The Iliad gives us a third person omniscient, or god's eye view, which is appropriate as the action that transpires outside the walls of Troy is all part of a divine plan.
Everything that happens in the poem has been fated by the gods, who often give the impression that mortals are there to be manipulated and controlled for their own pleasure. Adopting a third person omniscient point of view allows Homer to take a step back and make some sense of the enormous carnage that takes place during this epic conflict.
If the poem had been told from the standpoint of a participant in the conflict—Achilles, say—then it would've been much more difficult for us to get a handle on events. Achilles may be the most important character in the poem, but like everyone else, he's subject to fate, a plaything of the gods. The third person omniscient point of view emphasizes the inevitable nature of what happens to Achilles, as to all other participants in this long, bloody, and bitter war.
The Iliad is told in the third person, from an omniscient point of view. (It's important to note the narrator is the Muse, different from Homer, the poet.) The narrator's point of view is above the action, as if floating over it, viewing the entire world spread out, so to speak. This includes the thoughts and actions of the gods above, which are tightly woven into the narrative. This world is bigger than mere mortals, and we know it because the narrator constantly reminds us of the active presence of the gods in the affairs of humankind.
The narrator begins in media res, or the middle of the story, thereby capturing our attention immediately, but also takes us backwards and forwards in time. For example, Minerva foretells the future to Achilles:
"I come from heaven, if you will hear me, to bid you stay your anger. Juno has sent me, who cares for both of you alike. Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your sword; rail at him if you will, and your railing will not be vain, for I tell you—and it shall surely be—that you shall hereafter receive gifts three times as splendid by reason of this present insult. Hold, therefore, and obey."
This narrator knows what the gods think: For example, when Achilles calls an assembly of the people, the narrator tells us with confidence that Achilles was
moved thereto by Juno, who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had compassion upon them.
This wide-ranging narrative point of view is important and effective, because it allows Homer to juxtapose and contrast the various ways different characters, including the gods, think and understand events. Homer can describe a whole world, its beliefs and preoccupations, while honing in on the most important actions and details that characterize this world. From the opening, we are in the hands of a narrator confident of what is going on and how to interpret it, able both the describe the warrior code of honor and the desire for riches and honor that drove this society, and to critique the cost of it as well in terms of "ills" and death, a theme set out from the beginning:
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.
While Homer tells a complicated tale that raises questions about war, honor, revenge and death, we can as readers can sink back and enjoy a story told by a confident narrator who knows what is going on and why.
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