Using the paradigmatic figure of Athena, this paper aims chiefly to show how the Iliad stages and dramatizes the themes of sight and look. From the traditional formulas (e.g. the adjective glaukôpis) to the general plot (e.g. the role this light- and fire-goddess plays in books 5 or 18), I study successively the promacbos deity, who descends from the Olymp, armed with the aegis, to speak and fight brightly or inflate the heroes with menos ; the skimxll and feminine goddess who weaves the splendid peplos ; the dramatic substitution of the first figure to the second one, for instance in die typical scenes of fight-preparation ; the bright cosmic epiphanies of the sky- god's daughter ; and the ways she deals with the fighters and the other god...