The Iliad takes place in a confined geography — a stretch of coastline, a plain, a city on a hill — but that geography is used with precision. Knowing where things are makes the battle scenes and tactical movements considerably easier to follow.

Location	What It Is & Why It Matters
Troy (Ilion)	The walled city on the hill. The Trojans fight from behind its walls and in sorties onto the plain below. Never actually falls within the Iliad's timeframe — the poem ends before the city's destruction.
The Scaean Gates	The main western gate of Troy, facing the Greek plain. The primary exit point for Trojan armies. Hector says farewell to Andromache here in Book 6. Achilles dies near these gates after the poem ends.
The Plain of Troy	The flat ground between the city walls and the Greek camp on the shore. The stage for virtually every major battle in the poem. The Scamander and Simois rivers cross it.
The Greek Camp	A fortified beachhead on the Hellespont shore, roughly a mile from Troy. Ships pulled onto the beach; huts and a defensive wall behind them. Achilles' tent is at one end; Ajax's at the other. The camp is nearly burned in Books 15–16.
The River Scamander	The main river running across the Trojan plain. Called Xanthos by the gods. Site of one of the poem's strangest episodes — the river god himself rises against Achilles in Book 21, furious at the corpses clogging his waters.
The River Simois	The second river of the plain, flowing parallel to the Scamander. Often paired with it in descriptions of the battlefield. Less prominent but provides the geographical boundary of the fighting.
The Greek Wall	A defensive fortification the Greeks build around their camp in Book 7. The Trojans breach it in Book 12 — Hector smashes the gate with a boulder. Its construction and fall mark the poem's turning point.
Mount Ida	The mountain range behind Troy, southeast of the city. Zeus watches the battle from its peak. Site of the Judgment of Paris in the earlier mythology that precedes the poem.
Mount Olympus	Home of the gods — located in northern Greece, far from Troy, but the gods travel instantly. The divine scenes that counterpoint the human carnage take place here.
The Hellespont	The narrow strait separating Europe from Asia (modern Dardanelles). The Greek fleet is beached on its western shore. The strategic geography that made Troy important — it controlled access between the Aegean and the Black Sea.

Term	What It Means
Aristeia	A hero's extended moment of battlefield supremacy — a sustained sequence in which one warrior dominates. Each major hero gets at least one. Diomedes' aristeia in Book 5 is the first and most spectacular; Patroclus's in Book 16 is the most consequential.
Promachoi	The front-line champions who fight individual combats in front of their armies. Homeric battle is not a mass melee but a series of named duels between heroes, watched by the rank and file.
Stripping Armor	When a hero kills an opponent, he attempts to strip the body of its armor — both for its material value and as a demonstration of victory. Much of the fighting in the later books is over possession of corpses.
Chariots	Used primarily for transport and dramatic entries onto the battlefield, not mass cavalry charges. Heroes ride chariots to the front line, dismount to fight, then retreat by chariot when wounded.
Supplication	Begging for mercy on the battlefield — a warrior throws down his weapons, grasps the knees of his enemy, and appeals to his honor. It is rarely granted in the Iliad's brutal later books. Achilles' refusal to grant supplication is one of his defining characteristics.
Divine Rescue	Gods routinely snatch their favorites from certain death, wrapping them in mist or teleporting them from the battlefield. Paris in Book 3, Aeneas multiple times. This is not considered cheating — it is fate operating through divine agents.
Spoils / Geras	The tangible prizes — armor, captives, tripods — that represent a warrior's timē (honor). Agamemnon's seizure of Briseis (Achilles' geras) is the theft of honor that drives the poem's plot.