The Importance of Love in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey Homer's Iliad was a tragedy depicting the despair and unnecessary suffering associated with war. Homer's Odyssey was an epic tale of long suffering ending in triumph. Although there were big differences between the two works, there was an underlying theme of love running through them. Not just the physical manifestation of infatuation, but the kind of love that drives someone to die for another. The events described in the Iliad were triggered by love. Paris's love for Helen and her love for Paris, which causes Helen to abandon Menelaus and leave with Paris for Troy. Helen, consumed by her love, leaves for Troy without “any thought of her child or her husband.” Menelaus's love for Helen drives him to raise an army of thousands and besiege Troy to reclaim her. Thousands of young men on both sides of the struggle, Troy and Argos, died. The result was a ten-year siege of Troy, ultimately resulting in the city being sacked, the Trojan women enslaved, and all the men massacred. Patroclus, Achilles and Hector, all dead because of Helen. Achilles withdraws from combat because he loves Briseis, the favorite of all the women captured in battle, and refuses to return until she is recovered. Achilles returns to battle to avenge Patroclus, but only after Briseis is returned to him in the same state in which she was taken. It is obvious, I grant, that after the death of Patroclus, the motivations of the Iliad quickly transformed into revenge, as demonstrated by Achilles' proclamation to Hector: "To hell with my rage, my fury would now push you to cut your flesh. and I'll eat you raw...!" These are the words of a man driven by vengeance, but isn't revenge, in this case, motivated by love - Achilles' love for Patroclus? If the events of the Odyssey were different from those of the Iliad, they were none the less, animated by the love of the suitors for Penelope, the love of Ulysses for Penelope and Odysseus's love for his home are all examples of the motivations of the Odyssey. Odysseus's love for his wife, his home, and his son was so deep that he gave up becoming immortal to continue his quest...