An epic simile (also known as a Homeric simile) is defined as an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Epic similes can be found quite often throughout "The Iliad" and just as the definition states, it brings more depth and meaning to characters, actions, and a greater understanding of the imagery that Homer was trying to create.
             "Now when he heard this prayer, Phoibos Apollo walked with storm in his heart from Olympos' crest, quiver and bow at his back, and the bundled arrows clanged on the sky behind as he rocked in his anger, descending like night itself." One can easily feel the fury that Apollo is experiencing from these epic similes. He is preparing to harm many people with a storm in his heart. Him being a god, you can almost sincerely see this storm brewing in his heart, and you are taken away with the image of nightfall. He is descending with a sense of darkness in himself. When the epic simile ends, the punishment of those who stole Leto's daughter begins.
             After Apollo's attack, and Agamemnon and Akhilleus' confrontation, Akhilleus calls on his mother, Thetis, and informs her of what had happened. Akhilleus asks for his mothers help, she complies and makes way for Olympos. "Thetis had kept in mind her mission for her son, and rising like a dawn mist from the sea into a cloud she soared aloft in heaven to high Olympos." One gets a beautiful picture in their mind when they read this. Just as when the sun rises and mist must move to the clouds, Thetis, as natural and inevitable, must make her way to Olympos and see Zeus for the love and honor of her son.
             "But, Menelaos, you were not neglected this time by the god in bliss! Athena, Hope of Soldiers, helped your first of all, deflecting by an inch th...