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The homeric heroes believe the body to be the most precious thing that man has. The hero himself is identifiable with his body and loses all when he loses it. When he dies, the vital energy (thymòs), located in tissues, flies away, so the soul (psyché), separated from the body, is only a shadow, an inconsistent ghost eternally crying its life, because values of Homeric heroes (beauty, bravery, honor and glory) are all linked to the body. In Iliad the body is an absolute protagonist and references to parts of the human body are rather frequent.

A reference to the bony skeleton of the head is found in the IV book, when Antilochos, Nestor's son, kills Echepolos, Thalysias' son. The reference is to the frontal bone (IV, 460-461).

the bronze point of the spear lodged in his forehead, driving in through the bone...

The relationship between orbit and skull cavities is mentioned, when Peneleos kills the Trojan Ilioneus, son of Phorbas (XIV, 493-495)

...struck him under the brow at the base of the eye, and knocked out the eyeball; the spear passed right through the orbit and came out through the muscle of the neck.

A reference to the relationship between the oral cavity and the base of the encephalon (through rhinopharinx) and to the bony diaphragm formed by the basilar part of occipital bone is found in the episode of the death of the Trojan Erymas by the Cretan Idomeneus (XVI, 345-349):

...in his mouth with the pitiless bronze; the bronze spear passed right through and up under the encephalon, smashing the white bones; his teeth were knocked out and both his eyes flooded with blood;...

The term encéphalon of the line 347 is an adjective, referred to the noun myelòs (marrow), which indicates the substance contained in the neurocranium, and is roughly equivalent to what we now indicate with the same term (the complex constituted by brain, cerebellum, pons, bulb). The encephalon is also mentioned in the XX book, when Achilleus kills Demoleon (XX, 397-400) :

...He struck him in the temple, through his bronze-checked helmet: the bronze of the helmet could not hold, but the spear point pushed on through it and smashed the bone, and his encephalon were spattered inside...

The bone broken by the shot of Achilleus is the temporal bone (kròtaphos). Another reference to the close spatial relationship existing between oral cavity and the occipital region of the skull can be found in the episode where the Achaean Meges hits the Trojan Pedaios, son of Antenor (V, 73-74):

...struck him with his sharp spear in the nape at the back of his head: the bronze pushed straight through his teeth and cut away his tongue.

The tongue and the relationship between it and the oral structures are mentioned in the episode of the shot, by which Diomedes kills Pandaros (V, 290-293):

...Athene guided the weapon to hit on the nose by his eye, and it pierced through his white teeth. The tireless bronze sheared away the tongue at its root, and the point came out by the base of his chin.

Another reference to the tongue is found when Hektor hits the Achaean Koiranos (XVII, 617-618):

... struck him under jaw and ear, and the thick of the spear-point knocked out his teeth and split his tongue down the middle.

The anatomic region here indicated as under the jaw and ear corresponds to the laterocervical region, where shots may provoke the cutting of the extern carotid artery and always result fatal: in this way Paris kills the Achaean Euchenor (XIII, 671-672) and Meriones the trojan Laogonos, son of Onetore (XVI, 606-607):

... hit him under the jaw and ear, the life sped from his body, and the hateful darkness took him.

A reference to another vessel of the neck can be found in the episode of the duel between Antilochos, son of Nestor, and the Trojan Thoon (XIII, 545-547):

Antilochos watched for Thoon to turn, and then sprang forward and stabbed him, cutting right through the vessel that runs all the way up the back to reach the neck.

The identification of such a vessel is problematic; however, following the text, it can be identified with aorta, which reaches the neck, by a branch of its (extern carotid artery). The cervical portion of trachea is mentioned when Hektor is mortally struck by Achilleus (XXII, 327-329):

... the point went right through his soft neck; but the ash spear with its weight of bronze did not cut the windpipe, so that he could still speak.

The neck region, in particular the joint between the skull and vertebrae, is also mentioned when Telamonian Aias kills the Trojan Archelochos, Antenor's son (XIV, 465-466) :

He hit him at the join of head and neck, on the topmost vertebra, and sheared through both the tendons.

In Homer's poem, the term used (astràgalos), which later will indicate one of the foot bones, indicates vertebrae (especially cervical vertebrae). Moreover, it seems that Homer knew the existence of spinal cord inside the cavity formed by the vertebrae (here indicated with the term sphòndylos). Achilleus, returned to fight after the Patroklos' death, beheads the Trojan Deukalion (XX, 481-483):

Achilleus struck at his neck with his sword, and sent his head in its helmet dropping far away; the marrow spurted out from his vertebrae...

