Hi gang! I am well under to writing the scores for the string trio and I am excited that this is a new form that I have not yet written for so it should be interesting! Anyway, I recommended a few books in an earlier blog, one of which is Homer's classic, the Illiad. There is debate to this day as to whether or not Homer authored this monumental work because the style suggests that perhaps multiple authors contributed but for now, I will stick to Homer. Why is it called the Illiad? Well, the title roughly translates as "pertaining to Ilion(Troy)" and mostly covers the final year of the Trojan War. Achilles is the main character of the story. It deals with his rage after Briseis, his "prize" was claimed by Agammemnon, and ESPECIALLY his wrath after his cousin, Patrocles, is killed by Hector. One of the cool things about the poem is that the Greeks and Trojans were not the only combatants on the battlefield: warring gods fought alongside them. It was truly a war of epic proportions according to Homer! There is even a section in Chapter Twenty where Achilles tries to kill the hero of the Aeneid, Aeneas! Obviously, Achilles failed (lol). Well, I hope I piqued your curiosity a bit because it truly is one of the great stories of the world and fantastic reading! BKT