Catalogue of Ships
The extensive listing of Greek contingents and their leaders in Book 2 of the Iliad, naming 29 contingents, 46 captains, and 1,186 ships sailing to Troy.
The Meaning of Catalogue of Ships
The Catalogue of Ships appears in Book 2 of Homer's Iliad, after Agamemnon tests the army's morale and Odysseus rallies them with the sceptre of authority. The catalogue lists every Greek contingent that sailed to Troy: Agamemnon brought 100 ships from Mycenae; Diomedes brought 80 from Argos; Odysseus brought only 12 from Ithaca; Achilles brought 50 from Phthia with his Myrmidons; Ajax the Great brought 12 from Salamis. The Boeotian contingent is listed first and most extensively. Helen, whose abduction by Paris triggered the war, was the prize Menelaus sought to recover. The catalogue preserves geographical knowledge of Mycenaean Greece, listing places that had vanished by Homer's time but were confirmed by archaeology. Nestor of Pylos, the eldest commander, brought 90 ships. The Cretan contingent under Idomeneus was the third largest, reflecting Minoan-era power.
Parents
Homer (author)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Catalogue of Ships was long dismissed as poetic filler until archaeologists discovered that its geography matches Mycenaean-era settlement patterns, not Homer's own time (8th century BC). Place names that had been abandoned for centuries appear correctly located. This means the Catalogue preserves genuine Bronze Age information transmitted orally for 400+ years — making it a military database encoded in hexameter verse, and one of the most remarkable feats of oral memory in human history.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Voyage of the Argo
💭 conceptNarrative
The legendary sea journey of the Argonauts through uncharted waters to reach the kingdom of Colchis
Battle of Salamis
💭 conceptwar, divine intervention
The 480 BC naval battle where the Greek fleet destroyed the Persian armada in the straits of Salamis, attributed to the intervention of Ajax and the Aeacidae heroes.
Library of Apollodorus
💭 conceptLiterature
A comprehensive ancient handbook cataloguing Greek myths, genealogies, and heroic narratives
Battle of Marathon
💭 conceptwar, divine intervention
The 490 BC battle where Athenian hoplites defeated Persia, believed by the Greeks to have been won with the aid of Pan, Theseus, and the hero Echetlus.
Argonauts
💭 conceptCrew of the ship Argo
The Argonauts were the band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo to retrieve the Golden Fleece — the greatest ensemble adventure in Greek mythology.
The Trojan War
💭 conceptWar, fate, heroism
A ten-year siege of Troy by a coalition of Greek kings, sparked by the abduction of Helen and shaped by the rivalries of the gods.
Trojan War
💭 conceptThe ten-year war that defined Greek mythology
The Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek coalition, sparked by the abduction of Helen and ended by the stratagem of the Wooden Horse.
Sacred Band of Thebes
💭 conceptwarfare, love
An elite Theban military unit of 150 male couples who fought alongside their lovers, undefeated for decades until annihilated by Philip II of Macedon at Chaeronea.
Agapenor
🗡 heroNone recorded
Arcadian king who led sixty ships to Troy and later founded Paphos in Cyprus
Bibliotheca
💭 conceptLiterature
An alternative title for the mythological handbook attributed to Apollodorus, cataloguing the full scope of Greek myth
Mycenaean Culture
💭 conceptHistory
The Late Bronze Age Greek civilisation whose warrior aristocracy forms the historical basis of Homeric epic
Return of Odysseus
💭 conceptNarrative
The hero's perilous ten-year journey home from Troy and his reclamation of his kingdom in Ithaca