At the centre of the commentary on Book 19 of the Iliad is the interpretation of the speeches and events at the assembly of the Achaean army at which the argument between Achilles and Agamemnon was settled, thus enabling the Achaeans to take the field in the decisive battle against Hector and the Trojans.

Since Ameis-Hentze-Cauer (1868-1913) no comprehensive, scholarly commentary of Homer's Iliad has been published in German. In the meantime considerable progress has been made in many traditional areas of Homeric studies (language, realia, structure etc.). In addition, generally acknowledged new fields such as narratology have been systematically studied. Furthermore, the knowledge of the Mycenaean language (Linear B) and oral poetry provide completely new possibilities of textual constitution and analysis. Using the old Ameis-Hentze-Cauer as a starting point, the new commentary reflects the...