GRE: No
7-3 A1Of Homer’s two epic poems, the Odyssey has always been more popular thanthe Iliad, perhaps because it includes more features of mythology that areaccessible to readers
Its subject (to use Maynard Mack’s categories) is “life-as-spectacle,” for readers, diverted by its various incidents, observe its heroOdysseus primarily from without; the tragic Iliad, however, presents “life-as-experience”: readers are asked to identify with the mind of Achilles, whosemotivations render him a not particularly likable hero
In addition, the Iliad, morethan the Odyssey, suggests the complexity of the gods’ involvement in humanactions, and to the extent that modern readers find this complexity a needlesscomplication, the Iliad is less satisfying than the Odyssey, with its simpler schemeof divi