What Are The Best Movies Inspired By The Iliad?

So many Hollywood epics and indie films draw from the Trojan War mythos. Looking for standout adaptations capturing Achilles's rage or the overall tragedy beyond just 'Troy'.
2026-07-29 13:13:13
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13 Answers

Best Answer
aajay
aajay
My favorite movie adaptations of a story are usually the ones that use the same themes (pride is useless, loyalty is expensive) to create a completely new story. The big screen adaptation of this story is ‘Troy’ with Brad Pitt as Achilles. There are a few older epic films about the Trojan War, including ‘Helen of Troy’, but they aren’t as good as ‘Troy’. My favorite adaptation of this story right now is the web novel ‘The Loyal Spartan’. It’s a really different take on the story, and it follows the story of a common soldier who is bound by an unbreakable oath, and is forced to choose between his king and his brother. It really captures the heavy personal cost of war that the original story conveys.
2026-08-03
Lee Greuel
Lee Greuel
Although it may not be the best depiction of the events of the Trojan War, 1962’s The Trojan Horse is a peplum film that covers the last days of the conflict from the perspective of a ruse to gain entrance to Troy – the famous wooden horse. A tolerable, if somewhat sloppily made, Italian muscleman epic with lots of steely ambulation, bombastic music and much wooden acting and dubbing – The Trojan Horse is historically significant as it is one of the first major cinematic depiction of the Trojan War, and a class piece of genre filmmaking. In artistic terms, it is pretty ‘amateur’ but it is also great fun as camp and is interesting as a popular arts ‘version’ of the episodes in question. Sometimes less sophisticated versions of scenes and episodes of famous historical events are more enlightening than their more sophisticated Hollywood counterparts, as you get to see what inspired the later movies and how they tried to improve upon their predecessors.
2026-07-31
Felix
Felix
The Iliad is one of the most influential works of all time. This classic is the basis for many films depicting the heroic events and heart-wrenching conflicts that the Homer epic brought to life. While not always fully accurate in every sense, “Troy” (2004) starring Brad Pitt as the legendary Greek warrior Achilles remains an epic film which brought back to life so vividly the many horrific and, at times, poignant moments of the Trojan War.

Further interest can be found with a classic Hollywood film version, Helen of Troy (1956). The Trojan Women (1971) is an artistically superior and powerful short film which gives us a view of the story from the female’s angle in the time after the war has taken place.

For the animated films, there's the offbeat sci-fi take on the Odyssey, Ulysses 31 (1981). For a more serious take from a serious director, there's The Fury of Achilles (1962), a high-quality, black & white Italian film made by a director who stuck very closely to Homer's words. This film is very highly recommended.
2026-07-31
Yara
Yara
There are many movies which have been inspired by the Iliad. Although not entirely faithful to the Iliad, I found ‘Troy’ was a very good movie. It was an excellent film with a very good cast. Another film inspired by the Iliad is ‘Helen of Troy’. However, this film was slightly different from the Iliad as it concentrated more on the love affair between Paris and Helen, a tragedy.

Alternatively if you want to explore something a bit more unusual then The Trojan Women is a powerful and moving drama about the women left behind in the ruins of war, featuring a superb performance from Katharine Hepburn. The modern take on The Odyssey is also very good – O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a fantastic quirky take on Homer’s epic and also contains references back to the Iliad which look at the themes of heroism and fate in the face of adversity. All good watches.
2026-07-31
Hattie
Hattie
This list of films inspired by the Iliad is quite impressive to me. First, there’s the well-known film ‘Troy’ from 2004 that is a nice mix of action and a serious story. Then there’s the much older film ‘Helen of Troy’ (1956) which takes a more classical approach to the war between Greeks and Trojans and focuses on the reasons for the war: the love of Helen to Paris. Finally, there’s ‘The Trojan Women’ (1977) which focuses on the perspectives of the women of Troy after the war. They are all a great addition to the collection of adaptations of the Iliad.
2026-07-31
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