The clavicle (kleìs), which is part of the scapular-humeral girdle and delimitates the lower border of the cervical region, is mentioned in several books, when Hektor wounds Teukros with a huge stone (VIII, 325-326):

... hitting where the clavicle separates neck and chest...

or in the duel between Achilleus and Hektor (XXII, 324):

... where the clavicles hold the join of neck and shoulders...

References to the chest are rather frequent, because its surface is relatively wide and is frequently a target for weapons. The thoracic region mostly mentioned is mammary area: there Telamonian Aias hits Simoeisios (IV, 480-482):

Aias struck him in the chest, by the right breast, and the bronze spear pushed straight on through his shoulder...

Some internal organs of the chest seem to be known in the text. After the previous episode, Thos from Aitolia kills the Thracian Peiros (IV, 527-528):

... as Peiros ran back, Thoas the Aitolian caught him with his spear in the chest above the breast, the bronze fixed in his lung.

The hearth (kradìe) and its rhythmic movement is mentioned in the episode of the death of Alkathoos, son of Aisyetes and brother-in-law of Aineias (XIII, 438-444):

... the hero Idomeneus stabbed with his spear in the center of his chest, and broke through the bronze coat that covered it and had kept destruction from his flesh before now, but then it grated loud as the spear tore it. He fell with a crash, the spear fixed in his hearth, and the hearth's jerking made the spear quiver right to the butt...

The liver (hépar) appears to be well known and is often mentioned. The relationship between its superior surface and the midriff(prapìs) is known as well. The Thessalian Eurypylos (XI, 579), the Trojan Deiphobos (XIII, 412) and the Achaean Lykomedes (XVII, 349) hit, respectively, Apisaon, Phausias' son, Hypsenor and Apisaon, Hippasos' son:

...in the liver under the midriff...

The wounds in the hepatic region are mortal, because they open at the same time the thoracic and the abdominal cavities. At the hepatic area, Achilleus hits Tros, praying him to spare his life (XX, 469-471):

...stabbed him in the liver with his sword; his liver slid out and the black blood pouring from it filled his lap...

The abdominal region is often target of mortal hits. Several heroes are killed by wounds occurring in such a site: Deikoon by Agamemnon (V, 538-539), Amphios by Telamonian Aias (V, 615-616), Thrasylemos by Patroklos (XVI, 463-465), Aretos by Automedon (XVII, 518-519). The same region is mentioned in the XIII book with a sentence which contains other two anatomic references (XIII, 567-568):

...Meriones caught him as he went back and struck him with his spear between genitals and navel...

Later, the navel (omphalòs) is mentioned again, together with the intestine (énteron), when Achilleus kills Polydoros (XX, 413-418):

As he came dashing past, swift-footed godlike Achilleus hit him with his spear in the middle of the back, where the belt's golden buckles joined and the corselet opposed a double layer. The point of the spear held on right through and came out by his navel. He screamed, and dropped on his knees, and dark cloud enfolded him; he sank down holding in his intestine with his hands.

Undoubtly the text refers to the small intestines which comes out fron the wound. The small bowel is also indicated with the term cholàdes in the episode in which Achilleus kills Asteropaios (XXI, 180-181):

He struck him in the belly by the navel; and all his guts gushed on the ground...

Then, Achilleus leaves the corpse of Asteropaios on the ripe of Skamandros river. Homer describes the scene realistically and gives an anatomic reference to the perirenal fat (fat capsule of the kidney). (XXI, 203-204):

And eels and fish were his busy attendants, tearing and nibbling at the fat around his kidneys.

The animals could reach perirenal fat through the large wound, which extended from the back to the navel, passing through the lombar region. The bladder (kystis) is mentioned Amomg the pelvic organs, when Meriones Cretan hits Phereklos with his spear (V, 66-67):

He struck him in the right buttock, and the spear point went right on through under the bone into his bladder.

and then when he hits Harpalion with an arrow of his (XIII, 651-652). In both the cases, the trajectory passes through gluteal muscle, the ischiopubic cavity and the urinary bladder. The bone mentioned is the pubic arch. The hip-joint is mentioned in the V book, when Aineias is wounded by a great jagged stone, that Diomedes throws against him (V, 305-308):

With this he hit Aineias on the hip-joint, where the thigh-bone turns in the hip, and men call it the cup. He smashed Aineias cup, and broke both the tendons as well, and the rough stone forced back the skin...

The fracture involved the acetabolum (kotyle) of the hip bone (unnamed bone), formed by the confluence of ilium, ischium and pubis.

(from C. Urso: Anatomic references in Homer's Iliad. Pathologica, 89: 26-30, 1997)

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