#tagememnon

Firstly, they're not a standalone pair. Both are traditionally attributed to Homer, but they were originally part of a larger set of epic epics known as the Trojan Cycle.

The Iliad takes place during the final year of the war, focusing on heavy themes like death, war, and glory.

And the Odyssey is about Odysseus journey back home, filled with gods, monsters, and strange lands—the return just as important or more than the journey itself.

The order you read them in really depends on what kind of story you're drawn to, as each create a different experience to follow.

If you read the Iliad first like I did, you see characters in the midst of war, their lows and triumphs So in the Odyssey, when their fates are recounted by Nestor and Menelaus, it hits harder with an established emotional connection. Many didn't make it back or they died shortly after, which makes Odysseus's return and bringing order to his household so important.

But that doesn't make reading the Odyssey first any less. You become attached to Ody as a survivor defined by his suffering and longing for his family. The Iliad shows him as a soldier among many who suffer from the tragically weight of the war, showing why he wanted home so much. Iliad as a prequel can work really well. Like you first read Odysseus spending ten years in a war and another returning home, and then you read of that very war that made made him want home even more.

As an Epic the Musical fan, the same can be said about Ilium. It starts with the fall of Troy and the journey showing how much he wants to return home. Astyanax was just the last of many scars the war gave him, and Ilium can present previous ones for him and the other fighters on both Greek and Trojan sides.

Inspired by some art I saw on pin but the og creator wasnt credited

finally finished up the hermes piece :D