discovers his wife is already being courted by a number of suitors. Yet when a competition is organised, to string Odysseus' bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads, Odysseus alone is able to, his disguise is lifted and the pair are reunited. Probably composed near the end of the 8th century BC, the works are fundamental to the Western canon. The dactylic hexameter used has since been closely replicated in other classical poetry, notably Virgil and Ovid.

On this day...

English poet John Milton was born in 1608. Born into a time of social unrest, Milton became active on a political and religious scale from a young age; combining both elements in his later writings. Although more widely reknown for his poetry, Milton's literary career was initiated by a speech written during the civil war. A ideological defence of freedom of expression, 'Areopagitica' condemned the censorship of the day, arguing to be given 'the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.' In 1654, Milton became totally blind, forcing him to dictate his works to amanuenses; only going to increase the admiration surrounding his most famous work, 'Paradise Lost', composed over 10 years later. Taking inspiration from other epic poets such as Homer, Virgil and Dante, Milton's work of blank verse includes similar themes and is of comparable proportions, the work totalling almost 11,000 lines. Known by Dryden as a 'Poet of the Sublime', Milton's influence was felt throughout the Romantic and Victorian periods and he remains one of Britain's most popular poets. He died in 1674 at the age of 65.